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Clay grunted and continued to stare at the map. Lucien felt for the Circle’s leader. There was no good way to launch this rescue. And it had to be a simple rescue mission. They couldn’t risk a full-out assault on the pestilents now. Not when they were so close. If they could get their hands on Hale and get his powers handed over to him, they would have a shot at exterminating the pestilents and have the rift closed at long last.
But if one or more of them died now? It would be another twenty to thirty years before he resurfaced and was ready to receive his powers to launch the fight all over again.
Could the world wait another three decades?
Could the Weavers hold out that long?
Lucien didn’t want to contemplate it.
“Does anyone have any suggestions on how we go in?” Clay inquired.
“Actually…” Calder started and then paused. “I do, but it’s not pretty.”
Lucien shifted on the sofa to look at the man at his side, who was chewing on his bottom lip as he stared at the map.
Grey stepped forward and placed his hand on Cort’s shoulder. “I doubt anything we come up with is going to be safe or close to pretty. What are you thinking?”
Calder chewed his lips for another second and glanced up at Wiley. “You can hear Baer’s thoughts when he’s in animal form?”
Wiley nodded. “Pretty clearly.”
“I’m thinking three teams. Wiley and Baer are one team. The rest of us are split into two other teams. The non-Baer teams are the distraction teams. The pestilents have to be keeping the Weaver in the house somewhere. That means our job is to draw every pestilent out of the house to fight us.”
“You want Baer and Wiley to go inside?” Gio inquired.
Calder shook his head. “Baer goes inside alone in animal form. Small. Really small.” He looked at Baer. “How small have you shifted?”
Baer’s expression scrunched up a little in thought. “Mouse. Finch.”
“Can you do smaller? Like a house fly? Mosquito? Spider?”
Baer frowned. “Yes, probably, but there’s a complication. I have roughly the same mental capacity as that animal. The smaller I go, the more limited I am. My concentration starts to slip. It’s harder to remember complicated plans or instructions.”
“Maybe you could do a series of animals, getting progressively smaller the closer you get to the house,” Dane suggested. “Dolphin or seal swimming up the island. Fox and then snake on the approach. Mouse inside the house.”
“Spider or fly to check rooms,” Wiley finished.
Baer nodded. “I might even be able to find an empty room to shift back to human briefly to clear my mind. That could work.”
“What about me?” Wiley asked.
“You’re outside with one of the teams. You’re in a protection spell while giving updates on Baer’s progress,” Calder explained.
“And once we receive word that Baer has found the Weaver, we shift from distraction to assault, giving them an opening to escape,” Clay filled in. The Earth Weaver rubbed the scruff on his chin. “That’s not a bad idea.”
“What about John and his mind-control spell?” Grey asked.
“We got lucky, and there was no sign of him at Gio’s parents’ house. Only pestilents attacked us,” Lucien said. He couldn’t have been more grateful for that one bit of luck. Without Grey there, they would have had no way of saving helpless humans brainwashed into attacking them. Or worse, if John had gotten control of Gio’s family.
“But that doesn’t mean he’s not here now. It wasn’t that long ago that he stirred up trouble in Savannah. That’s too close to Charleston.” Clay shook his head. “He’s got to be here. Taking the Weaver and not killing him. Hale is bait for us. John wants to kill more than one Weaver if he can.”
“Not to mention what new help he’s managed to summon from his home,” Baer muttered. “We haven’t seen any new warlocks recently. The Circle is too close to being complete. They can’t be holding anyone back still. They’d have to throw everything they’ve got at us now.”
“Wait, they’ve got warlocks?” Gio demanded. He leaned forward from his perch on the sofa arm to look at Lucien and Calder.
“Yeah, and they’re fucking nasty,” Lucien admitted. “There was a witch who could control animals. Only Wiley could remove the spell. Luckily, we got rid of her.”
“But she might not be the only one with that spell or skill.” Wiley shivered.
“John’s the worst, though,” Calder said softly. He lifted worried eyes to Gio. “We don’t know if he can affect Weavers, but humans are vulnerable to him.”
“What do you mean?”
“Remember the Girl Scouts?” Lucien replied. “He can get any human to do his bidding. Man, woman, or child. Doesn’t matter. You wouldn’t even realize you’d turned on us.”
Gio jumped to his feet and stumbled a step backward. “No! I wouldn’t. Couldn’t. Never.”
