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“Oh? What’d you call for?”
My stomach tightened, and I stared at the phone as if I could will it to spit out the answers more quickly.
“We got some more intel on Gavriel’s plans. Two
more of our own snuck into his camp. Barely made it out alive, but they picked up a piece of information I thought you outta know.”
“What?”
“Gavriel’s got this massive army all ready to go, right?” Michael asked, the question obviously rhetorical. We’d all seen it. It was huge, and it was terrifying. “Well, he’s not sending them all through at once like we thought. He’s going to send a first wave through—something just big enough to draw a massive Custodian response, to get them to send all of their forces to the portal.”
“And then what?” I asked, my skin chilling.
“Well, once the Custodians all arrive at the portal, once they think they’re winning against the first wave, that’s when the rest of the army will come through—from all sides of the pentagram. They’ll have the Custodians surrounded, and they’ll pick them off like fish in a goddamn barrel.” I heard a low growl from the phone speakers. “With the defenders of earth wiped out, Gavriel and his followers won’t have to fight for domination of earth. They won’t have to recruit in small batches like they’ve been doing so far. They’ll have free rein to do whatever they like, and they can turn it into a second version of the underworld.”
“Oh. Shit.” Jayce looked horrified.
Michael’s voice was as heavy as a hammer falling.
“Yup.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
My mind spun.
Goddamn it. Why does it always have to be so complicated?
A measure of guilt rose up in my chest. If we had managed to warn the Custodians about Gavriel’s planned invasion without knowing his full strategy, we would’ve been sending them to their deaths—playing right into his hand, and making it even easier for him to decimate their forces.
What if that Custodian with the lightning power had passed on my message?
Shit. We needed to tell them about this new information, no matter how dangerous it was to try to get them to listen.
“Anything else you can tell us?” I asked Michael quickly, my heart thudding rapidly in my chest.
“Well, this is speculation more than actual advance knowledge, but I’m guessing Gavriel won’t even show up to the fight until the second wave hits. He’s a coward, the kind of leader who leads from behind. He won’t want to put himself in any danger until he feels assured of victory.”
“Yeah. I buy that.” I scowled. “How many rebels have you been able to recruit? And how close are you to Gavriel’s army’s base camp?”
“How many rebels?” He grunted. “More than I expected. Fewer than we’ll probably need. We’ll keep workin’ on gathering more though. And as to how close we are, I dunno. Half a day, maybe? They’ve been moving pretty quick, and it’s been a little tough keeping up with them while also porting all over the underworld looking for support. But we’ve got Maori, Elena, and Jemma all stickin’ close by the army while remaining hidden, and they help us find our way to the right spot when we transport back.”
“Good. Call us again soon. Stick close to their camp, but don’t get yourselves caught.”
An idea was starting to form in my mind, but I needed more time to let it marinate before I knew if it was any good or just a suicide mission. And we needed to get out of this crater.
“I will. And we won’t. Talk soon.”
The line went dead, and all six of us glanced around the circle at each other, shock passing back and forth in the air between us.
“Well.” I shook my head, blowing out a breath. “We’ve put it off as long as we possibly can. But there’s just no help for it anymore. Anybody up for a trip to the Custodian headquarters?”
“This is the worst fucking tour of earth ever,” Jayce grumbled, huffing a laugh.
“Agreed.” I ran a hand through my dark hair, which was tangled as hell from all the shit I’d been through since breakfast. “Maybe next time we’ll get to go to a tropical island. Preferably with no giant portals anywhere.”
“A-fucking-men.” The hellhound nodded fervently, his blue eyes widening.
“First, we gotta save the world, big guy,” I reminded him, chuckling at his enthusiasm.
