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Last place.
Last?
Malphas picks up his ale and finishes it loudly, smacking his lips. “Last is better than not placing at all,” he reminds us.
“The lost time really caught up with us,” I muse.
We thought we were so smart. Such free-thinking demons, putting the lives of our host ahead of pure numbers. And we reasoned that by taking turns collecting in a given possession, we’d more than make up for how long of a break we needed to take between possessions.
“How could we have ever thought this would work?” Barbas asks, echoing my thoughts.
Rhygel straightens, wings stretching out behind him. “We were blinded by moral superiority. And that’s my fault. I should have calculated the numbers, quantified the exact number we needed each possession. This poor ranking is solely my doing.”
“No apology needed, Rhygel. We agreed to your terms, all of us,” Barbas says.
“Yes, and none of us wanted to hurt Lily. You made the best decision you could, given the information you had,” I say.
Rhygel shakes his head. “I didn’t. I should have gone by the numbers.”
“Well, there’s no use feeling sorry for yourself now, Rye. We just need to explain to Lily how hard we’ll have to work to catch up,” Malphas says.
Barbas nods. “I believe she’ll be up to the task.”
“I do as well,” I agree.
“Then it’s settled. I’ll return to her mind and explain the plan. I think it’s in her best interest, despite the leaderboard, to continue introducing ourselves slowly.”
I shake my head, about to argue that Lily can handle anything we throw at her, when Barbas puts up a finger, silencing me.
“Do you smell that?” he asks. “There’s a faint unpleasant odor I’ve detected since coming back.”
Rhygel takes a long sniff, as do the rest of us.
“I don’t smell anything,” I say.
Malphas agrees. “Nor I.”
Rhygel doesn’t say anything, only folds his arms over his chest. “Someone’s been in our quarters.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, scenting the air once more but still not getting anything.
“Positive,” Barbas says. “It’s slight, but it’s definitely another demon, one who isn’t keen on personal hygiene.”
We search the entire living space, all the bedchambers and the kitchen, and find nothing out of place or missing. When we’re all gathered back in the living area, Rhygel pulls a hand over his face. “I don’t know when someone got in here, but it must have been while I was in the square and the three of you were out of body.”
The thought of someone we didn’t trust in our dorm while we were at our most vulnerable—
It sends chills down my wings.
“I set the wards. I’m sure of it.”
“Well, then someone figured out how to get by them,” Malphas says.
“Agreed, and I’m not putting any of us at risk.” Rhygel starts pacing. This time it takes six full laps before he speaks again. “I’ll investigate the wards, but from here on out, one of us always has to be present if someone is earth side. No one goes without someone watching their back here, clear?”
Of course, we all agree. But that does little to calm our unsettled nerves.
Chapter15
