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“Can we get started?” Chen snapped, his hands fisting in his lap. “We’ve already been here for two months. The fae are supposed to appear in three days. Do we even have a plan for locating them? For rescuing our brother from them?”
“Not to mention getting revenge on them for stealing Wu-di in the first place,” Jun-Jun grumbled.
“One step at a time,” Xiao Dan stated. As always, his tone was firm and comforting all at once. “We will free Wu Yichen from the fae.”
“What if they’ve done something to him?” Xiang leaned forward to rest his arms on his knees so he could look at Xiao Dan as he spoke. “What if they brainwashed him, and he doesn’t want to come back? What if he’s forgotten all about us? They’ve had him for a full century. We don’t know what could have happened to him while he was away from us in the fae realm. What if he’s not our Wu-di any longer?”
Chen clenched his teeth to keep from snapping at Xiang to shut his mouth. He couldn’t fault Xiang’s fears, because those same thoughts had been running almost constantly through his brain for the past century.
And that was assuming Wu Yichen was still “alive.”
No one knew if a vampire could survive within the fae realm, because no non-fae had ever traveled there and returned to tell the tale.
“We will deal with that only when we have our didi6 with us, and not a second before.” He held Xiang’s gaze until his shidi7 lowered his eyes to the floor and nodded. “Now, Sean, tell us what you discovered while you were in town today.”
Xiang’s expression brightened, his head popping up at Xiao Dan’s use of his American name. “Well, Daniel,” Xiang drawled, dragging an irritated sigh out of Chen while Jun-Jun and Mei Lian giggled. “This region is crawling with all kinds of magic. There are vampires, at least one large werewolf clan, and several witch covens. It’s as if this Hartford is a nexus for supernatural creatures.” Xiang shrugged his broad shoulders. “I’m not surprised the fae have returned here, of all places.”
“Is there a chance this town falls on a ley line or some other mystical crossroads?” Xiao Dan inquired.
Chen scoffed. “You know there is no scientific evidence that such things as ley lines even exist.”
His shixiong smirked at him. “Those same scientific people make similar claims about vampires.”
“Did you speak to a witch or a shifter?” Jun-Jun asked, redirecting them to the topic they were supposed to be discussing.
Xiang flopped against the cushions. “I haven’t. I’ve been keeping a low profile, as Shixiong instructed, and just watching. There’s a popular farmer’s market that many people have been talking about. I have a feeling that both witches and shifters frequent it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t start for another three weeks.”
“And that will be too late for our needs,” Jun-Jun murmured.
“I’ve tried to sneak into some of the Internet discussion boards for the various witch covens, but I’ve had no luck.” Mei Lian crossed her thin arms over her chest and stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. “They are really thorough with checking if you’re a witch. They even have these freaking essay tests. Essays!”
Ming Yu tipped her head forward, a tiny smirk lifting one corner of her rosebud mouth. “Not something you can fake with some quick Internet searches?”
“Noooooo!” Mei Lian moaned.
“Another option is Phoenix,” Xiang suggested.
Xiao Dan’s brow furrowed. “What’s that?”
“A nightclub. It’s said that vampires and some others frequent it. Even the humans talk about this. It might be a place to make some connections.” Xiang paused and licked his lips. “The one problem is that it’s associated with that ruling clan we’ve been hearing about.”
“The Variks,” Xiao Dan murmured with a nod.
“Exactly. It appears one of them owns the place.”
“Avoid it for now,” Xiao Dan ordered in a hard voice.
Xiang lurched forward, nearly coming off the sofa. “But, Shixiong, it’s our best option right now! If we have the chance to mingle among our own kind, we have a better chance of finding the witch we need.”
As much as Chen hated it, he agreed with Xiang on this matter. Especially since they were running short on time. It had taken them far too long to get settled in their new home, making sure that it was secure both during the day and at night. Then each of them had needed to make stealthy expeditions to learn the region while being careful not to catch the attention of any shifter or vampire. Too often, a new clan moving into an area was seen as a threat, and they weren’t seeking a fight.
It was only in the past week that Li Xiang had made daytime trips to search for a witch who could help them. All these delays were not getting them any closer to saving Yichen.
