Page 75 of In Prey We Trust

“Nay, lad. I’ve been all over the place, though not in places locked or sealed. There are quite a few little nooks and crannies we can try to bust into that might lead us to the treasure. If I’m not mistaken, we’re almost past the edges of the lake near your Tower, Your Grace. Further forward will take us under those cursed woods.”

We’ve been walking for a while, so I glance at the screen on my phone. Time for a check-in. Pushing the tiny button on my earpiece, I open the mic. “Check-in, teams.”

“Team Badass, all good!” Fitz crows loudly. “By the way, there’s weird fucking glow-in-the-dark shit on the walls as we’re headed to our zone. “The hillbilly mafioso is taking snaps, but they’re spaced out pretty well. You can’t see them with the lights on.”

“Bioluminescent,” Aubrey mutters. “And yes, Team Delta is finding them on the way to the archives as well. I have Cori documenting, so I can study them when we’re back home.”

“Team Alphahole found ours and I took pictures, too,” Dolly cuts in.

It’s hard not to laugh, as I can almost hear Felix sighing at the moniker. “Good. Then we’ve found something that may be useful to reverse search, even if nothing else turns up. We’re almost to the woods. How close are the rest of you? And how is everyone feeling?”

They all answer in unison, and I groan. “One at a time. Status, Badass?” Fitz relays their position and condition without too much nonsense. Then I continue until we’re all accounted for. The prey and Dolly seem perfectly fine, but each of the preds admits to a small amount of fatigue. My group is similar, but I also feel fine. “I don’t know why ma petite and I are exempt from the effects, but that’s another clue. It’s not just prey; somehow, there’s more to it.”

“Okay, we’ve checked in, Ren. Let’s focus on the task, not chatter on the headsets. Everyone, again in a half hour. Good luck,” Aubrey says curtly.

That means he’s close to his Apex hoard. Dragons get very touchy when their hoards are close by.

Chess gives me a knowing grin and I shrug as I click the headset off. “Aubrey is still learning to share his treasures, I’m afraid. He’s done exceptionally well with our girl, but I worry once they consummate, he’ll need to calm his dragon considerably. He was a bit… spicy after she and I…”

“I was amazed when Fitz agreed to share her last year,” Chess admits. “He’s always been open to me joining his random hook-ups, but it didn’t interest me. I was worried he’d flip his lid when I admitted I wanted her, too.”

I blink, thinking about that for a moment. “When was this? He seemed ‘all-in’ from the beginning. It surprised me how eager he was to encourage everyone, in fact.”

The cheetah gives me a sly grin. “The first day we saw her on the tour at Apex. There was a shared voyeurism moment at the library and I told him. He jumped on it immediately and it made everything so much easier. I hadn’t met a female I was attracted to before, much less a prey animal.”

Chuckling, I nod. “I knew the moment Flames stormed in a-flutter about this new library aide that he allowed in his archives. It took many years for him to allow me access to each of his hoards one by one. Although he hasn’t told her about the primary one yet, so that will be an adventure.”

“Ahoy, Your Grace! There’s a sealed door here,” the Captain calls over his shoulder. “Perhaps you’ll be able to decipher the writing?”

I walk over to the door, studying it for a moment as I nod. “This is Dutch. We’ve located the Erickson family’s room.”

Chess squints at it, tilting his head. “For a tech family, this actually doesn’t seem difficult. There’s just a sliding puzzle and I assume it opens the door.”

The Captain takes the watch while the two of us kneel by the carvings in the door, sliding pieces around as we try to figure out how to get inside. Hopefully, the others are having similar luck, because the later it gets, the more on edge I feel. Whether it’s the leftover magic or something else causing my paranoia, I’d like everyone to get off the Apex campus and back home sooner rather than later.

“I think I’ve got it,” Chess says, and with that, the door clicks open and we head inside to rummage through the Erickson’s hidden treasures.

Overwhelmed

Delores

“Tell me about the stuff you guys found,” I whisper to Cori and Rufus as we paint a backdrop. “By the time we all met up, I was exhausted, and the guys were grumpy as hell. Aubrey looked like he was going to smite someone because we had so much stuff to haul back.”

Rufus smirks and shrugs. “Your crazy boyfriend had us digging through the Leonidas room like a drill sergeant. We found a lot of records that show they’re being paid for a lot of placements on teams by elite and Council members. They’re also fixing matches in a lot of leagues big to small because of that idiot younger brother of Coach Z’s.”

My nose wrinkles and I frown. “That’s disappointing, but not surprising. I think Z is being railroaded, but she’s also not super happy with anything about her family.”

“Well, our trip to the library with the grumpy gecko was pretty successful,” Cori says as she paints a bathroom wall. “He grabbed a ton of books he hadn’t gotten around to cataloging last year that look really old. Banjo and Percy loaded everything in the carts after he packaged them up. He was pissed he hadn't thought of this when he gathered his stuff this summer, but after we checked every inch of his secret cave, he was satisfied.”

I sigh, knowing he got behind because of all the bullshit I brought to his door via my idiot exes and dead people. “That explains why he was so pissy by the time we left. He probably feels guilty. I know Rennie was also toting a shit ton of non-techie stuff like maps and scrolls and stuff. He and Chess were really shocked by the lack of computer-y things in their room. We’ll have to go back in a couple of weeks and see if we can find more rooms.”

“What did he say they mean?” Cori asks as she hunts for a fresh cup of water to rinse her brush.

“Aubrey and Rennie are comparing them all. Some of them have weird languages and need restoration,” I reply. “Chess is going to help and we’re meeting tonight to discuss what they’ve found. Are you coming?”

“We would be if anyone invited us. You could have texted before today, you know. What if I had plans?” Rufus complains. Cori ducks her head and shrugs, walking away quickly. I give Rufus a questioning look and he sighs. “Since I started sort of seeing the triplets, she’s a little sensitive. She hasn’t found anyone at Cappie yet, and I think it’s frustrating her.”

“Aw, shit,” I whisper as I look in the direction my other bestie went. “We’re both so busy and she’s feeling left out. Damn, Ru-Ru, we suck.”

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