Page 87 of In Prey We Trust

“No. They didn’t attempt to kidnap her until this year. They started with other small fry students and the one they killed on Halloween was a nobody. It felt like the dead kid was a message, though how they knew we’d find him, I’m unsure. I feel certain the deaths and the kidnappings are being orchestrated by two different factions.” Felix strokes his scruff, looking thoughtful before he continues. “Perhaps in direct opposition to one another.”

I chew on my thumbnail, trying to sort through things in my cotton ball-filled mind. “Then the Heathers are acting on their own, or maybe being encouraged by their parents and, by extension, possibly Lucille. She’d enjoy making me miserable for no other reason than to see me in pain. But the kidnappers are doing something with the students who have never returned or been found. Is it possible they deemed the dead ones not useful, so they killed them rather than kidnap them?”

“Maybe,” Aubrey says. “It’s also possible whoever is killing students is trying to send the abductors a warning. The victims have gone from a lowest tier kid in your class to this Kinsley girl. Her family isn’t huge, but each one of the murdered students has a little more powerful connections. They might work their way to the heirs and big wig children.”

“I don’t believe you were the target of the frame job, either,” Chess interjects. “You change clothes in several buildings, you practice in the ring—it wouldn’t have been hard for someone to get one of your hairs specifically. They had to know someone would test the hair and that all births have DNA registered for legacy purposes. Maclachlan was definitely their target, but I have no idea why.”

Groaning, I put my face in my hands. “So she’s off the board, but we don’t know who did it or why. That seems important because we all suspected she was a spy for your dad, Felix.”

The older twin snarls. “He still has Rakoto, so if she displeased him, that could be why she was set up. None of my contacts knew her, though. Her family is part of the American wing of business and most of them have been off Bloodstone for a century. They could play for more than one team, so to speak.”

“Double crossing old Pops is a dangerous plan,” Fitz says, as he rests his head on my stomach. “He’s as vicious as Baby Girl’s mother and much less concerned about public appearances. I think he would have sent the Brotherhood to make a very messy display if he was teaching one of the lieutenants a lesson.”

“Is everyone in the hierarchy of power employing scary ass special forces? I mean, Rufus’ family, your dad, my mother… This feels so surreal. Even without the knock to my noggin, I’d think you guys were screwing with me if I didn’t know better. How does this shit stay secret?”

“Power.”

“Fear.”

“Money.”

The three Khan brothers answer at the same time, and I look at Rennie and Aubrey for confirmation. Aubrey shrugs. “They’re all correct.”

“But somehow, this involves the magic users or there wouldn’t have been a battle at Apex last year.” I frown and give Rennie a pleading look. “Tell us more about the magic users. Anything you know would help.”

He looks torn, but he finally sighs. “I can tell you some basic information about magic users, but nothing that relates to me. Will that satisfy you?”

It’s a start; I’ll take it.

“For now,” I say. Giving him an encouraging smile, I go back to running my fingers through Fitz’s hair. “What kind of magic users are there? I guess I saw… mages? Witches? I don’t know which, but they had different colored magic depending on their powers when they attacked us on the way to Cappie.”

Rennie looks around for a moment, then drops onto Felix’s lap. The tiger looks surprised, but he lets it go as the gargoyle taps his fingers on his lap nervously. “So there are casters—those who work with elements, spells, and the like. They can be mages, witches, wizards, or elementals. The ones who have the colored energy could be several of those options, but they’re likely elementals. There are also demis, which are supes with mixed backgrounds in magic, usually descended from deity lines. Unless they tell you, you won’t have a clue what they can or can’t do. Anyone who can warp time or reality or minds is likely one of those.”

“There was definitely one of those along for the ride. The fucker hit me and it was not pretty,” I mutter. Fitz slips his other hand in mine and squeezes as the memory ripples over me. “What else?”

The air changes and I can feel the tension amp up as Rennie looks anywhere but at us. “The last group is the most powerful and the most secretive of all the magic users. They can have vast skill sets and are highly intelligent. Fae blend into every community seamlessly and can come in and out of the Faerie at access points all over the world. After the Treaty, they scattered to the winds and no one could track them because they can shapeshift, wield magics, and are connected to nature in a way that only they understand. Many royal families in the shifter world hunted them for profit after that dark period. They were terrified Fae would work their way into our societies like shifters did to humans. With their powers, shifters would be in a great deal of trouble if they did so.”

“Do you think this Society might have something to do with that?” Chess asks. “Perhaps it’s some crusty old group of high born shifter families set on eliminating the Fae left on this side of the…portal?”

“Veil. They say veil,” Renard says quietly. “And yes, it’s possible. Many large shifter empires were eager to hire bounty hunters and magical mercenaries to exterminate them during that time.”

“Maybe that’s why there're tunnels?” Fitz says. “Maybe the tunnels were used for smuggling them in for sacrifices or something.”

“It could just as easily have been a rebel faction who opposed that kind of genocide, using them to smuggle Fae to their access points to go home,” Aubrey says. “There’s always good people who don’t want to commit atrocities. The tunnels being under a school make, and me think it’s more likely a relic of a resistance. Scholars are usually in the ranks of the rebellions.”

“What else do you know about the Fae, Rennie?”

His eyes widen at my words and he shoots to his feet, backing away from us. “Nothing. Well, nothing important to this conversation. I’ve told you what I can.”

“I don’t believe you,” Felix says, giving him a suspicious glare. “You’re acting like you’ve been burned. I don’t know what you’re hiding, Monsieur Laveaux, but I’d wager it has to do with those special necklaces. Don’t think any of us have missed that detail.”

The gargoyle’s face pales, and he backs towards the door. “I can’t. I can’t talk about it. I-I have to go.”

My jaw drops when he damn near runs out the door and we hear slams as he leaves. Aubrey shakes his head, rubbing his temples as he lets out a breath. I push up a little more on the bed, frowning at my men. “That did not go well.”

“Not at all, bento bunny. Not at all. Now he’ll be brooding for days.” The dragon looks worried for a second before he eyes me. “Don’t you dare try to go after him. We all have to deal with our trauma at some point, and he’s refusing to allow us to help. He needs to come to that realization on his own or he’ll never heal.”

Fitz snorts. “It’s been fucking centuries, Saucy Sauron. Do you really think he’s gonna clue in now?”

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