Page 81 of Catastrophe

Someone laughed and said, “Desperate to get those socks clean, Parker?”

Jack replied easily, “I’m wearing my last pair.”

“Just turn them inside out.”

I shuddered. Men are disgusting.

“We’re here.” Jack whispered. He opened a shoot and placed the clothes, and me, at the top before saying, “The vent in the bottom corner of the laundry room is over the war room. You should be able to hear something there. If not, find something else. I’ll come to get my laundry in an hour, so be quick. No side quests.”

Then he pushed me down the slide, and the opening slammed shut behind me, swallowing the light. It wasn’t a long slide, but my stomach flipped as I dropped off the end and into the basket below. I listened for a moment for the sound of someone in the room but heard no one and scrambled over the piles of disgusting clothes to hop out of the basket onto cold, carpeted floors.

The washing machines, and dryers lined the walls, spinning and banging as they went. But, thankfully, no one was in the room, so I shifted, grabbed the phone from the pocket of the jeans I’d been bundled up with, and checked the screen. Recording.

Phone in hand, I rushed over to the vent and pulled it open. Then, human and naked, I shimmied into the vent and closed it behind me before turning into a cat for more ease as I crawled through the vents in the direction he told me.

I didn’t think I had a problem with confined spaces, but I felt like I was expanding like a balloon, like all my fur was static and I was overstimulated, overwhelmed and having trouble breathing since every intake of air seemed to be pure dust. Pushing the phone along the metal made a horrible scratching sound that seemed to echo louder each time and made my pulse skyrocket.

If I don’t get caught, it’s going to be a miracle.

But a noise stopped me at a junction in the vent. Down the other long tube voices murmured and I could hear the distant, bored tone of Fafnir. I left the phone for a moment to rush, as quietly as I could, to the opening and peer through. And there he was, in hunter uniform, sitting in a chair, looking relaxed, clean and smiling at two other men across the table from him.

I knew dragging the phone close to the vent would make too much noise, so I hurried back over to it and maneuvered it onto my paws, pinching the top between my teeth.

He couldn’t have a small phone or the ones that fold in half. No, it had to be like a brick.

But by shuffling slowly back to the vent, I got the phone in the perfect position and only a few moments later, I thanked my lucky stars for providing the evidence I needed.

A bald man informed Fafnir, “Everyone has been informed attendance is mandatory. The guards are going to come in.”

“We are leaving the compound unprotected?” The other man, with gray hair and a comb-over, asked, shocked.

“No, Wallace, we will use some witches to guard,” Fafnir assured the older man. “The whole event shouldn’t take longer than an hour.”

“A mandatory lunch will help the troops decompress after the news, Darren. It’s going to be a shock.” The bald man crossed his arms, but his face gave nothing away.

Fafnir scoffed. “You think food is going to solve that issue?”

“It’ll offer us a way to control the narrative, too. We can’t steer conversation if we don’t know what is being discussed.”

“Very true.” He shrugged. “All right, Jeremy, lunch in the dining hall after. I won’t be there as I’ll have to deal with the dragon, but do let me know what you discover, who is saying what. We need everyone on board for the next part of the plan.”

Jeremy continued, “It’s going to be difficult for them to come to terms with. Michael has been with us since he was a child, so for them to find out the truth and watch him die is going to be traumatic. We should ensure no harm comes to the dragon in retaliation.”

“I could have my witches form a shield around him.” Fafnir offered.

How is he going to be there as a leader and also as a dragon? Surely he will not reveal himself too.

Wallace waved his hand. “No, that could make the rest feel as though they are being controlled by supernaturals, especially with the dragon killing what they believe is one of their own. They would lose faith in this leadership. We’ll just ensure that no one is armed at the meeting. Without weapons, they won’t be able to do anything to a dragon, surely.”

Jeremy grunted an acknowledgment. “No, but they can always retaliate another time. We don’t want a divided group.”

Wallace ignored Jeremy completely and continued, “The speech is good. We’ll explain our plan and ensure everyone can see the vision we have for the group. So much good happened from this project. I’m sure any protests will quickly be quashed.”

They moved on to other topics from there, gossip about another hunter, mentions of family, but nothing that related to Michael, so I took that as my cue to leave. I shuffled the phone back to the laundry room vent and as I changed form; I stretched out my hands to push against it, popping it open. I clawed my way out, panting from exertion and adrenaline.

The phone clattered to the floor behind me, and I quickly picked it up to check it. Still recording. I just hope it could hear what I did.

The time read a quarter till eleven,so I had only been gone for around half an hour. There was time for Jack to retrieve me, and for us to prevent Michael’s death. With the proof, I could stop Fafnir from truly becoming part of the hunters in both his forms.

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