Page 29 of Forging Darkness

“I just . . . um, thanks. You know, for the swim lesson. Or rather, float lesson. It was . . . nice.”

What I really want to tell him is that no one has ever taken the time to help me overcome my fear of the water before. No one has ever cared enough to try, and the fact that he did, well, that means something to me. But the words are lodged so deeply in my throat, they’ll never see the light of day.

I must broadcast my vulnerability because his demeanor softens fractionally. He opens his mouth and then closes it again. His desire to speak brushes up against me like a living thing, but he only nods his head in acknowledgement before yanking the door open and walking through it.

Releasing a sigh, I collect my things and follow. Both of us brim with unspoken words. Maybe one day we’ll get so full they’ll explode from us, but for now they go unsaid.

Chapter Ten

We spend the better part of the day learning everything Steel knows about Silver and her plans—which sadly isn’t a lot—and coming up with ideas on how to trap her. Steel’s adamant about capturing Silver rather than outright killing her. He believes she has information we need, and I agree.

Silver is a wellspring of knowledge. She orchestrated Blaze and Aurora’s kidnapping to get to me, and we still have no idea why. And then there’s the orb that was shipped to the Elders’ compound to be studied. Where did it come from? Was it found or made? What else can it do? We have a mountain of unanswered questions, and Silver may be the key to answering them.

We all agree that capturing her isn’t going to be easy. There are three other Forsaken with her—and those are just the enemies we know of. We may have the numbers, but when it comes to Forsaken, I don’t like those odds. Silver is a proven formidable foe. She also knows we’re coming for her—or at least she knows Steel is. We’re hoping she isn’t aware the rest of us are in town just yet.

Tonight’s objective is reconnaissance. We spend hours poring over the blueprints of the club. Since the building used to be a church, it’s undergone major renovations. By comparing both original and updated schematics, we identified several rooms that were unaccounted for during the upgrades—the perfect place to carry out nefarious deeds. Something is going down in that club, and we have to find out what.

We also use our time to plot exit and entry points, planning for as many contingency options as possible.

It’s decided—after a decent bit of arguing—that the boys will scout the interior of the club this evening. We’re even sending Tinkle in to conceal their aura from any enemies hiding in the spectrum world. The little guy argued against it, saying it’s his job to shade me, but I secretly think he was more upset about being parted from Nova.

The girls’ job is to keep surveillance on the hotel where Silver is staying, which admittedly is kinda lame, but I’m not complaining. The idea of going to a nightclub is preposterous to me. I’ve never set foot inside one before. I’m about as far from a party girl as a person can get, so I was happy to pick up a different task.

“What do you think about this top? This would be good for a club, right?” Ash holds a gold sequined number up in front of her for my inspection.

I scrunch my eyebrows as my gaze tracks from the shiny fabric to her face. “Why in the world did you pack that? And who cares? Only the guys are going to the club tonight.”

“That’s notexactlycorrect.” Ash’s tentative reply automatically puts me on edge. That tone means she’s about to admit something I’m not going to like.

“What do you mean?”

Ash’s gaze shifts to Nova, who ignores us as she pulls a bag of food out of her purse for Tinkle. Tinkle jumps up and down on the table, clapping his tiny squirrel hands, waiting for the processed goodness to fall on his head.

“Well . . . the boys may have miscalculated their need for backup tonight,” she says.

I narrow my eyes, not buying that explanation for a moment. “Why don’t you tell me what this is really all about?”

Ash bites her lower lip and scrunches her nose. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I pin her with a stare, not buying her fake innocence for a single moment. “You need to take some lessons from Sterling. You’re not half as convincing as he is.”

Ash releases her lip and twists her mouth into a guilty grimace.

“The guys don’t need backup, Ash. They’re only scouting the club, and Tinkle will be shading their auras in the spirit realm the whole time.”

“Which Tinkle is still upset about,” the Celestial cuts in. His cheeks are puffed out and his mouth is ringed with orange. He spits cheese puff crumbs onto the table when he talks, and then immediately goes back to shoveling the Styrofoam-ish snack into his compact squirrel mouth.

“All to say,” I continue, “that it’s a relatively safe mission. So I repeat, what’s really going on here?”

“We want to see what a club is really like.” The words come out in a rush and then Ash covers her face.

I throw my hands into the air, berating myself that I didn’t see this coming. Ash and Nova argued with the guys about our task earlier in the day, but gave up relatively quickly. “Argh. You girls are killing me. I don’twantto go to the club.”

“Em,” Ash whines. “We may never have an opportunity like this again.”

I tell myself not to feel guilty, hardening my resolve even as I feel it crumble. “Even if I did want to go, I don’t have anything to wear. I’ll stick out like a sore thumb.”

“This is killer.” Nova pulls a blue garment from Ash’s bag and holds it up in front of her. She twists back and forth in front of the mirror to get a better look at herself. “I definitely want to borrow this sometime. Blue looks great with my complexion.”

---