Page 42 of Found

We pass the day at the dining table.

We talk and we pace and we talk some more.

The map we have is okay for mapping out the town, but for the real nitty gritty of the Raleigh property, it’s useless.

We need to explore it on foot.

It’s after dinner, and we still have our plates on the table when the only way to get Aerin out invades my mind. I’ve been telling myself over the course of the meal that there must be another way, a less dangerous way, but there isn’t.

“We split up, find a soft spot, exploit it. Walk in andbam.” My dad slams the wall beside him.

I sigh when a dusting of plaster flutters from the ceiling. “We paid a security deposit. How about we refrain from destroying the place, huh?”

“Not my fault this place is made of cardboard,” he mutters as he stalks over to the dining table, grips the back of a wooden chair and twists it as he sits on it back to front.

“They’ll expect an attack at night,” I say.

Everyone looks at me.

“If I were them, I would have more men patrolling at night during the day, and I would pay particularly close attention to the forests,” I continue.

“So what are you suggesting?” Helena asks.

“An early morning attack. Maybe at 2 or 3. Right when they’re most tired and thinking it would be too late or too early for an attack.”

Douglas slowly nods. “It might work. We still don’t know their numbers, but at least we’d have the element of surprise.”

“We’d have to take full advantage of it and move fast. They have the omegas for leverage,” Bennett reminds us.

As if anyone here is likely to forget that.

Ivy studies me for a beat, then she gets to her feet. “Well, it’s nearly 7 now. How about we clear up this mess and have ourselves an early night? We can meet down here at 1?”

Clary nods.

I’m eager to go rescue Aerin, but I can’t deny that a large part of me walked away from this place over ten years ago and isn’t looking forward to confronting my old pack.

They were family, but because they took Aerin, they’re enemies.

That place has a lot of bad memories for me. Some good, but mostly bad. I’m not looking forward to going back there.

Cleaning up from dinner doesn’t take long when everyone is helping.

As they head up to bed, Ivy tells Connall she’ll see him upstairs.

As everyone heads up to bed, and I send Bennett upstairs to take the room I slept in upstairs, telling him I’ll take the couch, I join Ivy in the backyard.

She studies the moonlight, as inside, I hear someone using the bathroom, Clary I think, since he’s not on the couch.

“You were quiet during dinner,” she says, not looking at me.

“I was thinking of the best way to get Aerin out without her being forced into a hostage situation.”

“Me too.”

No matter which way we look at it, she is their leverage and they know it. They wouldn’t have taken her if they hadn’t intended to use her against us, and that means they will be keeping her close.

We stand quietly in the shadows of the covered patio as inside the sound of everyone moving around quietens down.

---