Page 51 of Calling Quarters

“She was the town's midwife for decades. We know she's always kept her own records of each birth. What's to say she isn't holding onto other records as well? Quarter records,” I explained, carefully watching Lux’s reaction.

“That’s true. Our fathers have never trusted her. Maybe she knows more about us than she should,” he thought aloud, slowly working through the possibility in his head.

My phone buzzed again. I pulled it out and swiped to answer.

“Where are you?” my father’s deep voice filled my ear.

I looked to the other three, gesturing for them to stay quiet while I put my dad on speaker. “Just went for a walk.”

“You need to get back home. The mayor has announced that they’re considering cancelling the Samhain ceremony for fear of the town’s safety. We’ve managed to hold him off from his decision for now, promising the elders could handle it if things don’t get better, but no one is happy. It’s not safe to be downtown right now.”

The four of us exchanged panicked glances. This was it, the moment we’ve been dreading since the start of this nightmare. The town has officially turned.

“I’ll be home in a bit,” I said, but the line cut out when he hung up without a proper goodbye.

“If the town wasn’t against us before, they’ll definitely be against us now,” Rhyse groaned. He propped his elbows onto his knee and his head fell into his hands.

“It'll be fine. Silas will assure them they've got it under control, even if they don't. They won't let the Quarters fall,” Lux attempted to reassure us, but his tone was laced in doubt. Even the king of positivity couldn't believe the lies he was spinning anymore.

When no one had anything to say, he continued, “We'll lie low the way they want us to for now. This is good.” He nodded his head, slowly convincing himself. “This gives us more time.”

“More time for what? We've hit a dead end,” Rhyse complained.

“We can dig more into the Grangers for starters,” he said, looking to me for extra encouragement.

“How are we supposed to do that? Tabitha isn’t exactly our biggest fan and we’ve learned the hard way that the crazy librarian isn’t on our side.” Enzo sighed in defeat. His eyebrows were practically sitting in his hairline.

Lux’s eyes swung back to mine knowingly. “Remy has an in.”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“What are you talking about?” Enzo flicked his gaze between us, confused.

“Storie Graves. She’s practically a part of their family now. She and Blaire are best friends and Remy has been spending all his free time with her,” Lux explained when I refused to answer.

An uneasy feeling formed in the pit of my stomach. It seemed as if I wasn’t the only one who had taken an interest in my Counter. What else did he know?

“Why is this the first we’re hearing of this?” Rhyse demanded, his fiery gaze burning into me accusingly.

“Because it wasn’t worth mentioning. It still isn’t. She’s not going to betray their trust after all they’ve done for her.” I knew as soon as the words left my mouth, they were a mistake.

“We’ve already talked about this. We need to be certain that we can all rely on each other one hundred percent,” Lux lectured. He apparently got some of his energy back because he stood from his spot on the ground and stepped closer toward me, his finger pointed in my face. “You’re the only one who has even the slightest chance of finding answers right now. You’re also the only one who appears to still have his gift intact.”

“Yeah, we need to trust that you’ll put us before everything else, same as we would for you,” Rhyse added.

When I let their words linger in the air between us for a beat too long, Enzo pressed further. “Can we trust you, Remy?”

Of course, they could trust me. That wasn’t the issue.

The problem was that I didn’t know if I could trust them when the truth came out and they discovered that I’ve been going against everything we’ve been taught as Quarters and hiding my Counter from them all this time to keep her alive.

To keep my own gift while watching theirs fade away.

Would they believe in the connection I shared with Storie if they’ve never felt anything like it themselves? Or would they think I was another force working against them and eliminate me altogether?

Their expectant stares had me answering, “Yes, you can trust me,” before the weight of those words could suffocate me.

“Okay, then you’ll get into that house and find out what she knows. The rest of us will stay under the radar until then. We’ll stay out of town the way we have been until this blows over or Remy finds something that can help us.” Lux clapped his hands together as if it were all figured out while Rhyse and Enzo nodded their support.

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