Page 58 of Siege of Shadows

“You’re right; you should talk to Natalya again. Also, like I said.” She set the staff against her shoulder. “Never let your guard down.”

The double doors opened, the loud creak reverberating through the gym.

“Oh great, it’s that guy.” Chae Rin rolled her eyes as Brendan walked through the doors. He had the same prim suit on, though he’d changed his tie to match his new dress shirt.

“Good morning, girls. Good to see you keeping yourselves fighting ready.”

I grimaced at the cheesiness, but Brendan didn’t seem to notice. He kept his hands behind his back while he strolled toward us with a good-natured smile. There weren’t any signs of last night’s vulnerability, no sign of the boy whose eyes had welled up at the sight of his little brother crying in front of him.

“Usually I wouldn’t come down here myself,” Brendan started.

“Look at that, we’re so blessed.” Chae Rin turned from him. “God, I miss Sibyl,” she added as she twisted her staff around and began to practice on her own.

Brendan coughed. “What I mean is, I’m here because I’d like to ask you something.”

“What’s up?” Lake grunted a bit as she let go of the rope and let herself drop from that great height, landing on the ground with a puff of air that blew up her training shorts. “Oh, no. Saul didn’t do anything, did he?” Scurrying up to him, she grabbed him by the arm. “Was there an attack? Do we have to fight? We don’t have to fight, do we?” She tugged at him childishly. “Please,please, no. I need a break. See? My skin is horrid, my eyes are sunken—it’s all the stress.”

Lake was starting to break out on her forehead, something I’d previously thought impossible with all the expensive skin-care products (one of which she endorsed) that she kept in our shared bathroom. But Brendan wasn’t looking at her forehead. He was looking at her gorgeous face. That is, before his eyes, for a shameful second, slid down to the T-shirt tied around her stomach.

“Uh,excuseme.” I leaned over and snapped my fingers.

Brendan jumped out of Lake’s grip so quickly his glasses slid down his nose. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Victoria—uh, everyone—no, Saul hasn’t attacked.” He gulped and inched away from her. Another fanboy. Perfect. “There’s something I need to ask one of you to do.”

“Get to it.” Belle folded her arms as Lake went to pick up her water bottle by the side of the wall.

Brendan twitched under the pressure of Belle’s intensity, but he kept his composure nonetheless. Impressive. “Blackwell is holding a black-tie fund-raiser this Thursday. Very exclusive. Nothing but the political elite.”

“That’s in three days,” I said.

“What’s he playing at, Blackwell?” Lake plucked off the cap of her water bottle. “I get that he’s the Council representative, but that stunt he pulled with the press was sketchy. Whether or not someone from the facility gave him false information like he said, don’t you think he’s creepy enough to warrant an interview?”

“Believe me, I’ve done so,” Brendan said. “He’s been interviewed thoroughly, along with the other agents in the facility. The process is clearly ongoing, but for right now Blackwell checks out. And the Council has already approved of his event.”

“Why?” I started to untie the rest of the bandages wrapped around my left arm. “What’s it for?”

“At the outset? Press. Key members of the Sect’s higher ranks will be seen with political leaders reaching out to victims of phantom attacks, donating to rebuild lives in places where the APDs aren’t always sufficient to protect them. That’s the overt purpose.”

“And the covert purpose?” Belle plunked her staff onto the mat, hooking her elbow around the wood. “What’s the Council planning?”

“Those key members of the Sect are going to be meeting with a few of the politicians that have been instrumental in fanning the flames against our operations—and against you.”

“Inviting your enemies over for tea. Playing nice for the cameras.” By the time Lake came back, she’d downed half the bottle. “Straight out of the diva playbook.”

“The Sect can be seen as trying to build bridges,” said Brendan. “While at the same time, they can exert their influence, make deals, do whatever they can to try to lessen the public and political heat on us right now. It’s political maneuvering, but doing so under the guise of charity softens the edge.”

“It’s risky, though,” Lake said. “I mean, you don’t want to look fake while you’re being fake. That’s the first rule of PR.”

“And it’s actually because of the PR that I’d like you to be there—not all of you, mind,” he said quickly because Chae Rin had already thrown her staff onto the matt. “You can’t be seen as shirking your duties. I’d like one of you to go while the rest complete missions. Just one. For extra security and for the optics.”

“Not it,” said Chae Rin, splitting the air with the swiftcrackof her staff.

“Me! I’ll go!” Lake waved her hand in the air enthusiastically. “I’m sick of being stuck in here anyway. Honestly, lately it’s like we’re either narrowly avoiding death or training up onhowto narrowly avoid death.”

“Sorry, but I think your image as a pop star might have the opposite effect,” Brendan explained. “We need the charity and the Sect by extension to look genuine.”

“What do you mean?” Lake pulled back. “You think I’m not genuine?”

Well,Icertainly couldn’t tell. Lake’s big doe eyes were a weapon when they were trained at the right target. Brendan was already squirming with guilt.

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