Page 63 of Flock Around and Find Out

I glanced over at Galen, who stared into the fire instead of at me. I wondered what went through his head, what he thought about that made him that serious.

After so long feeling like we were close, like we had so much in common, there was this strange distance between us now. I could tell he had something on his mind, but he didn’t tell me what it was.

Sure, he’d never been the kind to complain much, but he’d never had something bother him this much, either.

Maybe it was just stress over what was to come, over how difficult the job was really going to be.

Whatever it was, no matter how much I wanted to make it all better, I knew I couldn’t. This wasn’t a problem I could fix for him, but fuck, I just hoped we could fix it at all.

* * * *

“Absolutely not.” Kelvin sat up straight in his chair, his eyes already edging toward red. Funny how difficult he was to read at the best of times, but right now?

Right now it wasn’t hard to figure out what exactly he had on his mind.

It came tumbling out from his mouth, after all.

“It’s not that bad.”

“Not that bad? You’re telling me you plan to go to some dangerous other realm to work out the doggy problem? Like hell I’m going to just allow that.”

My crow bristled at those words, as though he had any say over anything I did.

I kept that in because it would only send us all down a bad path and the one we were on wasn’t great to start with.

We were all in the council meeting room—though, as usual, Harrison had sent a representative in his stead, one who never fucking said a thing. They just sat there, listened, and abstained from any votes when they came up.

Galen had gathered the meeting because if we didn’t do something, the issue with the Weres could result in even larger casualties. We had two weeks before the next full moon, which meant we had time to plan.

“I’m going to have to agree with Kelvin,” Ruben said, his tone more controlled. “This is a problem that affects the entire Spirit world. We aren’t talking about a few Spirits becoming dangerous—we’re talking about of clan of millions. The repercussions are too great to just send the two of you.”

“This isn’t a field trip,” Galen snarled. “Weres have done this ritual for a long time all on our own.”

“Yes, and back then, it worked. We have no idea if what you expect to find, if what they used to find, is what is there anymore. What if the problem requires more than just a wolf and a crow?” Ruben pointed out.

Even as he spoke what seemed like entirely reasonable words on the surface, I couldn’t fail to notice the way his gaze moved to me between the statements. I had a feeling that all that logical sense he was spewing was onlypartof the reason he didn’t want us going alone.

“It could be dangerous,” I pointed out.

“It will be,” Porter interrupted, the first time he’d spoken since Galen had told the council our plan. “That place is extremely dangerous normally. With what is happening now, there is no way to say it won’t be worse. Many Natures have died there, even very strong ones.”

“You are not helping,” I muttered, not surprised when he didn’t appear all that chastised over it.

“This has to get done. The dangers don’t matter,” Galen finally said, his voice holding a tinge of despair.

“The dangers would be mitigated if we worked together. I suggest each clan sends a representative to go with you for protection. This has to succeed—for all our goods. The damage the Weres would do if they went mad, the power vacuum if they disappeared, it can’t be allowed to happen. Besides, from what Porter found, it is possible this sickness could infect wildlife or even other clans. Choose someone capable, strong and loyal. Have them meet Galen at the designated place the night of the full moon,” Ruben said.

No one spoke, not to argue, because who could? We all understood what could happen if the Weres truly went mad. They were extremely powerful and with so many of them around, it was a disaster waiting to happen. In fact, they could end up turning far too many humans on top of every other risk.

This might have started out as a Were problem, but it was clearly an all of us problem, now, and we were going to have to work it out together.

The rest of the meeting went quickly. The other problems seemed so petty in comparison, with most of the little complaints and treaties set aside until after the full moon.

It was like worrying about paying a speeding ticket as a comet sailed toward Earth.

Not our biggest problem.

I went to follow Galen as we all rose, but when I reached his side, he shook his head, not looking at me. “I’m going home alone.”

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