Page 18 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

“I was just trying to find the bathroom,” I said, trying to force a blush to my cheeks as I subtly let go of the can and pulled out one of the tampons I’d shoved into my apron. “I’m kind of in a hurry.”

The woman’s expression changed entirely, and I cringed at using the girl code like this, but I had to do what I had to do to make sure the mission went off correctly. Besides, if abusing girlcode meant that a lot of shifters and magic users didn’t end up trafficked to who knew where, I considered it worth it.

“I warned them that not having any menstrual disposal in the staff restroom by the kitchen would bite them in the ass. Don’t tell anyone, but I’ll show you my favorite bathroom to use when I know I’m going to be a while.”

Yep, definitely abusing girl code, but I wasn’t going to stop her. I nodded eagerly, and she took me down another hall, then through a mini library, before we reached a dead end.

“If you go gabbing about this, I will make sure you are removed immediately,” the woman said sternly before gripping the frame of giant painting hanging on the flat wall. She pulled it, and it opened to reveal a polished, cherry-wood door. I couldn’t do anything but gape at it. It was like something out of a movie.

“There you are. Make sure to close it when you’re done. And if you leave a mark, I’ll know who it was.”

“Understood. Thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it. Us girls gotta stick together. And I wouldn’t want you to have to try to move through some of the party areas to get to one of the other bathrooms.”

Although she said it politely, I couldn’t help but wonderwhyshe wouldn’t want that. Certainly it couldn’t have anything to do with the awful caliber of guests that were going to be there.

Thankfully, the woman left quickly after that, and I went into the bathroom so I wouldn’t ruin my cover. I lingered there for a moment, catching my breath and staying out of sight. I was in a situation that was far more high stakes than one would ever expect of me, a college dropout with social anxiety, but I felt like I was doing really great. Who knew, maybe I’d missed my calling in life. It was too bad no one had ever mentioned being a spy on career day.

Hopefully, the woman wouldn’t check the wastebin after I left. Otherwise, she would probably be curious as to why therewas no dirty tampon in there. Maybe I could convince her I was starting my period a day early, but still, I had to cross my fingers and hope she wouldn’t be that meticulous.

When an appropriate amount of time had passed, I slipped out of the bathroom and went back to work. I was fortunate enough that no one seemed to have noticed I was gone, and I got back to the little tasks I needed to do until it was time for the grand event.

Normally, people were usually either set up back of house or front of house, and that was that, but the mindwalker had worked her magic to make sure I would be able to help with setup on both, which gave me time to scout and work back of house during the event so I could be in the proper position once things happened.

As scary as it was to be the only human on our side, I wasn’t completely alone. I had two allies who were on the campus with me. One being the young eagle shifter who was hiding somewhere in the trees toward the edge of her field of vision. Although America was furious that her adopted teenage niece had gone off on her own, she had allowed her to play an auxiliary role. Her only task was to fly off and sound the alarm if something went south early, but it was still a comfort to have her there.

My other ally was a guy named Chris, who Miranda had contacted. I didn’t know whether they were family, but they obviously had a connection. I had been surprised when I heard he was a wolf shifter and would be helping out with the setup, but then Leo explained what a latent shifter was and how it made the man a perfect teammate to help set up with me.

Apparently, some shifters never got their animal form. I didn’t really understand it—how could one be a shifter if they couldn’t shift?—but essentially he smelled so much like a human and had no shifter tells that he was the perfect addition to ourforward team. I was grateful to have him, but it was yet another thing that reminded me I had so much to learn about the world I had fallen into.

I wished I could say that the rest of the afternoon passed quickly, but it didn’t. While there was relatively little downtime, having the constant threat of being caught along with the ever-present worry that our plan wouldn’t work made the minutes stretch out pretty painfully. I believed in our plan, I really did. Leo, Ricky, and I had put it together with America, all of her connections, Jason, Miranda, and pretty much everyone else in our little ragtag community. Surely with all of our skills and experience combined we had come up with something that would work.

Then again, the biggest reason we were getting away with it was because we were so completely under the radar, but that could only last for so long. Maybe Chadwicke could be considered an unfortunate and unpredictable tragedy, but once we killed another brother, it would be far more obvious that someone was taking direct action against their family. I didn’t know what we were going to do once that happened, but we’d cross that bridge if we survived the gala and the auction. And I sincerely hoped we did. Not just for us, but also for all of the magical folks who were currently depending on us.

Finally, after what truly seemed like an eon, the music began to gently play from the main area of the party, and guests started to arrive. I wasn’t in a position where I could see them, but that was okay. That wasn’t my job. My job was to begin phase one of the active part of our plan.

First, I switched out a couple of the normal mounted heaters with the special ones I’d stashed underneath a counter. Those were filled with a scent suppressing oil that would diffuse as it heated. I didn’t quite understand what scent blockers, scent spray, or scent-suppressing oil were, but I understood enoughto know they would help prevent the enthralled shifters or even turncoats on staff to smell the rest of my team as they came ever closer. And I knew my other feet on the ground were lighting the scent-blocking candles we’d peppered throughout the decorations.

It wasn’t like the candles and oils would magically make all my friends odorless, but according to Leo, some shifters could scent an enemy at a truly mind-boggling distance. Far enough that they’d never be able to get close to the manor without everyone already being on high alert. Obviously, we didn’t want that, so hopefully our little trick would allow us to set up for the attack.

Needless to say, I was nervous about that. I’d thought we’d strike during the auction, but during the planning phase, America’s father and several other people had pointed out that it would put the enthralled captives at risk of getting hurt. So, we would strike at the party before the auction could even happen. The less battle-hardened of our group would get the prisoners out, hopefully without encountering any direct danger. It was unlikely that everything would go according to plan, so we were all ready to improvise if necessary, but still, I had faith. I had to.

When the music nearly doubled in volume and I heard an egotistical voice boom over the speakers, I knew it was time for step number two: opening a couple very specific doors to let my friends in. These were doors that were traversed so often I wasn’t able to do any noticeable sabotage on them earlier, so it required an in-person visit. My counterpart, Chris, had the eastern wing while I had the western. Unfortunately, we had no way to keep in contact with each other, so all I could do was hope he was doing his part.

Moving like I belonged there, I hurried to the first of my targets and inched it open. Six pairs of eyes glowed in the dark, all rapidly approaching. There should have been guardsaround here, but the text I’d sent on my break must have been informative enough, because I couldn’t see any opposition between me and the luminescent gazes rushing toward me.

I wished I had time to greet them, but I didn’t. Instead, I rushed to the other servants’ entrance toward the back of the house. It faced a hedge maze, which was really ill-advised considering how much of a security risk it was.

When I opened the door, I instantly recognized one of the dark forms racing toward me. I stood to the side, not sure if he would take the time to greet me, but as soon as he was close enough, Leo shifted into his human form.

“Are you all right?” he asked, worry lacing his tone. I didn’t blame him for being concerned—this was a dangerous situation—and I certainly didn’t take it as him commenting on my ability to do what was needed. I looped my arms around his shoulders and risked giving him a quick peck.

“I’m fine.” I was being as honest as I could in the moment. Would I rather be in my garden, growing food and feeding my friends? Of course. But seeing as we were in the middle of enemy territory, about to perform one hell of an ambush against possibly the evilest people I would ever meet, I was doing far better than I’d expected. If only my aunt could see how I was doing now. It turned out the useless little girl who had killed her mother had some skills going for her.

“All right, you and Chris head out now. Esperanza is waiting in the weeping willow on the southern edge of the estate. She’ll show you a safe path home.”

I nodded. I wanted to linger, to stay, but there was far too much to do. So, after giving him one last kiss on the cheek, I hurried to the last door. This time, once all the shifters were in, I hurried out into the darkness. While I couldn’t see as well as they could in the dark, I had already memorized the exit path I was supposed to take. I had done my part. Now it was time to getout of the way and let the shifters do theirs—even though I really wanted to stay.

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