Page 39 of Wings and Shadowthief

“You should stop flirting with me. It’s not going to work again.” She wasn’t sure whether she was telling herself or him.

“I’m not flirting. I’m being honest. You know I care about you.”

Did she?

“You don’t know me, Jack.”

“I’d like to, if you’ll let me.”

She couldn’t even begin to sort out her feelings. Mistrust, hope, excitement, and residual anger.

Before she found a word to say, Mikar called Jack to review the details of their plan.

It was simple enough in theory. A small group of them were to fly to Italy in one of the Stormhale jets—apparently, the head of the family had one at their disposal. There was nothing untoward in Seth bringing his sister and a few of her friends along. If Aveka’s spies were watching, they wouldn’t see anything noteworthy. Seth was to travel in his usual way, wearing a tracker, so that the rest of them could follow.

The island was filled with drunken guests; so long as they wore party clothes and acted like the rest of them, they wouldn’t get noticed. Seth was to locate Aveka, and once the rest of them zeroed in on her, they’d kill her. Then, when all hell broke loose, they had to meet again at a portal so that Gwen—who was supposed to remain on the boat—could bring them back to this world.

A simple plan, but Gwen counted far too many ways it could get wrong.

Mikar was without doubt the most seasoned warrior in the room. Gwen would have felt better if Levi had been part of the planning, but there was no way Levi would hide something like this from his mate—and Chloe wouldn’t stay out of it.

They could do this. Jack was a huntsman—killing psychos was his literal job description. The rest of them were powerful. The war that had started last year, that had killed some of their friends and threatened all of them, could end in a few days.

She still hated it, because no matter how many times she ran through their plan in her mind, she couldn’t see a way to guarantee everyone’s safety.

Fairy Godmother

Gwen didn’t leave the hill until dinnertime; she ate at the cafeteria and returned to the dorm. For lack of better things to do, she decided to catch up on the work she’d missed during the day, skillfully avoiding answering Chloe’s pointed questions. It was only natural that their friend had been suspicious, when she, Blair, Cat, and Bash had been missing all day.

Gwen hated lying in general, and to Chloe in particular. But she had to admit Seth had a point. The success of their plan depended on their ability to remain discreet, and if there was one thing Chloe Eirikrson wasn’t, it was that.

Velvet was a good excuse, though Chloe was put out that no one had deigned to inform her about the kitten’s existence earlier.

Back in her space, she worked on catching up with her daily classes. Some of the teachers uploaded videos or summaries of the lessons online.

A knock on her door pulled her out of the thermodynamic gibberish threatening to split her head open. She frowned, unused to being disrupted here.

She’d been ambivalent about being moved to the wing reserved for dangerous creatures at first, but after getting used to considering herself one of those, she had to admit she loved the perks. Not only was she spared the likes of Michelle as a roommate, but she was also blessed with quiet, space, and silence—a luxury few students could boast of.

Glancing at the time displayed on her computer, she wondered who would disrupt her at this time, in this place. There were fewer than two dozen students housed around her. “Come in.”

The door opened to reveal Tris. Only Tris didn’t quite look like herself. Or maybe she looked more like herself than she ever had? It was hard to decide.

She’d chopped off all her hair, leaving less than an inch on top. She wore huntsmen gear, as usual, except she’d changed the size or the shape of her uniform, opting for looser clothes. Only her signature boots remained the same.

Gwen jumped to her feet and rushed to her friend. “You didn’t tell me you were coming back, you moron!” They’d chatted just that morning.

She hugged her tight, surprised by just how much she’d missed her.

Tris was supposed to have been gone for just a few days, but it had stretched into weeks, then months. Gwen hadn’t pushed or asked why, knowing her friend would share if and when she felt like it. She knew that, not unlike herself, Tris had issues with her family. If she’d felt like she should spend some time with them to clear them up, good on her.

“I didn’t plan to yet, but my cousin said he wanted me in on a mission. I was about to pop in to see him when I remembered you moved here. We’re room neighbors!”

Gwen grinned; she’d had the choice of several vacant rooms and had purposely picked the one opposite Tris.

“You bet. It’ll be a lot easier to pop by and raid your wardrobe now.”

Gwen’s clothes ranged across a spectrum of boring. It wasn’t that she didn’t have a style; she just didn’t have enough money to buy the pretty clothes she liked, so she stuck to the basics—good jeans, sweaters and T-shirts in four basic colors to make her laundry simpler.

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