Page 18 of How to Entice a Fiend

“Why have I never heard about this?”

“Because if the council is good at one thing, it’s keeping secrets,” Orin says. “Ha, I shouldn’t badmouth the council with your involvement, now should I?”

“How long ago did this happen?”

“Oh… fifty years ago?”

“And did she do it on purpose? Or was this a situation where she was forced?”

“I don’t know about that. It was clearly a threat of some kind. They believe the bomb must have been placed inside of her before she healed so no one even realized what she was bringing into the room with her. It’s a shame. She was a very nice woman.”

I walk over to Rylee and kneel next to her. “Do you know why Ender hates the council?”

She pulls her face out of the cat’s fur long enough to say, “Because they’re evil. They’re practically villains. They were mean to Finn too! They tried killing him. They’re very evil.”

The door opens and I look over as Finn and Marcus walk in. Rylee gasps. “It’s Finn and the evil one!”

“Are you going to shout that every time you see Marcus now?” Finn asks.

She beams at him. “Maybe.”

“How did you get here?” Finn asks curiously.

“Look at my kitty!” Rylee says.

“I see that. He’s a pretty cute kitty,” Finn tells her before shifting his attention to me. “And how didyouend up here?”

“Finn… the kitty is the most important thing here,” Rylee demands.

Finn kneels down and pets the cat that is in absolute bliss. It evidently has suffered from a lack of pets and is now eager to acquire as many as possible. “Oh, you’re right. This definitely is the most important thing.” He scratches behind the cat’s ears as it purrs up a storm. “How’d you get here, Rylee?”

“Oh, it’s atale. En was like ‘Where do you want to go!’ and I was like ‘I want to go to Orin’s!’ and then En thought I meant I wanted tolivewith Orin and not him and then he was going to leave me, and I was super sad, but Orin was like ‘Let’s all stay here’ and then… whereisEn?” She pops up and looks around as if suddenly realizing that Ender isn’t involved in any part of this.

“He said he’d be right back,” I assure her.

She looks quite alarmed. “Is he going to leave me?”

Finn pats her head. “Of course he’s not going to leave you. He obviously loves you a lot,” he says as he eyes Orin. “I thought my father loved me a lot and would tell me if the man who chucked me off a bridge was staying in his house.”

Orin just hugs Finn and kisses the side of his head. “If I thought he was a threat to you at this moment, I never would have let him in. I promise.”

Finn doesn’t look convinced by any part of that.

I clear my throat. “I need to get going. I simply had to drop off the cat and will be on my way.”

“How did you know where to drop off the cat?” Finn asks.

Marcus glowers at me, and let’s just say, he’s quite good at it. Very menacing. “I generally don’t agree with Ender on anything, but you’re suspicious.”

I laugh because what else am I supposed to do? Agree with him?

“I guess Ender still had Claude’s phone and they could track it,” Orin says.

“What the heck? And you didn’t tell me he’s here? See if I ever force Marcus to go Christmas caroling with you again,” Finn grumbles. I can’t quite tell whether he likes Ender or not… and I also can’t quite tell whether he trusts me or not. How fun!

“I bet that was delightful to watch Marcus carol!” I say. “Do you have a video of that?”

The look Marcus gives me indicates that he would rather maim me than let me see it if there is one.

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