Page 70 of How to Entice a Fiend

“Possibly,” Mads says. “It’s not you, Finn. You are just the sweetest. It’s that I don’t quite… trust you.”

“So itisme?”

“Well, not you exactly. But you’re almost too nice. Like maybe you’re secretly evil. That’d be hilarious if you ended up being the bad guy!”

“So funny,” I deadpan. “Ender trusts me and you seem to trust Ender.”

“That’s true,” Mads realizes.

I sigh when neither of them apparently feels like giving up anything. “Alright, let’s first worry about getting you on your way home, and then you better start talking.”

Just as we’re nearing our car, I notice Arrington heading our way. I see him glance at Vivian before rushing over.

“I’m going to hand you off to Alexei, who will get you started on things,” I say as I pass the phone over. Alexei gets into the car as Arrington gets close enough to talk.

“Hey… I just… when we were walking up, I overheard one of you asking why Mads was turned. It said in his files that it was council approved, but oddly… there seemed to only be one council member who approved it, which was Vivian. Strangely… Mads keeps ending up places that I’m not quite sure he’s qualified to be as someone who hasn’t been in the council for long. I’m not saying Vivian might know anything, but… just thought I’d mention that. Vivian was adamant that I didn’t need to come, even though foreign relations is my specialty. I have contacts all over the world, so I should be able to help if I can. Did Mads’s phone get left behind in his hotel room?”

“It did,” I say.

“Was there a lot of contact exclusively with Vivian?” he asks. “It’s okay, you don’t have to answer that. I’m just stating that there’s a possibility that Vivian knows something and that’s why she insisted on coming. Maybe his contacts will lead you somewhere.”

“Thank you.”

Arrington is busy looking in the direction where Vivian is standing. “Oh! You’re very welcome. I have to go. If there are any names you don’t know and you need to run them by someone, let me know. I’m not close with Harris, but there are a few other attendant-level council members here in the US that I speak to regularly that might even know something about it.”

“Great, can you get me a number to contact you?” I ask.

“Of course. You have your phone?”

“I’m ready,” Marcus says as he pulls out his and types the number in. Once he’s finished, Arrington gives us a nod before rushing back to Vivian.

The rest of us get in our vehicles and drive back to Orin’s. Once there, we head inside to where River is sitting with Rylee.

“Did you find him? Please? Please?” Rylee asks, like begging will bring him back.

I kneel down and call back the number that’d called me as she squeezes her cat to her. I’m beginning to question if the cat is even real at this point. He’s like a rag doll for her to carry around as he lies in her arms in absolute bliss. Has he succumbed to the idea that allowing this child to carry him endlessly is significantly better than his life on the streets and he will do nothing to offend her? “Does he ever get tired of purring?” I ask as the phone rings.

“Nope! It’s his favorite pass time,” she says.

“It’s pastime,” Ender corrects. “Not pass time.”

Rylee freezes like she doesn’t even know how to compute what’s just happened. Then her hand reaches out for the phone like it’s a mystical item from a far-off land.

“En… is that you?”

“Are you being difficult for them?” he asks.

“I thought you left and were never coming back and I’m sorry I was bad and didn’t listen and please don’t leave me I love you so much.”

“Rylee, I’m not leaving you,” Ender says, his voice sounding so soft. I have to wonder if he realizes he’s on speaker for all of us to hear, and if it’d bother him knowing that he sounds so different when talking to her. “I didn’t mean to go away. I messed up and some bad guys dragged me off, but I’m headed back now.”

“You better be.”

“I very much am. I’ll be home before you know it.”

“I was convinced you were gone forever. I was so sad that Finn even let me play with his robot leg.”

“That was nice of him.”

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