Page 519 of Shadowblood Souls
There’s no outright aggression in their moods—or what I can read of their stances. They’re more uncertain than hostile. But most of them still appear to see us as a potential threat, something to monitor.
They don’t trust us. They just trust their boss enough to tolerate his involvement in our lives.
And maybe it’s also that they realize they’re better off bringing the rest of the shadowbloods over to their side than letting Balthazar run wild with his new creations.
I could nudge them toward feeling happier about our presence. Send waves of calm or friendliness through theirminds. But I’ve only worked my powers on a shadowkind being once before, and then I didn’t have time to be subtle about it. I don’t know what my limitations might be, how big a push would be necessary and when it’d be going too far.
Or how easily they might notice my interference. They definitely won’t trust us if they realize one of us has attempted to manipulate their emotions.
I suppress a grimace of my own. That’s really all I’m good for in this war we’ve found ourselves in: intruding on people’s minds, bending their perceptions of their desires and fears.
I’ve helped in other ways. I’ve used my talent to remind Riva of her convictions, to reassure Jacob of the love they share.
But when the people I care about are emotionally healthy, I can’t contribute anything other than messing up that carefully won balance. Almost every time Ihaveused my powers on them, it was to serve people I should have realized were our enemies.
The pang of guilt comes with another jolt of conditioned pain. I gird myself as Riva points to a specific spot on the map. “Right here. In or near Kairouan.”
Rollick is already bringing up a city map on the tablet he had ready. He adjusts it so it includes some of the surrounding area and then glances at me. “We can simply keep zooming in as we go, I assume?”
I shake off my pensive thoughts. “Yes. If you follow her directions quickly enough, she won’t even need to refocus, just kind of chase after her sense of him deeper into the map.”
Riva’s eyes have brightened with renewed confidence after her first two successes. She taps on the northern part of the city, and then in the middle of the zoomed-in area Rollick offers.
There, she hesitates, a frown crossing her face. “It feels like… he’s moving. Like when I try to narrow in on his location, it shifts before I can totally lock on.”
Dominic comes up beside her to study the map. “Every inch on that screen is still about a mile. Even a car wouldn’t be moving that fast.”
I have to speak up, even though the reason I know this makes me even more ashamed. “An aircraft would. A plane… or a helicopter.”
I once tracked my friends as they approached one of the facilities by helicopter, hoping to sneak up on the guardians by coming from multiple directions. It only took a few minutes for me to see how the two flight paths were converging.
Riva mutters a curse. “He’s in the middle of going someplace else, then. We don’t even know for sure if he started that flight in Tunisia.”
“Which direction is he headed in now?” Rollick asks.
She refocuses on the map and moves her finger in a slow, halting line. “Northeast, it seems like.”
Toni approaches to consider the larger map, her expression still tight. “He does have holdings in Egypt and in South Africa. Egypt would have been closer, but…” She shrugs to indicate she has no definite information on where Balthazar would have gone when he fled.
“All right.” Rollick turns off the tablet and tucks it under his arm. “I can send a few of my companions to chat with the local shadowkind near the portals in Tunisia and see if any of them have noticed unusual activity. And we’ll check on your would-be world conqueror’s location again in a few hours.”
Zian rolls his shoulders with an impatient air. “What should we do until then?”
Riva’s head comes back up with a flash of hope across her face. “I knew a few of the younger shadowbloods pretty well. Maybe I can tracktheirlocations. We’ll want to know where they are so we can get them out—and that’ll give us some idea which of Balthazar’s properties he’s using to hold people like us.”
“That seems worth a shot.” Rollick goes to retrieve the large world map so they can start over from scratch. “You seem confident enough now—and I hope my colleagues have all indulged their curiosity in this process.”
The demon shoots a pointed look at the gathered shadowkind, a few of whom duck their heads and waver back into the shadows. Then he gestures to Toni. “You should stay, since you’re familiar with your former employer’s haunts. Maybe the rest of our shadowbloods can make themselves useful too. Sorsha, why don’t you take them to the atrium and start sorting out potential strategies once we’ve figured out where to hit this megalomaniac.”
The red-haired woman chuckles and motions for everyone else to follow her. I pause to give Riva’s arm a quick squeeze. “You’ve got this, Moonbeam.”
The smile she aims at me in return is almost enough to make up for the fact that there isn’t anything else I can offer her. I drift after the other guys reluctantly.
The atrium is a square of garden inside the mansion’s sprawling walls, open to the outside with no roof overhead. Sweet fragrances drift off the flowering bushes along one wall.
More shadowkind pop into being as Sorsha turns to face us with a decisive clap of her hands. “All right. First things first—what can each of you contribute in a fight?”
My smile turns tight again, but I only have one answer to give. “I can confuse their emotions. Send them into a panic or lull them complacent. Whatever works best for the plan.”
