Page 92 of Rise of the Melody
I chewed my lip. Zar and I both wanted the truth and finding it would put us both in the radar of the Synod. Only, I didn’t think Zar would be willing to put himself out there. He’d remained hidden since he came through that gate back to Earth for a reason. Was I willing to expose him to get the answers?
I flopped back down and sighed, slinging an arm over my eyes. I was so tired of moral dilemmas. I probably wouldn’t be sleeping tonight.
Chapter28
Be Ready
Iwas woken with a text from Mayor MacCray to meet at his house at nine. I groaned. That was only half an hour from now. If I was going to bike there, I needed to leave in ten minutes. My head hurt a little from weird dreams all night and restless sleep. I petted CooShee, who also begrudgingly woke, grumbling before he stretched and jumped down.
I let him out—not that he needed my help—and quickly got ready. I could have really used a hot tea but there was no time. I swiped on red lipstick and kohl around my eyes, then piled my black hair on top of my head. I hadn’t gotten any text updates from my friend thread last night, so I was anxious to get to Teague’s and find out what they knew. My stomach tightened thinking about Chrystamos being hurt.
The whole foggy ride to the MacCray’s, I thought about the kelpie. Remembering its razor teeth and giant form had me so freaked out that I kept looking over my shoulder at the empty road, barely able to see ten feet in any direction. With the cuff on, I’d be nothing but another victim. CooShee, on the other hand, trotted along beside me without a worry in the world. Must have been nice.
Relief washed over me as I got to their street, the gates in sight. It opened as I pulled up, as if Bryant had someone watching on the video surveillance. I parked my bike at the bottom of the porch and was let in by a leering Stevens. To my surprise, CooShee sat on the porch looking out, not wanting to come in.
Teague was waiting in the sitting room and stood to hug me. He was warm and smelled fresh. His uncle wasn’t there, so I let him hold me a few extra beats before pulling back.
“You okay?” he asked, looking down at my face.
I nodded. “I’m fine. Are you okay? Have you heard anything about Chrys?”
“Yeah, he’s stable. His dad called about an hour ago and said he was going to be okay.”
I let out a huge breath. “Thank God.”
“Want some tea?” He motioned to the pretty pot and matching cups on the small table and I lit up.
“Thank you.”
Teague poured it for me, which I thought was really cute—the small pot in his big hand. I added cream and sugar and sat back, closing my eyes after I took a sip. Voices came from the foyer and looked to see Clare, Shani, and Nora. I set down my cup and quickly stood to hug each of them.
“How’s Chrys?” I asked Shani. “Teague says he’s okay, but is he talking and stuff?”
She rolled her eyes. “He’s well enough to brag about how he took a chunk out of the kelpie’s neck, completely ignoring the fact that it slung him off with barely any effort and almost killed him.”
I winced at the memory. “But no lasting damage?”
“We stabilized all of his injuries,” she said. “Thankfully shifters heal quickly. He was crying out all night in his cat form until he was healed enough to shift back. I had to wear my noise cancelling headphones to sleep.”
“Poor baby!” Clare exclaimed, making Shani roll her eyes.
I snorted but straightened when Bryant MacCray bustled in wearing a suit. Did he ever dress down?
“Oh, good,” he said. “You’re all here. Sit.” We barely found seats before he went on. “Tell me everything that happened. Every detail from the beginning.”
The mayor sat at the edge of a mauve velvet wingback chair, his elbows leaned on his knees, listening intently as Teague began. He started with us sitting outside the coffee shop, and how the ‘strange man’ had been lingering. The hairs went up all over my body as I recalled it all, especially Clare’s scream. Clare’s face went pink when Mayor MacCray gave her a nod of appreciation at her power being used.
Teague got all the way through the story, and when he told his uncle about the eagle, Nora piped up.
“Yeah, what was up with that huge bird?”
All at once everyone murmured their agreement. I’d been asking myself that same question since I got to Shehan.
“It must have had a nest nearby that it was protecting,” Teague guessed.
Shani said to him, “I can’t believe how much power you threw at that road.”
He tilted his head like he was being humble, but his pride showed. I bit my lip, not wanting to admit that I had helped. If Bryant MacCray knew my magic was getting through this cuff, he’d put me in a full ammolite body cast.
