I followed her into the basement where the rest of our group, along with Mateo, Dana, and both babies had gathered. Bern stayed outside and once I appeared, Lao joined her. They would watch for anything suspicious while the rest of us talked.
Tess started, repeating what she had told me about the safe camp's plans. When Padia's name came up, Kale jumped in to explain who she was.
As Tess got to the part of her story where she said Cleo had been captured, all eyes turned to Bubbe.
She held out her hands. 'My daughter, she will prevail.' And that was it. The old priestess seemed more worried with watching how Mateo held his son than with whether Cleo would survive being captured by the tribe.
I took this as a good sign.
'Zery wants us to close the shop-all of our businesses.' Mel had stood against the wall most of the conversation, only now stepping closer. Dana, sitting cross-legged on the floor and holding Pisto, looked up, her interest clear.
'For how long? We have a class tomorrow.' She glanced at Mel. 'Mateo has been filling in for Cleo.'
I stared at a dot on the wall for the count of three. Artemis forbid the mommy half of her 'mommy and me' class missed a few situps.
'I think that is wise.' Bubbe, agreeing with me again.
I looked at the old priestess, wondering why exactly she and Mel didn't get along better.
Dana started to object, but Bubbe stood her ground. 'This is not human business, not what has happened here recently. We do not have the right to pull them into it, to risk they be hurt.' She looked at me then, her gaze old, heavy, and judging.
I glanced at Mel. She raised an unsympathetic brow.
'What about the babies?' Tess, her voice meek, glanced around the group. 'Shouldn't we get them somewhere else? Take them somewhere safe?'
It was a good point, one I hadn't thought of before. I looked at Mateo. 'She's right. You and Dana need to leave with the babies while things are still calm.'
'Except. . ' Tess held up her hand like she was in some human schoolroom.
I acknowledged her with a stare.
'Padia. . she mentioned him. . ' Tess shifted her attention to Mateo, then back at me.'. . had a description. The camp will be looking for him, know he has the baby.'
Mateo stood. He looked strange, so tall and long limbed, holding a tiny infant pressed to his shoulder. 'I am also the most qualified to protect my son.'
'Avoiding the enemy is the best protection. Would you risk him being attacked because your pride said to stay with him?' If the tribe knew of Mateo and were looking for him, separating him and Andres made the most sense.
The bird son snapped his lips together. I could tell he didn't like my answer but also saw the wisdom in what I said.
'Who wouldn't they be looking for?' I asked, glancing around the room.
Tess raised her hand again. 'Who would you least suspect?'
Hearth-keepers, the most likely of any of the talent groups to be entrusted with the care of a child, but the least likely to be given something others would kill for. And Andres wasn't a child to these Amazons, he was something to kill and kill for.
Thea would never expect me to send him with unaccompanied hearth-keepers. She wouldn't be watching for them; she'd be watching for me or Mateo.
Maybe not the perfect plan, but the best we had.
We sent Dana and Tess off in one of Mel's cars. No one at the safe camp, or Padia had seen the vehicle. Dana, like Mel, had a cell phone so we would be able to contact them when everything was over.
With them gone, the rest of us got ready for battle.
Mel closed her shop, telling her office manager a family emergency had come up and asking her to call the shop's clients to reschedule-from home.
With the shop empty and no fitness or fortune-telling customers on the property, we got to work.
Bubbe and Mel set wards. If anything bigger than a seagull entered Mel's property, they would know it. The person or animal wouldn't, however, know that we knew. Sitting in the middle of a city like Madison, we couldn't just zap trespassers. Which meant no deadly force-Mel insisted and I let her win.
I doubted she would have set the wards I wanted anyway, making my arguments rather pointless.
We set up watch and central command in the gym. But knowing the basement or living quarters of the main shop was where they would expect to find the baby, Jack and I hid there. I took the basement, Cleo's workout room. Jack took the living quarters, Mel's bedroom.
Then we waited.
I have never been good at waiting. Playing sentry is an important part of warrior training but not one I'd excelled at. . but, then, queens didn't have to be good at waiting and guarding; our role was usually more active. Pursue and defeat, that was my preference.
After three hours I was battling myself to keep from climbing the walls. I'd given up on just sitting, waiting, and listening, and allowed myself the luxury of lifting the occasional silent weight as I paced.
At four hours, I began to wonder if somehow I'd missed something, if there might be a battle raging or one already raged, that hidden in the basement, I'd somehow missed. Bubbe's and Mel's wards were supposed to notify me. I wasn't sure how that notification was to come, but I hadn't felt so much as a twinge or seen anything that could be taken as a message.
At five hours, I crept out of the room and up the stairs. First I checked the front doors. There was no sign of anyone, friend or foe, on the front lawn, which meant either my group was staying hidden as ordered or they'd all been killed and toted off while I paced alone in the basement.
I kept going, past the shop level to the upstairs where Mel lived and Jack was supposed to be waiting too.
I checked the kitchen and living room as I walked past. . empty. I didn't open the rooms with doors, not until I came to Mel's.
The door wasn't latched; I pushed it open with my foot. The room was small and sparsely decorated-just a few childhood scribbles of Harmony's taped to the walls, a staff hanging over the bed, and a bag that I guessed contained either priestess or artisan tools hanging from a peg behind the door. The room had a second door too, one that led to the fire escape. It was open.
I cursed softly, sure now that I'd missed something.
I grabbed Mel's staff, hoping I'd find someone on my side who could still use it.
Then I stepped out into the noon sun and was blinded by the flash of steel.
My practice with Jack, fresh in my mind and my instincts, I ducked and kicked. My foot found its target; I was rewarded with a grunt. I grabbed blindly for the head I knew would be low now and pulled it toward my stomach. Then, falling backward, I used my leg to catapult my attacker up and over the low railing of the fire escape.
Back on my feet, I prepared to jump down on the body lying on the ground below. . the male body. . Jack.
Mateo stepped from behind a tree, looked down at the son I'd just thrown two stories, then up at me.
With a curse, I vaulted over the railing, landing on the ground beside them in a crouch.
'Now you see the benefits of wings over teeth.' The bird son nudged Jack with his boot.
Jack rolled over, blood streamed from one nostril. He touched two fingers to his nose and groaned. 'Again,' he muttered.
I held my breath of relief, then covered my reaction by prodding him with the staff. 'I didn't cheat this time.'
He grunted.
Feeling generous, I looked away, leaving him to get back to a stand-alone, unobserved and with at least a pretense of dignity.
I addressed Mateo. 'What have you seen?'
'
