“Fight?” they said in unison. Rob added, “What fight?”
“Montana, you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you? I mean, it’s crazy, and I love your crazy, but this is nuts. There’s already some wacko calling themselves Sentry rumored to have started an uprising. Alec mutters about it day in and day out.”
“They even have us patrolling for members of the resistance. Enemy elementals, that’s what they’re calling anyone caught supporting Sentry.” Rob picked at the moss on the stone as he frowned.
I chewed on the inside of my lip, debating how to break the news. Not seeing any way to ease into it, I just blurted out, “Sentry isn’t one person. The Order of the Sentry is the resistance, and I’m the wacko leading the uprising.”
“That is so hot.” Clay waggled his eyebrows. “You’re a criminal. Criminals are hot.”
“Reed, are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
I had no idea what I was doing, but I was doing a pretty decent job faking my way through it in the hopes it’d come to me. “Like I said, I have an entire coven of witches behind me. We need more members. That’s why I’m here. I came to talk to Cressida. She had to have gotten word out to other elementals back in her time. I need to know how she did it.”
“Shit, Montana. I could have saved you the trip.” Clay lifted my hand and brushed his lips across my knuckles. “Not that I’m complaining about seeing those hypnotic hazels, baby.”
And I could get lost in those endless emerald pools, but I had to stay focused. “Tell me what you know.”
“They used code, of course. In letters, mostly. You ever heard of the Silence Dogood letters? Ben Franklin used that pen name to publish letters he couldn’t get published under his own name. They were nonsense, total code.”
“Bro, you’re thinking of that movie we watched the other night where they find the cypher on the back of the Declaration of Independence.”
He shook his head, knocking some of his playful brown hair into his eyes. He did his classic Bieber flip to move it back off his face. “I’m serious. My uncle is all about historical conspiracies and shit. He’s bent my ear about this one for years and says Benny boy copied it from an elemental accused of being a witch that fled Salem thirty years before the Silence Dogood letters were even published. Where do you think Franklin got the idea?”
“Not possible, dude. You’re wasting everyone’s time with bullshit stories like that.” Rob stood and moved to the other side of the ruins.
“Wait. I don’t hate the idea.” As the plan slowly formed in my brain, I said it out loud. “And I’ll take it one step further. I have a website, a weekly comic I publish. Granted, I haven’t been able to publish in a couple of weeks, but I don’t think I’ve lost any readers. What if I use the webcomic as my way to communicate to those who want to join Sentry?”
“That’s a great way to link you to Sentry, Reed. The Council already knows you’re the author. You start putting messages in it, and they’re going to know you’re Sentry. How are you going to stop them from reading your comic?”
“I’m not. Let them read. Without the cypher, they won’t know it’s even in code.” The more I talked it through, the more excited I got. My nerves hummed with new energy. This could really work.
“How do we get the cypher to those we want to know the message while keeping it out of the wrong hands?” Clay asked.
I pulled Clay to his feet. “That’s where you come in.”
“Me?”
“I need someone inside the school to make sure the library stays open after hours.”
“We have a library?”
“Dude, would you be serious?” Rob pushed away from the far wall and approached. “Clearwater’s library is the largest one on the island. People even come up from Seattle for special books they can’t find in the city. The reference section alone is worth the trip.”
We both looked at him, stunned. I expected the scholarly interest coming from Clay, not Rob. He’d never even picked up a book. “Since when did you become an expert on the academy’s library?”
“Stace made me write a paper on how to know the diff between naturally occurring weather and when the elements are forced to do something out of the norm before I was allowed to lead the quad squad. Bryan helped me since he’s more in tune with that sort of stuff.”
“That’s why you two are always talking about the elements being upset or out of balance. You recognize when they’re being forced to obey.”
He nodded. “I’m seeing it more and more now that the Council has outlawed pretty much anything that so much as hints at something they can’t control. Leo and I have been patrolling outside the school grounds.”
“Good. Clay can keep watch here at Clearwater. I need you and Leo to leave books around the island. Your job as hunters is the perfect cover.”
“What sort of books?”
“You’ll see.”
“What about the cypher?” Clay asked. “It’s usually static. Rando books and a weekly webcomic isn’t going to work.”
“Challenge accepted.” I smiled wide, feeling confident in Sentry’s direction for the first time in days.
“Leo!” The shrill voice of my flawless nemesis sounded from outside. “Where is he? I tried texting, and he didn’t answer.”
“Gee, Ness. I haven’t seen him.” Leo’s feigned innocent act needed serious work.
I dropped my smile and bit back a groan. What the hell was Vanessa Graves doing out of her room? It was after curfew. Then again, with her daddy at the head of the Council, she had a get out-of-Carcerem-free card.
“Shit,” Rob muttered, then kissed me quickly. “She found me. I love you, Reed.
