“What do you mean?”
“Fully matured mogwai are dangerous.”
Jasper had said Wren was dangerous too. I looked down at my furry buddy. “He’s not dangerous.”
“Not now,” Conah said softly. “But he will be.”
“Explain.”
“Have you eaten?”
“What? Not yet. Conah, focus.”
“I focus better on a full stomach.” He smiled. “Wren’s in no immediate danger.”
“Fine.”
“Wait here and I’ll—”
One of the ghost servers materialized carrying a tray of food.
Conah smiled, flashing perfect teeth, sapphire eyes twinkling. “Thank you, Trudy. Say hi to Ella and Gemma for me.”
He knew their names? He’d only been here a day.
Trudy simpered and then dematerialized.
I arched my brow at him.
“What?” He gave me a wide-eyed, innocent look.
“Never mind. Just help me with Wren.”
“Let’s get him to my office.”
“You have an office?”
“Library, but while I’m here the space is mine.”
Figured. Conah would live in a library if he had the choice. He headed for the stairs and I followed, Wren clutched snuggly to my chest. He’d be okay. He had to be. Conah wouldn’t be so calm otherwise.
Would he?
The library was a grand room with a vaulted ceiling and enough books to keep someone busy for years. It was also a mess. Books were piled on chairs and on the floor and shoved haphazardly onto shelves.
Conah frowned as he entered. “Shame. There’s a wealth of knowledge here.”
“Sloane told me you’d been tidying up.”
“Someone needs to.”
“I’m surprised they let you go through these books. Witches are notoriously protective of their knowledge.”
“I’m an exception.” He grinned. “Anna likes me.”
But my attention was on Wren again. The silver shit was spreading across his face.
Conah set the tray down on a nearby table. “You okay?” He peered at me with concern.
“I’m good.” I held Wren out. “Fix him.”
“I can’t.” Conah gently took Wren from me, carried him to a nearby sofa, and set him down on it. “This isn’t something to be fixed. We need to keep him warm and let his body do its thing.”
“And what thing is that?”
“Metamorphosis from infant to teen.”
“Wren’s an infant?”
Conah smiled at me indulgently. “Well in mogwai years, yes. There are three stages to mogwai development, but most mogwai never make it to the final stage.” His expression sobered. “The fae began culling this species a long time ago because in their fully grown form they’re vicious predators.”
Wren? A vicious predator. “Bullshit.”
Conah pressed his hand to my shoulder. “Cora, you can’t keep him. We need to take him back to faerie.”
“Take him back? To that shitty place where he’d been used and abused? Um, let me think about that…No.”
“He can’t stay here,” Conah said firmly.
Like hell. “You don’t know him. You don’t know what he’ll be like when fully grown.”
Conah gave me a sympathetic look. “Yes, I do. He’ll be a monster. He’ll kill everyone in this mansion and then he’ll move on to everyone outside it. Back in the day, mogwai were responsible for whole fae villages disappearing.”
I didn’t want to believe this. Wren was sweet and kind and I fucking loved the little tyke. It was like Conah telling me my baby was gonna grow up to be a serial killer. But Conah knew stuff. This was his superpower.
Still, I wasn’t ready to accept his words. “How do you know all this?”
“I read about it a long time ago.”
“And you believe it? Pfft. You can’t believe everything you read.”
The corners of his mouth dimpled. “You’re not thinking straight right now, Cora.”
“I’m thinking perfectly straight. Arrow straight. Wren saved my life. He would never hurt me or anyone else.”
Conah frowned. “He saved your life?”
“Yeah, he leaped onto a revenant’s face to protect me and told me to run. He almost died.”
The silver threads were slowly covering my furry friend’s body like a cocoon.
Conah crouched by Wren. “That isn’t typical mogwai behavior. They’re inherently selfish. Did you know they have a siren song when they’re infants? They use it to lure prey into a trance to make it easier to consume?”
The song he’d sung to the children, and he’d hated doing it. “Conah, I know Wren. He wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“Hmmm, his behavior is uncharacteristic for a typical mogwai.”
I studied Conah expectantly.
He sighed. “Leave him with me. The metamorphosis can take a couple of days. I’ll keep an eye on him. We can see what his personality’s like as a teen and take it from there, but keep this between us for now. I’m not sure how the other residents will take the news. It could be a case of expel him and ask questions later.” Conah looked across at me. “And Cora, be prepared for the Wren you know to be gone. The metamorphosis will change not only his body but his brain chemistry too.”
I reached out and stroked Wren’s paw, the only part of him not covered in the silver threads.
“I love you, Wren. Stay with me, buddy. Please.”
Conah insisted I eat breakfast with him. My stomach was in knots, but he was right. I’d need to keep my strength up for training and for Wren. The eggs, bacon, and sausages went down well, and before we knew it, we were on to coffee and Wren was totally cocooned.
“He’s safe.” Conah covered my hand with his and squeezed in gentle reassurance. “It’s everyone else we need to worry about.”
I didn’t want to think about that. We’d worry about it once he came out of his metamorphosis. “How’s the translation going?”
If he was thrown by the change in topic, he didn’t show it.
“Good. Interesting.” He pushed the breakfast tray aside and drew a sheaf of papers covered in neat script toward us. “The Sons of Adam have an interesting history. I read bits and pieces before sending the book to you with Jasper, but now that I’m combing through it and cross-referencing with passages I’ve found in Lilith’s journals, I’m not so sure what’s fact and what’s fiction.”
“Like what?”
“There are notes about the multiverse and parallel timelines in Lilith’s journal, but her handwriting is a frenzied scrawl, as if
