“Hear anything?” Lily asks, bringing me back to reality.
I shake my head. “Nervous. Sorry.” I keep my words down to a hiss.
Then I turn my listening to the side door that's just behind the semi-circle of podiums, and I tune out the rest of the Convening.
There's someone back there, all right. Faint, clicking footsteps betray Stella's pointed boots. They have that same little squeak with each step I hadn't realized I heard at the mansion.
“...tonight,” she says. “Best to let the business deals settle early.”
“And what about the after-vote mingling?” a man asks. I match his voice to Ursala, the guy with the dreadlocks. His words are as smooth as honey, and I imagine him leading thousands of women to their demise with that voice alone.
“Not this year,” Stella says. She and the other High Council members are maybe twenty feet away from the side door, and the shuffling of couch cushions tells me they're in a lounge of some sort. Other footsteps pacing around the room alert me to over four Truebloods.
And a bit of prodding also alerts me to their mental bunkers. They're up tonight with all these Nightsides in the building.
I close my eyes, pretending that I'm looking at the schedule since the rest of the Convening can just see my back. I can't linger here long or the Truebloods will see me and get suspicious. And that'll be bad for Riley and the other Nightsides of our new coven.
And I prod further.
The mental walls of the High Council are thick, but this time, I sense cracks in the bricks. The cracks form with distraction and then seal up again, but they're there, and for a split second, I can sense the electrical impulses of their minds just beyond.
The High Councils' mental barriers can break. Like with Dominic, we just need distraction, and maybe injury. And I must see them to do anything about it. Right now, I can’t tell who is who.
But what Stella speaks next yanks me from my meditative state.
“Dominic's heir does not respect the Nightside Prophecy,” Stella says. “And that is, um, very odd considering that his father knew of it before anyone else. Was he not warned?”
“Riley is young,” another man says. “Perhaps he does not know, and he only spent a few years with his father.” I've never heard this man before.
“He should know of it,” another woman says, and her voice makes me shudder. If Stella is the head of Rich Kid Academy, this other woman is the owner of that school and every other money-grubbing college in the industry. “The company he keeps tells me he does not care about the danger posed by keeping so many Nightsides. His father kept one in modern times, and he lost control of the one he had. Riley will have learned his tactics from the way his father ran the exiled Beaumont coven.”
“So sad,” Ursala says. “Riley has potential.”
Sweat breaks out. They're arguing our fates. As I listen, Lily paces, unaware of what I can hear. I keep my posture neutral, but my heart is pounding.
The domineering woman, with words like bricks, clears her throat. “But if the Nightside Prophecy will come to pass, then that double-dominant Nightside will rise through a weak point. This new coven could be that weak point, unfortunately.”
“Double-dominant?” one man asks.
“With two copies of the Nightside mutation. It's never happened in all of history, as the mutation is so rare among humans. You have a lot to learn from being on the High Council,” Ursala tells the guy, his voice smiling. “There are rumors of a double-dominant among the new coven. No other Nightside could have driven out Dominic Beaumont and eliminated his closest confidantes alone.”
“That was according to an anonymous source,” Stella says. “We cannot be too careful, especially with the Originator on the loose. The Originator could be the double-dominant Nightside himself. And Riley is in a difficult position.”
“What do you propose we do?” the newbie asks.
The boss woman, probably the head of the High Council, lets a pause drag out.
“We must eliminate the threat. I've done my best to alter the coming vote and cut some deals with the covens. They understand that we cannot risk Trueblood society and the order we've built.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
I cannot rush back through the Convening. With all these covens around us, and the place getting progressively more crowded, any wrong move will raise suspicion that I've heard of the plan.
The new Johnson coven must be the only ones in the dark about what will happen tonight.
We can't win. It's rigged. And all to weed out the double-dominant Nightside among us.
Could I really have two copies of the mutation? Something that's never happened in all of history? Dad had one for certain, but what about Mom? Does she carry the gene, too? But she touched no Truebloods, unlike Dad, who fought one back in high school. Riley was careful never to have contact with her.
“Miranda?” Lily asks.
At least I've remembered my disguise, but will it help us? The High Council will know how dangerous we Nightsides are and will sacrifice an entire new coven to destroy the threat. They'll know one of us could rock a new look.
I've got to get to Riley. I weave around tables of talking Nightsides, and my senses stay sharp to survive. And I notice the gazes sneaking towards me and then away again. No one else would perceive the irises barely moving, the postures stiffening when I pass. Yes. It's an open secret and I have to tell Riley.
The rest of the coven deserves to know we're scheduled not to make it out of here tonight. The timer has started on our lives.
But how do I pull Riley aside? I stop halfway through the tables, Lily hanging near me, and her wide eyes tell me she knows I've
