"Should've figured you'd come back to bite us in the ass," Jennifer spits from her place on the couch. "Fucking hybrids. Always more trouble than they're worth."
"About that," I say, crossing my arms, "we need to know about your friend Edith."
"Friend?" Jennifer laughs. “That’s so cute.”
“She’s working with the Academy, right?” Silas persists. “She told you guys to jump Millie.”
“We don’t ask questions,” spits Caleb. “We do as we’re told, and the humans stay off our backs.”
“Well,” I say, “now you’re going to do as you’re told again. Tell us where Edith is. You must know, if you have connections to her and Hawthorne.”
"Why the hell would we—"
But I don't let her finish, instead nodding to Landon, who hasn't yet transformed back. "Where is she?" he demands, the strength of his powers giving me goosebumps. "What was she planning? Who is she working with?"
I can see the woman struggling to resist, but Landon is working just as hard, and she realises she’s outmatched before even a minute has passed. “There are communes,” she grits out, her teeth clenched together. “Shifter communes, all around the U.K.”
Silas’ hackles go up at that. “You mean communities? Neighbourhoods?” he demands.
“A bunch of anti-establishment hippies,” Jennifer says disdainfully, her whole body wound tight from the tension of trying to resist Landon’s command. “They’ve been against your Academy since day one. Not too happy, either, after what happened in Boston. Sounds like the administration wants them dealt with.”
“So they’re sending Edith?” Landon squats so he’s facing her.
“Their attack dog, you mean? Yeah.” Jennifer sneers. “All I know is they’ve put her in charge of making sweeps for any shifter groups who don’t support the humans. She’s going to have her hands full, by the sounds of it.”
“Which one?” I demand, taking a step closer. “Where is she going next?”
“Like I would know,” Jennifer snaps. I glance at Landon, who just shakes his head, and my heart sinks. She’s telling the truth.
“Where’s the nearest one, then?” I ask. “If she started in London, she’ll probably be working her way outwards.”
Jennifer glances at Caleb, who looks like he would kill me if he got the chance. “Where did they say it was?” she asks. He hesitates. “Tell them!” Jennifer snaps. “Get them out of our hair.”
“Oxford,” Caleb replies at last. “In Jericho, right around the Osney Bridge. There’s a whole district full of shifters there. Can’t miss ‘em.”
“You’re not lying, are you?” Shade asks, crossing his arms.
“Why don’t you go there and find out?” Caleb fires back.
A tense moment passes. “I guess we will,” I say at last, smirking a little. “But if you were, we’ll be back. And I can’t promise we’ll be as nice the next time around.” Nodding to the others, I back up. “Come on. We’re leaving.”
“We’re just going to let them live?” Shade asks incredulously. “After what they did to you?”
“Tried to do to me,” I correct him. “Besides, they’re the only connection we have to Edith right now.”
“She’s right,” says Hunter. “We can’t risk losing them, not if they can point us to more of these communities.”
Shade presses his lips into a thin line, and then nods, but not before stooping down to look Caleb and Jennifer in the eye. “Touch Millie again, and it won’t matter what information you have,” he tells them, his voice low and dangerous. “I’ll kill you myself.” With that, he stands up, nods to me, and the five of us retreat back towards the front door. I’m half-expecting the couple to stand and start fighting again, but they only watch us contemptuously from their place on the couch until we’re out the front door and on our way back to the lift.
“It’s as good a place to start as any,” Landon says as the elevator begins its descent.
I nod in agreement. “Let’s just hope these ones are friendlier.”
Chapter 9
“I’ve never been to Oxford before,” I say, tugging my jacket a little more firmly around my shoulders. We’re making our way east along Botley Road, and in spite of the fact that the sun has finally come up, it’s not getting any warmer. A chill humidity has settled in around the city, and I’m realising that I came woefully underdressed. “Not exactly how I pictured my first time here.”
A cold breeze sweeps through the trees along the side of the highway, and I shiver despite myself. Silas, who is walking alongside me, puts an arm around my shoulders and pulls me flush against him. “You cold?”
“No.” I can’t help but press my face against his side. My nose has gone red and numb from the chill.
The dragon shifter chuckles, rubbing his hand against my shoulder to generate some friction. “You should’ve said something sooner, Boots. I run hot.”
“Didn’t want to worry you,” I mumble, wishing I could disappear into his arms and fall asleep there.
“You’re skin and bones, Boots. Of course we’re going to worry,” Landon says in his usual good-natured tone, but I can hear the concern in his voice as he sidles up to me on my other side, taking my free hand and rubbing it between his.
“Let’s just hope we can find somewhere away from this fog,” Hunter says. He’s walking at the front of the group, hands in his pockets, and although vampire shifters tend to have lower body temperatures, he still seems put off by the weather.
“Speaking of which,” says Shade, his eyes narrowing, “what are we planning to do if these guys tell us to fuck off? We’re not exactly going to draw the right kind of attention, no matter where we go.”
“Let’s just hope they’ll take us in,” says Silas. Despite holding me close, there’s a far away, melancholy look in his eyes.
“Hey,” I murmur, squeezing him a little more tightly. “You okay?”
“I don’t know,” the dragon shifter replies. “It’s just… Going to another one of these communities…” His voice trails off as he runs a hand down his face. “It’s just been a long time, that’s all.”
“Shit,” I mutter, once again kicking myself for my shortsightedness. “I didn’t even think about that.” Long before his arrival at the Academy, Silas and his parents lived in a neighbourhood similar to the one we’re visiting now, populated predominantly by shapeshifters. From the sounds of it, he had a good childhood, up until the local shifters decided they didn’t want to be jerked around by the humans anymore. This, I suppose, was back before the Academy had become so overt in their subjugation of shifters, but the goal of their actions was the same as it has always been: to find a way of keeping us on the fringes of society and at their disposal.
In the end, that’s what happened—his parents, among others, were spirited away by Academy agents, never to be seen again, sowing the seeds of mistrust that would eventually lead Silas to finding out the truth about Hawthorne. In a sense, their actions were what led us to this point; if they hadn’t suspected the humans from the start, would Silas even still be alive right now?