“She’s a Hunter?” She looks harmless enough. Although, so did Benton until he was holding a gun.
“No, actually. Most of the company does legitimate work. Vaccines and that sort of thing.” Detective Archer pulls out a stack of fan forums and social media posts. “In addition to interning three days a week at the Hunters’ base of operations, our intelligence indicates that Eisha is Alice’s self-proclaimed biggest fan. She comments on nearly all of Alice’s videos and has posted repeatedly about her disappointment in missing the live tour.”
“Do I even want to know how you figured all this out?” I sift through the pages and pages of comments. Even though everything I’m reading was posted online for the whole world to see, it still feels weird to have it all in one place like this.
Archer grins. “Cal has some rather useful non-magical talents.”
“And what about the other witch? The Caster. When are we recruiting him?” I know he said to focus on Alice, but I’m desperate to know the full picture of what I need to do.
“You’ll be meeting with David the following weekend. Like Elder Keating said, we’re trying to disrupt your life as little as possible. But we’ll deal with that once you’re back from New York.” Archer’s phone goes off again, and this time he punches in his passcode and reads through the messages. After a moment, his cheeks burn a bright red.
“What’s that about?” I ask before I think better of it, like he’s a friend instead of my boss-slash-commander-slash-bodyguard. Honestly, I’m not really sure what this new relationship between us is supposed to be. All I know is he outranks me. By a lot.
But he doesn’t seem to mind. He glances up from his phone, and his cheeks grow even redder. “Nothing. Just . . . Lauren being Lauren.”
Confusion settles heavily into my forehead. Who in the world is—“Oh my god, my boss? Are you two still a thing?” My voice squeaks on the end of my question, but I don’t even care. I can’t believe I forgot they were dating. Were they dating? I don’t know, they were definitely flirting the last time I saw them together. But that was almost two months ago.
Archer couldn’t look more like a tomato if he tried right now. “Yes, although technically she’s not your boss anymore. We’re getting dinner later.” He clears his throat. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back on task.”
I bury the urge to tease him. Archer is a Council agent, not an older brother I can harass. “Do we want Alice to convince the intern to sneak us in?”
“Not exactly.” Archer shuffles his documents back into an orderly pile and slides them into the folder. “We want the intern to host Alice for a live performance inside Hall Pharmaceuticals. We can sneak a small team in with Alice’s equipment to get past the initial alarm systems.”
It’s a slightly better plan than my guess, but not by much. “And when is this performance-turned-raid supposed to take place?”
Archer pauses, and all the lightness of our conversation about Lauren slips away. “September thirtieth.”
The date rattles against my rib cage, a convict trying to get free. “But Benton’s trial starts that day.” His name is like acid on my tongue, and I want to scrape the collection of consonants and vowels out of my ears.
“I know. It’s okay if you want to skip the raid so you can prepare your testimony. We can recruit another Elemental to the team. But that day is our best shot at getting into the company undetected. The Hunters will be focused on the trial, and . . .” Archer trails off.
“And what?”
“That’s also our last chance to destroy the drug before you’re called to the stand to testify.” Archer looks at me, his expression fierce and full of worry. “Elder Keating will have to drop the protection spell for the trial. It’s likely the Hunters will hire one of their own to represent Benton. If we leave the spell up, a Reg could see the Hunters get repelled by the barrier. The exposure risk is too great.”
I picture Hunters bouncing off an invisible wall, and the thought makes me smile. But then the implications of what Archer’s saying shatters the mental image. “Wait. If the barrier comes down and all the Hunters know when I have to testify . . .”
“We’ll have no way to protect any of you,” Archer finishes for me. “If this raid fails, your magic will be as good as gone.”
6
ARCHER’S WARNING MAKES IT impossible to sleep. I stare at the ceiling all night, desperate to find a loophole that will convince Elder Keating to keep up the barrier spell even though I know it’s pointless. The safety of a single coven will never matter more than the secrecy of the Clans. They won’t risk exposure to save us.
As I lie in bed, I wonder where their line is. What would make the Council decide the price to keep our secret was too steep? How many of us would have to die before they were willing to come out to the world?
I find no answers that night, and all week, as we inch closer to my first mission, I don’t have time to consider it. My life is a whirlwind of school, trial prep, and rehearsals for my meeting with Alice. DA Flores teaches me how to best tell my story—sticking to the facts with just the right amount of emotion. Archer makes me practice my recruitment speech on Cal, which is seriously awkward, but at least I convince Cal to tell me more about my second recruit, David.
He won’t tell me much—Archer is annoyingly fixated on the whole “one recruit at a time” thing—but Cal says the Caster Witch can develop a vaccine to protect us from the Hunters’ drug.
If I can convince him to help.
By the time Friday comes, I’m as prepared as I’m going to get for Saturday’s mission, but that doesn’t stop me from being a puddle of stress all morning at school. We have a pop quiz in US history, and as I look over the questions, I can’t remember the last time I read for this class. There’s no way I’ll pass the quiz.
I’ll never admit it out loud, but I don’t know how long I can keep this up. There’s no way I could have fit in shifts at the Cauldron, too.
“Hannah!” Gemma reaches across the lunch table and waves a hand in front of my face. “What’s going on with you today?”
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.” She looks from Morgan back to me, a grin spreading across her face. “That’s it. I’m declaring girls’ night. You two are coming over to my place.”
“Gem, you know I can’t.” It’s just the three of us at the table, but I lower my voice anyway. “I’m going to Brooklyn tomorrow. I can’t be up all night.”
My best friend rolls her eyes. “And the likelihood of you actually sleeping tonight is . . .”