"Me either," Nathan said, "but you can see it works. I tested it myself, too, to see how it held up against adult claws. Not a scratch." He took a drink of his coffee before continuing. "I think we should set up a more in-depth talk with them, with an eye toward investing in the company."
"Do it." Lucas trusted Nathan's judgment and if DarkRiver was going to continue to thrive, they had to be open to new partnerships and concepts. Because if Psy could be arrogant to the point of hobbling themselves, Sascha had made him realize that changelings had a parallel failing--a tendency to look inward.
Next, Nathan briefed them on the second possible investment opportunity, before Clay took over to talk about operational security matters. Then it was Dorian's turn to update them on his hunt for the ship that had been meant to be Naya's prison. That, of course, turned the mood angry again, as they all thought of what had almost happened.
"Look," Mercy said afterward, her own anger a hot burn across her skin, "I know we have a ton on our minds and there's all kinds of shit going down in the world, but we need to talk about this joint party." She stroked her bump in a self-calming gesture. "It's important."
Lucas nodded. A changeling's strength came from his family, and this celebration, it was all about family. Lose sight of that and they lost what made them changeling, leopard, DarkRiver. "The cubs and pups are excited for it." The thought brought a smile back to his face.
"Riley's got intel that says Ben, Jules, and Rome are already plotting a cake-eating contest." As Mercy spoke, she stretched her ankles by flexing them back and forth.
"Wait." Dorian peered at her toenails, currently painted a hot pink. "Did Riley do that? I mean since you can't reach your toes?"
Every cat in the room stared, agog at the idea.
Mercy growled low in her throat. "If he did?"
"Huh?" Dorian scratched his jaw, then smiled that heartbreaker surfer boy smile that had charmed many a woman before he fell madly for his scientist mate. "I'd do it for Shaya if she was a crazy pregnant chick like you."
"Watch who you call crazy, Blondie." Mercy gave her best friend a death stare while the others grinned. "As it happens, it wasn't my wolf. Anu came over with her kit." She held out her hands. "I went for a metallic-blue accent nail on this end. See?"
Taking one hand, Dorian studied her fingertips. "Does this stuff last when you shift?"
Lucas coughed. "Back to the meeting. You two can have your beauty-therapy discussion later." Catching the cushion Mercy lobbed at his head, he put it behind his back, then caught a cookie Vaughn threw over, the jaguar having sniffed out the stash Bastien had left Mercy. "Party. Go."
"Right." Mercy laid out her choice of location plus the general details of how she thought the event should be run. Then she brought up the guest list. "SnowDancer and DarkRiver yes, but do we want to invite our other allies, or those who've helped the pack or are connected to us in nonlinear ways?"
The question felt all the more significant after their discussion about Trinity.
Vaughn was the one who spoke, his voice holding a quiet intensity. "When Faith left the PsyNet, she did it believing she'd never again have any real contact with her father." Eyes of near-gold met Lucas's. "It turned out Anthony isn't an asshole and he loves his children. I think it'd mean a lot to her to be able to invite her father to a pack function."
Lucas knew Sascha wouldn't be inviting Nikita, even had DarkRiver trusted the ex-Councilor not to turn around and stab them in the back. Their relationship was very different from the one Faith had with Anthony, but he could see Vaughn's point.
"There's also Kaleb Krychek," he said. "Man can go wherever he wants, find whoever he wants, so there's no security issue with him." Not all teleporters could lock on to people as well as places, but Krychek definitely could. "He's also been a source of assistance and information multiple times. And his mate is family through Faith."
Vaughn nodded. "Sahara's tightly linked to the Empathic Collective because of the work she does monitoring their work levels and collating reports on the health of the Honeycomb itself, but Faith still worries about her being isolated."
Lucas had felt the same concern when Faith's cousin went back to Krychek after a sojourn in DarkRiver. However, though the dangerous cardinal telekinetic wasn't sociable by any measure, he appeared not to begrudge his mate the social or familial contact she needed to thrive--he'd teleported Sahara into DarkRiver territory multiple times so she could visit with Faith, Sascha, and her other friends.
"I don't see a problem with inviting Sahara and Kaleb," Dorian said. "And Faith's father seems like one of the good ones. Shaya likes him."
Clay simply nodded in agreement.
It was Nathan who spoke next. "I'm fine with inviting them, too, but we'll have to change the location. Currently, while neither pack circle will be compromised, Mercy and Riley's home will be--and they'll have pupcubs there very soon."
"That's a big minus." Mercy worried her lower lip. "The only other possible location is the empathic training compound, but they're running full classes back-to-back."
Lucas frowned. "I'm not sure that's right. Give me a second." Taking out his phone, he sent a message to Sascha, got a response back nearly immediately. "The current class closes in just over two weeks and the next one won't start until two weeks after that. We can hold the event during the time the area is vacant."
"Perfect." Mercy patted her belly. "If these little guys are still snuggling inside, we'll celebrate their impending birth rather than their actual birth."
"And," Clay said, "there's no security issue with the people we want to invite. They all have to know the location by now."
"Anyone else outside the pack we want to invite?" Lucas asked.
"Max and Sophia." Clay placed his empty coffee mug on a nearby table. "They're friends, but they've also earned an invite after the number of times they've quietly assisted the pack."
"I think leave off the falcons and BlackSea this time around," Nathan said. "They're allies, but the relationship is still in progress in both cases. We're better off sticking to one-on-one meetings for now."
Mercy nodded. "I don't think they'd expect an invite at this point."
No one disagreed.
It was Clay who spoke next. "There's another group that also won't expect an invite but that I think has more than earned one--trouble will be convincing the wolves of that."
In the end, they found themselves with a fairly limited list of outside-pack guests that Lucas would discuss with Hawke. This was a joint event all the way, so neither side would be making unilateral decisions. "If SnowDancer agrees," he said, "we'll probably end up hosting a few Arrows, too, courtesy of Judd's connections."
His phone beeped before any of the others could answer. It was an alert from BlackSea requesting that, as an ally, DarkRiver stand by for the next forty-eight hours ready to render assistance should it be required: I hope we need it, Miane had written. Because that would mean we've found Leila and are in the process of ripping another head off the hydra that is the Consortium.
Chapter 31
IVY GRIEVED WITH Vasic in the days following Zie Zen's passing, but like him, she couldn't switch off. They both had responsibilities, not just to Tavish and the squad, but to many others. In her case, that meant the health of her empaths and, of course, the tense issue of the hidden disintegration of the psychic fabric of the PsyNet, a disintegration that was weakening a psychic structure that supported millions of minds.
In Vasic's case, it meant his duties as Aden's deputy, as well as the commitments he'd made to friends and allies. It was on the day after they'd scattered Zie Zen's ashes that Ivy, Vasic, Tavish, and Rabbit returned home from a morning walk through the fruit trees to find Miane Leveque had left a message on their comm and on the phone Vasic had forgotten in the cabin.
"Vasic, I know you lost your grandfather only days ago," she'd said, her voice somber, "but we have what might be a real, viable lead on Leila. We need to move on it
as soon as possible. If you can't do it, I understand." Compassion in the alpha's tone, no judgment. "But please let me know within the hour so I can rework our plans."
Ivy's husband would've been justified in saying no, but he didn't. He put on his Arrow uniform and slid a single gold coin into an inner pocket in memory of his grandfather. "If we save this BlackSea changeling," he said, his voice potent with memory and with resolve, "we strike a blow to the Consortium. Zie Zen would've appreciated that."
Because, Ivy thought, all of Zie Zen's plans and intrigues had flowed from a single overriding goal: to return freedom to his people. "Yes," she whispered. "He wouldn't thank us for leaving a woman caged when we might be able to free her."
Smoothing her hands over the front of his uniform, she carefully folded up and pinned the sleeve of his missing arm. Vasic could've had his uniforms altered so this wasn't necessary, but with Samuel Rain continuing to experiment with prosthetics, he'd left it.
That choice said something powerful about the man she loved. Though he'd adapted to the loss of his arm to the point that the prosthetics often annoyed him, he kept giving Samuel a chance. All for a simple reason: the other man's mind was such that it needed a challenge and this challenge kept him focused and mentally healthy.
"There," she said after completing her self-appointed task. "You'll be careful?"
Vasic cupped her cheek with his hand, his eyes a stormy gray today. Filled with echoes of grief. "Yes," he promised. "I need to come back home to you."
Ivy's heart ached at the raw power of his words, at the love that lived in his touch. Turning her head, she pressed a kiss to his palm. "Your grandfather was so proud of you, Vasic," she said to him afterward, her eyes locked with his. "Don't ever forget that."
Drawing her close, Vasic held her for long moments. "You'll take care on the PsyNet? This strange disintegration you showed me, it may be as insidious as the original rot."
"I will, I promise." Ivy had no intention of bringing their journey together to a premature end. Yes, there was grief here, but there was also love, laughter, hope. "I'm having a comm conference with Sascha and several of the other Es to brainstorm solutions and explanations." She forced herself to step back. "I love you."
You're my heart, Ivy.
Holding the words close after he teleported out, Ivy sniffed back her tears, put a smile firmly on her face, and went to find Tavish. She and Vasic had permitted him to stay home from the Valley school to this point, but she decided that would change come tomorrow morning. Like any Arrow child, he needed the certainty of routine--and being with his friends would hopefully help take his mind off the loss their family had so recently suffered.
"Tavish? Rabbit?"
Scrabbling claws on the floor as a small white bullet shot out of Tavish's room to come over to her, tail wagging. She knelt down and petted the dog who'd been with her since before she'd found her strength, who had, in fact, helped her find her strength with his own brave fight to survive. The act of stroking his fur comforted her as it had always done.
"What have you two been up to?" she asked Tavish when the seven-year-old came to the doorway.
"The schoolwork the teacher sent," he answered, a faltering smile on his face. "Is Vasic gone?"
"Yes, we're all getting back to work." Giving Rabbit one final pat, she moved over to hug Tavish.
Rabbit had padded alongside her and now leaned his body against Tavish's.
"I have to go to school tomorrow?" A quiet question with a tremor behind it.
Tavish had been abandoned by his family when he was signed over to the squad, at which point, he hadn't been encouraged to form any bonds at all. Then had come this new family and a wary dawning of hope.
Zie Zen's death had struck a harsh blow to that hope, but Vasic and Ivy were helping the boy work through it by always reiterating that unlike the members of his biological family, Zie Zen hadn't chosen to leave him behind, that it had simply been time for the older man to travel on to the next stage of existence, whatever that might be.
Going down on her knees in front of the boy, Ivy took his hands in her own. "What did Grandfather always say?"
"That education is important, and that the man who has the most information is the man who can change the tides of the world itself," Tavish repeated almost word for word.
It was clear he didn't understand it all, but he understood enough. "So," Ivy said, "school tomorrow." She smiled. "Your friends are missing you, you know. The teacher told me."
A whisper of a smile warmed Tavish's eyes. "School tomorrow," he agreed, then bent down to pet Rabbit. "Can you play with Rabbit and me today?"
"Not just yet." Ivy kissed him on the cheek before rising back up. "I have a comm conference, then some other work to complete. But my mother would like your help in her garden. You can finish your schoolwork later."
Tavish's face lit up. Ducking inside his room, he came back out having changed into his designated gardening clothes and with a hat on his head. They picked up his child-sized gloves and tools from the outdoor shed before Ivy walked him over to her parents' home. Her mother was already outside in the vegetable garden.
Thank you, she telepathed to the woman with the strong, rangy body who'd given birth to her.
Gwen Jane would never be the warm and cuddly epitome of the maternal instinct, but she'd fought for her child's right to live and to be happy. As had Ivy's father. She loved them with every beat of her heart.
It's not an issue, her mother telepathed back. The child has a green thumb and a willingness to learn. And it's useful to have a telekinetic around when I need a spade or forget my gloves in the house.
Ivy's lips twitched. She was certain her mother was developing a sense of humor, but she was never quite sure. "Have fun," she said to Tavish, who was already pulling on his gloves and getting ready to weed.
She'd asked her mother to watch him until noon because the comm conference she was about to have was nothing a child should accidentally overhear. Especially not a child whose mind was anchored in the PsyNet.
She initiated the conference as soon as she arrived back home.
After clearing some minor operational details, she and her team moved on to the real reason for this meeting. The weakness, the fracture lines, the disintegration that threatened to collapse the Net. A number of the team had received reports of unstable areas from empaths in the zone for which they were responsible. When they put all the pieces together, it made for an upsetting picture.
"It's worse than I thought," Ivy said, dismayed. "Sahara, has Kaleb been able to dig up any further data on this?" The powerful Tk knew the DarkMind best of all and the neosentience had an affinity for the rot that overlay this disintegration. And though its twin, the NetMind, loved empaths, it had known Kaleb longer; he seemed to be able to talk to it in a way even Es couldn't.
"No, I'm sorry, Ivy." Sahara's dark blue eyes were solemn. "I asked him to make contact before this meeting and he says he's getting the same images he did before--of bodies having their organs forcibly torn out, a calendar that stops at the dawn of Silence."
The hairs rose on Ivy's arms as they'd done the first time Kaleb shared the information with her. "What the hell are we missing?"
No one had any answers, not even Alice Eldridge, who'd completed a groundbreaking and in-depth study of empaths. "Regardless of my spotty memory," the other woman said, rubbing at her forehead, "I'm not sure I could help here. I don't have any proof but I don't think this is an empathic issue. There's another problem, one we're blind to for some reason."
Slowly, faces drawn and worry a heavy weight on their shoulders, the team began to sign off, until only Sascha and Sahara were left. Ivy had been disappointed by Sascha's lack of participation in the meeting--the cardinal was the most senior E in the world. She'd been "awake" the longest, had run countless tests on her abilities while the rest of them were still mired in Silence.
Yes, Ivy and the others had made certain breakthroughs, but Sascha's y
ears of intensive study and experimentation gave her a depth of knowledge nothing could beat. Especially with the Es in the Net strained to their limit handling not just the Honeycomb but the confusion and need of a population staggering awake from a long, Silent sleep.
No one had time to do anything but react.
A dedicated E designation research team was a pipe dream.
As a result, Sascha had unofficially taken up the research baton, and Ivy had been hopeful of her contribution. Assuming the cardinal empath's reticence had to do with the fact that, having defected from the PsyNet, Sascha no longer had real-time data, Ivy went to reiterate the Collective's need for Sascha's advice.
But the other woman spoke before she could and it immediately became crystal clear that Sascha had been engaged in the meeting. She'd simply been absorbing all available data and putting the pieces together. "Sophie," the cardinal said with a frown. "Have you checked her section of the Net?"
Ivy nodded. She didn't know Sophia Russo well, but every E in Sophia's part of the world was aware that the section of the PsyNet immediately around Sophia's mind was different. Stable. Deeply peaceful.
So much so that tired Es strained to the limit had been known to deliberately linger in that section to catch their breath.
What nobody but a rare few knew, however, was that the difference had to do with how Sophia Russo was anchored into the Net--the mind of Nikita Duncan's senior aide was woven into the PsyNet by millions of fine connections, rather than being linked to it by a single biofeedback link.
In essence, Sophia Russo wasn't jacked into the Net, she was part of the fabric of the Net itself. And in her mind, the mind of a J-Psy who had always accepted darkness as well as light, the NetMind and DarkMind were one. No division, no fractures, no damage, that joyous wholeness reflected in the cool clear pond that was Sophia's anchor point.
"Sophia's area is as stable and peaceful as always," she told Sascha, the fact one that gave her hope.
"Totally stable?" Sascha pressed. "No shrinkage of her zone of influence?"
Ivy frowned. "I checked after Kaleb first showed me the disintegration, but I wasn't looking for that in particular." Dread coalescing in her veins, she said, "Give me three minutes. I'm going to make a more detailed assessment."