Braxton didn’t look convinced. “Tell me what happened.”
I quickly went through everything, touching briefly on the Four and the power they’d had to halt my shift to wolf. Only Braxton knew of my dual shifting abilities, so I didn’t mention that my dragon had been cut off also.
Then it was their turn. Tyson started. He explained how Louis had come to them and decided to put this contingency plan into place. He said that if the Four decided to attack, it was better to be prepared, and if they didn’t he’d return and fetch the boys. He’d grabbed Mischa at the last minute while I’d been occupied with the Four.
I turned to the witch. “Hi, Grace.” She returned my smile. “How did you get roped into this?”
Her very dark doe eyes blinked a few times. “Louis asked me if I was willing to help you all, that you would need a healer.” She shrugged. “There was nothing keeping me in Stratford, and I’ve always envied the closeness of your pack.” Her stare was direct. I could see Tyson locking his gaze on her too. “So … here I am.”
“Thank you,” I said, my tone low.
I didn’t even want to know why Louis thought we’d need a healer.
Braxton hit the button to free himself from the harness then. “Fucking wizard took us all by surprise. I told him we needed to stay and defend you, but he insisted we had no idea what we were going up against and that we had to be smart. I was on my way to smack him in the face when everything went dark.”
Tyson kept a straight face. “He hit Brax straight in the chest with a knockout spell, fastest cast I’ve ever seen.”
Mischa moved across then and squished in with all of us on the large couch. “What is in the bag?”
I reached down and freed the knapsack that was wedged in between me and Maximus. Lifting the lid, I tipped the contents onto the small table. Bundles of cash, passports, and driver’s licenses spilled out. Damn, the sorcerer was like a human Boy Scout, always prepared.
We sifted through the lot, opening each document to find there were new identities for all of us, including Grace, enough paperwork that we would be able to survive in the human world if we needed to. And a crap-ton of cash. Lastly, there was a folded piece of paper.
I opened it to find a hand-penned letter.
I didn’t recognize the neat writing, but I assumed it was from Louis. I read it out aloud to the group.
“Jessa, if you are reading this, then the Four know about your mark. I hoped it wouldn’t come to pass, but I always have a contingency plan for these situations. I have included in this bag everything you should need to venture into the human world.”
I sucked in deeply before continuing: “New names, new identities, nothing traceable for the Four. You may not need them as I’m sending you to a safe house of a friend, a friend that I trust with my life. He knows a lot about the marked, he will have answers for you. I, too, have a lot to explain. I have learned many things this day but there was no time. For now, stay safe.”
I glanced down at the rest of the note. It was filled with directions to follow once we got to our new destination. He’d signed his name at the bottom in a flourishing signature.
Mischa leaned over to look. “Does it say where we are going?”
I looked between all of them. “Don’t you all know where we are going?” Seriously, I just assumed someone knew.
Heads shaking side to side and grim faces. I scanned the rest of the directions of the note but there was nothing to indicate our final destination. Rising from my seat, I made my way into that little front alcove, where the man who’d welcomed me on board was preparing food.
“Hello.”
He jumped. “Sorry, Miss Lebron, is there anything I can help you with?” He faced me and I realized he didn’t look much older than I was.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch your name when I first got on the plane…” I let the sentence trail off.
He dried his hands on a towel. “I’m Craig.” I wondered if he was going to shake my hand, but he didn’t move, so clearly not. I observed him for a moment. He was my first real human and I was fascinated by his lack of energy, almost as if he were cloaking it, but I knew that was simply what a human was. He was cute but sort of plain. Mousy brown hair and washed-out blue eyes. Nothing special about him, but maybe his normalness was special all on its own.
“Hi, Craig, you can call me Jessa.” I smiled, which he returned, but ten to one he was still going to call me Miss Lebron. The guild was big on their formalities. “Can you tell me where we are going?”
His smile faltered minutely. A sort of blank look crossed his face. “You know, I’m not actually sure. I was called on last minute for this charter.” He straightened a little. “I’ll go and check with the pilot.”