Baer smiled. “Kind of like now.”
“I don’t really think of myself as the leader.”
“I know. Which makes you a good one.” Baer took the book out of Clay’s hands. “What did you want to show me?”
“Read the last page. The very last thing he wrote in that book.”
Baer glanced down at the words.
Do not trust the Soul Weaver!He frowned as his heart started beating harder. He looked up at Clay, who shook his head. His eyes darted up to read the last few paragraphs before the warning, but they were talking about some training they’d completed with the newly arrived Air Weaver. It seemed completely unconnected.
“No,” Baer said with a shake of his head. “There has to be more. This doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’ve read the entire journal.” Clay shoved a hand through his dirty hair. “Hell, I read the last few entries five or six times, but there’s nothing in there stating why we can’t trust him. There’s some talk of struggling to defeat the pestilents, but nothing particularly detailed that throws up a red flag to me.”
“I don’t understand.” No, Baer didn’t want to understand. He didn’t even want to think of the Soul Weaver doing anything to hurt the Circle. And not Grey. Definitely not Grey. He was one of them. He risked his life for them. Yes, he was a fucking asshole, but he’d also made sure that Baer didn’t fuck up his shot with Wiley. “This could mean anything. And even if it means the last Soul Weaver…did something…it doesn’t mean Grey is going to follow in his footsteps. He’s a good man.”
“I know he is,” Clay snapped. He sighed heavily a second later, his shoulders slumped in defeat. “But I wouldn’t have left that warning unless it was important. Not if I was anything like I am now. I think we should stay vigilant.”
“I still say Grey wouldn’t do anything to harm any of us. I know it in my gut,” Baer growled. He trusted Clay and his judgment, but he also trusted Grey. He’d trusted the Soul Weaver with the thing most precious to him—Wiley—and the man had protected him with his life.
Clay pointed to the words on the page. “This warning has to mean something. Just keep an eye out, okay?”
“The man is fucking blind! What’s he gonna do?”
“Blind or not, he can still read emotions to some degree. And he’s still going to be around us and listening to our plans.”
“You make him sound like a goddamn spy,” Baer snarled. He was angry at Clay for even considering this. Angry that the words had been written in that stupid journal. He was beginning to wish they’d never found the fucking things.
“Whatever happened to the last group, happened fast, I think. In fact, it looks like Malek was the only one left. There’s mention of him closing up the house and planning to secure all the spell books. The last few entries are shorter, and the handwriting is bad before the journal just stops. He had to have been the one to put the trunk in the storage unit.”
“Injured and dying, he was still planning for the next group of us.”
“Wanted to make sure we had what we needed.” Clay closed the journal and tossed it onto the bed. “I’m still trying to find the journal for one of the other Circle members for the same time frame. I really want the one for the Soul Weaver, but either they all kept journals intermittently or some of them are missing.”
“Did you…er…Malek say anything about their plans for the final confrontation with the pestilents?”
Clay cursed under his breath and ran his hand through his hair. “No. Nothing particularly detailed.”
“Is there anything helpful in there?”
“He talks about spells a lot, which ones were helpful and which weren’t. I planned to start cross-referencing with the spreadsheet Wiley is creating. I think we should focus on the magic more. We’ve all got the basics of what our powers can do, but I think we need to work together more.”
“Like how you and Grey can team up?”
Clay’s frowned deepened, and he looked as if Baer stabbed him in the heart. Baer had no desire to hurt his best friend, but right now, he had little reason to trust this journal and a hell of a lot of reasons to trust Grey.
“Yes. We need more of that, I think. We can leave Dane to work on the house.”
Baer nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. “I also think we should show this to the others.”
“Not yet. Not until we find out more. There could be so much more information in the other journals.”
“And we could all be looking for it. Everyone looking would make this go faster,” Baer argued.
“And it could turn everyone against Grey without any proof. The man is already hurting and isolated, thanks to his injury. I don’t want him to feel like he’s lost his brothers as well.”