Chapter Fifteen
A knockon the door saved me from having to respond. I jumped up from the table and hurried to answer it.
Emily waited in the encroaching dusk and smiled at me.
“Have a few minutes?” she asked.
“More than a few. Come on in.”
I took her jacket for her and led her to the cozy couch.
“How did it go?” I asked, sitting with her. Behind us, Tor shuffled the cards and went to the kitchen.
“Better than I expected. Taylor, Caleb, and Connor are onboard. There are a lot of undercurrents they’ve already picked up on, and I’ve started a watchlist with a few names they’ve given me.
“Matt said he’s ready to use their storage shed for the food kitchen. He also had some great ideas. Whiteman had a full cafeteria setup that they left behind when everyone evacuated. Tomorrow, some of the fey are going to go there for the supplies. Matt’s asked them to sneak the things into Tenacity after dark. He doesn’t want anyone to question what’s going on until it’s time to open the doors.
“The temporary kitchen will have a few simple camp stoves that they were using at Whiteman. And we won’t have to worry about dishes or utensils. It sounds like he’ll have everything we need for the setup. All we have to do is provide the fey and the food.”
“That’s great. Did you see Ryan after he returned from the supply run?”
“I did. And he had a sizable haul. The people who volunteered were less than happy about it.”
“That makes no sense.”
“The big hauls are riskier. He takes the fey into the cities for the bigger stores they can find. Two untouched chain stores could feed everyone well for several days. But they tend to be filled with infected and traps. The people in Tenacity would rather hit outlying homes that are less risky.”
“And are probably already picked over,” I said.
“True.”
There was another knock on the door that Tor hurried to answer.
“Hi, Tor. Can I speak with June, please?” Angel asked, her gaze already searching for me. She smiled when she spotted Emily sitting with me, and I waved her in.
Shax, her shadow, followed behind her.
“I have good timing,” she said.
She handed off her jacket to Shax and joined us on the couch. Tor and Shax lounged in the chairs nearby and listened to Emily repeat what she’d learned.
“How many volunteers do we have, and did you warn them that they might be spit at?” Emily asked when she finished.
My mouth dropped open a little, and my gaze shifted to Tor. He flashed his teeth at me and shrugged, which made me sad for all the fey that this wasn’t news to them.
“Usually, I’d say that every fey volunteered, regardless of the spitting. But tomorrow’s the day that Uan is going back to the caves,” Angel said.
A sick knot settled into my stomach at the news.
“There were a lot of volunteers for that,” she continued, “and Drav’s going to decide who goes in the morning, along with who’s in the new group he’s going to send out to look for Molev. I did get eight fey who are fully committed to doing this, though.”
“Molev?” I asked as the name teased my memory.
“Our leader,” Tor said. “He has been missing for a long time.”
“Almost two months,” Emily said. “Matt’s been sending out the plane to look for him, along with signs of any other survivors, but it hasn’t been very successful, and there’s no fuel left. They switched to sending out scouting parties now.” She looked at Angel. “And eight is perfect. I don’t think we should need more fey than that.”
“They’ll report to your house in the morning,” Angel said. “Do you need help showing them what to do? I’m more than willing.”