“So your information is mostly secondhand,” Sam said.
“At first, yeah, but bits and pieces add up to structure. I put out some feelers, found others who’d been approached but hadn’t realized it at the time. Marley’s mom, Tess, was one who called me directly.”
That surprised Sam. Tess was also Quinn’s birth mother, and she’d eschewed involvement with the Society most of her adulthood. “What did she say?”
“She got a customer in the greenhouse. Very debonair, she said, knowledgeable about his plants. Charming.”
“So not like Vern and Sharla.”
“Not much. But you know Fairfield. Lotsa money in that town.”
“Right. And? What triggered her about this guy?”
“The questions he asked. About where she got her talent, and that he’d heard she also did plastic work.”
Sam nodded. Tess’s talents made her skilled at non-surgical physical changes like eliminating scars and fixing flaws.
“She pretended she didn’t know what he meant,” John went on, “because she always asks her clients to give her a heads up before they refer someone, and no one had told her about this guy. But he got pushy about it. So she called me, asked if I thought she needed a protector.”
“Did you assign one?”
“We sent Quinn down. She was still here—you know you just missed her? And Nick?”
“Ah, yeah. I know.”
John laughed. “So she and Nick went down to visit. Stayed a few days, and then ‘left,’ but didn’t really, and the guy didn’t show up again. I’m thinking it was a fact-finding mission.”
“So the question is what facts did they find, and why did they use such different methods for Riley?” His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he automatically reached for it.
“Depends on what they want. Maybe different things from different people,” John speculated, “because some of the others weren’t so slick. Made a few goddesses pretty nervous. Our assignments are up again, and we’re stretched thin watching for threats and providing peace of mind.” He watched Sam check the phone and pocket it again.
“How far have you gotten researching this?” Sam asked.
John’s expression flattened. “Jeannine and I have been meeting with some people we think are related, but they’re not very cooperative. We don’t know who’s behind it or what their goals are. They could be legit, fall into some gray area, or be planning something completely illegal. We have no—”
He was interrupted by Sam’s phone going off again.
“Go ahead and answer it. I’ll be over there.” John motioned to a sausage cart across the grass and got up to head over.
Sam sighed and sprawled across the bench as he flipped open the phone. “Yeah, Nick, what?”
“It’s time to come home, Sam. Quinn needs you.”
Sam waited, but Nick didn’t elaborate. “What, we cut to commercial break or something? What are you talking about?”
Nick sighed. “That was supposed to make you drop everything and come running.”
Sam tossed up his free hand in exasperation. “You have never, in the entire time I’ve known you, wanted me to drop everything and come running. Most of the time, you wanted me to disappear.”
“Yeah, well, you’ve proved yourself useful.” Nick chuckled, but Sam could tell his heart wasn’t in the joke.
He frowned, concerned. “What’s going on?”
“Quinn’s not doing well, Sam. I can’t let her keep waiting you out.”
“Not doing well how? And waiting me out for what?” He didn’t have the patience for beating around the bush. He wanted to get back to the Society and see how Riley was doing.
“The power she’s holding from the leechings. It’s having an effect on her. She’s trying to hide it, but she’s weaker and tires more easily. She can’t tell me how long she’s slept.”
“Shit.” That more than anything told Sam Nick had reason to worry. Quinn’s source was the moon, and that connection gave her the ability to tell how much time had passed, to the minute, even while she was sleeping. She acted like it was a parlor trick, but when Sam had been her manager, he’d used it to gauge her health and stress levels and keep her from overtaxing herself. The only other time she hadn’t been able to tell, the situation had been serious.
But he didn’t know what that had to do with him. “What can I do that you’re not already doing?”
“She’s ready to transfer the power back.”
A burst of excitement sent Sam to his feet. “Really? She found a way? How?”
“We’ve been doing obscure research, and she’s experimented a little. We think there’s a way to transfer power back to Tanda and Chloe without doing anyone any harm.”
“That’s awesome.” From the day she’d drained all the stolen power from Anson, Quinn had wanted to get rid of it. Sam hadn’t expected it to be so difficult. “When are you going to do it?”
“As soon as you can get here.”
Sam looked at his watch, then signaled to John before heading out of the park. He wanted to get back to Riley. “I can’t. I’ve got something going on here that I can’t break away from.”
Nick heaved a heavy breath. “We can’t do it without you, Sam.”
“Why?”
“Quinn needs to explain it to you, she understands it better. But something about needing a filter.”
Sam wanted to help. Anson’s victims deserved to get their abilities back, and he didn’t want Quinn to suffer. But he couldn’t just walk away from Riley, not until he could fulfill his promise to her. Once she was settled at the Society and they’d made sure she was safe, then he could go.
John fell into step beside him, and he lengthened his stride, gaze locked on the Society building a few blocks away. “How long can we put it off?”
Nick’s silence was laden with disappointment and frustration. “How much time do you need?”
“I don’t know. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Yeah, do that. And in the meantime, I’ll keep trying to keep Quinn alive.” He hung up before Sam could find out if he meant it or was just being dramatic.
It didn’t matter if Nick was exaggerating the threat. However urgent the situation in Ohio, it meant Sam needed to take care of the one in Boston as fast as possible.
…
Riley filled out the registration paperwork while Marley did whatever an education coordinator did, and then sat silently while Marley reviewed the packet.
After a few minutes of studying the first page well beyond what Riley thought it merited, Marley asked, “What did Sam want to talk to John about?”
Riley shrugged. “He didn’t say.”
Marley nodded and finally seemed to focus on the paper in her hand. “Riley Kordek, twenty-three, orphan, yada yada,” she mumbled, skimming. “No fixed address…that’s unusual nowadays.” She seemed to realize she’d been thinking out loud and raised her head. “In the early days of the Society, secrecy was paramount and goddesses often had to move a lot to avoid persecution. Sometimes they were labeled witches.”
She waited until Riley nodded, clearly uncertain if she should offer the history lesson. But despite herself, Riley was fascinated.
“Things are a lot different now,” Marley told her. “You can find small-mindedness and fear without looking too hard, but you can also find welcoming communities. And the more we help people, the more accepting they are.”
She jotted a note on a pad and flipped to the second page, skimming again. Riley had written a little bit about how her power manifested and how she used it. She’d left off the part about the forklift, still freaked about the whole thing.