“That’s insulting,” Izzy said indignantly.
“Who’s moving in?” I asked, my gaze volleying between the girls.
“Izzy and Kim,” Remy said.
Sykes gave a mock shudder. “Don’t you mean Miss Rules and Miss Stuck Up? The things that go on in this house stay in this house. My women won’t, uh, you know, be themselves with you two around.”
“What women?” Kim said in a disparaging tone. “Don’t you mean the poor human girls parading in and out of here like it’s a cheerleading camp?”
“We can have our bedrooms upstairs,” Remy continued. “You girls can take downstairs.”
“We get upstairs,” Izzy corrected him. “And we get to redecorate the living room.” She and Kim laughed and high-fived each other.
“You two are actually thinking of moving in?” I asked, sitting on the bench by the TV. “With them?”
“My parents are bending the rules again to suit themselves,” Kim explained, a defeated expression settling on her pretty face. “When Cardinal Guardian trainees turn eighteen, which I did a month ago, they are supposed to get places of their own. My parents insist there are no houses available, yet Kenta’s house is empty.”
Kenta was our disgraced former master trainer. He had betrayed us by feeding my father information about me, and been banned from our Council.
“And even if his house wasn’t empty, it takes Guardians…what? A week to build a house?” Izzy rolled her eyes. “Hardly a reason to keep us under their thumbs.”
Izzy had lived with Kim’s family since her family moved back to Xenith. “You too?” I asked.
Izzy shrugged. “They can’t allow me to move out and refuse Kim, so I’m being punished too. Worse, they’re trying to find Kim—”
“Don’t,” Kim snapped and slapped a hand over Izzy’s mouth.
Izzy teleported and appeared beside me. “Amate.”
Kim growled. “You need to mind your own business, Isadora Salazar.”
I expected the guys to burst out laughing because it was absurd. No one arranged marriages anymore. But everyone went quiet, their expressions serious. Immediately after joining the Guardianship program, Izzy had told me something interesting about Kim’s family—the Larsons had a history of arranging marriages to produce powerful offspring and future Cardinals, which was why every generation of Cardinals included a member of their family.
“That’s messed up,” Remy said, frowning. “You can pretend to choose one of us to get them off your back.”
Kim smiled. “Thanks, Remy, but there’s no need for that. Can we discuss something else?”
“I second what Remy said,” Sykes added, his expression earnest. “It might mess up my rep with the ladies, but we’re friends and friends help each other out. So, yes, count me in for as long as you want me.” He stretched and pretended to check Kim out. “But if you want to upgrade it by adding benefits, I’m calling first dibs, bro.”
Kim laughed and leveled Sykes a mocking glance. “You couldn’t handle me.”
“Try me,” Sykes said, then he winked.
“So? Should we rearrange the rooms for you guys?” Remy’s glance bounced between Izzy to Kim as he spoke.
“Whoa, slow down, dude. We are still in the maybe-it-might-happen-depending-on-the-ground-rules stage.” Sykes pointed at Remy, then tapped his chest and indicated upstairs. “Let’s go.”
They disappeared upstairs.
“Are you guys really thinking about moving in with them?” I asked, not buying it.
“Do you have a better idea?” Izzy asked.
“I can talk to my grandfather. As the head of the Cardinals, his ruling trumps Kim’s father when it comes to Cardinal Guardian business. Because of him, you guys lived with your parents when you moved here from Xenith, instead of rooming with members of the High Council like the new students.”
Kim studied me with narrowed eyes as though thinking about my suggestion.
“There was no ‘Academy’ at the time and parents weren’t willing to send their kids to this High Council after the demonic raid, which, your father led, princess,” Izzy teased.
I stuck out my tongue. “It was just a thought. Don’t call me princess.”
Izzy shook her head, her ponytail whipping left and right. “Princess… princess…princess…”
She could be so annoying sometimes. I waved a hand, and a pillow from one of the gaming chairs shot toward her. She caught it and flipped it back at me. I stopped it before it reached me and sent it her way again.
“Stop it, you two,” Kim snapped, then nodded at me. “Do it.”
I blinked. “Really?”
Kim arched her right eyebrow. “You offered. Let’s see if Grampa really is putty in your hands, princess.”
With a lift of my chin, a pillow shot up and flew toward her. Air shot past me as the pillow reversed directions with a whoosh. The guys came back to find a pillow fight and giggles.
Sykes laughed. “Now this, I can live with. Saturday night strip poker and pillow fights are a must for roommates.” He ducked when four pillows flew toward him.
“We’ll pass for now,” Kim said. “Lil will talk to her grandfather about getting us our own place.”
“Now, or after this Tribe mess is over?” Remy asked.
Just like that, the playful mood disappeared. The discussion moved to the Tribe.
“They’re still discussing what to do?” Izzy asked, outraged.
“From what my grandfather said, the Cardinals would like us to face the Tribe head on, but the High Council prefers diplomacy.”
“I wonder what the CT has to say about all this,” Kim murmured. “Do they even know what’s going on?”
“It’s been four days since the attack and Academy students and their teachers are still in Xenith,” Remy said. “Someone must have explained their presence.”
“Meanwhile we train without knowing the Tribe’s weaknesses and strengths,” Izzy added.
“Master Haziel knows something but he’s being so close-mouthed,” Kim griped.
“Did Bran tell you what they discussed this morning?” Remy asked. “It seemed intense, but they were both grinning like they’d found the Holy Grail.”
I shook my head. “I haven’t seen Bran since our morning training session.”
“You trained this morning?” Izzy asked.
“Around five o’clock,” I said.
Kim reached out and rubbed my arm. “The nightmares again?”
Surprised by the gesture, I nodded. “I agree with Remy. Master Haziel knows something. Remember how he pointed out a passage on the book on Mediums before we knew Kylie was a medium? He gave me a book…” My cell phone dinged. I fished it out of my pocket and read the text.
Is Bran with you?
I typed. No. Why?
When I pressed the send button and looked up, the others were staring at me with annoyance. Making a face, I put the phone back in my pocket. “Sorry. It’s Kylie. Uh, where was I? Yeah, Master Haziel gave me a book on the Goddess and he keeps pushing me to read it.” I shrugged. “So are we going to continue hiding and waiting?”
“We should sneak out and do our own investigation, beat the senior Cardinals to the punch like we’d planned before,” Sykes said. “Like we did with Coronis and on Jarvis Island.”
Silence followed his announcement, then everyone started talking at once.
“I don’t know, guys,” Izzy said.
“Live a little, Izzy,” Sykes said with a gleam in his eyes. “We can round up demons and torture them until they talk.”
“Or ask Darius and the Brotherhood to help us,” Remy added. “The problem is how to contact them without the senior Cardinals knowing about it.”