I mentally slap myself in the forehead and then do it for real. She’s right. I am an idiot. Why have I not considered this sooner? I groan and whip up a small laptop on the nearby table that shows, crystal clear, what’s going on in the next room.
Callie eyes the gadget appreciatively. “That’s what I’m talking about.” Then she puts an arm around my shoulders and squeezes, much like her mother did. And I can’t help but think that maybe she was right. Maybe this is what I need. I don’t need another person in my life to coddle me. I need somebody who’s going to tell me like it is. Cora does that for me, but she’s been so wrapped up with Raul and school that I hardly see her anymore.
“Thanks,” I tell her. The words taste funny coming out. Sticky, but necessary.
“Yeah, well,” she murmurs, her head dropping to rest against mine for the smallest of seconds before she lets go. Then she smirks. “Bitch steals my boyfriend, but she’s family, so what can you do?”
We can do this. “Let’s see what’s going on.”
“Personally,” Kate is saying to the group, which is now all standing in Kellan’s room, “I find this entire line of questioning offensive. Jens, you’ve been given proof by a second tier Council member, no less. What do you hope to find on this witch-hunt of yours, anyways? That she stood over them with a bloody knife, carving them up like slabs of beef?”
“Who says she didn’t?” Jens throws back. His elegant, refined fa?ade is long gone now.
I can feel the blood drain out of my face.
“I did,” Jonah practically growls. He is standing very close to Jens, arms tight across his chest.
“You,” Jens snipes in returns, “are extremely biased. I told the Council this—”
“He gave you everything I had,” Kellan cuts in, body mimicking his brother’s down to the exact same fingers curling into fists against his chest.
Jens shakes his head. “There are gaps in the memory. Gaps,” he says directly to Jonah, “that are not acceptable.”
“Gaps,” Jonah scoffs. “Do you mean while they were in the cave?”
My attention, already riveted, focuses laser sharp onto the screen as my mind goes into overdrive. Memory. Gaps. Me. Kellan. Cave.
“Yes,” Jens snaps.
“Need I remind you that my brother was on the verge of a coma for the better part of three days, while suffering from hallucinations brought on by dehydration and an overuse of Magic, and that his memory, itself, is incomplete?” Jonah says. “If what I gave you has gaps in it, it’s because whatever was there is fragmented to the point it’s irrelevant or unnecessary.”
Unnecessary, I realize, not because Kellan was fading in or out, but because I was throwing myself at Kellan and Jonah doesn’t need the world to see this. I cringe at the thought of him out there, having to defend gaps that hurt him so much to see.
“Asshole,” Callie mutters. I hope she means Jens.
“I am the one who gets to judge whether or not something is unnecessary—” Jens says, but Astrid cuts him off.
“The Council gets to decide, Jens. Not you.”
“I am tasked by the Council to helm these missions. None of you seem to be bothered that three experienced Guard disappeared—”
“Are you insane?” Kate snarls. “Of course we’re concerned! There was a formal declaration last night stating so! There are Trackers out there searching at this very minute—not just from the Guard, but the Council, too!”
“Three Guard disappeared,” Jens doggedly continues, “and there is not a single shred of evidence to what happened to them. Why none of you are looking to the Creator astounds me.”
Can he be serious? He really thinks I did something to them?
Callie’s eyes slide over toward me, no doubt assessing whether or not I’m the . . . what? Murdering type?
“As my brother has already informed you multiple times,” Kellan says, voice practically seething in contempt, “Councilwoman Lilywhite had absolutely nothing to do with the missing team members’ disappearances. I want to go on record right now, having witnessed the events first hand, that she is innocent of these ridiculous charges you seem hell bent on pinning on her.”
Jens lets loose a bark of disbelief.
Kellan looks so murderous that Karl actually reaches out to restrain him. Callie’s right, though. Karl looks like he’s going to explode from holding whatever he’s thinking back. “Are you calling me a liar?” Kellan spits out.
“I think the twin brother of the Creator’s Connection might very well cover up for her if asked,” Jens dares to say.
“He did not just say that,” Callie hisses. But me, I don’t even know what to say. I am so, so utterly blown away by what’s going on.
Kellan lunges toward his boss, but once more, Karl yanks him back.