Mateo grabbed the remote from the center of the table and passed it over to Ian, who hit some buttons on the device. Images of a large mansion appeared on the monitors on the wall.
“Our suspect, Lance Fuller, is throwing a party tonight. All of the academy kids have been invited, including the four of us,” Ian said. “We think that Lance might use the party as a cover to meet with the other Reapers. He might be planning to hand the chimera scepter over to them, maybe even Sisyphus himself, if the Reaper leader shows up. But the party will also give us a chance to snoop around the mansion. If we’re lucky, we might be able to find the scepter before Lance meets with any Reapers.”
Ian hit some buttons, and more photos of the mansion appeared on the monitors, showing the spacious rooms inside, as well as the pools, tennis courts, and landscaped grounds that surrounded the sprawling structure.
Each image brought back memories. I had gone to Lance’s back-to-school party last year, and I had even flirted with him a little when we’d both been getting sodas in the kitchen. It had been one of the best nights of my life. Then, a few days later, my parents had been killed, and everything had changed.
I shifted in my seat, suddenly uncomfortable, and my charm bracelet clattered against the table. I winced at the harsh jangling sound.
“Something wrong, cupcake?” Ian asked.
“Just wondering when you’re going to get to the point.”
Ian opened his mouth to snipe at me, but Takeda crossed his arms over his chest, silently telling the Viking to focus on the briefing.
“We’ll do our usual operation,” Ian said. “Zoe and I will infiltrate the mansion, while Takeda and Mateo stay in the van. Mateo will hack the security system so the two of them can see and track our progress through the mansion. Zoe will use her gadgets on any locks or alarms that we encounter, and I’ll watch her back in case we run into any Reapers while we’re searching for the chimera scepter. Once we have the scepter, we’ll remove it from the premises, then wait for the Reapers to arrive. Depending on how many of them show up, we’ll either capture them ourselves or call for Protectorate backup.”
As much as I hated to admit it, Ian had come up with a solid plan. Takeda nodded, along with Zoe and Mateo, but I raised my hand as though we were in class.
“And what do I get to do, professor?” I asked.
Ian rolled his eyes, as though the answer should have been obvious. “You get to flirt with Lance like you did on the quad this morning.”
I frowned. Not the assignment I’d expected. “Why me? Zoe is way cuter.”
The petite Valkyrie perked up and blew me a kiss, making blue sparks of magic shimmer in the air around the two of us. I grinned back at her. It was true. She was way cuter than me.
“Because you’re the one Lance personally invited to his party,” Ian said. “You’re the one he knows, so you can keep tabs on him while Zoe and I search the mansion. Do you think you can handle that?”
“Yes, I can handle being the distraction. Why don’t you give me something more challenging to do?”
“Because I don’t trust you,” Ian snapped.
He didn’t trust me? He didn’t even know me, but he’d already condemned me for what my parents had been, just like everyone else at this stupid school. Well, I’d had enough of his attitude and insults. Anger roared through me, and I shot to my feet, my hands balling into tight fists.
“You don’t trust me?” I snarled. “Well, I don’t trust you either. How about I make you eat your own teeth? How would you like that, Viking?”
Ian shot to his feet as well. “Bring it on, cupcake—”
A sharp whistle cut through the air, making us all wince. Takeda blew on his silver gym whistle two more times before letting it drop back down around his neck.
“That’s enough,” Takeda said, his voice as calm as ever. “We have work to do. The two of you need to get over your petty dislike of each other. Now, gear up. We leave for the party in thirty minutes.”
Ian and I kept glaring at each other, our hands still clenched into fists.
“That’s an order,” Takeda said, a little bite in his voice this time. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”
“Fine,” Ian muttered. “But when this goes sideways, remember that you’re the one who wanted her on the team.”
He gave me one more hostile glare before he marched out of the briefing room.
*
Mateo started talking to Takeda about some computer equipment that he needed for the mission. Zoe got to her feet, grabbed her purse from the table, and crooked her finger at me.
“Come on,” she said. “I’ll help you get ready.”
I followed her out of the briefing room, down one of the hallways, and into the armory. Gray metal lockers hugged one of the walls, while swords, daggers, and other weapons lined another wall.
I eyed the weapons, wondering if I should take one of them with me instead of the cursed Babs. But Babs had said that she would reappear in my hand no matter what I did or where I left her, and I didn’t want to hurt the sword’s feelings by choosing another weapon, especially if it wouldn’t keep me safe from her curse anyway. Besides, we were going to steal the scepter from Lance, not fight him for it. I should be fine taking Babs with me tonight.
Zoe moved past the weapons to the far end of the wall, where some shelves held several oddly shaped items. At first glance, the items looked like ordinary swords, daggers, and spears. But on closer inspection, I noticed that all sorts of buttons, wires, and battery packs were attached to the weapons, making them anything but ordinary.
Zoe crouched down, then stood up on her tiptoes, scanning the items on each shelf and humming to herself all the while. She finally grabbed something that looked like a small gun with three long metal prongs sticking out of the barrel.
She noticed my curious stare and struck a pose with the item. “A lockpick gun. Put this in just about any lock, pull the trigger, and it’s open sesame. The gun does all the work of jimmying the lock instead of someone wasting precious seconds actually picking it open. I made it myself.”
“You invent things?”
Zoe nodded and dropped the lockpick gun into her purse. “Yep. Mateo does all the computer stuff, but I like messing around with tools and weapons and seeing what I can come up with. Like this little beauty.” She grabbed a dagger off one of the shelves and held it out where I could see it. “This one’s my favorite. I call it my electrodagger.”
It looked like an ordinary silver dagger—until Zoe pressed her thumb against the blue stone set into the hilt. Blue-white sparks of electricity sizzled up and down the blade, making me jerk back in surprise.
“It’s a dagger and a stun gun.” She beamed at me, pride filling her face. “Why carry two weapons when you can have them all in one?”
I grinned back at her. “Now, that is cool.”