“Where’s Kass? She’s usually here early.” Amanda glanced around at the group which currently totaled six.

  They were all gathered at Indi and Falco’s place to discuss recent events. Cat, being still in jail, was absent, as was Kass, although no one was sure where she was.

  “I don’t know.” Zephyr shrugged.

  “I haven’t heard from her,” added Wolf.

  Sirius just looked worried.

  Indi was in the kitchen behind them all, darting about like bee, making them all something to eat, and barely paying any attention to anything else.

  “Maybe she’s working on Cat’s case?” suggested Falco.

  “She’s not supposed to be working on it,” Sirius said with a frown.

  Before Amanda could ask him how he knew that, Indi interrupted with a plate piled high. “Cookies! Who wants cookies?”

  She darted about from person to person and the cookie pile quickly shrunk.

  When she reached Amanda, Amanda waved her off. It didn’t feel like the right sort of mood for cookies. She wished Indi would offer an alcoholic drink instead but she was also glad she hadn’t because she knew the look Sirius would give if she requested a whiskey.

  Sirius had taken one cookie and was nibbling it with tentative small bites, looking guilty himself or maybe just worried. Amanda sighed. She was reading too much into things.

  They had talked some more the night before and when they'd gone to bed she had felt better about things. But along with the rise of the sun the next morning had come flashbacks of memory. Of him talking to Kass and they way they'd been looking at each other. Of the pair of them lips locked back at the facility. And sure, he'd said Kass had initiated that but it also wasn't like he'd been quick to push her away, and last night he had said he liked Kass. Sure, he had said he loved Amanda but how much of that was just time together? Like some sort of sunk cost. She knew that wasn't the case for how she felt about him. Even if he was away a lot. Even if when he was home they were often busy doing different things or chasing after the kids. She still got butterflies when she looked at him, maybe even more so now than when they'd been younger. They were for slightly different reasons now. Less about looks and more about things he did and memories of moments shared.

  They'd spent the morning keeping busy and Amanda wasn't sure if it was intentional. It almost felt like he was tiptoeing around her. Worried about upsetting her maybe or hiding something? She didn't think it was the latter but she couldn't help the thoughts that crossed her mind.

  She'd meant to forego any whiskey in her coffee that morning, start her alcohol free streak afresh but given she'd already blown it, what was delaying one more day? So as a last morning drink she'd poured herself an extra shot instead. She tried to regather her thoughts while everyone was distracted by the cookies but at least once or twice she caught herself glancing toward the cupboard that she knew Indi and Falco kept their liquor in.

  Zephyr helped himself to a third cookie as Indi walked past him on her way back into the kitchen.

  “So what’s the first order of business?” Falco asked. ”Lily?”

  “No,” Indi interrupted. “We have to figure out how to get Cat out of jail.”

  “I don’t think we have any say over that, Indi,” Falco told her gently. “I mean she killed a guy.”

  “Allegedly!” Indi corrected.

  Falco shrugged but he didn’t look convinced.

  Indi frowned. “You don’t actually think she did it do you?”

  “Well...” Falco hesitated.

  Indi turned to the rest of the group. “Guys?”

  Everyone remained silent.

  Indi fixed them all with a look one by one.

  Amanda explained, “Well, it is Cat, she’s kind of a loose cannon.”

  “Still, cold-blooded murder’s a stretch even for her,” Zephyr said although he didn’t sound that convinced of his own argument.

  “You guys are terrible friends!” Indi exclaimed. “What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty? I mean we could just ask her.”

  “I spoke to her today,” Sirius replied.

  “And?” Amanda asked. She felt a little guilty. They’d each been so busy today that she hadn’t had time to ask him how his visit with his sister had gone.

  “She was evasive. I couldn’t get a straight answer. You know what she’s like.”

  Indi stalked off in a huff to grab her laptop. “Okay, then we use the facts.” She set it up on the kitchen counter while they all waited. It didn’t take her long to boot it up and then she was off talking again. “Listen to this. The guy was found sitting in his living room chair with his brains blown out”—she winced—“holding the gun in his right hand. Apparently he was left handed, which is why they think someone else did it, but I mean, sometimes people swap hands for things. Maybe he wanted to put more distance between himself and the act so he used a different hand? Or maybe his wife did it? She was the one who found him after all. She was a victim of domestic violence. Maybe she’d finally had enough. Her alibi is flaky as, based on an eye-witness who was a stranger and only gives an approximate time. She totally could have done it. Or any one of the people from his old town might have tracked him down and-”

  “Indi, where are you getting all this information from?” Falco asked.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Police records.”

  “Ah.” He sighed. “Sorry I asked. You know maybe we should just let the police do their jobs eh? She’s got a a lawyer, right?” He glanced at Sirius.

  Sirius nodded.

  “So we let the justice system do its thing. If she’s innocent then they’ll let her go and if she’s not, well, that’s her own fault then,” Falco explained.

  Amanda shared a look with Sirius. They both knew it didn’t work like that. That it wasn’t that simple.

  “The cops do have it out for her though,” Wolf said in a quiet voice.

  Amanda looked at Wolf and then she looked again. Was it just her or was he more reserved tonight than he usually was?

  “But they’re not the ones who get to decide, the jury does,” Falco replied.

  Indi scowled. “The average person is an idiot.” Then she crossed her arms and hugged herself. Looking worried, she said, “And a lot of people don’t understand Cat. She’s all prickly on the outside but squishy on the inside, really.”

  “Don’t let her hear you saying that,” Zephyr replied with a smirk.

  “Regardless,” Falco replied, “The justice system is there for a reason. You can’t just go around doing whatever you want, no matter who the guy was. And I know, most people aren’t as smart as you babe”—Falco pulled Indi into a hug—“But they still deserve a say in how society is run. The lawyers will make sure they understand the facts and then they’ll decide if what Cat did is just or not. Besides, maybe some prison time will do her some good.”

  Indi wasn’t having a bar of it. She extracted herself from Falco’s hug. “How could you say that. Prison is a horrible place. She’d probably feel like we abandoned her. Just like that guys kids probably felt abandoned, and Cat was the only one who helped them.”

  “She also killed their father.”

  “Who beat them.”

  “She should have gone to the cops.”

  “The cops suck.”

  “You really think the guy deserved to die for what he did?”

  Indi hesitated. “That’s... that’s beside the point.”

  “Guy got of easy if you ask me,” mumbled Wolf during the brief gap in conversation.

  It earned him a disapproving look from both Indi and Falco, and a suppressed snigger from Zephyr. Sirius seemed lost in thought. Amanda felt somewhat the same. Falco had a point. The justice system was there for a reason and Cat had broken the law. At some point there needed to be consequences and no one should be considered above them. On the other hand, Indi was right too. The justice system was flawed and Cat wasn’t the most sympathetic of people. Getting a jury to like her was going to be difficult.

  There was another reason Amanda didn’t just want to let things be though. As much as she hated bending the rules, in this case she felt they needed Cat. She wanted to go to Witchaven and bring Lily with them. Cat may be a loose cannon sometimes but she was loyal and disregarding her impatience and impertinence, Amanda trusted Cat to be on Lily’s side and she knew Cat would help protect her, no matter what. She wanted Cat with them. She also didn’t feel it was right to just leave Cat in prison at the mercy of a system that had never done her justice in the past while the rest of them went off on some out of town quest. Besides, it wasn’t like they hadn’t broken the law before. Not that that justified it. There were always exceptions though.

  Falco and Indi continued their back and forth spar while Zephyr occasionally threw out a comment, more often for humour than for help.

  “As flawed as it is, the justice system won’t work or improve if we don’t work with it and let it work. If Kass were here, she’d agree with me,” Falco argued.

  Zephyr raised an eyebrow. “You mean the ex-assassin who basically made her living working outside the law?”

  “That was war time,” Falco countered. “Rules are different during war, and she’s a lawyer now.”

  “She was a lawyer then too.”

  Amanda sighed. They were going in circles. She held up her hands. “Okay, why don’t we give it a few days and see where things are at. It’s not like we have to do anything right now.” That wasn’t entirely true. Amanda could feel the time ticking on Lily but she’d also decided while the others had been arguing exactly what she was going to do about Cat, and she’d decided that they didn’t need to know anything about it. It wasn’t a great solution but it was the only one they had. “I want to talk about Lily briefly.”

  The others quietened. No one opposed waiting, although Indi did bite her lip. She probably wanted to see Cat out of prison sooner rather than later.

  Amanda continued before anyone had too much time to object. “Apparently Cornelius had a plan to meet someone in Witchaven after resurrecting Lily and his wife, someone who could help with part of the resurrection process. I think we should go there, have a poke around and see what we can find. Maybe this person can help.”

  Wolf’s head suddenly jerked in her direction as if he’d been spacing out and only just registered what had been said. “Where’d you get that information?”

  “Coal,” she half-lied. She tried to ignore the look Sirius was giving her. He didn’t like keeping things from the group. They didn’t need to know about the necromancy she’d done on Cornelius though.

  “He just told you that?” Falco asked. There was suspicion in his tone but Amanda was pretty sure that was directed more at a mistrust in Coal’s word than her own.

  She nodded.

  “Road trip!” Indi proclaimed with a smile which promptly fell away when she remembered their other issue. “But we can’t go without Cat.”

  Amanda nodded. “We’ll need a few days to sort stuff out before leaving anyway but we might have to.” She didn’t explain her plan for Cat. She wasn’t even sure it would work yet or what it would cost.

  Indi didn’t argue. She did look worried though.

  Falco argued. “Witchaven is a human settlement and you want to go walking in there looking for a necromancer? That’s like poking a dragon with a metal pole.”

  “Rumor is they still practice witch burning,” Wolf reminded them.

  Amanda shrugged. “As long as we mostly keep to ourselves and are polite, I doubt they’ll bother much with us. Besides, it’s not like they can tell what we are or need to know the actual reason we’re there.”

  “You might want to dye your hair,” Wolf suggested, “And Indi won’t be able to smile.”

  Amanda glanced at Indi. She didn’t think the red hair mattered much, humans had that sometimes too, albeit a lot less often. Indi’s half-sized fangs though were more of a problem. She doubted Indi would want to be left behind though.

  Indi pouted, then in a hushed, excited tone remarked, “I’ve never met a human before.”

  “I’m not really worried about what they might do to us,” Falco said. “I’m more worried about the paperwork or potential fall out from whatever we do or don’t find. And what if Lily turns while we’re there?”

  “Lily turning is a risk wherever we are. The sooner we leave the better though. How much time does everyone need? Does Monday week from now work?”

  For the most part it did. Amanda just hoped it wasn’t leaving things too long. And maybe if her plan for Cat worked then by then the gang would be complete. One good thing that could be said about the Little Rock legal system was that when it did work, it worked fast. Worst case, they’d just have to go without her. And if it was too slow then she could catch them later.

  “Right, good,” Amanda said. “Next thing on the agenda, the dreamweaver.” She turned to Wolf. “No progress in locating it?”

  He shook his head.

  She studied him more closely. He really did seem more distant and down than usual tonight. Maybe the whole situation with Lily was just wearing on him? Maybe she should go easier on him. Maybe whatever lay in Witchaven would prove to be a solution. Maybe. There were too many maybes.

  “Well, I guess we just have to assume it’s moved on somewhere else,” she said. “Let’s leave things there for now. We’ll catch up later in the week and see where everything is at with Cat. Hopefully they go for an early court date. I’ll let Kass know about the plan.”

  “What! That’s it?” Indi asked.

  Amanda nodded. She was tired. Maybe she’d have one last whiskey to relax when she got home tonight and then start afresh in the morning. Everyone else looked tired too, well except for Indi. “Unless you had anything else?”

  Indi shook her head and considered it. “No.” Then she perked up. “Does anyone want any more cookies?”

  On this last point of business the response was unanimous and the plate was emptied before the meeting was adjourned.