Unattainable Fruit

Chapter 32: Meetings & Intel

Chelsea

Cody's POV

An hour later, everyone is spread out inside the White Cabin, food spread around all surfaces as everyone lounges wherever there's a seat.

On the way over, Sloan and Jessie have James and I back control, and the Alpha contacted the Warrior Commanders and Charlotte to meet us here. Now, as conversations dull and we dig in,  James goes to start to meeting.

"Okay, Charlotte has assured me that the cabin is secure. Taylor, Enza, and Chelsea, have you guys been caught up to speed by Jasper and Art?" He asks, and they nod, thankfully clearing away having to backtrack once more. "Okay then you have the floor to fill us in on what happened on your end."

It's Taylor who jumps in, he and Enza lounging on a love seat, the Hybrid tucked under his lovers arm. "We were heading home last night from training and we heard a scream. We weren't sure what was going on, but we went to check it out. Before we could even make contact with the scream, we got ambushed by a shadow. I trapped it but I underestimated the versatility of shadow magic, and it escaped. We had almost managed to maim it enough to capture it for questions and analysis since we've never seen one or even heard of any attach recently. At least not until today. But then four more shadows showed up to help. We struggled but ultimately we managed to pin them down. We were about to destroy and capture when someone suddenly showed up and killed them all-"

"Was it a Witch?" James interrupts, and we listen intently to the answer, hoping to get some lead on the mysterious magic user that crossed into our border.

But Taylor shakes his head. "No, it was the Commander of House of Water. I don't know his name. Never cared to. But he killed them all. Swiftly. Leaving no trace of them. He claimed he was nearby and wanted to help. But I keep thinking about it. We may be neighbors sure and maybe he was on his way home from the Royal Castle. I just can't help but feel like there's something he's hiding. Like he was cleaning up his mess." He surmises and it makes me start to realize that this whole thing might be a bit more serious than James and myself included would like to believe.

"His name is Kalium Pond. I've never liked the man. He's crass, spiteful, and extremely hateful and intolerant towards anyone that doesn't have Divine blood. His House doesn't hold any favor with me either. High Lord and Lady Mist have always had close ties to Vilin, the High Council and to the Royal House, but I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them. I heard their eldest child deserted his title of next in line, deciding instead to live among the mixing pot of the Capital." Artemis discloses, her ties and status able to make her a constant vessel for gossip or little snippets of information such as these.

"Okay, well if no one else will address the elephant in the room, are you saying, Taylor that you think Lord and Lady Mist may be responsible for the shadows last night?" Johnathan asks, him and the other commanders settled around the large dining room table on the opposite end of Alex, Zee, James and I.

James is immediately shaking his head, though looks from the Faerie make me worry if James is digging his heels in the sand, anxiety stopping him from being able to assess and handle possible problems. "I don't think it's smart to jump to conclusions, we can't assume that because he was there, he summoned the Shadows. He could be telling the truth. They could have found a way in themselves." James offers, but I can tell that even he isn't convinced anymore.

"Sorry, James, but I'm not so sure." Zee says shaking her head as she thinks about it, her brows furrowed as she tries to puzzle out the problem. "Here in Autumn Falls, we can make the excuse that they found their way here. Maybe even Winter Moon. The Mind Province was a stretch. But there is no way in hell, a Shadow made its way all the way from the Southwestern tip of Kaulike to the Earth Province in the most north territory in Kaulike without being seen or spotted. There's no way in hell. The only explanation is that someone summoned the Daemon. Whether it was Commander Kalium or someone else, that Shadow didn't get there by itself." She finishes and I have to admit she has a point. Though something else bothers me.