Page 73 of Daemon Master

Freya nibbled on her bottom lip. “Have you tried it?”

He hesitated. “Well…no. But—”

“Then, how do youknow?” she pressed.

The way she said it, her voice laced with triumph, made him chuckle. “I suppose I don’t. Further experimentation might be in order.”

His smile faded. Someday, when he didn’t already have so much on his plate. Still, he made a mental note to continue practicing the reverse Surge. Now that he’d managed it once, he was pretty sure he could do it again. Nevertheless, it seemed prudent to ensure he could perform the feat on demand. Kali might be gone, but that didn’t mean others wouldn’t follow in her stead.

Far too soon, the first of the four weeks Elana had given them drew to a close, with naught but Freya’s (mostly) pleasant company to show for it.

“We could always leave,” Seymour declared after they’d retired to their cabin for the night.

Adrian had worried at first about sharing so little space, but so far, it hadn’t been an issue. If anything, he found it reminded him of the sleepovers they’d once had as kids. Though backthen, the sight of his friend’s bare chest hadn’t left him quite so flustered.

Seymour’s leg brushed against Adrian’s as he shifted at the table, sending a slight tingle rippling down Adrian’s skin. “We gave it our best shot,” Seymour continued. “But these people have no interest in what we have to say. The longer we stay here, the more we put ourselvesandthem at risk.”

Adrian covertly moved his leg away. “Elana promised she’d consider our claims.”

“Oh?” A bit of the old sneer crept into the watcher’s voice. “Then, where has she been? From where I sit, she seems to be avoiding us, same as the rest of them.”

Seymour had a point. For all her generosity in allowing them to stay, they’d hardly seen the Enclave’s leader this past week. Given how small the village was, that couldn’t be a coincidence.

“Maybe she’s been busy,” Adrian suggested half-heartedly.

“Sure,she is,” Seymour muttered. “Busy pandering to everyone else’s paranoia. Honestly, you’d think we’re lepers the way they avoid us. Infected by the blight of daemon bonding.”

“Let’s give it one more week,” Adrian insisted. “If nothing’s changed by then, we’ll call it a wash and decide on a new plan.”

“Like retreating even deeper into the forest?”

That had been the watcher’s vote all along. Whenever Adrian considered the possibility, however, a pit gnawed at his gut.

“We can’t run forever, Seymour. Kali was the first to come for us, but she won’t be the last. Her unseen partner is still out there, along with who knows what else.” His eyes flicked to his daemons curled up on his sleeping mat. “Besides, this secret is too big, tooimportantto ignore. Sooner or later, we’ll need to find a way to fight back.”

“Perhaps.” Seymour began sharpening a knife he’d acquired from spirits knew where. “But just because I stuck my neck out for you doesn’t mean I want it chopped off. We need a plan.”

A plan.

Adrian mulled the problem over as he drifted to sleep, studiously ignoring his heightened awareness of the watcher’s rhythmic breathing and the comforting warmth that emanated from his body, filling the narrow space between them. Convincing the Enclave to help still seemed like the best way to seize the initiative against Serenity Corp. All they needed now was a strategy to make that happen.

The following morning, Seymour stared at him like he’d sprouted a second head. “Nothing? Your new plan is to donothing?”

“Notnothing,” Adrian replied, bending at the waist to stretch his fingers toward his toes. He’d already completed a brief warm-up before Seymour awoke. “I intend to return to my training.”

“And, what, impress the village with your combat prowess? Or have you decided to go on that murderous rampage after all?”

“Neither.” He spread his feet apart and twisted, first to the right, then to the left. “If our presence here unnerves them, perhaps we should simply go about our business.” Left. Right. Left. Right. “Act like we’re no different from the rest of them and letthemcome tous.”

Seymour raised his brow. “You really think ignoring them will do that?”

Adrian shrugged. “It’s not like it can go any worse.”

“Fine,” Seymour said, crossing his arms. Beside him, Tremorfist mimicked the gesture. It might have been cute if it hadn’t looked so menacing. “We’ll try it your way. But what we decided last night still stands. If there’s no progress after another week, we leave.”

Adrian rose, stretching his hands above his head as his stomach clenched. “Deal.”

The watcher jerked a nod and settled in near Adrian, beginning his own warmup routine. “Good. Now, scoot over. You’re hogging all the free space.”