“So what’s the plan?” I asked, looking over at Orion and he frowned in concentration as he scrutinised the map Geraldine had drawn out.
“Without stardust it will take us weeks to travel to some of these locations. Unless we could get hold of an aircraft maybe, but it will be damn hard to board one without the FIB noticing,” he said in frustration. “And if we want to hit them all at once like we planned to then that means us splitting up for that amount of time too.”
“This whole stardust situation is a bitch,” Caleb grumbled and I knew the fact that they hadn’t managed to get their hands on more of the priceless substance had been causing a lot of issues while Darcy and I had been gone.
“We only need one bagful,” Darius growled. “We have to be able to get our hands on that much to-”
There was a knock at the door and we all looked around as Gabriel opened it and stepped inside.
“Noxy,” Orion greeted warmly. “Where have you been? We started without you.”
“Sorry,” Gabriel replied. “I had to make a deal with a seriously irritating Lion Shifter who had been keeping this ‘for a rainy day.’” He tossed a bag of stardust onto the table between all of us and I grinned widely as my eyes fell on it.
“That’s enough, isn’t it?” I asked, looking to Darius for confirmation as he took the bag in his hand and weighed it.
“Yeah, I think it will be. Only just though and I doubt more than two people can head to any one of the locations with this amount.”
I glanced around our group but Gabriel interrupted before I could make any kinds of plans about the way we would need to divide ourselves to get that done.
“Seth and Orio should go to this one in the desert,” he said. “You’ll need speed and a strong shield, though I can’t tell much more. Then Geraldine and Darcy to that one. Darius and Max over in that cavern. I can get some members of my family to help take out the two in the north and the one in the snowfields by the Polar Capital, and Tory and Caleb can handle the one in that canyon.”
“I’m going with Roxy,” Darius demanded.
“No. The cavern will require brute strength and the canyon needs speed. If we split up the way I suggest I see a possible future where we all return here later on tonight. Any other combination and the fates shift, making it less and less likely that we will succeed.”
Darius looked ready to argue but I punched him in the bicep. “Don’t you think I can handle this?” I demanded, making his brow furrow.
“I just want to be there to protect you.”
“Well you heard Gabriel, if you change up the dynamics you’re putting her in danger,” Darcy said firmly and I couldn’t help but grin as my twin got my back.
“Fine,” Darius said after scouring the table for an ally and not finding one. “Let’s get this over with then.”
“Does anyone need to go over the way to use the binding needle again?” Orion asked, his posture tight with tension as he placed a box on the table and opened it to reveal the additional binding needles he’d been creating in anticipation of this. There were ten of them in total, though luckily we wouldn’t need that many and the others had all been taught enough dark magic to successfully sew the rifts closed when we reached them. He’d been planning to teach me and Darcy too but we hadn’t gotten enough practice in yet, so I was going to be handing that task over to Caleb.
“I’m good,” Darius confirmed and the others all nodded their agreement as we stood.
“Alright then, let’s go.” Gabriel turned and headed back out of the room, grabbing a couple of bagels as he went and Seth sidled around the table to join Orion, looking like his damn tail would be wagging if he had been in his Wolf form.
“I can’t believe we’re mission buddies,” Seth whispered loudly, nudging Orion who didn’t return his smile. In fact, the look he was giving him was kinda like an anti-smile if that was even a thing. “It must be fate.”
“Well, I guess I’ve used up all my good luck gaining my mate so I was due some bad to balance it out.” Orion strode from the room and I giggled with Darcy as we headed off to grab our weapons.
“This could be it,” she breathed, taking my hand and squeezing my fingers tightly. “If this works, we could be taking Lionel and Lavinia down and claiming our throne back before the year is out.”
My brows rose at the idea of that. I hadn’t really let myself give too much thought to the possibility of what our world might look like if we really did win this war. I was too caught up in the endless struggle to get to that point to really spend any time thinking about what would happen when we did, but she was right. Everything might just be about to change, and I suddenly found myself unsure of what that would mean.