I told them quickly, staying attuned to that connection. I couldn’t send out a burst of magic to direct any of the other invisible fliers because a mage would feel it. They wouldn’t know what it was or what it meant, but they’d be spooked.
“Damn it,” I said softly. “We need a better way to communicate with the people on the territory line.”
“My gargoyle form is dark, Jessie,” Jasper said. “So is Nathanial’s. He’s still on the roof. He couldn’t get in because of the altercation earlier.”
“Go,” I said without thinking about Austin or Kingsley. “Stay out of sight. See what Tristan needs, if anything. I’d be seen. I don’t have any potion.”
“Are you sure someone is there?” Kingsley asked as Jasper took off running, shedding clothes as he went. “Wait—” Kingsley reached forward to grab my arm. “Stop giving directions—”
Austin grabbed Kingsley’s wrist before his hand reached me, his knuckles white, his body braced.
Kingsley’s jaw clenched, but he pulled his hand back quickly. “Stop giving directions until we can think this through,” he finished.
“I’m sure that one of the gargoyles is slowly moving up on something in order to check it out,” I told him, wanting to step toward the door and put my eyes on the sky. At the same time, I didn’t want to trigger Kingsley with my insubordination, something that would in turn trigger Austin. “If the mage is invisible, like him, he’s going to have to be damn close to be sure. Tristan is an insanely fast flier, and he’ll be able to see through the spell. Hopefully. We should know in a moment—”
“Make sure your people are out of there,” Austin told Kingsley, thankfully jogging for the door.
“We can’t have a visible runner scaring them off.”
“I have no way of doing that,” Kingsley said, now jogging with him. “They’ll know not to engage with any intruders, though.”
“Miss, your clothes,” Mr. Tom said as we exited the bar. “What is going on?”
A blast of alert radiated through the connection. Then surprise and alarm bled through one of my Ivy House links. It took me a moment to realize they were in the same location.
“It’s Edgar,” I said, now afraid for a different reason. “The patrol has found Edgar. Why the hell is Edgar way out there?”
“He was going to inspect locations for his flowers,” Mr. Tom said, catching up to me as the others fell back. “He didn’t think anyone would notice.”
I could read the Ivy House link so much easier than any of my other connections, feeling a flash of pain, a surge of moping, and then a burst of adrenaline. He was battling—he must be.
Humor came through my connection to the invisible gargoyle, followed by pride, while Edgar gave me more moping and some embarrassment. His pain hadn’t totally diminished, but it was a dull ache instead of a life-threatening injury.
“He didn’t think anyone would notice?” I rounded on Mr. Tom. “We have a patrol specifically to ensure someone notices! Why wasn’t this cleared with me?”
“Well now, miss,” Mr. Tom said indignantly. “You’ve been shut up and whisked away and taken out—when would one of your poor, loyal, forgotten servants have the ability to beg you to be included—”
“Okay, okay, okay.” I put up my hands to stop him.
“We’ve had to twiddle our thumbs, hoping you aren’t dead or—”
“Okay, I said. It’s not like we’ve been here long. It’s been one day, Mr. Tom. I hardly call that forgotten.”
“And last night.”
“Twenty-four hours. Let’s keep our expectations in check, shall we?” I put my hands on my hips, turning back to the alphas. “Sorry, guys. False alarm. The patrol must’ve given Edgar a knock. The good news is, the patrol is effective. The bad news is—”
I cut off as another connection pulsed, beaming joy and cunning ruthlessness. It was in the same location as the others. My phone rang, and I stared at Tristan’s name for a moment before answering.
“Hello?” I asked, putting it to my ear.
“Edgar got one.”
“Wh-what? Got…one what?”
Tristan laughed. “A mage. Our gargoyle patrol felt something strange leaving the territory and followed it toward the river. That must be when you clued in. The presence stopped. Our gargoyle thought whoever it was might feel wind from his wings, so he went a little ways away and landed, then snuck up on foot. The mage mustn’t have noticed Edgar. Our patrol certainly didn’t. Edgar says he was just minding his own business, picking a nice little area for Clarence the Clubber, when he bumped into something and got a fright. That something was the mage, who tried to hit Edgar with a spell, I guess. He was too close, though, so the mage banged him over the head with a flashlight.