Fred and I stood a little space from the others. He examined himself careful y, then looked me over, then stared at the others. It struck me that Fred, though real y quiet, was very observant and almost scientific in the way he examined evidence. He'd been evaluating Riley's words and actions al along. How much had he figured out?
Riley had to force Kristie up the stairs, and her gang came with her. Final y we al were out in the sun, most people enjoying how very pretty they were. Riley rounded everyone up for one more quick practice session - mostly, I thought, to get them to focus again. It took them a minute, but everyone started to realize that this was it, and they got quieter and more fierce. I could see that the idea of a real fight - of being not only al owed but encouraged to rip and burn - was almost as exciting as hunting. It appealed to people like Raoul and Jen and Sara. Riley focused on a strategy he'd been trying to dril into them for the last few days - once we'd pinpointed the yel oweyes' scent, we were going to divide in two and flank them. Raoul would charge them head-on while Kristie attacked from the side. The plan suited both their styles, though I wasn't sure if they were going to be able to fol ow this strategy in the heat of the hunt.
When Riley cal ed everyone together after an hour of practice, Fred immediately started walking backward toward the north; Riley had the others facing south. I stayed close, though I had no idea what he was doing. Fred stopped when we were a good hundred yards away, in the shade of the spruce trees on the fringe of the forest. No one watched us move away. Fred was eyeing Riley, as if waiting to see if he would notice our retreat.
Riley began speaking. "We leave now. You're strong and you're ready. And you're thirsty for it, aren't you? You can feel the burn. You're ready for dessert."
He was right. Al that blood hadn't slowed the return of the thirst at al . In fact, I wasn't sure, but I thought it might be coming back faster and harder than usual. Maybe overfeeding was counterproductive in some ways.
"The yel ow-eyes are coming in slowly from the south, feeding along the way, trying to get stronger," Riley said. "She's been monitoring them, so I know where to find them. She's going to meet us there, with Diego" - he cast a significant glance toward where I'd just been standing, and then a quick frown that disappeared just as quickly - "and we wil hit them like a tsunami. We wil overwhelm them easily. And then we wil celebrate." He smiled. "Someone's going to get a jump on the celebration. Raoul - give me that." Riley held out his hand imperiously. Raoul reluctantly tossed him the bag with the shirt. It seemed like Raoul was trying to lay claim to the girl by hogging her scent.
"Take another whiff, everybody. Let's get focused!"
Focused on the girl? Or the fight?
Riley himself walked the shirt around this time, almost like he wanted to make sure everyone was thirsty. And I could see from the reactions that, like me, the burn was back for them al . The scent of the shirt made them scowl and snarl. It wasn't necessary to give us the scent again; we forgot nothing. So this was probably just a test. Just thinking about the girl's scent had venom pooling in my mouth.
"Are you with me?" Riley bel owed.
Everyone screamed his or her assent.
"Let's take them down, kids!"
It was like the barracuda again, only on land this time. Fred didn't move, so I stayed with him, though I knew I was wasting time I needed. If I were going to get to Diego and pul him away before the fighting could start, I would need to be near the front of the attack. I looked after them anxiously. I was stil younger than most of them - faster.
"Riley won't be able to think of me for about twenty minutes or so," Fred told me, his voice casual and familiar, like we'd had a mil ion conversations in the past. "I've been gauging the time. Even a good distance away, he'l feel sick if he tries to remember me."
"Real y? That's cool."
Fred smiled. "I've been practicing, keeping track of the effects. I can make myself total y invisible now. No one can look at me if I don't want them to."
"I've noticed," I said, then paused and guessed, "You're not going?"
Fred shook his head. "Of course not. It's obvious we're not being told what we need to know. I'm not going to be Riley's pawn."
So Fred had figured it out on his own.
"I was going to take off sooner, but then I wanted to talk to you before I left, and there hasn't been a chance til now."
"I wanted to talk to you, too," I said. "I thought you should know that Riley's been lying about the sun. This four-day thing is a total crock. I think Shel y and Steve and the others figured it out, too. And there's a lot more politics going on with this fight than he's told us. More than one set of enemies." I said it fast, feeling with terrible urgency the movement of the sun, the time passing. I had to get to Diego.
"I'm not surprised," Fred said calmly. "And I'm out. I'm going to explore on my own, see the world. Or I was going on my own, but then I thought maybe you might want to come, too. You'd be pretty safe with me. No one wil be able to fol ow us."
I hesitated for a second. The idea of safety was hard to resist in that exact moment.
"I've got to get Diego," I said, shaking my head. He nodded thoughtful y. "I get it. You know, if you're wil ing to vouch for him, you can bring him along. Seems like sometimes numbers come in handy."
"Yes," I agreed fervently, remembering how vulnerable I'd felt in the tree alone with Diego as the four cloaks had advanced. He raised an eyebrow at my tone.
"Riley is lying about at least one more important thing," I explained. "Be careful. We aren't supposed to let humans know about us. There are some kind of freaky vampires who stop covens when they get too obvious. I've seen them, and you don't want them to find you. Just keep out of sight in the day, and hunt smart." I looked south anxiously. "I have to hurry!"