Page 106 of Love & Heart Braking

He hadn’t accepted a blur charm either after last time. I slid my hands over his chest. “Missed you, too.”

“They’ll still have cameras,” Lerome was saying, an edge to his voice.

“But where?” Gug replied calmly.

Devereaux stood, me in his arms. He deposited me on his chair, then walked to the table where he grabbed a red marker. “Cameras are here. Here. Here. And along the stone path. I would suggest we avoid the main entrance and enter… here.” He drew a red cross at the far left of the stone gate where we’d entered the Dethnels’ estate.

“The cameras won’t work underwater.” He glanced at Lerome. “Too murky?”

The griffin nodded. “I concur.”

Bain hadn’t uttered a word, occupied with staring at Soleil, who was firmly in ignoring mode.

Austin leaned forward. “What’s the plan?”

Fenton walked to the map, and we crowded around the table. Soleil moved to stand beside me instead of taking the spot Bain left open beside him. His gaze darkened and shifted to me in question.

I lowered my attention to the map. I’d helped him all I could.

“Bain, Devereaux, Gug, and Cerys need a chance to get under the surface. We need a distraction, but not one that will raise the krakens’ suspicions too high. Soleil is certain they’ll have back-up protective charms to activate if truly concerned someone has infiltrated the estate.”

“Sure will,” she said. “What’s the distraction?”

“Devereaux came up with this one,” Fenton said. “Food coloring in their water. Red, we thought. Might help Maligni blend in until we get him out.”

I choked on air.

“Something the matter?” Devereaux asked me, lips twitching.

“Not a thing,” I answered. “You?”

“If you’ve both got the flirting out the way, can we get back to it?” Fenton growled.

I saluted.

“Soleil and I will handle the food coloring.”

“Joy,” she replied. “Lerome and Austin?”

The griffin held up his laptop. “I’ll watch the fashion show to make sure everyone stays put and let you know if they move.”

“And me?” Austin said.

“We’d like you to serve as an extra distraction. The twelve families know what you mean to the Cinereses, and the Cinereses are in top spot. If there are signs the Dethnels are leaving, you showing up could convince everyone to stick around.”

Soleil’s brows shot up. “That’s almost brilliant, Fenny boy.”

“Thanks,” he said sarcastically. “Once Soleil and I release the food coloring, we’ll hang back unless we’re needed as muscle.”

Whoa. This felt like the first real rebellious thing we’d done. Was everyone else feeling like our really crap alliance just leveled up?

“How are we going to breathe underwater?” I murmured, studying the map. The red X was where I would enter the estate with the others. I could assume the blue X was where Fenton and Soleil would do their thing. A black X sat a distance back from the Dethnels’ driveway. Drop off point?

Fenton grabbed a black bag and deposited it on the table. “Went for a stroll out in the human area. Found these.”

He unzipped the bag and we craned to see inside. Human stuff was always strange, and these weren’t any different. A series of tubes were attached to a black case. I couldn’t make sense of the thing.

“That… is what exactly?” Austin asked.

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