Page 81 of Witch Undecided
Still, I wasn’t ready to accept his words. “How do you know all this?”
“I read about it a long time ago.”
“And you believe it?Pfft.You can’t believe everything you read.”
The corners of his mouth dimpled. “You’re not thinking straight right now, Cora.”
“I’m thinking perfectly straight. Arrow straight. Wren saved my life. He wouldneverhurt me or anyone else.”
Conah frowned. “He saved your life?”
“Yeah, he leaped onto a revenant’s face to protect me and told me to run. He almost died.”
The silver threads were slowly covering my furry friend’s body like a cocoon.
Conah crouched by Wren. “That isn’t typical mogwai behavior. They’re inherently selfish. Did you know they have a siren song when they’re infants? They use it to lure prey into a trance to make it easier to consume?”
The song he’d sung to the children, and he’d hated doing it. “Conah, I know Wren. He wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“Hmmm, his behaviorisuncharacteristic for a typical mogwai.”
I studied Conah expectantly.
He sighed. “Leave him with me. The metamorphosis can take a couple of days. I’ll keep an eye on him. We can see what his personality’s like as a teen and take it from there, but keep this between us for now. I’m not sure how the other residents will take the news. It could be a case of expel him and ask questions later.” Conah looked across at me. “And Cora, be prepared for the Wren you know to be gone. The metamorphosis will change not only his body but his brain chemistry too.”
I reached out and stroked Wren’s paw, the only part of him not covered in the silver threads.
“I love you, Wren. Stay with me, buddy. Please.”
Conah insistedI eat breakfast with him. My stomach was in knots, but he was right. I’d need to keep my strength up for training and for Wren. The eggs, bacon, and sausages went down well, and before we knew it, we were on to coffee and Wren was totally cocooned.
“He’s safe.” Conah covered my hand with his and squeezed in gentle reassurance. “It’s everyone else we need to worry about.”
I didn’t want to think about that. We’d worry about it once he came out of his metamorphosis. “How’s the translation going?”
If he was thrown by the change in topic, he didn’t show it.
“Good. Interesting.” He pushed the breakfast tray aside and drew a sheaf of papers covered in neat script toward us. “The Sons of Adam have an interesting history. I read bits and pieces before sending the book to you with Jasper, but now that I’m combing through it and cross-referencing with passages I’ve found in Lilith’s journals, I’m not so sure what’s fact and what’s fiction.”
“Like what?”
“There are notes about the multiverse and parallel timelines in Lilith’s journal, but her handwriting is a frenzied scrawl, as if she couldn’t keep up with her thoughts, and I can’t make out much of it. She mentions the name Vlad.”
“The Impaler?”
“I don’t know. And something about anomalies and undying, and here we have the word eternal. She says something about guardians, and there’s a binding spell in here too. It’s a mess.”
“Undying? You think she was referring to the Sons of Adam?”
“She must have been, but the funny thing is she only mentions the phrase ‘Sons of Adam’ a couple of times. Vlad is mentioned on several pages.”
“Jasper told me he overheard Anna use the name Mordecai when referring to the Sons of Adam.”
“No mention of that name in her journal, but he’s mentioned in the other book.”
“And no clue if they can be killed?”
Conah sighed. “I’m beginning to think that the only reason she kept them alive was because she couldn’t kill them.”
