Chapter
Eleven
Turning my head, I cough and then zip my jacket up the rest of the way. The weather has changed drastically since yesterday, and the sunshine has been replaced with gray clouds that are spitting cold rain down on us. Ethan wraps his arm around me, pulling me a little closer as we walk down the Chicago sidewalk. He was given twelve hours to report to the Order’s HQ and was going to blow it off until we realized just a few hours ago that the rest of his family had been summoned as well.
Not knowing what the hell it’s about, Ethan and I left our home right away, just making it before the twelve hours were up. We got stuck in traffic, sitting on the highway for nearly an hour while an accident got cleaned up, but now we’re here, walking to the tall building that houses the headquarters. From the outside, you’d have no idea this building housed anything other than business offices.
“They don’t have like a dungeon or anything, do they?” I ask. “I mean, you said they’re on the eleventh and twelfth floors, but they could still have a room.”
“I wouldn’t rule it out.” Ethan glances at me, lips curving into a smirk. “The last time I was here was over ten years ago and I didn’t see any sort of torture room, though I don’t think they’d put it on the tour.”
“Real reassuring.” We get to the lobby and go inside. People are milling about, talking on their phones and carrying cups of coffee. This particular building houses a publisher on the second floor, and I’m already trying to figure out how to sneak away from the Order and “accidentally” stumble my way into the publisher’s office, looking for new books to snag.
“Why do they need so much space?” I ask when we get into the elevator. A few others are in here with us, but based on how they’re dressed, they’re not Order members. Well, they’re at least not hunters.
“You have your Academy to teach about…things,” he says, being vague on purpose. “The Order has this fucking place. There are training grounds, rooms set up for simulations, classrooms, meeting rooms, and several dorm rooms.”
“Wow. I knew the Order was intense, but I didn’t realize it was that intense. Did you have to stay here for hunter school?”
“I did,” he scoffs, still annoyed that he was forced to go. “My dad taught some classes on identifying different types of demons for those years too.” He makes a face, shaking his head. “Because that’s more important to know than basic math and science.”
“They raised you like warriors.”
“For mostly their benefit. Keep us fit and stupid and we’re easy to control,” Ethan chides, becoming more and more candid about his distaste for the Order.
“You did go to regular school, right?”
“I did. When my dad was sent out on location, he enrolled me in school. That’s why he became Sam and Julia’s legal guardian after their parents died. They wanted their kids to have at least a high school education as well, even though it was “frowned upon” by the Order.”
“So fucked up,” I mumble and cough again, feeling a headache coming on. I never had a chance to run to the tea store and get peppermint root for that wellness tea and I’m regretting it now.
The elevator doors open, and we emerge into a lobby. If you got off on the wrong floor here, you’d assume you’re at some stuffy law office.
“Hi,” a young woman greets us, looking up from her desk. “Name?”
“Ethan Bailey and guest,” Ethan says and pulls his wallet from his back pocket of his jeans, retrieving a card that has the Order symbol on the front and a single barcode on the back. He hands it to the receptionist. She scans it, smiles and presses a button, letting us through the doors behind her.
“They’re waiting for you in room 4A. Have a great rest of your day,” she says a little too cheerfully. I’m debating grabbing Ethan’s hand and making a run for it. Dread starts to build in me, and even though Ethan assured me there’s no way anyone here could possibly know I’m a witch, I’m convinced that’s what we’re here for and it’s only a matter of time before Ethan is sentenced.
The receptionist presses a button and the door behind her swings open. We step into a hall, going down a row of cubicles before turning a corner. A few people, dressed in office clothes, sit inside, typing away on computers. Everything looks so normal it’s unsettling.
Offices with glass doors line the wall, and other then one of them having a large Order sigil hanging above the desk, you’d have no idea you were in a demon-hunting organization’s headquarters. I bet that was the look they were going for, though the beige walls and carpet, which is nearly identical in color, reminds me more of a hospital.