Thirteen (Otherworld 13)

"Hey, Odele," Lori said, her smile unsteady. "Severin said Bri and Sami are joining us in Atlanta, so I figured it was okay to explain . . ."

"It is." Odele clapped a hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "But I think we can save the rest for the trip. It's going to be a long drive to Atlanta and we really do need to be going." She moved closer to Lori and lowered her voice. "Are you sure you're up to it, honey?"

Lori nodded. "I want to be part of it."

"Her job keeps her on the sidelines, which means I'm fine with it, too," Jake said, putting his arm around her waist.

Odele turned to us. "Okay, girls. I know we're moving fast here, but we're going to need to hold off on the chitchat until we're in the car." She turned to Mom. "Sami, is it?" Then to me. "Bri?"

We both nodded.

Odele patted our backs, one with each hand, and propelled us to the door. "Welcome to the team, girls. We're about to make history."

FIFTEEN

On the way outside, Odele explained step one of the plan: getting to the van that would take us to Atlanta. Unfortunately, it wasn't as simple as walking out the door and climbing in.

"For one thing, as you may have noticed, we're a little short on parking space here," she explained. "We have cars in a public lot a block over, but these vans? Let's just say they aren't something we want to leave in a public lot."

"They're rolling command posts for the first wave of missions," Jake said. "All our gear, our communication equipment, everything we'll need in Atlanta."

"Including the serum?" I said.

Odele shook her head. "That's too valuable. It will be delivered separately, by Giles himself."

"So where is the van?" Mom asked.

"In a warehouse

here in New Orleans."

Mom looked at me. That didn't exactly narrow it down. All I could do was try to send a quick update text and trust that Elena and Clay could follow.

The five of us squeezed into a midsize car. I was in the back with Mom and Jake. I'd hoped to get a chance to text some details to Elena and Lucas, but Jake gallantly offered to take the middle spot and nothing we could say would sway him. Texting was out. Instead, we spent the ride retelling our story to Odele. In turn, she told us her background--a high-school teacher from Atlanta--and her supernatural type. She was a Tempestras, a storm demon, like Adam's stepfather. Jake and Lori were both shamans. In a fight, then, Odele would be the one to watch.

I hoped for more details on the mission. Mom and I had no intention of actually going to Atlanta, but we were so close to hearing their plans that we couldn't back out until we did. Yet we arrived at the warehouse without learning more.

I expected to go to the edge of town. Instead, we ended up just north of the French Quarter, in the Bywater district by the Press Street railroad tracks. There were warehouses here, very old ones, dating back at least a century or two, probably from when the wharf had been busier. A lot of them had been remodeled, replaced by lofts and funky galleries. But there were still sections of old warehouses. And that's where we headed, taking a narrow road into a nest of warehouses that looked as if they might have been slated for demolition pre-Katrina. Now, since they'd been spared, they were left standing until the city could better support more lofts and galleries.

Another car was already there. The other half of the team. As we pulled over, Odele pointed to the three people waiting beside it. Will, a dark-haired guy in a leather jacket, was an Adtendo half-demon, which meant he had the power of enhanced hearing. Andi, a heavyset woman in her early thirties, was a necromancer. Peter, maybe a few years older than me, but already balding, was a magician. The only one with real offensive powers was still Odele. That realization helped me relax a little.

We parked and got out.

"New recruits?" Will said, striding forward. "What the hell is Giles doing giving us new recruits now?"

"We needed to replace Lance and Marg," Odele said.

A few of the group shifted uneasily at the names. I was guessing those were the two who'd supposedly turned out to be Cabal plants.

"So replace them," Will said, "with proven members of the group."

"Sami here is an Aspicio. Giles feels she will be an invaluable addition to the team."

"Her supersight plus your superhearing," Jake said with a grin. "Gotta admit, that's a great combo. And Bri is a witch. That adds something we didn't have either." He put his arm around Lori and turned to the warehouse. "There it is, folks. The first big step. Who's ready? I know I am."

It was a nice try, but Will wouldn't be deterred. He demanded to know more about who we were and where we came from and what on God's earth made anyone think we could be trusted. All perfectly valid questions, since no one had dug very deeply into our cover stories. Giles hadn't even asked where we'd gotten our facts. Will had a right to be concerned. But one look at the faces of the others told me no one else cared. Giles said we were in, so we were in. When Will kept pressing for details, Odele shut him down. This was her mission. Giles put us on her team. That was all he needed to know.

We started toward the warehouse.