Page 33 of Seas the Reckoning

If so, it would put my mind a bit at ease regarding Grammy’s vague instructions. It would be a massive find for our first evening.

Although …

“I still don’t fully understand how that ties in to my curse,” I say.

“I did try to do some digging about the keys of various witches and warlocks in attendance, under the guise of learning more about their pedigrees, of course,” Ji-hwan volunteers.

“And how did they respond to that, given—” I begin.

He flashes a smile that is full of too-sharp teeth.

“Given that I’m a filthy, flea-bitten Were and not a fanciful Fae or witch or even an elf? I cheated, of course. Used my charm. People, particularly snobby people like this, are more than happy to spill their guts about what they believe to be their positive attributes.”

“And?” Exos presses as the Were lets his teeth shrink.

“I struck out on any connection between sirens and curses,” he admits.

I groan.

“But! But, I did manage to find out that some families here are, if you’ll excuse this wording, breeding for the purpose of trying to pass down specific keys or magics.”

I narrow my eyes.

“That’s not how keys work.”

Ji-hwan shakes his head.

“Not technically. Although, just like bear shifters have bear shifter children, witches quite often can have keys in common with their ancestors. I have a good friend who works with defensive spells, but the rest of her family has keys geared toward poisons.”

I feel like I met this witch at Never’s, but I don’t get a chance to ask. Starla looks up from her notes to the Were.

“Are you thinking that maybe the curse is connected to one of these families as well? Just like there could be a family involved in the meddling with Leon and Ivyrn Works?”

“It makes sense. Grammy Pearl said each of our problems would lead to the other, and if they’re all connected to family drama, we could uncover our answers in the same place. By continuing to attend these events and dig into the family secrets of the rich and spoiled supernaturals Councilman Taylor keeps company with. Sorry, Starla. Not to insult the man.”

She waves the Were off.

“Go right ahead. It’s not all that surprising, when you think about it. My father respects standing in the same way Leon worshipped power. And … the key thing is accurate.”

She lets out a deep sigh, and I tense as I remember something she mentioned to me in passing, years ago, that hasn’t come up since.

“Your dad⁠—”

“Yes. My dad’s key is lightning. Much better lightning than what I can produce with my little electroshocks. The man can call down enough electricity to split a redwood down the center if he wants to.”

She’s stopped typing; instead, she’s just glaring at the screen of her phone. No matter how self-assured she acts, I know that it bothers her.

“I hate when crappy people get cool supernatural gifts. More unfair than fishing with dynamite,” she says.

Exos reaches a hand up from the backseat, squeezing her shoulder. She leans into the touch.

“Thanks, sug. I vote we listen to the Were. Grammy thought we’d be able to find our answers in three days. If the curse and Ivyrn Works stuff are coming from one place, it’ll make things that much simpler. We keep our net cast wide, but make sure to keep eyes on the Solomans.”

She goes back to typing. We reach the small gravel drive for Zyra and Theodore’s home, but Jackal waves us out to their garden instead of through the front door.

“Best not to wake up Lottie if we can help it. Zyra said she doesn’t always sleep well since … well, since her own ordeal. Having Pickles here has helped tremendously, and I’d hate to ruin it. I’d say one big question we need to answer is whether the people connected to Leon and potentially the curse weaseled their way into Councilman Taylor’s circles without his knowledge, or if he’s privy to any of the things happening. I mean, obviously he can’t know about the curse, but he may have heard about Leon.”

He moves from one topic to the next, giving none of us time to say anything comforting about his niece. Even so, while the others are getting seated on lawn chairs in the garden, I wrap my arms around him.