I saw a flash of anger buried deeply in Janus, but when he spoke, it was about something else. “The cloister outside Cork, Ireland, has been wiped out.” Janus’s face was worn, tired. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a week. “Our people are moving quickly toward the one outside Connaught, but based on what they found outside Cork, it will likely be too late.”
“Assuming they could even stop a Hades,” Hera said.
“It’s Connacht,” Breandan tossed in. When everyone turned to look at him, he blushed. “Well, get it right, you bloody English.”
“They cannot stop a Hades,” Janus agreed, turning his attention back to Hera. “I have sent for James Fries to hurry to London, but unfortunately he is somewhat … unresponsive to my messages.” He sent me a look—not accusing, but pointed. “I can only imagine it has something to do with the fact that I ordered him to remain in a position where he once more got himself shot.”
“He earned that all by himself,” I said.
“Perhaps he did,” Janus agreed.
Reed turned to me. “You shot Fries?”
“Only a couple times,” I said. After a moment’s thought, I added, “Maybe three.” A pause. “On a couple different occasions.”
His expression turned grudgingly respectful. “I guess you have changed.”
“Yeah,” Kat agreed, “you’re really becoming your mother’s daughter.” Her words were acid, and I wished I had a gun to shoot her with right then. I sent her a nasty look instead.
“There are people in danger,” Janus said calmly. “People are going to die.” He was watching me, those eyes like ice. No, not ice. I could see some melt in them, other emotions. Fear.
“You’re afraid,” I said, watching him.
He didn’t even blink. “Only a fool wouldn’t be, at a moment such as this. They are hunting every one of our kind to the end of our lives. A type of meta we didn’t even know still existed has re-emerged, and it is the worst kind of news for us. They will destroy every last one of us.”
“But this still doesn’t explain their intentions for humanity,” I said. “After they’ve killed all the metas, how are they going to exercise that newfound dominance without every government in the world bombing them into atomized dust? This whole play makes no sense. Fine, stage one is wipe out the competition so you’ve got the monopoly on meta-human powers. But I’ve yet to hear what stage two is.”
“As much fun as it might be to speculate about this stage two, to sit around and spitball, I think you call it—about what comes next, it is ultimately irrelevant.” The frustration bled through in Janus’s voice. “We need to stop the first stage, or else the cultural legacy of all meta-kind comes to an end.” He paused, and looked slightly chagrined. “I don’t think meta-kind is a word, but you get the point, yes?”
Hera was the first to speak. “I understand your gist. First things come first.”
“Yes,” Janus said. “Thank you. We must halt this genocide. I am all in favor of helping to keep the humans safe from Century’s predations, but the only method we have of determining their next phase at present is either base speculation or waiting to see what they come up with after finishing their task of wiping us all out. And as effective as the latter would be, I submit that none of us would be here to see it.” He clenched a fist and hit it lightly against his other palm. “We need to act now, to save as many of our people as possible.”
I swallowed deeply. “I’ll go to Ireland.”
Janus shook his head. “I think it is too late for that. You will need to go to Scotland, immediately, or risk the loss of that cloister while trying to play catch up near …” his voice trailed off for a moment, “ … Connacht.” He nearly mangled the word in his accent.
“Oh, yeah, that’s right, throw the Irish to the wolves,” Breandan said mildly. “You may not be an Englishman, but damned if you haven’t got the same attitude.” He watched us all for a beat. “Kidding! Only kidding. It’s what needs to be done, I get it.” He turned to me. “I’ll go with you.”
I frowned at him. “You’ll be safer here. I’m going to go face-to-face with a man who throws death like you toss luck.”
“Well, then you could use a little luck on your side now, couldn’t you?” Breandan gave me a grin, his mustached face born down by a little weight that was peeking out from behind the facade.
“I’m going too,” Reed said, tossing a look at Hera, who raised an eyebrow at him.