Reckoning by Laury Falter Page B

unashamedly evaluating.
    I held his gaze and stood, walking directly up to him. “Maggie,” I announced, extending my hand.
    “ Peter,” he said with a European accent I couldn’t place. When he took my hand, it engulfed mine, the entirety of it disappearing all the way to above my wrist.
    Eran was suddenly beside me and I got the sense it was for the purpose of protection, which confused me. Peter wasn’t a Fallen One. My radar was at rest.
    “ Peter, it has been a while,” Eran said cordially, though an astute ear would have picked up the fact it was laced with uneasiness. I glanced at him, wondering when Eran could have met this man when I had no recollection of it. It was a rare occasion when Eran left my side. “What brings you to New Orleans?”
    “ An assembly,” he replied, coolly.
    The room’s tension suddenly escalated. Glances were exchanged. Breaths were held. Ezra set the mug she’d been pouring coffee in onto the counter, not bothering to finish filling it.
    When Rufus broke the silence, saying what the rest of us were thinking – at least in his own way – the tension rose again. “Ah, bloody hell,” he muttered.
    “ Language,” Ezra cautioned.
    “ Well, for once, I agree with him,” said Felix.
    It was telling that Rufus didn’t flinch at that acknowledgement.
    Ezra stepped forward, determined to calm the situation with reason. “An assembly to discuss what in particular?”
    “ The topic will be unveiled when the assembly commences. Your presence is requested in London.”
    She nodded slowly, thoughtfully. “When?”
    “ Tomorrow evening.”
    Ezra’s lifted an eyebrow but still her reply was agreeable. “We’ll be there.”
    Peter nodded, and moved to leave, though not before his attention paused on Eran and then on me. It was quick but it didn’t go unnoticed. There was a purpose behind the movement, a sense of curiosity, a lingering thought, a suspicion of something maybe?
    Then he was gone down the hall, his long legs carrying him faster than a human and swifter than most Alterums.
    The mug intended for Peter somehow found its way to Ezra’s hands and, as the front door closed behind Peter, we stood silently in the kitchen until Rufus returned from escorting our guest out.
    “ How is it that you all know him and I don’t?” I asked Eran, perplexed that I could be the only one without an introduction until now.
    “ I believe we’ve only met him once before,” said Eran, waiting until the rest had shown their agreement. “Peter was sent out to assemble Alterums on only one other occasion. You were preoccupied, so to speak, during that time.”
    My brow creased in confusion. “Preoccupied?”
    “ You chose to deliver messages rather than address the call for an assembly…which was called, in fact, to address the very thing that was – at the time – hunting you. You may remember it…You were in London and it found you in a quiet alleyway-”
    “ The Elsic…” I murmured.
    “ Exactly. We had been called to assemble to be made aware that it had escaped and to form a hunting party. When I discovered the purpose behind our congregating I left and went in search of you.”
    “ And nominated yourself my guardian,” I recalled.
    The side of Eran’s mouth lifted in a gentle smile. “Because it was abundantly clear to me by that point you needed one.”
    I ignored that assertion in favor of asking, “Do you think another Elsic has escaped?”
    “ Possibly,” said Ezra. “It was only a few weeks ago we found the Elsics had been released from imprisonment.” Everyone simultaneously bristled at the remembrance of it, which Ezra noticed but didn’t deter her from summing up her thoughts. “While most stayed in the caves in favor of getting a piece of Maggie, one or two may have sought freedom.”
    Rufus crossed his arms and leaned back against the refrigerator, deliberating. “There’s been rumors floatin’ ‘bout too many humans dyin’ out ‘round ‘bout