After a reasonable amount of time and mingling the four alphas headed down a guarded hall. There were betas stationed at each door in the hall. Cullen knew that if he walked outside he would find a similar lineup of betas by the windows as well. Due to the fact that the rooms ended up being used as prisons the omegas that would have been in this hall were sharing rooms in a different wing. It had been incredibly inconvenient considering the number of extra guests they already had and the fact that they had to have guards. But the feds hadn’t shown up this time and there had been enough high ranking lycans to watch them. So it worked out, if not well.
Cullen looked at Cadifor. “I just thought of something. Did you call the feds off?”
“What?”
Cullen got a concerned look and Aislinn sighed in frustration as she understood what he was concerned about. He could feel the ‘I told you so’ coming from her. But she didn’t say it. “I usually get a call from Stevens when there’s any commotion. This is the first time in years that I haven’t heard from them when there was some kind of uproar. And when you consider the reports they received and the fact that the Council was involved with them, it’s just strange.”
Cadifor nodded. “I’ll look into it,” he said.
As they reached Jenna’s door Keith was coming out. He shook his head. “She’s not really in a talking mood. I was nice about it,” he said in answer to Cullen’s raised eyebrows. Keith’s usually mirthful voice was somber. “That’s not the same Jenna.” He looked at Aislinn. “Whatever happened with you two really hit her hard. She’s a real downer at the moment. She won’t talk to me at all. She either asks about Aislinn or sits crying.” Keith stretched. “Now that you’re all here acting nice and concerned I can go back to me. I don’t like the serious bit. It just doesn’t feel right.”
When Cadifor looked at Aislinn questioningly she shrugged, trying to make the situation seem less dramatic. “She finally really talked to her father. I don’t think she expected what she heard.”
Cullen snorted. “If Brennus came to his sensed and stopped coddling her then I can only imagine.”
Cadifor and the others looked confused. “Brennus is dead,” he said harshly.
Cullen gave Aislinn a gaze that told her to just explain. Aislinn took a deep breath. “It seems that one of my talents involves,” she paused while she thought about how to say it. “I can call the dead.” She looked over at Cullen and felt a tug at her soul as she remembered the night before. He had been dead. She didn’t really know how she had brought him back. But he had been dead. She fully intended to talk with someone in the Circle about what had happened. But for now she was just grateful that it had. Cullen looked at her uncertainly in the silence. She hadn’t told him and he didn’t seem to know. “I took Jenna into the stone circle and called her father’s soul to her. I didn’t really know if it would work or that I could definitely do it. But there have been enough times lately that I had an idea and it just worked out. So I tried it and there he was. Brennus Tairneach. Something tells me though there was more to it than just me. Don’t ask me to explain, because I really don’t have the answers. I just know I can do it.”
Makeda looked at Aislinn with a new light in her eyes. “Talking to the dead can be a very powerful skill. When added to your other apparent talents, woman, one has to wonder exactly how powerful you truly are.”
They all stared at her and Aislinn was getting uncomfortable. “You’re not the only ones wondering that,” she said and turned to knock on Jenna’s door. She wanted out of this conversation. There was no answer.
Aislinn opened the door and stepped in. They others decided to wait in the hall. But Cullen kept the door open so that he could keep an eye on things. Jenna was sitting on the bed staring at the window with her knees drawn up to her chest and tear streaks on her cheeks. She had the red ruby ring in her hands and was twisting it round and round with a lost look on her face as she stared out the window.
“Jenna,” Aislinn said softly.
Jenna turned her head to see if it really was Aislinn. She had been hoping to see her again. Though she figured after everything that had happened there was no way Aislinn would be willing to speak with her. Jenna knew that if their positions had been reversed she wouldn’t want to. “I didn’t think you’d come.”
Aislinn shrugged. “Keith said that you wanted to talk to me about your father.”
Jenna’s eyes lit up when she realized that there might be a possibility that Aislinn would let her talk to him again. Though she was cautious. If their positions had been reversed there was a very good chance Jenna would just torment Aislinn with it and then leave. It was either that or Aislinn wanted something. Jenna felt a bit of hope when she realized that she still had one bargaining chip. Keith had been trying to get the books out of her. Jenna was willing to bet that was what Aislinn was here about as well. Afterall she was the druid. Not Keith. “Will you take me to him again?”