Her stomach doing flip-flops, Genevieve bit at her lower lip nervously and looked around.
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," she said in a low voice to Merri and Sage.
"But it was
your idea," Sage pointed out.
" I have a lot of stupid ideas sometimes, you know. What if something goes wrong? What if he's home? I can't have him kill me--I have a girlfriend now."
Merri gestured ahead of them to Michael's house. "His car is gone. He's not home."
"What if Finn took his car and--"
"He won't let Finn drive it. And before you go on about Finn being home, there's no way he'd stay there alone. C'mon."
At least it's dark, Gen thought as they stopped in front of Michael's house. It had taken them a few days to get ready, and then they had to wait for Finn and Michael to head out on Friday night before they could break in. Sage had wrangled a key temporarily and got a copy made earlier in the week. Gen still didn't know how she managed it, but she wasn't about to worry.
Sage slid the key in the lock and not a breath passed among them until she successfully turned it. The door opened easily.
The house was silent, empty, and dark.
"I sure as hell hope you brought a flashlight, Gen," Sage said as they stepped inside.
Gen grinned in the darkness. "Better."
"Oh, great."
A few muttered words and a lot of concentration later, a light flared up a foot away from Gen, and then dimmed to a warm glow.
"That's pretty cool," Merri said. "Where'd you get that one?"
"Modified the candle lighting one," Gen replied. As she moved, the light followed. "I've tried it a few times, but I'm still surprised it works."
"That makes two of us." Sage took the lead and went straight for the stairs at the back of the room.
"You should have called Thad to join us," Gen said to Merri as they followed. "I bet he'd dig breaking into Michael's and going through his stuff."
"Nah, I figured this was a girls' night out," she replied. "Besides, it's bro's before ho's, right?"
"Damn straight."
"You know," Sage called from where she waited for them near the top of the steps. "The light follows
you--you're going to have to hurry up."
And here I was hoping for a nice, leisurely break-in…shoulda left Sage at home.
Gen raced up the steps with Merri at her heels. Towards the back of the loft was the computer, in sleep mode for the evening. Merri took the chair and slid it up to the desk. A shake of the mouse and a window popped up, prompting for a password to continue.
"Did anyone manage to get a password?" Gen asked. She glanced at her companions but neither responded. "Great."
"I'm going to try a couple," Sage said, leaning over Merri to reach the keyboard.
"What do you think it might be?" Gen asked as she failed to get a look at what Sage typed in.
"Just a couple of names he's mentioned before…but it doesn't look like they're working." She stepped back and frowned at the monitor. "Suggestions?"
"Give me a minute," Merri said in a low voice. She closed her eyes and straightened her back, then lifted her hands and set them on the keyboard. Her fingers twitched a little, then she began hitting the keys one at a time, a second or two between each stroke. Gen struggled to make out the letters typed in the dim light, but only caught a few before Merri hit
enter at last. Michael's desktop came into view.
"Do I have to worry about you breaking into my locker now?" Gen asked.
Merri glanced up at her. "Seventeen, thirty-three, twelve."
"Dammit."
"But that's 'cause you had me get your cafeteria money from your coat last week--you told me the combination."
"Oh. Right."
"So what am I looking for?" Merri asked as she returned her attention to the computer.
"Colin said it would be some kind of database with a listing for all the books he owns…" Gen pulled a notebook and pen from her bag and readied herself to write.
Merri scanned through the document listings until she found the one relating to books. Thankfully, Michael seemed to have things well organized, and they had the ability to search by tags. Merri plugged in first, "The Brethren" and then, "Children of the Apocalypse" to see what came up.
"Okay, we've got…sixty-three reference on 'The Brethren' and one-hundred-and-forty-one on 'Children of the Apocalypse,'" Merri said with a sigh.
"Well…damn," Gen muttered.
"Damn?" Sage looked at her curiously.
"If it was three, we could smuggle them out no problem," she explained. "A couple hundred means we're kinda screwed, unless we can send Michael on a trip for a few weeks as well as convince him to let us housesit."
Merri leaned closer to the monitor, eyes narrowing on the list. "A few of these are from the same books. I'm guessing we should start there--we'll have better luck in a book that mentions both terms." While Gen handed off the notebook for Merri to write out a list of books for them to find, she turned to Sage to conjure up another small light source to follow her around.
"I've never had two going at the same time," Gen warned her. "There's a chance I could set you on fire."
"Never mind." Sage took the book list from Merri. "I'll turn on a light." She jogged down the stairs and disappeared into Finn's room to check the books stored in boxes there, while Gen took the list Merri gave her and went for the shelves at the far side of the kitchen. The books were arranged alphabetically by author--or at least the ones that listed an author. She found three before Sage joined her.
"He's got all the boxes taped up really well and stacked in the closet," Sage said. "There's no way I can get into them without him knowing. How about you?"
"I've got a few…" Gen added a couple more to the pile, and then handed them to Sage while she looked for others. "Any more and he's going to notice, though. We'll probably need to do another break-in. At least we'll be pretty good at this by the time we've been though everything." She readjusted the books on the shelf so there didn't appear to be any holes where they'd been removed. "Think he'll be able to tell?"
"Probably under normal circumstances," Sage said with a sigh. "I'm hoping with Finn around he won't be paying too much attention."
If he does notice, we'll be in some serious shit. At least I can possibly set him on fire, though.
They returned to Merri, to find her printing out dozens of pages.
"Find anything good?" Gen asked.
"I don't know," Merri said. "I found pages and pages of notes on something that came up in the database, so I just hit 'print.'"
Genevieve stuffed the books they'd gathered into her messenger bag while they waited for the printer to finish.
"So should we head back to my place?" she asked. "I mean, unless we have any other plans for illegal entry tonight, the parental unit is out so--"
Sage put her up her hand suddenly. "Did you hear that?"
"Huh?"
Somewhere outside the front of the building came the sound of a car door being slammed shut.
"Dammit, he's going to kill us!" Gen cried, her heart pounding.
"Turn it off, Mer," Sage said. She darted toward the back of the loft.
Merri snatched up the printed pages and shoved them Gen's way, who stuffed them into her bag and ran after Sage.
"How are we going to leave--he's going to find us and--" Her gaze settled on a ladder in the corner.
What the…? Sage climbed up to the ceiling and pushed open a trapdoor to the roof.
"Come on," Sage called as she disappeared through the small square doorway. Gen bolted up the ladder, her heavy bag digging into her shoulder and weighing her down. Merri followed and once they were all on the roof, Sage closed the door again.
"Shit--what are we going to do?" Gen shivered in the cold November air, wishing she had some kind of levitation spell.
"There's a ladder over there," Sage gestured over her shoulder, "in the box."
Merri wasted no time running to the steel box. She flipped open the lid, then looked up at Sage, eyes wide and bewildered. "It's a fucking rope?"
"How else would it fit in a box?"
"Oh god," Gen whispered. "We're all going to die."
Sage crept to the front of the house and looked over the edge. "His car's not here…" Her arm stretched out and she pointed to something in the distance that Gen couldn't make out. "There's a cab driving away--I bet it was Finn." She turned back and stalked to where the others waited, the calm look to her face easing Gen's nerves a little. "We can go down the ladder, and then I'll head to the front and knock on the door, and just tell Finn something about wanting to come up here to meditate. I'll roll the ladder back up and put it away, wait an hour, then leave through the front door. Michael won't know we've been here."
"But…" Gen gazed over the edge of the building. "I don't want to go down the ladder."
"It's either that or Michael finds you here. Come on." Sage lifted the rope ladder from the box and dropped it over the edge so it unrolled. She turned back to Gen and held her hand out expectantly. "I'll take your bag. It's probably heavy."
Genevieve happily handed the bag off. Her stomach twisted with worry as she watched Sage swing herself down onto the ladder and slowly descend. Merri went next and reached the bottom without incident as well. Too soon it was Gen's turn.
Dammit, I'm going to plummet to my death…
She sat on the edge, took a deep breath, and put her foot on the first unsteady rung.
No, no, no, bad idea… Levitation spells were definitely her first stop after this. The rope ladder wavered under her weight, but she put a second foot down. Holding on for dear life, she climbed down her eyes squeezed shut. After what felt like an hour had passed, she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"You made it, Gen."
She opened her eyes to see Merri smiling up at her reassuringly. A glance down revealed her feet were only a few inches from the ground.
"Okay, no more bright ideas from me," Genevieve said once she was on solid ground.
"So I'll meet you back at your place in ninety minutes or so?" Sage said as she handed Gen back her bag.
"Yeah. We'll be waiting. And we'll see if we can make sense of the books in the meantime."
Sage jogged around to the front of the building while Merri and Gen started home.
An hour later, Genevieve and Merri sat in the Weists' living room in an otherwise empty house. Books lay open and strewn across the floor, coffee table, and couch, while the printed sheets of notes were scattered among them. Merri sat on the couch, staring worriedly at the books resting on the cushions beside her. Gen had a similar expression of fear and confusion from where she sat on the floor.
"Maybe we're reading it wrong," Merri offered.
"You've been saying that for an hour," Gen pointed out. "We're not reading it wrong. What are we going to do?"
"We'll wait 'til Sage gets here."
"And then?"
"Then we'll figure it out."
"I'm going to look for some beer--I think Dad has a stash in the basement fridge."
Merri nodded her agreement. "I could use a drink."
*~*~*
Sage had found Finn didn't care in the least that she'd shown up, and he'd paid little attention to her at all. After rolling up the rope ladder and returning it to the box, she waited around a short while, and then slipped back downstairs and left without Michael's houseguest even noticing.
When she reached Genevieve's, she found lights shining through just one of the windows at the front of the house. A knock at the door brought Gen and a barking dog to greet her. As Genevieve stepped back to let her inside, Sage was chilled by the other girl's worried expression, but Gen didn't say anything as she led her to the living room.
Sage slid off her coat and folded it over a chair, and then took a seat on the floor by Gen.
"What did you find?" she asked, noticing Meredith seemed just as concerned as Gen had.
"It's bad," Gen said.
"How bad?"
"Very bad," Merri agreed.
"Can you give me an idea? Scale from one to ten?"
"One being me not getting my homework done," Gen began, "and ten being we're all going to die, I'd put this at seventeen and three quarters."
Nothing like Gen's exaggeration to put me at ease. "Did you at least find out who the Brethren are?"
Merri pointed to the stack of printer paper in front of her. "The notes I found on the computer were translations Michael had gathered from a few books, two of which we brought here. We can't read them, though, so we're relying on what he says they say.
"The Brethren have been around almost as long as Natalya has, in some form or another. Those assassins that came after us? They're part of it."
"But just the tip of a really big, really old organization," Gen took over. "They've got human members here, plus a whole whack of them in other dimensions and stuff, which I can't even wrap my head around. And they really, really don't like us."
"Putting it mildly," Merri added.
"So they're out to kill us?" Sage asked, still not terribly impressed with their findings. Logic dictated that if the four of them were so important in the first place, of course there'd be a bunch of people who wanted them dead.
"Devoted is more like it," Gen said. "They're uber secret, uber, dedicated, and uber dangerous."
"And this is different from what we've already had to deal with how, exactly?"
"From everything Michael has found…" Merri gazed down at the papers helplessly for a moment. She paused, took a deep breath, and looked up again. Her eyes settled on Sage's and the look gave the warrior a shiver. Gen looking terrified, she could deal with, but Merri never seemed scared about anything.
"What has Michael found?" Sage prompted.
"They're going to succeed, Sage," Gen said.
"Michael has dozens of books of prophecies and everything," Merri continued. "Everything says at least one of us will die and there's no stopping it."
"But how do you know if maybe it was supposed to happen when they came after us two months ago? How do you know we didn't…I don't know, invalidate it then?"
"There's three of us," Gen pointed out. "At least that
can be killed. And these Brethren guys? We're talking numbers that might as well be infinite."
"And this prophecy crap isn't too exact in terms of dates," Merri said. "But by all accounts, it's set to happen sooner rather than later. This has gotta be why Michael's been trying so hard to find the Immortal."
And why he was so worried that I have a death wish… It wasn't some kind of friendly teacher concern, or worry that maybe she wasn't taking things as seriously as she should…he knew they could all be in immediate danger.
"Is that why Finn's here?" Sage pondered aloud. "Michael could be looking for people to help us if we need it, right?"
"I don't think so," Gen said quickly. Merri glanced at her sharply, but Sage couldn't decipher the look she gave her, and Gen continued on as if she hadn't noticed. "He probably would have shown a bit more interest in us or what's going on at this point if that were the case. I'm pretty sure he's just a friend."
"We should ask Michael about this," Sage said, though she knew Gen would immediately object. "Maybe there's something more that he can tell us."
"Uh, if he didn't tell us anything in the first place, why would he bother now?" Gen said.
"But--"
"But we can't really trust him," Gen said. "I know you do. I know Merri kind of does too," she cast a look at Meredith briefly, who didn't disagree, "but I don't. We can only trust each other. We have to stick together."
"Anyway, I don't know if there'll be any point in even asking him about this." Merri gestured around at the books. "It sure as hell seems like he had his reasons for not telling us in the first place."
"Yeah, if anyone has any ideas about how I can un-know what I now know, that'd be awesome," Gen said.
The phone rang in the kitchen then, and Gen rose to answer it.
"What's the plan to return the books when you guys are done with them?" Sage asked.
Merri started gathering up the papers strewn across the couch. "Not sure at this point. I guess we could take the key and drop in any time. Or maybe next time we're there, you could coax Michael up onto the roof and Gen and I could put them back."
"Do you think he ever planned to tell us about all this?"
Though her mouth opened to speak, no words came out as Merri paused to deliberate her answer. "He probably would have. Eventually. I don't think he'd tell all of us, not all at once. He'd probably wait until he was forced to, somehow."
"'Til it was too late?"
Merri shook her head. "I don't think he'd wait that long. At least for us--he might for Gen." She cracked a smile, but Sage suspected she might be serious. "If I was going to guess, I'd say he wanted something more substantial to tell us."
"And maybe that'll be sooner than later," Gen said as she returned to the living room, looking a little shaken.
"What now?" Sage asked.
"Michael. He wants me to come over tomorrow.
Just me."
"You think he knows about the books?"
"I'm guessing yes. And that he's planning to kill me."
"Want us to come with you?" Merri asked immediately, but Gen shook her head.
"I should be okay. But if you don't hear from me that night, you can start looking for the body."
*~*~*
By the next night, Gen wished she'd agreed to have Merri and Sage come along. Michael's request for her presence had to relate to the missing books, and of course he would blame her for it. She hadn't bothered to bring any with her, however, just in case he didn't know they were gone and his reason for calling her involved something else. Plan A. was to play dumb. Plan B. was to run like hell.
Michael met her at his front door seconds after she knocked, as if he'd been waiting. Though she was about to step inside, he moved forward so he stood on the dark front step with her and closed the door behind him.
"You need to keep the following in mind," Michael said sternly without so much as a hello. "Finn doesn't know the details behind Hayden's death, he doesn't know exactly who you, Sage, or Merri are, nor does he understand your significance. He also doesn't know about that day at the farmhouse and he doesn't need to know you can do anything other than put out a candle. No apocalypse, no Natalya--nothing. Got it?"
"Um…hi to you too."
"Do you understand me?"
"Yes, fine--just let me in the house and out of the cold, all right?" She had no idea what the hell he had been talking about or what Finn had to do with the books, but she'd given up trying to understand the guy.
Once inside, Gen found the house unusually dark. The couches and coffee table were moved to the far corners to a large empty space was left in the living room. Finn sat down on the floor, sprawled comfortably amongst a dozen lit candles.
"So," Gen said as she slipped off her coat. "Séance or sexy male-male porno? Either way, I don't think you need me."
"To contact Hayden, he needs someone who knew him," Michael explained in a curt voice that suggested to her he thought she should already know these things. "Sage shouldn't be here in case it doesn't work. That leaves you. Sit down so he can get started."
Worry crept over her as she moved to where Finn sat. She'd love to contact Hayden as much as the next person, sure, but despite what Michael said, it seemed to make much more sense to have Sage there. Why would Hayden want to come and talk to Gen? What if he was busy in the afterlife hanging around Sage, and Finn interpreted it as him just not being available for contact? A heavy pressure weighed on her as she sat gingerly on the floor and crossed her legs. Pity Michael didn't explain ahead of time why he invited her over; at least then she could have made up some excuse not to come.
"Before anyone does anything," Michael said. "How about you explain why you've been taking books."
Shit. She'd prepared for this line of questioning, though, and hoped he couldn't somehow tell she had a ball of worry rolling in the pit of her stomach.
"Well, you're always bitching that I'm not as focused as Sage," she said quickly. "So I thought I'd start learning more. And I rented three movies about witches:
The Craft, Bell Book and Candle, and
Teen Witch. And
two of them implied that witches lose their powers when they fall in love, and since I have a girlfriend now, I don't want to lose my powers."
"You believe everything you see in a movie?"
"No, that's why I rented three of them. That, and 'cause there was a deal and I could keep them for a week. But anyway, I thought I'd borrow some books so I could learn more. And nothing says I'll lose my powers, so I'll return them tomorrow."
"She didn't lose her powers in
Teen Witch," Finn interrupted.
Gen's brows furrowed in confusion as she tried to recall the movie. "Yes she did; she threw away the necklace and broke the spell."
"No, see, the necklace was merely a symbol--she didn't need it. And even after she threw it away, everyone at the prom danced in unison. That
has to be the cause of magic, therefore she accepted her power over people and didn't give anything up."
"Aaah," Gen said with a grin. "That's much less depressing. Good interpretation."
"If you're done discussing your love of eighties teen movies…" Michael interrupted, glaring at Finn.
"He's right," Gen said. "My favourite witch movie is from way back in the nineties:
Practical Magic. Sandra Bullock is really hot in that one."
"Mmm," Finn nodded his agreement. "And Nicole Kidman."
"Should we maybe move this to the video store or something?" Michael snapped.
"Can we?" Finn asked. His smile faded under the look Michael gave him, however, and he dropped his gaze and sat up straight.
"So what do I have to do?" Gen asked Finn.
"You don't need to worry about a thing right now. But he," Finn gestured to Michael, who sat at the new island in the kitchen drinking a beer, "needs to sit as well."
"I'm not part of this--" Michael began.
"It would help to have a third. Sit."
Michael tossed back the rest of his beer and surprisingly didn't argue further. He did, however, make it abundantly clear that he took no pleasure in the task and stalked to where they sat. He dropped to the ground with a
thud and glowered at Finn.
"Tell me, what's his name?" Finn directed to Gen.
"Hayden Daniel Greene."
"What else can you tell me about him, hun?"
"He was eighteen, in high school." She blinked back a few tears and took a deep breath. "He died about two months ago."
Finn's eyes narrowed a bit, but not really on her--it was as if he focused on something in the air in front of her. "How did he die? Was it violent?"
Gen fought the urge to glance Michael's way. He said not to give details, but surely she had to tell Finn
something.
"He was attacked--stabbed--but seemed okay. It was…like, surgery complications or something. Do I really have to keep talking about this?"
"You're doing fine, love. Now let's see if your friend is hanging around." He reached out with either hand. Gen gingerly accepted the one on her side while Michael rolled his eyes and took the other. "Complete the circle, kids." Finn nodded at them.
"Don't be such a baby," Gen joked as she snatched up Michael's other hand. "We don't have cooties."
"I wouldn't be so sure about him," Michael replied dryly.
"Close your eyes and concentrate. Both of you."
Easier said than done, Gen thought.
Several minutes of silence passed with only their breathing heard.
"Hayden Daniel Greene," Finn said suddenly, startling Genevieve and making her jump. "Got a girl here who'd like to speak to ya. It's safe to come through."
Gen wasn't sure if something was supposed to happen or not. If she'd hear a voice, if she'd feel a presence… Perhaps the candles would flicker or a breeze would pass… But nothing happened.
"Don't be afraid, Hayden. I'll be able to hear you. We're ready to pass on a message to your girl. Speak to us."
Keeping her eyes shut tight, Gen tried to concentrate. She didn't know if she could actually help, but she forced any magic at all in her to call to out Hayden, to will him to speak to Finn.
After a long bout of silence, Finn sighed and Gen felt him release her hand.
"What is it?" she asked, opening her eyes.
Finn raised his hand to his face and rubbed his forehead, as if in slight pain. "He's not here." His gaze went to Michael. "Nothing at all. No presence, nothing lingering. He's not on this plane."
"I don't understand what that means," Gen said. "Can't we just try again?"
"We can try a dozen times. Not sure it'll do any good."
"But why--"
"He's gone," Michael said, abruptly rising. "Fucking waste of time."
"If a spirit has something like unfinished business or might have suffered some confusion around death, they hang around the living," Finn explained to Gen. "Right now, there are half a dozen in this room, wandering around."
Gen gave an involuntary glance around, but of course saw nothing.
"Your friend's boy isn't here, though. He woulda heard me and no one can pass up a chance to leave a message for a loved one. Haven't even seen someone like that hanging around your friend when she's here--not even once. That means he's moved on. I see it often enough. He was a happy guy, no? Nothing troubled him?"
Gen nodded.
"So he didn't feel had had to stay. He felt safe to move on."
"Oh God," Gen whispered, covering her mouth and closing her eyes. "God, what are we going to tell Sage?"
"Nothing," Michael said coolly.
She swung around to face him. "How can you say that? She deserves to know. Maybe…I don't know, maybe it'll give her some kind of peace?"
"How could that give her peace?" Michael snapped. "She's holding on to him, but he's left her. How the fuck would that be helpful to know?"
"I could do this again," Finn offered. "Just tell her I see him and give the usual message. Prepare ahead of time--"
"No," Gen and Michael said in unison.
"You can't lie to her," Gen added. "She should know the truth."
"Don't you
dare breathe a word of this to her," Michael warned.
"But--"
"First of all, you wouldn't explain it properly. Second, she can't handle that kind of information right now." He stormed toward the door and threw on his coat. "I'm going out. If you want a ride, hurry the hell up." And with that, he left and slammed the door behind him.
"Did that seem way too personal to you?" Gen asked as she stood.
Finn rose as well and nodded. "When I first met him, years ago, he was looking for his wife."
Gen's gaze snapped to his and she paused mid-step. "He was married?"
"So I understand it."
"And she went missing?"
Finn chuckled. "No, love. She was dead. He was looking for a good medium to contact her. I came recommended."
"Did you find her?" she asked, but given Michael's reaction earlier, she knew Finn's answer and wasn't surprised when he shook his head.
"No sign of her. She didn't linger with him; moved on, like your friend's man did. I don't think he ever accepted that."
Her perspective shifted and Michael seemed far more human suddenly. A widower who never managed to find his dead wife…a surprisingly tragic background for someone so decidedly evil.
"I doubt he'll wait. You'd best be going."
Gen nodded and retrieved her jacket.
"One more thing, though…"
She glanced back at Finn.
"If your friend is really looking to talk to her guy, ask around town for a person who can contact The Serpent."
"Sounds like a video game character."
"I can only communicate with someone in this world--The Serpent will get you into the others. But I wouldn't try unless you are very, very serious about it."
"Lemme guess; I shouldn't tell Michael, right?"
"I wouldn't if I were you."
She committed the name to memory, waved goodbye, and then went for the door again. Outside, she shivered in the cold night air and looked around. At first glance she almost missed the black convertible parked in the shadow of the building. Michael sat in the front, but hadn't started it yet. He stared blankly through the frosted windshield ahead of him.
For the first time since she'd known him, she felt a moment of sympathy. Though still a prick who considered letting her die on more than one occasion, he apparently
did have feelings somewhere in him. Taking in a breath of icy air, she moved towards the car. He didn't look at or speak to her as she climbed in the passenger side, but simply turned the key in the ignition and started driving.
She didn't say anything to him on the way to her house, and he didn't so much as acknowledge her presence. As he stopped the vehicle outside her place, she considered leaving immediately, but found herself pausing.
"I'm sorry about your wife," she said gently.
His gaze turned her way sharply.
"Finn told me. I wasn't going to say anything--"
"Get out of the car."
"Even though it didn't work, that was a really good thing you tried to do for Sage. You could
almost pass for human." She offered a smile, but it was only met with more cold words.
"Get the fuck out of my car."
With a heavy sigh, she complied, and had barely stepped away from the car when he sped off down the road.
Well, I had exactly an ounce of sympathy for the man, and I've now used it…back to pure hatred again.
Inside the house, she found her parents sitting in the living room, watching television. Her father chuckled at something on the screen, then looked up when Gen approached. "Hello, dear. Peyton called."
"She said to call her back," her mom said in a low voice.
As Gen's gaze moved over her, she realized she looked upset about something; her arms were crossed over her stomach, and eyes were red-rimmed.
God, I hope it's not my fault.
"You okay, Mom?"
Rebecca Weist gazed back at her daughter and offered a grin. "Bad day, hun, that's all. Be sure to call you friend back soon--she said it had to be before nine-thirty."
Genevieve grabbed phone in her room and hit the newest addition to speed dial.
"Hello?" Peyton answered.
Flopping down on her bed, Gen smiled absently. "I'm really glad to hear your voice."
