“Notcivilianeclipse chasers,” Roma says, slumping back in her seat. “Eclipse-chasing summoners.”
JJ squints at her. “I don’t follow.”
“We learned about this in spellcasting class, remember?” Bryant says. “Or, at least, I remember reading it in your notes. Spells usually work best when astronomical bodies are in particular positions—sunrise and sunset are popular, and so are noon and midnight. Full moons, new moons, blue moons…” She raises her eyebrows meaningfully. “Eclipses.Especiallytotal eclipses.”
“Again: I don’t follow,” JJ says. He has the nagging feeling that he’s missing something obvious, and he resists the urge to fidget uncomfortably. “The eclipse isn’t hitting Redwater until December. That’s ten months away. Just because we’reeventuallygoing to be in the path of totality doesn’t mean anything is special right now.”
“You see,weknow that,” Bryant says sagely. “But they don’t. Apparently, there’s a rumor going around that the Deep makes it possible to tap into the eclipse’s power early. That’s why we’ve had this annoying uptick of summonings and general demonic activity.”
JJ stares at her. “That makes zero sense. The Deep is just a magic reservoir—it can’t pull energy from an event that hasn’t even happened yet.”
“To be fair, it’s notjusta magic reservoir,” Roma says diplomatically. “It’s aweirdmagic reservoir. Normal magic reservoirs don’t, like, passively enhance spellcasters’ abilities or keep a record of casted spells or all the other quirks ours has.” She shrugs one shoulder. “Still impossible to harness an eclipse’s power beforehand, though. That’s just stupid.”
“Right,” JJ says slowly, eyeing her and Bryant. “And—and when did we learn about these eclipse chasers? Was it in an email I missed?”
Bryant waves a hand dismissively. “Nah, Roma and I just got into a conversation about it with Nasir a few weeks ago. You were, ah, otherwise occupied in town at the time.” She waggles her eyebrows suggestively.
JJ ignores the suggestion. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Roma frowns back at him. “It didn’t really seem important enough. We have to deal with it either way, right?”
It didn’t really seem important enough?JJ bites back his retort. Roma and Bryant have known the actual reason behind the increase in demonic activity forweeks,and they didn’t think it was important enough to share?
Or they didn’t think to share it, specifically, with JJ?
Does it ever bother you that?—?
If this were an isolated incident, he wouldn’t think anything of it. Accidents happen, after all, and if they thought he was out getting “metaphorical hay” with his fake boyfriend, they truly might’ve figured he wouldn’t be interested.
But this isn’t the first time Roma and Bryant have neglected to tell him pertinent information. Not bothering to share details from meetings with Council members, forgetting to brief him on key details of a mission until they’re nearly on the scene. Like it doesn’t really matter if he’s in the loop or not.
Like he’s incompetent.
JJ doesn’t know why he’s never noticed that Bryant and Roma act like that. Yes, he knows that Bryant is allergic to tact, and yes, he knows that Roma can sometimes be insensitive by accident, but he’s never fully realized just how deep that subconscious bias goes.
Honestly, JJ doesn’t even thinktheyrealize it. Because Bryant has put her reputation on the line to defend him on multiple occasions, and Roma has humiliated hunters who mistreated him with a precision bordering on vicious, but?—
But they don’t seem to notice when they do the same thing to him on a smaller scale. When their ingrained sense of the bloodlines hierarchy overrides their friendship with him.
Roma is right. JJdoessound like Chester.
Chester, or maybe Cass.
And that’s a comparison JJ really shouldn’t be entertaining right now. “Makes sense,” he says eventually, and he clears his throat, pushing himself to his feet. “I should, um, probably start packing. I’ll grab my supplies and meet you in the garage, yeah?”
“Sounds good,” Roma says, and she and Bryant wave goodbye as he heads towards the door. Just before it closes, he hears them launch back into conversation behind him, clearly talking through the finer points of their newest mission.
Talking through those finer points without him. JJ’s face burns as he ducks his head, retreating as quickly as he can without drawing attention. Past the restricted access point that keeps mixed-breed hunters off the purebred floor, down two flights of stairs to the second level, towards his lone bedroom at the end of the hallway?—
Bryant is on the fourth floor with the other purebreds. Both Roma and Chester are on the third. JJ, though, ended up on the second, away from the rest of them.
He always thought it was just due to space constraints. Now, though, he’s starting to wonder if it was intentional.
Starting to wonder in a voice that sounds a lot like Cass’s. Grimacing, JJ shoulders his way into his bedroom, locks the door behind him, and sits down heavily on his bed, burying his head in his hands.
What iswrongwith him? Just over a month ago, he knew his place in the world. He was a hunter, and demons were the enemy. If he found them, he killed them. No hesitation, no remorse.
No questions.
