8
Anna
Cara stayed behind as Constance took Matt and me to the elevators.
I had a feeling the air in that office would soon turn blue. I was pretty sure that woman didn’t back down from anyone and that Amadeus had met his match.
The doors opened, and Constance waved us on board. “The dorms are on the top floor. I’ve already been up the stairs a hundred times today. Time for a lift.”
It rose smoothly and beeped as it stopped. We stepped out between two enclosed areas, with a hall ahead of us.
Constance gestured to either side of her. “Showers and washrooms, male”—she pointed right—“and female. The female’s end is smaller, but there are only four of you, so you’ll have lots of room.”
I’d be lying if I said sharing a washroom didn’t bother me. But with only three others, it should be morepajama partythanwedding social. Nothing I couldn’t handle.
We advanced to the hallway, which stretched in each direction, with subsidiary passages off it.
“Each room is numbered,” she said, “and pictograms mark your team doors.” As we traveled down a subsidiary hallway, she pointed to colored images. Animals, although many weren’t animals I was familiar with. I spotted a Unicorn.
“Are these based on real creatures?” I asked.
Constance shrugged. “Not all.”
“That’s a Liberi.” Matt pointed to the Unicorn.
“Liberi? It’s a Unicorn, isn’t it?”
“Most call them Liberi.”
No way.“Them? They exist?”
“Liberi are Unicorn shifters,” Matt explained helpfully. He cast a glance at Constance. “Or so I’ve heard, anyway.”
Constance merely nodded. “Not many have seen them in their animal form.”
I swiveled to stare at him. “Unicorn shifters? As in, they spend part of their time as Unicorn, and part as human?”
“Yeah, no worries, Angel. You’ve already had eyes on one.”
I’d met one? As Matt’s eyes gleamed with what could only be mirth, I did my best to connect the dots.
“Amadeus?”
“Strewth, no.”
That earned him a stern glance from Constance, but my beleaguered brain finally spat out the correct—and when I really thought about it, the only—answer.
“Cara. It’s Cara.” I barely breathed the words. Cara was a freakingUnicorn? Yet somehow, considering the calm power that radiated off her, it made sense.
Matt watched me as I connected the dots, and then he smiled. My world lit right up. “The most powerful females are called Watchers,” he added, “because they watch over the gateways.
Constance also seemed momentarily transfixed by his grin. She gave her curly head a slight shake and continued on to three rooms with pictograms of a long-tailed bird trailing fire.
A Phoenix.
“Do they exist, too?” I asked Matt.
“You bet. Messy things. They love fruit and shed ash everywhere.”
