Wildwood: The Society Book 1

Chapter 1

Ivy stood in the long line of eager morning patrons anticipating their caffeine fix, feeling somewhat out of place. Everyone around her was rushed. They had some place they had to go and were clearly ready to be on their way. They took their cups eagerly and fairly sprinted out of the door, making her feel a bit like a boulder in the middle of a fast moving stream.

Given the gray morning outside, the glass front of the coffee shop was more inclined to project images of the waiting customers like a mirror rather than act as a window. Ivy spotted herself easily. Her casual clothing of jeans and t-shirt topped with a hooded sweatshirt stood out starkly from the tailored office wear of those around her. The fact that she stood out so sharply gave her a momentary twinge inside. After all, blending in and becoming nearly invisible was supposed to be her strong suit.

She took the time to scoop her long dark hair into a ponytail, but that was the extent of her morning's beautification attempts. As the line inched forward, she tried to remember if she had put on deodorant before leaving the house. She was fairly certain she had. She thought she remembered using it right after brushing her teeth. She glanced down at her shirt and saw the still slightly damp spot where she washed off a toothpaste spatter. She remembered her hands had still been damp when she pulled the top of her deodorant and they had slipped on the plastic. She smiled, feeling pleased with herself. Clearly, she had remembered the deodorant.

Ivy reached the counter and the harried clerk looked at her with half-glazed eyes, his hand poised over the large button, plastic sheathed cash register. She ordered a plain coffee and he blinked at her as though having a difficult time processing the simplicity of her order. He pressed one button and looked a little lost as he told her the price and took her cash. She stepped to the side and the clerk looked more in control as the woman behind her ordered a tall half cap soy latte with a double shot of espresso. His fingers flew over the keys in a confident rhythm, once again in familiar territory.

As it took less time to pour a single coffee into a cup than it did to create the fanciful concoctions the other patrons ordered, her name was quickly called. Those who had been in line before her and were still waiting, looked her over with some surprise as though puzzled over her preferential treatment. She ignored their looks, trying not to hunch her shoulders as she took her steaming cup. Deciding she was not yet ready to return home and officially start her day, Ivy chose a seat at a two person table near the large window out of the flow of traffic. Out of sight was out of mind and she was relieved when the crowd dismissed her again.

Once seated, she turned her attention away from the patrons and towards the window, forcing her gaze past her own reflection and into the wider world beyond the glass. Ivy stared out of the café window as her hand absently traced the edge of her coffee cup. The morning started out hazy, a dense mist settling over the city as though it were sulking. Instead of burning through the morning mist, the sun had remained hidden making it seem less like morning and more like twilight.

The street contained a mix of buildings occupied predominantly by retail and office space. There were one or two apartment buildings scattered throughout, but most of the residential buildings, such as her own, were a few streets over. She knew that as those streets emptied, these filled as people raced from home to work.

While she watched, Ivy saw fat drops of rain spatter down onto the hurrying morning crowds making dark splotches on the white sidewalk. Those with the foresight to have grabbed umbrellas before leaving home popped them open with evident feelings of superiority. Every pedestrian increased their speed. With most of the sound blocked out by the thick glass, Ivy felt as though she were watching a silent movie that had just been put into fast forward.

She took a second to be grateful for the fact that she had nowhere in particular that she needed to be at the moment and could therefore move at whatever speed she chose. Her current project had been wrapped up the day before, all requirements fulfilled, all payments deposited into her account. Ivy tried to feel pleased and satisfied with the completion of a job well done. It had after all been quite tricky and detailed. She had enjoyed the challenge of it, and the way the details of the project kept all other thoughts from surfacing, but now that it was complete, she felt nothing in particular. The accomplishment held all the excitement as checking an item off a list while grocery shopping.

"The money was good, " she told herself, as she always did. She tried to think of something fun she might want to buy or someplace she might want to go. Nothing came to mind and she knew that while part of her fee would go towards necessities like food and electric, the rest would go into savings as it always did. She also knew that when she transferred the excess into savings at the end of the month, she would again promise herself that after the next job was complete she would do something fun, go somewhere new.

'Round and round we go, ' she thought wondering why she still bothered to try and lie to herself. Such introspection had never really been her strong suit and she knew she should just push it aside again and return home. Everyone knew her schedule. They knew she either was finished with what she had been working on or would be soon. Her inbox would be full of possibilities; new projects, new challenges.

Ivy smiled to herself. The assorted folks she worked with, whether mage, like her or from one of the other clans like the shifters, seers, vampires or Fae, collectively harbored a dislike for most modern technology created by the normal humans around them, believing themselves above such things. Somehow they each managed to forget their contempt enough to use e-mail when they needed to reach her. Admittedly, they all made fun of her use of norm technology, thinking it an odd little quirk, but willing to indulge her.

Ivy thought she would actually lose business when she shut down her post office box and required anyone wanting to reach her to use e-mail. As she was running out of explanations for the odd items others seemed to want to include with their job proposals as extra enticement, she considered the loss worth not ending up on some federal watch list. After all how many odd shaped and often odd smelling packages could one person get before someone took notice?

Thunder cracked in the sky and the rain increased as though encouraging her procrastination. She lifted her coffee cup slightly in mock salute and decided to stay put. Procrastination seemed like a good plan at the moment.

"Maybe it's just this last project, " she thought to herself trying to puzzle out the reason for her strangely disconnected mood. The last project she had worked on was quite intense and she remained focused on the details for months. Perhaps her brain just needed to fuzz out for a little bit before jumping into the next job.

"Maybe it's the weather, " she thought taking another sip of her coffee as rain splattered on the glass in fleeting abstract designs. The memory of cold rainy days when she was smaller scuttled across her thoughts, but she pushed it away before it could take hold. She learned early, focusing on the past only brought pain. Thinking of her family would do no good, especially at the moment with the Shadow Council's hearing so close.

Ivy shivered and told herself it was due to the draft snaking in from the doorway as another patron entered. For a moment she held out hope that at least a part of her would believe her own lies. The hope was as pointless as the lie. The shiver was due to thoughts of the Shadow Council and deep down she knew her procrastination and strange mood were linked as well.

"What do they want?" she asked herself, not for the first time. Her mind had no answers to give. She mentally scrolled through her actions over the past few months. The Shadow Council was made up of the heads of each of the hidden clans. They governed behavior and worked to keep all of them, well, hidden from the eyes of the unsuspecting norms around them.

Getting a summons to appear before the Council usually meant that you had been caught doing something that was either forbidden or that would draw attention. It always meant some form of disciplinary action was about to be taken against you. While Ivy knew the stories of punishments meted out always grew in the telling, she also knew that there was truth at the core of the tales.

"I did nothing wrong, " she reminded herself. True, several of the things she occasionally played with could be considered gray areas, but she always made certain that she covered her tracks well, and that it would not bring any form of public scrutiny. She knew if she was ever caught and sanctioned for those actions, the secrecy would count in her favor. Ivy shivered again and set her coffee cup down on the table. Two days ago she had received a summons and she knew from experience that it didn't always take a misdeed to bring down the wrath of the Council.

She had been called to the Shadow Council only once before. Ivy had done nothing wrong then either. That hadn't seemed to matter. What was left of her family had been split up, each of them sent to different cities and forbidden to gather together again. No explanation had been given and over the years, Ivy had never been able to ferret out the reason for the split.

She had learned that the votes had gone two against and three for the split. She knew that for the first few years, she had been watched. She guessed the watching had been to make certain she didn't try and find the others. She had no idea what else they could be watching. She did her best to settle in and the watchers seemed to fade away over time leaving her in peace.

"Maybe that's why vacations don't seem appealing, " she thought once again reaching for her coffee. It had cooled slightly and since no one was paying any attention, she sent a small burst of heat from her hand through the cup and into the coffee. Satisfied with the new temperature, she took another sip and set the cup down. Somehow she had the feeling that if she planned a trip anywhere, the watchers would return. While she could mostly ignore those watching her take the trash out to the dumpster behind her building, she doubted she would feel comfortable sunning herself on a beach somewhere under the Council's watchful gaze.

"I just wish I knew why, " Ivy mentally repeated. It didn't seem fair that she had been called a second time to face the Council when she hadn't yet figured out the reasons for the first summons and sanction. She had studied the card the Shadow Council sent by currier over and over until her eyes crossed. She looked at the front and the back, she held it up to the light and found only that the Council used paper imprinted with its own watermark instead of buying something generic from the store.

In the end, all she knew was that tomorrow just after sunset, she was required to present herself to the Shadow Council for reasons they felt no need to explain. She was summoned, she would present herself and then she would be told what was going on.

"With luck, " she thought bitterly.

Ivy took another sip of coffee and set the cup back down, one finger absently tracing the cup's rim again. It seemed she was forever going around in an endless loop. She leaned back in the stiff plastic chair and finally acknowledged the solid ball of dread that had lodged deep in her gut. She had been able to ignore it when there were still project details demanding her attention. Now, there were no distractions. She rifled her mental files again trying to find the reasoning for the summons, but it was a half-hearted effort. She had been careful in not only hiding her somewhat gray actions, but had also been careful to follow the letter, if not always the spirit, of the law, at least where those who cared for such things could see.

"Why Ivy Chambers, is that you?" Ivy looked up at the question, startled out of her own thoughts by the sound of her name. She looked into the twinkling blue eyes set into the face well creased by the hand of time and felt her hand involuntarily grip her cup so hard it dented slightly from the pressure. His white hair seemed charmingly unkempt and the smile he turned her way was warm and welcoming as the man now in front of her pulled out a chair, scraping its metal feet harshly against the tile floor. Ivy felt cold dread sink deep into her bones. She smiled and it felt brittle.

"Albert, " she said trying to sound pleased and surprised as her heart thudded in her chest like a trapped and panicked thing. "What a lovely surprise." Her thudding heart nearly stopped as she watched his gnarled hands set his large cup of coffee down on the table. He sat down in the empty chair across from her.

Ivy licked her suddenly dry lips and forced her hand to relax its death grip on the cup. Albert settled himself looking like the living embodiment of the kindly grandfatherly archetype. As far as Ivy knew, it was the greatest con in the world. Anyone who knew Albert Winters knew that Winters was an assumed name. Most were fairly certain that Albert was as well. What his actual name was, no one seemed to know. What duties he performed for the Shadow Council were also a mystery.

What was known was that whatever he did for them caused the Council to turn a blind eye to anything else Albert took it into his head to do. Albert was more or less a law unto himself. Whether by independent design or Council related, his arrival was never a good sign. His arrival so close to a Shadow Council summons made the hard lump in Ivy's guts start a slow and nauseating spin.

"Relax Ivy, " he said gently. He picked up his coffee and took a long drink, his eyes never leaving her face. The comment did not relax her. If anything it made the tension worse. Ivy took a long pull from her coffee, noting that it was starting to cool again, but unwilling to reheat it in Albert's presence. Even though he was a mage like her, his specialty focused on water rather than fire as hers was, they were in a public place and the Council had forbidden the use of magic in public places. The cold coffee was, however, the least of her concerns at the moment. She tried to think of something to say, but most rational comments seemed to disappear in the face of Albert's presence.

"It has been a while since I've seen you, " she found herself saying, retreating into the manners her grandmother had managed to ingrain in all five of them. "How have you been?"

Albert chuckled as though amused. The smile didn't touch his eyes. "It has been a while hasn't it? A little more than seventeen years if I recall. Why you were barely eighteen then. I've heard you have done well for yourself over all that time."

"I do okay, " Ivy replied, trying to smile without looking pained. Boasting of too much good fortune was never a good idea in their world. Admittedly, complaining of misfortunes wasn't any better of a plan. Ride the middle had always been her grandmother's advice. Blend into the average whenever possible where the Council is concerned. Ivy decided the advice pertained to Albert as well. She blinked in surprise at the mention of seventeen years. That had been the date of her last Council summons. She didn't remember Albert being there, but she had other concerns at the time.

"So it would seem, " Albert replied before the silence had stretched too far. "At least from all of the chatter in the office." Ivy stared at him. He had to be talking about the Council, but she couldn't divine his meaning from the few words. Why would the Council be talking about her? It had to be related to the summons, but why on earth would Albert tell her why the Council had summoned her?

She had met the man only a few times, mostly in settings where they both happened to be at the same time and not because they had business together. She thought she might have once said a polite hello to him, but that was all. Albert was not a friend or even really an acquaintance. It made no sense for him to seek her out let alone provide her with any sort of privileged information. In the absence of certainty, she kept quiet. Albert seemed pleased by her lack of response.

"I had heard that you recently completed a project of some note and will no doubt be taking some time off to recuperate, at least until after your big meeting, " Albert continued. He stretched his hands out across the table and gripped hers. Ivy blinked, first in surprise at the gesture and then as she felt a small, hard object pressed into her palm. He pulled his hands away and she dropped the hand now holding the item into her lap. She didn't know if anyone was watching, but she doubted anyone had seen the transfer. It had taken no more than a couple of seconds. She picked up her cup with her free hand and raised it shakily to her lips.

"I hope that once you have rested, we can find the time to catch up now that I'm back in town, " Albert said. He smiled, picked up his coffee and stood. "See you soon, " he said. The words were delivered in a polite tone, but sounded somehow like a threat.

Albert strolled back towards the door and Ivy turned slightly to watch him go, using the motion to casually transfer the small item from her hand to her pocket. As she watched him stride to the door, she caught sight of two large men standing under the eaves of a building across the street. One had his eyes trained on Albert, the other had eyes only for her. Recognizing the man staring at her, Ivy lifted her now empty hand and waved at him through the glass. He seemed uncomfortable and turned away. Ivy lowered her hand feeling foolish. The man she knew, Russell, said something to his companion who frowned and then stepped out of his dry spot under the eaves to follow Albert as he made his way down the street.

Ivy sighed and lifted her cup to her lips. She winced at the taste of cooled coffee. Since no one other than Russell seemed to be paying any attention to her, Ivy wrapped her fingers around her cup and sent a wave of heat from her hand into the coffee to warm it up. She lifted the now piping hot beverage to her lips. The hot liquid nearly scalded her and she frowned at her own carelessness. Overheating a drink was an amateur move and one she hadn't done since her age was still in single digits. She blamed her own nerves and decided that rain or not, it was probably time to head home.

Ivy tried not to think about the item, whatever it was, that was now in her pocket. She stood up and walked towards the door. She threw her coffee into the trash, wanting nothing more to do with it. As her stomach was rapidly turning into a pit of acid from the thoughts of possibly becoming involved in a round of council politicking, she hardly needed to add the overheated brew to the mix.

In the days when her every move was watched, Russell had never been one of those she spotted following her, although she could easily admit that spotting spies was not something she was trained for and might therefore have missed him. She had met him several years prior when she was working with a group of shifters. As the other shifters in the pack tended to be somewhat short and dark haired with olive toned skin, the six foot five inch blonde stood out. Privately Ivy thought he looked a little like a Viking. He was loosely tied to the pack she was helping, but they had made it clear that even though he was a wolf and an ally, he was not of their pack.

As Ivy knew little about the packs and assorted other designations that made up the various shifter clans and as Russell was being both pleasant and polite, she had not questioned it much once she had been assured he was not there to pillage. While she never did learn his connection to that particular pack, she had worked with him numerous times and his recommendations often sent work her way. She had no idea why he would be following Albert.

Ivy stepped outside and flipped the hood of her sweatshirt over her head in meager protection from the rain. She thought the temperature had dropped since she had first stepped out of her door and she wished she had grabbed an actual coat instead of just the sweatshirt. Luckily, she didn't live too far away and most of her path was covered by the overhanging buildings so she might actually manage to stay dry, if not warm on her walk home. While her head was protected, her feet were not and she almost immediately stepped into a deep puddle, feeling the icy water soak through her canvas sneakers and into her socks.

"Should have worn boots as well as a coat, " she muttered to herself as she stepped out of the puddle and shook her feet off before continuing on her way. She was somehow not surprised when Russell jogged across the street and quickly fell into step beside her.

As always, she took a moment to admire his easy grace. She assumed it had something to do with shifters as she had never seen an ungainly one, but there was something appealing in Russell's long limbed stride. If she were honest with herself she would have to admit it wasn't just his grace she admired. He was easy to look at all around.

While his long blonde hair usually fell in curls to just above his shoulders, the moisture in the air had shortened it considerably and turned his curls into ringlets that reminded her of an old fashioned doll. His beard kept it from looking too feminine, but Ivy still found herself fighting the urge to tug one of the ringlets to see if it bounced the same way the doll's hair had.

Reminding herself that wolves could sense emotions and that unwanted admiration could cause trouble with someone who only considered her a business associate, she shifted her thoughts into more neutral territory. Besides, it was never a good idea to pet a wolf as if he were a puppy, even if he did have ringlets.

He gave her a quick grin and let his eyes scan her from head to toe before favoring her with an appreciative glance. She assumed it was in response to her appraisal of him as it was fairly general a glance, merely a polite return, appreciation for appreciation. She nodded and turned away hoping he didn't notice her slight blush.

"At least he isn't offended, " she thought. Even though she worked with various packs on occasion, she knew only what pertained to the job at hand. She had never tried to pry into their secrets or personal lives, which they always seemed to appreciate. As she started to walk, she hoped that there wasn't an angry female wolf waiting somewhere in the shadows to take offense at her appraisal of Russell. Russell slowed his long legged stride to walk beside her.

"What's with the old man?" Russell asked after a few steps. Ivy smiled. While she knew nothing of the personal lives of wolves, she had learned a great deal about how they conducted business over the years. The comment was as subtle as Russell was ever likely to get. It was something she often appreciated about him, even if it was occasionally annoying.

"No clue, " Ivy said honestly. With Russell, as well as all of the other shifters she had met, honesty was always the best policy. He could smell a lie and she could practically feel him breathing in her words to test their truth. He seemed more focused than usual and she frowned. Ivy looked around trying to seem casual as she made certain no one was paying them any extra attention.

Most of the morning pedestrians had made it to their destinations and had no desire to linger in the rain. Ivy could just see a few people cowering here and there in covered doorways. Most of those she saw appeared to be looking skyward as if trying to guess when the rain would taper off so they could make a break for their cars.

"I have a Council summons scheduled for tomorrow and today when I went for coffee, Albert sat down at my table. He told me he had heard I had done well for myself since he saw me at my last summons and that he knew I had been summoned again." She told Russell. "It was weird. Albert spooks me."

Russell chuckled. "Albert spooks everyone. Luckily, I outrank Damien and already knew you, so Damien had to follow the old man instead of me. You were his third stop today."

"Third?" Ivy asked. She stopped walking and turned to him.

"Yeah, " Russell told her. He was staring directly into her eyes and Ivy realized that the green of his eyes was flecked with gold. She had never seen him so serious before and she was suddenly more aware of how much larger he was then her and how much heat he seemed to radiate despite the chill of the day. "He took his newspaper to the park to read before it started to rain. Then, he stopped by the First National Bank on Fifth. Then, he sat down with you." He listed Albert's movements as bullet points. Ivy could practically see them lined up on a page.

"Huh, " Ivy said as she turned away and continued walking. "Did he see you follow him?"

Russell shrugged. "Maybe, I don't know. We weren't told to be stealthy about it. Just to watch him and try to find out what he is up to."

"Someone thinks he is up to something?"

Russell snorted. "Albert is always up to something."

"Maybe he just talked to me to confuse you?" Ivy suggested after thinking it over a second. "After all, I wasn't planning to go to the coffee shop today. I just wanted to get out of the house before sorting through proposals for my next job. Maybe he just saw me and thought it would be amusing to throw me in the mix."

"Do you use the First National Bank?" he asked.

"Nope, I'm with the Credit Union. I usually use the branch down on First since its closer to my place."

"Oh, " Russell said, sounding a bit let down. Some of his intensity faded. "I was hoping he was hiring you for something."

"What would Albert hire me for?" Ivy asked with a little laugh. Even before the sanction when the Council split them, the Chambers family had been well known for their avoidance of all things Council related, Albert included.

"To get a little extra for your kind before the rest of us, " Russell said with a shrug. He bit his lip as the words came out, as though they had escaped before he could catch them. Ivy stopped under a large overhang and turned to look at Russell again. This time, he refused to meet her eyes.

"Albert works for the Council. Are you accusing me of doing something behind the Council's back Russell?" she asked knowing that there were some mages who resented the fact that shifters were given equal footing in the Council. Admittedly, those mages also didn't like that there was a Council in the first place and wanted mages to be independent. There were even factions who wanted to rule openly as they believed themselves vastly superior to the norms around them as well as the other hidden clans. She didn't know too much more about them as she had always steered clear of political radicals of every stripe. "Have I ever not played fair with you?"

Russell held up his hands in mock self-defense. "You always treat us fair, Ivy. I've never known you to give preferential treatment to other mages over the shifters or any of the other clans bound to the Shadow Council. That's why I like working with you."

"But you think I've decided to now?" Ivy asked.

"No, but I wouldn't put it past the other mages to try something like that, considering." Russell told her.

"Considering what?" Ivy asked her eyes narrowed. He continued to avoid her eyes. She gasped, opened her eyes wide, and blinked hard three times as a thought occurred to her. "You know why I got the summons don't you?" she demanded.

Russell flinched like a kicked puppy. "Didn't Albert mention it?" he asked hopefully.

"No. He. Didn't." Ivy crossed her arms and stared at Russell.

"Oh man, I thought he did and that's why he stopped to talk to you, so your lot could get a side deal of some kind."

"Russell, what the hell are you talking about?" Ivy demanded, her nerves fraying her temper. "What is going on? Why is the Shadow Council summoning me?" She resisted the urge to stamp her foot like an angry child. Russell motioned for her to quiet down and Ivy realized she had been close to yelling.

"I can't tell you Ivy, I swear I can't." Russell looked almost panicked. "All the clans agreed to wait until the session."

"But you were told to follow Albert thinking the mages would pull something sneaky?" Ivy guessed keeping her voice at a conversational volume. It took more effort than she was comfortable admitting.

"Well mages are a sneaky lot, " Russell said with a rueful smile. Noticing Ivy's frown, his smile broadened. "Except you, Ivy. You've always been good to us."

Ivy sighed restraining herself from rolling her eyes at Russell's attempt at flattery. If Russell had been ordered by the head of his clan to keep silent, than friend or not there was no way she was going to get him to talk. Among the shifters, wolves were known for many things, not all of them good. They were however obedient to a fault when it came to pack and clan hierarchy. She turned away from Russell and continued walking home.

"Hey, did Albert tell you anything else?" he asked once again falling into step beside her. He sounded hopeful and for the first time Ivy wondered who he actually worked for. Ivy glanced up at him. After spending the bulk of her life avoiding anything Council related it seemed she had stepped directly into the path of a council mess.

"He told me to relax, " Ivy told him sourly. Russell looked startled for a moment and then he let out a deep belly laugh, his mirth bringing tears to his eyes.

"You have to hand it to the old bastard, " Russell said when he regained control and caught up to Ivy again as she had kept walking while he stopped to laugh. "Only he would think that was an appropriate thing to say."

Chapter 2

The two of them reached the front of Ivy's apartment building and she wondered if he would expect to be invited inside. At the moment she wasn't exactly feeling companionable and was in fact wondering if he had only befriended her as part of his job, which somewhat soured her on his presence. Perhaps he was one of the watchers the Council assigned after all.

Russell shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at Ivy as she climbed the first stair. She turned, thinking she ought to say something, but unsure what would be appropriate. Even with the added height of the stair Russell was still slightly taller. Ivy did have a closer view of his eyes though. She was surprised to see concern in them.

"If it helps any, the summons isn't for anything bad, " he told her. Ivy lifted an eyebrow, certain that Russell was skirting the limits of what he was allowed to tell her and not quite sure why he would risk it.

"I appreciate that, " she told him. "But as the last time the council summoned me it was to tell me that my family was being permanently split up, it's hard to think of them doing anything good." Ivy sighed. "But thanks. Now go get out of the rain, no one likes the smell of wet dog."

Russell grinned and Ivy left him to figure out his next move. As the elevator was always cranky and never to be trusted, often getting stuck between floors, Ivy took to the stairs. She climbed the two flights to her apartment and pulled her keys out of her back pocket. She unlocked her door, stepped into her apartment and closed the door behind herself.

Finally alone, she dipped a hand into her pocket and pulled out the object Albert had passed her as she stepped away from the door. To her surprise it was a small flash drive. She had suspected Albert was as technophobic as the others and would never have thought he would use such a device.

A knock sounded at her door and she jumped as though caught in the act of committing a major crime. Ivy took the few steps back to the door and looked through the Judas hole. She saw Russell standing on her doorstep. On impulse she tossed the flash drive onto her favorite reading chair across the room. It slipped beneath the decorative pillow and was lost to sight.

"Come to borrow an umbrella?" She asked as she opened the door and took in the sight of Russell. He gave her a rueful grin.

"Not really, " he told her. "Stay exactly where you are." Ivy sighed and stood still as Russell slipped past her and inspected her floor for a moment. She found herself very glad her tossing the flash drive made no noise and hadn't required extra steps. Getting caught with unknown information didn't seem like a good idea, and while she didn't have a shifter's senses, even she could see her wet shoe prints on the floor.

"Russell, what is going on?" Ivy said as nerves began to dance in her belly. She allowed both her confusion and irritation to show.

"I was told to make sure Albert didn't give you anything, " he told her.

"He gave me a case of the creeps and a paranoid wolf, " Ivy told him. Russell smiled.

"Sorry, Ivy, " he told her. "Orders."

"Yeah, yeah, " Ivy replied, mentally cursing Albert for involving her. "Rain is wet, pack follows orders." She shook her head. "Can I at least take off my shoes? I stepped in a puddle and my socks are soaked. I'm getting a serious case of prune foot." Russell smiled and looked around. While careful to keep Ivy in sight, Russell grabbed one of her kitchen chairs and moved it to the center of the room. He made a sweeping gesture towards the chair.

"Go ahead, " he told her. Ivy unzipped her hoodie and slipped it from her shoulders. She handed it to him and squelched her way to the now centrally located chair. As she sat down and unlaced her soggy tennis shoe, Russell searched her hoodie for hidden data. She had the feeling she would be searched as well before he left and was thankful she no longer had the flash drive on her.

"Let me guess, " she said frowning as nerves began to dance in her belly. "I'm still not supposed to know what is going on?"

Russell shrugged and decided that her hoodie contained no vital secrets. He folded it and carefully placed it on the floor away from her wet footprints. Ivy wondered if he was being thoughtful or preserving evidence. She slipped off a shoe and handed it to him before peeling of her sodden sock. He inspected her shoe and set it down, taking her sock from her as she began working on the wet shoestrings of her other sneaker. It made a smacking sound when he placed it on the floor next to her other garments. She handed him a second shoe and peeled off her other sock as she watched him inspect it thoroughly. He set it down and took her other sock from her.

"You know these two don't match each other right?" He said looking from the soggy blue sock dangling from his hand to the soggy yellow sock laid out on the floor.

"I was just going for a quick cup of coffee, " Ivy told him with a shrug. "Who was going to see my socks?"

Russell shook his head, looking vaguely amused, but before he could comment further a knock sounded at the door. Without looking away from her, Russell opened the door and let in a second shifter. The man was big and gave off a different kind of energy than Russell did. His dark hair was slicked back from his face and Ivy couldn't tell if it was due to a style choice or the rain. He was nearly as tall as Russell, but seemed to be built of long lean lines making him seem sleek next to Russell's more muscular frame.

Russell frowned, not at all happy to see the new arrival. Thunder sounded in the distance and the new shifter shot a quick glare to the window when the rain seemed to increase. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. The two shifters eyed each other and Ivy thought it looked like a dog and a cat sizing each other up before deciding whether or not to fight. She darted a glance to the vase of flowers she had placed in the niche by the door and wondered if she ought to move it to a safer location.

In general, she had always worked more with the wolves than the feline shifters, which she guessed the new arrival to be, so as little as she knew about the packs of the shifter clans, she knew less about them. She was fairly certain a group of cats was called a pounce, but that somehow seemed like the wrong thing to call a group of feline shifters.

Mentally she chalked up her lack of knowledge to being more of a dog person than a cat person, but was smart enough never to say that thought out loud. Despite her siblings' opinions, she did occasionally keep her comments to herself. The feline shifter stalked forward placing one foot almost directly in front of the other as he walked, and reached out for her. Ivy stood up from the chair and stepped away.

"We have to search you, " he said plainly. His eyes looked her up and down, his gaze somehow feeling like it could already see through her clothes. She felt like the mouse that knew the cat had decided to play.

"David, " Russell said warningly.

"Have you let her out of your sight?" David countered, still staring at Ivy even though he dropped his hand back to his side.

"Not since the call, " Russell responded. "She walked from the door to here and then turned and walked back to the door when she heard my knock."

"And nothing is out of place?" David demanded.

"Just the chair, which I moved." Russell replied. Ivy wisely chose to keep her mouth shut.

"She looked at the vase when I came in, have you searched it? It is within reach of the door." David said.

"No I haven't, " Russell said sounding miffed that he had let the detail slip. David moved to the vase. He picked it up and searched the small niche, finding nothing but a couple of fallen petals.

"You two looked like you were going to go at each other and I thought it might get broken, " Ivy told them honestly. Russell shook his head and looked amused. Ivy shrugged. "What? I like the vase, " Ivy told him.

David pulled each of the flowers from the vase, crushing them and scattering the petals to the floor as he inspected them for anything Albert might have given her. When the petals were crushed, he examined the stems, tossing them casually to the floor when he was done.

"Is that really necessary?" Ivy asked, feeling annoyed by the mess he was deliberately creating. After all what could she hide in the flower petals in less than a minute's time? She was a fire mage. Illusion was more in an Air mage's wheelhouse. He turned the vase upside down letting the water spill to the floor. "Oh come on, like there isn't enough water on the floor already?" She protested.

David ignored her, peered into the vase and then dropped it on the floor, shattering it into several large pieces. He poked the shards with his foot. When he was satisfied there was nothing hidden in the remains he looked up at her and smiled showing, in her opinion, far too many teeth.

"I like to be thorough, " he said. Ivy swallowed back several comments, knowing none of them would help the situation. Russell looked annoyed as David walked over to her folded sweatshirt, shoes and socks. He searched the items again, just as thoroughly a Russell had. However he did not refold the sweatshirt, merely discarding it in a heap on top of the puddle of water. David turned towards Russell.

"She will still need to be searched, " David said. "We have our orders."

"I will do it, " Russell said moving forward. Ivy took a step back. "Ivy please. It is either me or David. You can hand me the garments if you'd like."

Ivy sighed, realizing that she would be searched regardless of any protests she made. Her only options seemed to be whether or not the clothes were on her body or not when they were searched and who would be doing the searching. Given the thoroughness with which both men had searched her hoodie, she opted for off. She didn't want David touching her and despite Russell's assurance that he would be doing the searching, she didn't trust David to rely on Russell's findings.

"Fine, " she told the waiting men. Ivy quickly peeled off her t-shirt and handed it to Russell. David studied her as Russell searched the t-shirt for anything hidden. Ivy crossed her arms over her chest, thankful she had at least put on a solid green cotton bra instead of anything lacy. Her actions seemed to amuse David. Russell finished with the shirt and handed it to the other shifter. David let his hands run over the material while still looking at Ivy.

"Ivy, " Russell said. She turned her attention to Russell. Knowing what was next and wanting to just get it over with, she unfastened her jeans and slid them to her ankles, neatly stepping out of them. She handed them to Russell and David dropped the t-shirt to the floor, making some sort of purring noise in the back of his throat as he looked her up and down. Ivy flushed.

"May I have my shirt back now?" she asked glad that the sweatshirt had at least soaked up most of the spilled water leaving her shirt relatively dry. David smiled and said nothing. She crossed her arms over herself again. Her panties didn't match her bra any more than her socks had matched each other, but she was pleased she had at least put on a decent pair instead of one of the older items in her underwear drawer. She made a mental note to get rid of anything with holes in it once the men left. She didn't plan on being stripped and searched often, but on the off chance it happened again she didn't want to be caught wearing granny panties with shot elastic. She thought that might actually be worse than just putting up with David's hungry stare.

Russell handed her jeans to David. "We have to be thorough Ivy, " Russell said sounding half apologetic. Ivy realized he meant to have her take off her undergarments as well. She darted a glance to David.

"No, " she told him shaking her head and taking a step back.

"Mages can create illusion, only touch can be certain she is clean, " David said. His voice was lazy, like well-fed cat sitting in a patch of sun.

"Oh, hell no, " Ivy said, certain David meant to pat her down once she was naked.

"Ivy, " Russell said calmly.

"I am allergic to cats, " Ivy said knowing it sounded absurd, but nothing else came to mind. David frowned and Russell let the corner of his mouth quirk up in amusement before he slipped back into serious mode. He walked over to Ivy's discarded t-shirt and picked it up.

"You are certain the shirt hides nothing?" he asked David.

"Yes, " the word came out as a half hiss.

"Turn around Ivy and hold your arms out, " Russell told her, tucking her shirt into his belt to leave his hands free. Realizing that David was rapidly losing patience and that this was likely the best deal she was going to get, Ivy swallowed hard and turned around, putting her back to both Russell and David.

Ivy shivered as she held her arms out. She was certain that part of her chills were due to the fact that fall had chosen today to finally turn into winter and she had yet to turn on her apartment's central heat. The rest of it she was certain was due to the small primal part of her brain that was screaming in fear at the thought of turning her back on two large and not entirely friendly predators.

David made a disappointed sound as she turned away from him, but then laughed when she jumped at Russell's first touch. Russell's hands were warm and dry as he ran them over her outstretched arms and shoulders. He slid his hands down her back and dropped to his knees behind her. He checked out each of her legs and then stood back up. Ivy jumped again as he unhooked her bra and slid it from her shoulders. David laughed and Russell tossed her bra to him. Ivy shivered a little as his arms went around her waist. She tried not to think about how long it had been since she had been touched so intimately as he deftly searched for anything she might have hidden with illusion on her torso.

His movements were professional and as polite as possible given the circumstances. Ivy had to give him credit for that. Even though his touch was fairly intimate, he was trying to make it seem less as though her were trying to cop a feel which she appreciated. While she may often have fleeting thoughts about Russell in intimate situations, none of them involved someone like David watching.

Russell dropped her panties to the floor and kicked them backwards towards David, using his body to shield her from the sight of the other shifter. He felt warm and somehow comforting at her back, especially as he was placed between her and David. The scent of him was spicy and reminded her of camping trips taken in the deep woods. She realized she had never been this close to him before.

Remembering shifter's extra senses, Ivy decided to think about the heavy rain outside instead of Russell's oddly pleasant scent as he completed his search, hoping it would make it feel less intimate. As Ivy wondered if the cooler temperatures predicted for later in the day would turn the rain to sleet or even snow before night fall giving them the first snow of the season, Russell tugged her shirt over her head covering her back up.

She gratefully shoved her hands in the sleeves, thankful that the shirt was somewhat oversized and if she didn't move too much, might keep most of her private bits covered until she could get dressed again. The relief of not being naked anymore washed over her and she was certain it registered with both of the shifters. She just hoped they didn't think her relief was due to anything else as they had with her glance at the vase. She didn't think she could deal with a more invasive search.

Russell inhaled deeply as though taking in her scent and then stepped back as she settled her shirt in place. Ivy turned around carefully, arms holding down the edge of her shirt, hunching over a little to make it seem longer. She had the feeling she was mooning the window behind her and hoped her neighbor was not working from home today. She wasn't certain how to explain this particular situation to an outsider.

"She's clean, " Russell said to David.

"Are you certain?" David asked, a teasing tone in his voice. "Maybe I should double check."

Ivy heard a low growling sound and realized it was coming from Russell. David smiled and winked, seemingly enjoying taunting Russell as much as he had enjoyed toying with Ivy. "Of course, I'm sure you did a fine job." There was laughter edging the words. David looked to her. His eyes had gone amber and the pupil looked slitted, no longer entirely human.

"The Council thanks you for your cooperation, " he told her in a somewhat mocking tone. Ivy gave him a short, sharp nod knowing no other response to a Council representative would be acceptable. An objection to being searched could be taken as a complaint against the judgment of the Council. Offering a potential insult to the Shadow Council the day before she was set to meet with them did not seem like the smartest of ideas. David waited, but when no other response was forthcoming, he turned and strode towards the front door. His movements conveyed annoyance.

He opened the front door with a jerk that rattled the door in its hinges and stepped outside. Russell walked slowly to the door as though reluctant to leave. When he reached the door way, he paused and turned to look at her. He looked her up and down in much the same way as he had a thousand times before. This time his gaze felt hot and Ivy found herself blushing furiously. Somehow she could almost feel his hands still on her skin.

He smiled and shook his head as though clearing it. He sighed and turned back to her. This time the heat was gone and he was serious again. "Sorry about the mess." He ran a hand through his damp curls. "If David returns, don't let him in without a Council writ in his hands, " he told her.

Ivy nodded, her mouth suddenly dry, any lingering warm thoughts gone. Russell stepped out of her apartment and pulled the door shut behind himself. Ivy took a deep shuttery breath and started to shake. She gave herself a moment of reaction time before pulling herself together. As she got the shaking under control she looked down at her clothes and noticed that her underwear was missing from the pile.

Chapter 3

She swallowed hard and deliberately did not think about the missing underwear. Instead, she walked swiftly to the door and threw the deadbolt, feeling infinitely safer with it drawn. While the thin little bolt might not keep every predator at bay, she had tied the lock to a somewhat more sophisticated shielding spell. Once the lock was in place, the shielding went into effect. A shifter may be stronger than a normal human and for all she knew was capable of snapping her deadbolt like a twig, but if he tried it without a mage in tow to counter the effects, he would sizzle like a sausage. The image of singed fur in her mind made her feel a little better.

Ivy picked up her discarded clothing, shaking out the bits of glass that were stuck to her sweatshirt. She knew there was no way she would be putting it back on without a good wash. Somehow it seemed dirtier than a simple trip outside, or even the shattered vase, could make it. She set the clothing to the side and swept up the broken glass, carefully watching where she placed her bare feet. When she thought she had gotten all but the smallest slivers, she put the broom away and took a damp cloth to the wooden floorboards. The wet cloth glittered with the tiny fragments it picked up. Satisfied she had gotten up all of the glass possible, she dried the floor and put everything away.

Ivy glanced over at her reading chair, but even though her curiosity was intense, she pushed thoughts of retrieval aside for the moment. Instead of moving to the chair, she gathered up her clothing and dumped it in the washing machine. She put everything, including her shoes in the machine and then tugged off the t-shirt, adding it to the mix. She left the items there and went to take a quick shower, hoping it would make her feel cleaner.

Once showered and wearing fresh clothes, Ivy had to admit she felt much better. She gathered up the rest of her laundry and added it to the items the washing machine already contained. She poured in a capful of detergent, closed the lid and turned the machine on, checking to make certain the water temperature was set to cold.

While the water was running she put the plastic bottle of detergent back on the shelf next to the dryer sheets and picked up one of two glass jars the shelf also contained. Both jars held small pouches that resembled tea bags. One of the jars was labeled Wash, while the other was labeled Dry. She pulled the Wash jar down and extracted one of the tea-bag pouches. She put the jar back on the shelf, lifted the lid of the washing machine slightly and tossed the small pouch inside.

Ivy smiled to herself as she lowered the lid again. She glanced back at the jars. Not that many of the small bags remained. Soon she would have to make a new batch. "And won't that be fun, " she said to herself, thinking of the different herbalists she would have to visit, dividing up her purchases so that no one would know exactly what went into her mix. Even though the subterfuge annoyed her, she was quite proud of the pouches themselves. The pouches, containing selections of magically enhanced herbs bound together by a spell, may have looked simple and innocuous, but Ivy considered them one of her greatest triumphs.

For years mages had looked for ways to remove tracers, trackers and other spying spells from themselves. Such things were easily woven into cloth and damnably hard to detect by anyone other than their creator. More importantly, they could be set with the barest touch of casual physical contact. Even shifters, who had no magical ability of their own beyond the changing of their forms, could set the basic spying spells in place once a mage created them. That meant it wasn't merely mages you had to watch out for if you were worried about someone tracking your movements.

Being the paranoid lot they were, mages had for centuries assumed every other mage was spying on them and in response proceeded to spy on every mage they came across. They claimed self-defense and in the process of defending themselves, ensured that the number of active spying spells always remained high.

While she had seen only the two shifters searching her clothing, there was no reason that they could not have placed some kind of tracker while they searched, especially when her back had been turned. The problem with attempting to remove the trackers was that most were fairly resilient. Some blockers could be soaked into the tracker. These blocked it as long as the garment or other piece of cloth remained wet. Once the item dried, the spell would become active again.

Ivy had figured out a system that didn't just temporarily block the spell, but managed to disintegrate it completely, removing it from the cloth. It relied on a two part system, one which blended with cold water in the washing machine binding to the spell, and one that worked with the dry heat of the dryer to shatter it.

"And unlike most attempts that leave you guessing as to whether there was a spell on the garment in the first place, if there was one present then all the lint in the lint trap will be dyed a deep magenta, " she said feeling pleased with herself. Admittedly the dyed lint then had to be burned so no trace of the spell remained. She had forgotten to clean out the lint trap once and as a consequence had been forced to buy a new dryer as the remnants of the destroyed spell had reformed as something completely different and invaded the drum. Given the invasion, she hadn't even been able to dispose of the dryer in a normal fashion. She had been forced to rent a van and drive it out into the middle of nowhere. There, she had blasted it with enough heat to not only destroy the mutated spell, but to turn the dryer into half melted slag. The effort had knocked her out for three days and was not something she wanted to repeat.

The color change was also one of the reasons her closet contained no red clothing. A few months after she perfected the system, a red sock in the wrong laundry basket caused her a week of high paranoia. She shivered, having no desire to repeat that nightmare again. Given her schedule had not brought her into contact with any mages or shifters prior to laundry day, she had been forced to consider other options. Her suspicions caused her to investigate her neighbors more thoroughly than she was comfortable with, and she decided that some people's secrets she didn't need to know.

"I still have a hard time with Mr. Ferguson, " She said to herself as she went to the bedroom to get a thick pair of fuzzy socks to wear as slippers around the apartment. She was always afraid she might say something when she saw him at the building's monthly co-op board meeting. Finding out that her polite, mild-mannered neighbor spent his free time crafting obscene porcelain figurines had been quite a surprise. Ivy had found the figurine's cherubic faces paired with their pornographic positioning more puzzling than obscene and she found herself fighting the urge to ask him about it every time she saw him.

"Not exactly something you ask over Mrs. Donaldson's lemon bars, between discussions of the pet policy and Deana James' presentation on appropriate holiday door decorations, " Ivy said to herself. She walked back into the living room and spotted the kitchen chair sitting in the center of the room. She frowned and went to the kitchen.

Ivy opened the cabinet under the sink and pulled out a spray bottle filled with a shimmering sunshine yellow liquid and a clean dust rag. "Never hurts to be thorough, " she reminded herself. The spray bottle looked as though it contained a mix of ground up pearls dumped into artificially bright lemon juice. While the concoction was infinitely more complicated, it had a scent similar to lemon scented furniture polish, a container of which she also kept in the cabinet under the sink, but rarely used.

While this concoction wouldn't remove a tracking spell, it would let her know if one had been placed on an object. It acted more or less like the spray detective shows used to show bloodstains on carpet after it had been cleaned. Thankfully it did not require a black light, the markings appearing on their own. If no markings showed up, then the chair, or whatever else she sprayed, was clean. If they did, she would have to either go through the long drawn out process of stripping the wooden chair down, something that also stripped the varnish from the wood and often left a deeply pitted surface behind, or get rid of the chair.

Getting rid of the chair was infinitely easier and one of the reasons she had a very mismatched set of kitchen chairs. Each had been picked up cheaply at the local thrift store and was composed of only wood or metal which was less susceptible to holding trackers than fabric.

"And since Russell is the only one who touched the chair, I'll know who placed the tracker if one appears." Ivy opened the spray nozzle and found herself hoping that she didn't find any trace of a tracker on the chair. She realized she was reluctant to think of Russell as only a Council agent, even if he was only her occasional business associate.

"It would certainly put a damper on my fantasies, " Ivy thought to herself. Alone, she could admit that Russell frequently played a starring role in them. "Not that I would ever admit that to anyone, " she said as she began spraying the chair. The spray came out as a pearlescent mist and instead of beading on the wood, the chair seemed to drink in the mixture.

She sprayed the seat back and seat of the chair and stepped back to watch. She glanced at the wall clock to mark the time, and waited the requisite minute and a half. Nothing appeared. Ivy turned the chair around and sprayed the back. Again she stepped away and waited for ninety seconds. Nothing. She sat down on the floor and repeated the process with the legs. When they turned up clean, she flipped the chair over and checked out the bottom of the seat.

"No trackers on the chair, " Ivy said with a smile when she was confident she had searched every part of it. Her fantasies could remain intact. She used the rag to wipe the chair down out of habit, even though very little of the liquid was left on the surface. She put the chair back at the table with its unmatched brethren. Ivy glanced around the room looking for anything else the shifters might have touched.

"The niche, " she reminded herself. It was the only thing she had yet to deal with. The niche had been designed to hold a telephone and phone book and still had a plastic connecter located towards the back even though Ivy had never connected the line. She sprayed everything down, figuring the spray wasn't all that likely to damage the plastic. She again waited for a reaction. There was none and Ivy sighed with relief. Disposing of a kitchen chair was one thing. The niche was built into the wall and would be somewhat problematic to scrub down appropriately without making an enormous mess.

"Which luckily I do not have to do, " she reminded herself. She returned the spray bottle and rag to their home under the sink. Ivy closed the cupboard door and drummed her fingers on the counter, deliberately not looking into the living room at her reading chair. Knowing the flash drive was there was like having an itch she knew she shouldn't scratch, at least not yet. While her clothing was in the wash, she couldn't be certain that she was unobserved until after the clothes had gone through the dryer as there was always the possibility of a free floating tracker in the apartment.

"Half an hour to wash and forty-five minutes to an hour to dry, " Ivy reminded herself. She knew her clothes would be dry before the hour was up, but also knew her concoction worked better if the neutralizer ran the full hour. She looked out of the window. The rain was still coming down, but she was certain there was snow mixed in.

"Not going back outside today, " she told herself. Cold and wet were not her favorite things, as much as a fire mage cliché as that was. "So we counteract the cold wet with dry heat, " she told herself. "I'm almost out of bread anyway." Decision made, Ivy pushed away from the counter and took down her large mixing bowl. She started taking out the ingredients for her normal loaf of sandwich bread and saw the box of raisins she had picked up on her last grocery run.

"I haven't made cinnamon raisin bread in a while, " she reminded herself as she picked up the box. "And I have the time." As always, cooking helped to steady her, the act of putting fire, even if it was the electrically generated sort, to use for her comforting something deep inside. The rest of the world seemed a step removed as she measured and sifted, stirred and poured. As she worked, her insides settled a bit. She set the dough to rise and realized that her apartment was still rather cool.

"Not good for rising dough or fire mages, " she told herself as she moved to the thermostat. She turned on the heat and wrinkled her nose at the scent of the heater's first use of the season. "I changed all of the filters, " she said, reminding herself that nothing was in fact burning despite the smell. Ivy glanced out of the window. There was definitely snow mixed into the rain now. In fact, it looked as though the snow was beginning to overtake the rain.

"Probably better get a coat out for tomorrow, " she thought as she moved to the washing machine. The rinse cycle had stopped and she transferred the clothing to the dryer. She added the dry herbal packet to the machine, closed the door and adjusted the settings to the highest heat possible.

"Luckily it's just jeans and t-shirts in this mix, " she thought as she pressed the start button. Her sneakers thumped as they whirled around. She didn't think they would take too much harm from either the heat or the beating. Satisfied that step two was in motion, Ivy went into the bedroom and opened her closet door. Tomorrow, regardless of the weather, she would have to present herself to the Shadow Council.

"Jeans and t-shirts won't cut it, " she reminded herself. While the Chambers family had routinely stayed as far from the Council as possible, the rules for presentation were drummed into all of them and needed to be followed. As Ivy pushed her more casual attire to the side, she could practically hear her grandmother's voice in her head reminding her of the appropriate image to present.

"Sober and respectful, but not mournful, " she muttered as she looked through her clothing options. Ivy remembered that looking as though one was going to a funeral when dealing with the Council was considered rude. She shook her head. Admittedly, the last time she had been summoned to the Shadow Council, she had been dressed for a funeral.

Ivy had a flash of memory of herself, Rose, Max, Danny and Alex led from their grandmother's gravesite mere moments after the priest's final benediction. They were escorted to a dark car by men with dark sunglasses and taken directly to the Shadow Council. After the ruling they had been allowed to return to the house, dealing with gathered mourners and kindly offered covered dishes, most of which they wouldn't have the chance to eat, before beginning the process of packing up to begin their separate lives. The Council had made it very clear that they considered themselves generous in allowing that much.

"I don't have that excuse for funeral wear this time, " Ivy thought deliberately pushing both the memory and a black dress aside. The remembered anger at their callousness she swallowed down, as it would do no good now. She had to look calm and collected in front of the Council, all feelings locked away.

"Go for modest, but not puritanical, " Ivy remembered the additional advice, continuing to search her clothing, focusing on the moment. Nerves were once again dancing in her belly as she thought of the Council summons.

"That should work, " Ivy thought as she pulled a suit made of a wool cashmere blend. "Should be warm enough." The suit's skirt was a tailored A-line that came to her mid-calf, so she thought it would count as demure. The color was a dark gray with royal blue piping, so she thought it counted as sober, but not funerary as well. "Not bad at all, " Ivy thought, pulling it from the closet. She hung it up on the hook on the back of the bathroom door.

She returned to the closet and after debating for a moment she chose a blue shell to go under the suit jacket rather than either the black or gray ones. She figured with gray shoes it would still look sober and respectful. "And the blue will let me get away with the black coat, " she added.

She pulled the black cape like coat from the closet. It had a 1950s sort of vibe and she always felt rather glamorous wearing it. "Perhaps a broach to dress it up, " Ivy decided. "Nothing expensive though." She remembered her grandmother's admonition to never look either too poor or too prosperous in front of the Council. Well-tailored clothing meant that you were putting your best foot forward and showing the Council respect, diamonds meant you were bragging.

She took her box of costume jewelry to the kitchen and set it on the kitchen table. The first rise of the sandwich bread was done and she punched it down and set it to rise a second time. The cinnamon raisin didn't need a second rise, so she moved it from bowl to loaf pan and slipped it into the preheated oven to bake.

Task complete she washed off her hands and settled herself with her costume jewelry. As always the box was a jumbled mess. No matter how many times she sat down and untangled chains, as soon as the box was closed everything became tangled again. "If this were a cop show, the detectives wouldn't be able to tell if this was an attempted robbery or not." She said shaking her head at the mess. "I suppose I had best not be murdered under mysterious circumstances then."

A fresh burst of wind fairly whistled around her building and Ivy looked back to the window. Fat flakes of snow were pouring from the sky like damp duck feathers. This was not the lazy swirl poets liked to compose odes about. This was a full on winter storm.

Deciding she ought to figure out what was going on, she took her box of jumbled jewelry and moved to the small living room area. She set the jewelry box on the coffee table and picked up the remote control for the television. She turned the tv on and flipped around until she saw something featuring local weather. She set the remote down and sat down in her favorite reading chair. She shifted the decorative pillow and frowned theatrically in case she had somehow missed any active tracking spells.

"I wonder how that got there, " she said to herself. She shrugged and placed Albert's flash drive on the coffee table as though it were of little concern. A free floating tracker could only last an hour at best so she decided caution was called for. She would not be certain everything was gone until after the dryer finished running.

Ivy began to sort through her costume jewelry, untangling chains and pairing up earrings as she looked for a broach to liven up her ensemble, all the while ignoring the flash drive. She tried not to think about the meeting too much as she was actively doing all she could to prepare.

On screen, the weatherman predicted doom and destruction with a gleam of excitement in his eyes. "It's the weather equivalent of a seven car pile-up I guess, " Ivy said as she watched the weather man point out lines of blue on different maps moving from national, to regional to local.

"And that could mean anywhere from ten to fifteen inches overnight folks, so bundle up and don't go out if you don't have to. Back to you Trina, " the weather man said. The camera switched to a perky blonde whose extra white teeth gleamed under studio lights.

"Thanks Bob, that's good advice, " she said looking to the side at Bob as he resumed his seat at the news desk. She turned back to the camera, addressing the audience directly. She shivered theatrically for the at home audience. "Brrrr, I know I'll be staying at home tonight with a big mug of hot cocoa. But for eyes on the scene, we go now to our own Doug Adams who is coming to us live from City Park. Doug?"

"Thanks Trina, " the man Ivy assumed was Doug said. The screen showed him walking in front of a snow shrouded park. He talked about a winter wonderland and the magic of the first snowfall, before cutting to images of the city's department of transportation where large dump trucks filled with sand were starting to pull out of the parking lot.

"When exactly did we start covering snowstorms the way we used to cover wars?" Ivy thought as she unknotted a thin silver chain. On screen a man she assumed had something to do with the city pointed to sections of a map like a general ordering troops. Her grandmother had favored the radio for announcements and Ivy remembered huddling around the kitchen table with the others waiting desperately to hear if their school was closed for the day as they ate their oatmeal. That they were eating oatmeal on a potential snow day was a given. It was the only breakfast food their grandmother believed had the stick-to-the-ribs quality that snow demanded.

As they waited, Alex would always cross one set of fingers on each hand and then his thumbs so he had three sets of digits crossed, believing one was not enough luck, but two were unlucky for some reason she couldn't remember, making three the ideal. When she thought of the television at such times it was always just the weather man, Ernie Hessleman, letting them know what was coming their way while school and other closings scrolled across the bottom of the screen.

They were all familiar with Ernie as he routinely visited the school to talk about the science of weather and the cool technology he got to play with at work. There had even been a couple of field trips to the station after the new Doppler system was installed. He had shown it off to the visiting school groups the way most people showed off their newborn children.

As she looked back up at Doug's coverage of the city's storm preparedness, she saw that closings had begun to scroll across the bottom of the screen. "I guess some things don't change, " she said with a smile. She wondered if she would get lucky and have her summons cancelled due to weather. She put the tangled chains down for a moment and crossed her fingers and her thumbs, repeating Alex's school closing good luck charm. For extra emphasis she repeated his mantra.

She looked skyward. "Please, oh please ohpleaseohplease, " she said, blurring the words together as he had always done. "I promise I won't even throw snowballs at Silas Kensington." Satisfied she had done all she could, Ivy uncrossed her hands and continued sorting through jewelry.

"I wonder what happened to Silas anyway?" Ivy thought as she untangled a chain and laid it out on the coffee table far from the snarl of metal she still held. Silas had been her brother's greatest rival growing up. He was the Lex Luther to Alex's Superman. Although it was often debatable which was Lex and which was Superman, neither being known for their attempts to triumph over the forces of evil. He and Alex competed at everything and they were close enough in skill for the outcome of every activity to be debatable. When they ran track, the odds were fifty-fifty over who would come in first and who would take second. That one of them would be first and the other second was never in doubt.

Ivy shook her head wondering what was wrong with her. She never thought about the past. Nothing good ever came of it. She would have one brief flash of humor and then the reality of the separation would sink back in, seeming a heavier burden than before and sending her into a black funk where depression mixed with anger for days.

"It has to be the summons stirring everything up, " she decided. The timer dinged on her bread and Ivy got up to pull the loaf out of the oven. Noticing that the sandwich bread dough had again doubled in size, she punched it down and put it into the greased loaf pan. She brushed an egg wash over the top and slid it into the oven. Ivy moved the cinnamon raisin loaf to the rack to cool, promising herself a slice as soon as it was cool enough to cut without flattening from the pressure of the knife.