As we stepped out of Billie’s tent I made sure not to look at the tent where the Coven agent was waiting. Umbra looked for me. She wasn’t trying to hide her intentions. Her eyes were locked on the cut in the fabric that we stepped out of. Either she was terrible at undercover or she was very confident in her abilities. I didn’t want to find out which it was while we were anywhere near Billie’s tent. I had no idea how we would convince Willard to leave Georgia. I didn’t need this witch causing a scene that could convince Billie we weren’t worth their time. Ruby didn’t notice the Coven witch and started walking alongside me. Eli didn’t say anything but I knew he’d seen our stalker. His power was raising my hairs. I risked being shocked and put an arm around his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t going to attack her.
“Not here,” I said.
“You saw her too?” Eli asked.
“She’s been following us since we entered the market,” I said.
“I don’t recognize her, but that doesn’t mean she’s not one of Newton’s,” he said.
“She’s not here for you or Ruby,” I said. “I’ll take care of it.”
I needed to find out what she knew. If she’d made the connection between me and Ice I needed to find some way to warn him. Unless she was following me under his orders. I didn’t want to believe that but I had to keep the possibility in mind. He’d already had two chances to make a move to bring me into the Coven. It would have made more sense for him to bring me in with Storm Ryder. It wouldn’t make sense to make two separate trips. I wished so badly that I could logic my way through my doubts. I could still conjure the look on his face when I killed Vincent so easily. I pushed the thought out of my mind. I didn’t need to implicate him in this witch’s action until I got some more information.
We exited the market and stepped into a different part of the park. Honestly, I didn’t even know if we were still in Chastain Park. I didn’t know the area well enough to say where the market deposited us. We kept walking. After a minute of walking, I spotted a sign confirming that we hadn’t left Chastain Park.
“So what now?” Ruby asked. “Should we go back to Willard? What are we even going to offer him to get him to leave his home?”
“Can you get us back to the hotel?” I asked.
“Of course.”
By the time we reached the park exit, there was a car waiting to pick us up. We piled into the back seat and the driver pulled into traffic. The curly-haired brunette hailed a taxi and they followed us all the way back to the hotel. We thanked our driver and got out of the car. The cab was pulling up just a few short seconds after our driver pulled away. I parked us in a set of chairs in the lobby and waited to see what she would do next. I knew she wouldn’t attack me in front of all these people. It was too high a risk that a mundane civilian could get hurt. But just because she couldn’t attack me didn’t mean she couldn’t confront me. I watched as she walked into the lobby and searched for us. It took her a little over a minute. Considering the larger-than-life cosplayers that wasn’t too bad. She didn’t seem to know what to do now that we were right in front of her.
“She’s not great at keeping things subtle,” Eli said.
“Who?” Ruby asked.
“The witch that followed us home,” he answered.
“Another one after me?” she asked.
“E said no,” he answered.
“She’s with the Coven,” I said.
“That’s not good,” she said.
“No, it’s not. I need information though.” I pushed my power out until I could pull our follower down into her own shadow. One of the conventioneers saw it and started clapping. I shadow-stepped the three of us up to our room.
