The Divine Twelve (Urban-Fantasy)

Chapter eighteen: Oh Psyche...

Penelope unscrewed a bottle of water, slamming shut the fridge as she drank. She walked over to Lennox, leaning her arm on his shoulder as they spoke with Laura and John.

"So the wolves are getting sick and they don't know what's going on?" Laura reiterated.

"Yeah." Lennox nodded. "What's even weirder is that it doesn't seem contagious to regular people. All the non-wolves in the community are fine." He added, scratching the back of his neck.

"What I found weird was that they refused Sahir's help," John muttered. Penelope nodded, a frown stretched across her face.

"Well not all of them, we only spoke to one person about it." Lennox leaned forward.

"Speaking of Sahir, where is he?" Una'Myus cut in, rummaging through the fridge.

"You won't find him in there." Laura watched her.

"He's with Liam." Kori tapped on the table. "Said they were going to unlink the doll from him."

"He better be careful." Penelope pressed her mouth into a thin line. "One wrong move and he can be hurt."

"I'm sure he's aware of that," Lennox squeezed her hand, "Have some faith in him."

"I do, I'm just worried." She shook her head.

"He's not always going to be a baby." Kori looked at her. "You'll have to let him go eventually."

"But he'll always be my little brother." Penelope reminded her. Kori rolled her eyes.

The front door opened and everyone turned their attention to JJ as he stood at the entrance, dressed in all black.

"Where are you going?" Una'Myus spoke up first.

"To the mall," JJ said flatly.

"Shouldn't you be here to know what's going on?" John asked.

"Why? So you guys can tell me to sit on the sidelines because I'm too 'young?'" JJ said, making air quotes with his fingers. "I'll sit through it when I'm actually needed."

"John Ju-" John began as JJ slammed the door.

"He's got a point," Penelope muttered.

"Be more useful than you," Kori added. Penelope shot her a glare, rolling her eyes as she turned away.

"He's just a child." John slammed a hand down.

"So is Gemini, and Kori, and Sahir." Lennox nodded, "But I guess that rule only stands for your kid."

"Let's not talk about this right now." Laura tried to change the subject. "Speaking of Gemini, how's it going with the case?"

"That serial thief?" Una'myus gave a strained smile. "She's a fucking pest."

"We thought we might have had a plan to catch her," Penelope frowned at Una'Myus, "but..." She trailed off.

"But?" John asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She's been in and out of the stores faster than we could catch her these past few days." Una'Myus cracked her knuckles, "We've staked out, gone undercover, and even set up raids on suspected areas."

"We've managed to pinpoint where she was going to hit next." Penelope rubbed her nose, "But all we got were massive migraines and unable to remember everything."

"Somehow I even managed to cuff Nel and toss her in the car before I even realized what happened." Una'Myus chuckled. Penelope shook her head again, exhaling loudly.