A Grave Problem

29. Plans

"So, I've been reading up on banshees, and it looks like we're going to need some gold." Carmine said.

She and Mia had gone over to Anna's apartment so the three of them could discuss their plan. Mia was glad that for once that Luke hadn't been invited. Anna thought he should be able to come since he was helping them, but Carmine had actually been the one to stop it.

"If we're going to discuss our plans in any detail, there's a good chance that something'll come up that we wouldn't want Luke to hear – either about why Summer's blackmailing us, or about vampires running faster or being stronger, or whatever." she'd pointed out. Fortunately, that was all it had taken to convince Anna that this particular meeting should be more private; they would tell Luke the plan after they'd come up with it.

"Why do we need gold?" Mia asked.

"There's not a lot of things out there that have any effect on banshees." Carmine told them. "I've been reading for weeks, and the only thing I've found is that they're scared of gold. It's the only thing that even looks like it has a chance of working."

"But why are they afraid of gold?" Mia asked, skeptical.

"I don't know why. I just know that they are. You know how silver is supposed to have magic properties against werewolves? It looks like gold has some against banshees."

Mia tried to stifle a sudden nervous giggle. Surely Carmine didn't suspect anything, did she? Mia looked as casually at Carmine as she could, but couldn't find any hint of suspicion on her face. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

"I wonder what's so special about gold." Anna said, half to herself. Carmine shrugged; she didn't need an explanation for why something would work. Mia was just glad for the change in topic.

"Where are we going to get that much gold?" Mia asked. She figured they'd probably need piles of the stuff if it was going to do any good. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in her head.

"We'll get Summer to help us." she said. It should have been the most obvious thing in the world.

"But why would they give us anything?" Carmine asked. Now it was her turn to be skeptical.

"Because they've done nothing this whole time except tell us what to do. But this is their problem, not ours. So if they want us to solve their problem for them, they're going to have to help out."

Anna looked at Mia for a minute before her eyes got a kind of faraway look.

"I'm not sure she's going to help us. She's always seemed like the kind of person who thinks people shouldn't rely on others."

"Well, if they won't help us at all, I'm not sure I can help them." Mia said.

She was starting to get really tired of having to do all the work for someone who wasn't even nice to her. She looked from Anna to Carmine. Out of the corner of her eye, Mia saw that Anna was starting to look uncomfortable, but Mia didn't back down. She looked at Carmine, hoping she could convince her.

"Unless the whole fae community here is made up of no one but Summer, Heather, and that girl they'd brought to the park, they have to have more people than us. And that means they have more help. So if they can't even pull their own community together to help save themselves, I don't see how we're going to be able to help." Mia told her.

"I do see your point." Carmine said slowly. "But what if Summer tells the other fae that we're the ones responsible for the whole thing?"

"But we're not." Mia said.

"I know that. But how many of them do you think know it? And if it comes down to them believing us or believing Summer – who they've probably known since she was born – who do you think they're going to believe?"