Breathe Under Water - Shadows of the Night 1

Chapter 34

Hi!

Thanks for the amazing feedback on the last chapter! I tried to write and edit this one as fast as possible :D  Anna and a certain someone will meet again... As always thanks for reading! Let me know what you like and what you don't like, vote and comment!

Lara

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Chapter 34

I would have to do a lot of explaining – to at least a dozen coworkers, who clearly were not pleased with me. I had gotten on their nerves before, but it seemed like I officially was the bogeyman of the department now.

Maybe that's because you raced through the library and the corridors. How many did you barge into, again?

Somehow I managed to convince the guards at the mirror device to let me up just like that. The fact that I had to promise Travis to go on a date with him was trivial at the moment.

Apparently there was yet another hurdle to tackle. Brown's secretary stepped between the door to his office and me when I was about to enter, doomed to be the next person I'd annoy the crap out of.

"Haven't we done that one already?" I muttered, unnerved. "Listen, I'd like to argue with you why, why not, why the world isn't a flat disk, but I simply don't have the time. This is really important. I have to see him. Now. So please go in and tell him that Anna Johnson is here and needs to talk to him."

His lips thinned and for a moment I was convinced he was going to call the security and 'have me removed' from the headquarters. I don't know what he saw in my face, but he turned around and vanished into the office wordlessly. After about half a minute he came back and motioned me to go in.

"Thanks," I said, walking in determinedly.

Gustav Brown, head of New York's Circle headquarters, was sitting in his familiar position in the huge office chair, his hands folded in front of him. To me it looked like he was in a pensive mood. Then again, it wasn't the first time I found him like this. It was as if he was frozen in this position each time I set my foot into the office.

He motioned me to sit. "What happened to your face?"

Unintentionally my hand went up to my cheek. Though the swelling had gone back, it was still not back to normal. Great.

"Oh, that? Souvenir from the fight with Michael. One tough rogue witch, I tell you," I said nonchalantly.

"So, what is so urgent, Anna?" The tone of his voice was business-like and not perfectly polite, as if he was oblivious to my discomfort.

"Actually this is about the Inri Brotherhood. I think I found something that-"

"Didn't I tell you to stay out of this?" Brown frowned. If he was angry with me, he was good at hiding it. Nothing new.

I sighed. "Look, Brown, I'm sorry. It's just that I-"

He held up a hand. "We'll have a talk about this later, Anna. Now tell me what made you come here. What's so important that you have to discuss it with me in person?"

I related to him what I found out about the connection between Medici and Boldini, leaving out where I got the information from. I couldn't fink on Marcus now, could I? Hacking into the Circle's own databank wouldn't sit well with Brown.

"The ravens in the woods were staring at me, Brown. Back then I just thought something about them was off, but now I'm sure that they were controlled by someone. I don't think that the rogues had help from a witch of the earth line, which leaves us with only one explanation: Raphael the Raven. What if he's the one currently leading the movement in America? I mean, his uncle was the head of the movement in Italy for, I don't know, a decade? And since Raphael is a rogue witch – and this new form of the movement is one of this sort – it sounds reasonable to me. This can't be a coincidence."