Glastonbury's Shadow by Michael Todd & Michael Anderle

Author:Michael Todd & Michael Anderle
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2024-12-09T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The following morning in Rome, Ben crossed the hotel restaurant. A glass display case contained all sorts of yummy-looking Italian breakfast foods, including crusty baked bread, pastries glistening with preserves, and fresh yogurt. He smiled at the employee behind the counter.

The friendly breakfast attendant gestured to the buffet. “Buongiorno, signore!” He rattled off a question that seemed to be about the food.

Ben did his best to answer, but his Italian was pitiful. He gestured to the fruit salad and hoped pointing along with the choppy, mispronounced words would do the trick.

He was glad when the worker handed him a bowl brimming with melon, sliced pear, and berries. After stopping by the coffee station at the end of the buffet line, he scanned the room.

It was already mid-morning, and hotel guests crowded the little restaurant. Golden sunlight filtered through the lace curtains in the windows. The scent of pastries and coffee hung in the air. The guests spoke in many different languages, and the sound of their conversations mixed with acoustic guitar from the speakers.

Ben spotted Thomas at a table near the back of the room. Thomas had already grabbed a pastry. He sat with his back to the wall.

“You got the good seat.” Ben settled in and unfolded a cloth napkin over his lap.

“Better keep an eye out.” Thomas looked past Ben into the crowd. “The Ascendants can be tough to spot, but at least those rogue witches stand out with their funky hair and colorful coats.”

“The ones we met last night did, anyway.” Ben wished he’d grabbed photos of the rogue witches with his cell phone. He’d been a little too busy running for his life, though. “We don’t know if they always dress like that. They could show up undercover. Trying to blend in.”

“Good point.” Thomas surveyed the room again. “At least this room is well-lit. Those catacombs sure were dark.”

Ben recalled what he could of the hotel’s layout from the fire escape diagram he’d studied earlier. He verified the schematics by glancing around the crowded restaurant. “Two entry points to this room, plus the windows.”

“I wouldn’t put it past an Ascendant operative or rogue witch to break through the glass.”

“What do you think of the guy on my six?” Ben had spotted the man when he first entered the room. He was in his sixties and wore an expensive-looking suit that made Ben a little suspicious. The high-ranking Ascendants had money to burn and dressed to show off their wealth.

He’d noticed the same trend with some of the lower-ranking occultists he’d met. Hell, even the recruits sometimes dressed to impress. His walk down Memory Lane set him even more on edge.

Thomas’ gaze flicked toward the man. “I can’t read auras like Val, but my gut tells me he’s a regular dude here on a business trip.”

Ben’s tense shoulders relaxed a little. “Good. He was nice to one of the servers, so he’s not as entitled as most of the higher-up Ascendants we’ve met.”

“Plus, he hasn’t tried to kill us.

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