We'd had time for a leisurely shower before Evan woke up, which Ben assured me was not normal, and I shouldn't count on it. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with Kit, Asher, Jesse and Aspen, the afternoon passing by easily, though I couldn't shake the low-grade anticipation of my father bursting in and ruining the mood.

Thankfully, Dad seemed content to stay over at the double-wide. I wondered if Asher had put in him my room, but until I had to go grab some clean clothes, I really didn't care. Hopefully they'd be leaving in the morning. That was optimistic of me. They had come for information about Gavin, and knowing my father, they wouldn't leave until they got something. I dreaded the thought of what would happen if Caspar wasn't able to make any progress with Gavin's photo.

Thankfully, my fears were dismissed when Caspar arrived, just as silently as always, just as we were finishing dinner.

"I have found the child," he said without preamble.

The room froze. Jesse stopped speaking mid-sentence, and my food fell off my fork into my lap as I turned to look at Caspar. We all erupted into questions at once, and Caspar's eyes began darting again, just like when my Dad and brother had jumped on him with too many questions earlier.

"Hold on," Asher said loudly. He didn't put any extra Alpha oomph behind his words this time. He trusted us to be responsive to the gentler command, and we were. "Where is he, Caspar?"

"He's... in a pocket."

I looked at Ben to check that he had heard what I had just heard. Yep. He looked just as confused as I was.

"A... pocket?"

"A pocket of time and space," Caspar clarified. "Like the artreans."

"So... what does that mean?" Ben asked. "Can we go there? Can the artreans go there?"

"We can go there." Caspar nodded slowly. "I could not find the pocket at first because I was seeking information along the paths of the future. The pockets are outside of time, so I cannot see into them, but I can speak to those who are there. I was able to speak to this Gavin, and he was able to tell me enough about his journey that I was able to extrapolate the entrance."

"Where?" I asked.

"Wamp's property, out in Smith County. He described it as it was before the fire. The portal is in an old, covered well, about fifty yards from the house."

"No wonder we didn't see it any of the times we were there," Asher said. "I never would have thought to look down the well."

Caspar shook his head. "Even if you had looked, if you weren't looking for the portal specifically, you wouldn't have seen it. The portals have protections. The creators couldn't just chance people wandering into them on accident."

"Who were the creators?" Jesse asked.

"I've never asked. The artreans might know. They were created a very long time ago, and there are thousands scattered all over the world."

"No matter," Asher said. "Unless these creators left us any nasty surprises we need to be worried about, our focus is on getting in, getting Wamp and the kids, and getting out."

"It will be a little more difficult than walking in, cornering Wamp and cuffing him," Caspar cautioned. "Gavin indicated that many of the children are now working with him willingly."

"How can they work with him willingly?" Ben asked. "He killed their families!"

"Gavin said that many of them seem to believe that Wamp saved them, that someone else attacked their families and he got them out just in time."

"That's... that's..." Ben sputtered.

I'm sure that Liam isn't one of them, I assured him, squeezing his hand.

"So not only will we be fighting Wamp, we may be fighting the children we are there to save, many of them with powers we don't understand."

There was silence as we let that sink in. 

"Caspar, we need as much information from Gavin as possible. How many children are there, what their powers are, and who will fight against us. We will not hurt the children." Asher's voice was steely, and we all nodded as he voiced our collective thought. "But we may have to incapacitate them."

Ben's hand trembled in mine. "I need to be there," he said, his voice shaking. "I need to see my baby as soon as possible."

Asher and I exchanged glances, but it was Jesse who was the voice of reason. "Ben, Liam isn't your only child. I don't mean that he is any lesser than your other children, but you aren't just endangering yourself if you go. And this isn't like setting the house on fire. We know Wamp will be there. We know he will fight back. The best thing you can do for the baby you carry, Evan, and Liam is to stay here."

Ben's head dropped, and I felt it as he accepted Jesse's rebuke. I breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to Asher. "If you get me that information, I can organize it so that we can reference it quickly." 

"Caspar?"

"I will work on it." The big man left the kitchen, and I heard the sound of a door open and close as he retreated into the quiet of Asher's office.

"I've let the others know what is going on," Asher said. "Simon is going to keep your family distracted, Kurt, but Dallas will be here in a few minutes. Ryan is on his way, but he'll be a while."

While we waited, we focused on getting the table cleared and the kids cleaned up. 

I'm going to get Evan a bath and into bed, and then I'll be back, Ben said. 

I grabbed his hand and kissed it. Do you need my help?

He patted my cheek. I've been doing this for a while, I'm good. But thank you.

Jesse followed soon after with Aspen, and Dallas arrived soon after.

Asher caught him up on the full details, but had to go through it all again when Ryan finally arrived.

"We should tell the artreans," Ryan said. "They may be able to help us figure out how we can protect ourselves from the kids' powers without hurting them."

I raised my eyebrows. "You seem quite a bit less skeptical about them than the last time I saw you."

"I still don't trust all this talk of Ancients, but we all saw that kid blast the hell out of you. I've practically lived in the artreans library this week, and if even a fraction of what I’ve read is true—and I was only able to access a small portion of their knowledge, then I would be very surprised if they didn't have something up their sleeves."

Caspar joined us again and handed Asher a note pad, filled with his scratchy writing. "Everything Gavin knows."

Asher flipped through a few pages and then handed the notepad to me. "See if you can get that in a more readable form."

Caspar's handwriting was atrocious. Only slightly better than a five-year-old's. But it would do. "Can I use your laptop?" 

"In the office."

As I left to get it, Asher asked Caspar, "What do you think about sharing this information with the artreans?"

There was a pot of coffee on the table by the time I got back. I'd printed out several sets of the information Caspar had gotten from Gavin. It wasn't much, descriptions of the house and the land where they were, as well as descriptions of the kids and their powers, but it would be beyond helpful in preparing for our attack. 

"What did you decide about the artreans?"

"We're waiting on them. They should be here any minute."

I tossed the papers on the table, each set stapled together. "I'm going to go check on things upstairs. Be back in a bit."

I had been able to feel Ben's distress growing while I had been working on the notes. I had expected him to come downstairs after putting Evan to bed, but something had derailed him. I needed to plan with the pack, but I also needed to know he was well. He had been so attentive after my father left, soothing my ruffled edges. I hoped I could do the same for him.