Archaic by Regan Ure Page A

and a woman. They smiled at me, and I felt a little less nervous. Jared introduced them. The man who had light-brown hair with hazel eyes was Felicity's dad, Nathaniel. He was a little taller than Jared, but he had a similar build. The woman who had fiery red hair that fell in curls framing her face was Danny's mom, Sarah. Her pale-aqua eyes looked friendly.
    Tyler and Danny stood behind them. They were watching me carefully.
    Next to the two-seater sofas were two single chairs. Catherine occupied one and another woman occupied the other. The other woman had medium-length dark-brown hair that framed her oval-shaped face, and her brown eyes were hard. Jared introduced her as Tyler and Neve's mom, Jennifer. She was the only adult who didn't smile at me. Another Felicity.
    Once the introductions were done, Jared pulled a chair from the adjoining room and motioned for me to sit down. He stood beside me.
    "Why is she here?" Felicity asked angrily from where she sat glaring at me. It was nothing new. I probably wouldn't know how to handle her if she actually smiled at me or attempted to be friendly.
    Jared cocked his head in her direction, fixing his hard eyes on her and calmly explained, "She knows about us now, so we need to keep an eye on her, at least until the Hue leave."
    "We don't know that the Hue even know about her," Danny argued.
    "I'm not taking that chance," Jared said as he swung his gaze to Danny.
    "She's not our responsibility," a non-smiling Jennifer stated. I wondered if it was a good sign that she wasn't glaring at me anymore, at least.
    Jared had been casually standing beside me, but at that comment stepped in front of me slightly as he straightened, looking more foreboding than before.
    "She's my responsibility," he told her fiercely, his voice commanding and intimidating. He flashed them a look that dared them to question him again.
    That shut Jennifer right up and she clamped her mouth shut. Catherine tried to hide a smile. I'd been sitting quietly, watching the whole thing play out. For some reason, which made no logical sense, Jared seemed to be in charge. Surely one of the elder Archaics should be in charge. I was used to the fact that in the human world it worked that way, but for some reason it didn't seem to work like that in theirs.
    "Have we managed to track the Hue?" Nathaniel questioned, changing the subject.
    "No, we lost them a couple of days ago," Danny informed him, not looking happy about the situation.
    "Then how do we know they're still here?" Jennifer asked.
    "Because if they'd left they wouldn't have needed to cover up their tracks," Jared said confidently. "They're trying to hide their movements."
    "So what's the plan?" It was the soft voice that belonged to Sarah that asked the question.
    "Tyler and Danny will continue to try and track them, at least until we're able to pinpoint them. Until then, everyone needs to be careful. No one goes anywhere alone." Everyone nodded in agreement. They'd clearly done this before.
    One by one they started to rise and began to leave. The meeting was over. I made a move to get up and leave with them, but Jared put his hand on my shoulder.
    "Stay," he instructed.
    I watched the rest of them walk past me and out of the door. Neve was the only one who attempted to smile at me as she left, while the rest of them ignored me completely. Jared followed Danny and Tyler into the hallway. I twisted my hands.
    "Don't be nervous."
    I glanced up and realized I wasn't alone. Catherine had moved closer--she was sitting on the two-seater couch that Felicity and Neve had just vacated. I gave her a nervous smile.
    "Jared will be back in a few minutes. He's probably giving Danny and Tyler some last-minute instructions. Would you like something to drink?"
    "No, thank you," I replied politely, shaking my head.
    The more time I spent with his mom the more relaxed I became. I actually really liked her. She was warm and motherly, and reminded me of my mom.
    "How much has Jared