CHAPTER 27

**

"What did he say?"

That was the first thing the Coterie asked me when I had come back from the undercroft. They all stood in the living room, waiting for me to come through the basement door. And when I did, they bombarded me. However, they saw it on my face - they knew something was wrong.

"What happened?" Nene asked me, her voice graver than before. I didn't say anything. I didn't know exactly what to say, really. The words they wanted to hear did not exist; they would never hear them.

I sat down on the couch. None of them sat with me, except for Aza, who walked over to the plush seats and sat down right next to me.

"Nothing," I finally said. Silence prevailed. The