Paxton let them go, and Libby wiped off her face. “The Seven broke laws of nature or something like that. They’re super bad and the Realm and demon nations have aligned with them, I guess, and the shifters want out. My dad said something bad is going to happen because of the Seven. Do you know anything about them?”

Hope shook her head. “What do the shifters know about them?”

“Not as much as they want to,” Libby said.

Hope blew out air, her stomach hurting really bad. Her uncles were part of the Seven. A lot of people were, and she was the Lock and now she couldn’t tell Libby. Well, it wouldn’t be fair to tell Libby. She wouldn’t want to keep that kind of secret from her parents. “I don’t think the Seven are bad. What I know of them, anyway,” she whispered.

Libby looked up. “Can you tell me anything else about them?”

“No,” Hope said, biting her lip.

Paxton’s gaze narrowed, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he patted Libby on the shoulder. “Promise we’ll still talk every day. Do you think we can FaceTime still?”

Hope nodded, feeling lost. “Your parents will still let you be friends with us, right?”

Libby shrugged. “I don’t know what they’ll say, but the three of us are friends no matter what.” She grabbed them both for another hug. “Right?”

“Right.” Hope wiped her face off.

Paxton’s eyes swam, but he didn’t let any tears fall. He held them back, and his nose turned red. “I wish you didn’t have to go, Libs.”

Libby sniffed again. “Don’t forget the business we’re gonna start. Then we’ll all be together again. When we’re eighteen.”

“The ice cream store,” Paxton said.

“No, the movie theater,” Hope said, trying to sound happy and not like her heart was breaking.

Libby smiled. “No. The three spies, remember? We’re gonna be spies.” She wiped her nose. “Except now we might have to spy against each other.”

“No,” Pax said, putting an arm around each of them. “Never against each other. Not us.”

“Okay.” Libby hugged him again and then hugged Hope. “I have to go. I’ll call when I get to Montana.” She ran out of the room, still crying.

Hope ground a palm into her eye. “I can’t believe this.” The Seven weren’t bad, or Garrett and Logan wouldn’t be part of them. “What are we gonna do?” They had to figure out a way to get the shifter nations to change their minds. They were a part of the Realm.

Pax shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe if we kicked the Seven out, then we could all align again.”