Just then, Charlotte appeared in the doorway, her face twisted with anger and her eyes red with tears. “I’d say it’s pretty suspicious that we’ve just found these things loose in the Institute less than a week after Persie Merlin-Crowley’s arrival.” She glared at me, saying what everyone else was already thinking. “Isn’t that what you do, Persie? Purge monsters?”
Sitting beneath the fierce heat of so many eyes, I had no answer to give that they would accept. Everyone knew what I could do. It wasn’t a secret, though I wished it could’ve been. Genie squeezed my hand tighter to let me know she was there. But I doubted she, or anyone else, could get me out of this scrape. I’d made the pixies, and a girl had gone missing. Deep in my heart, I felt certain that the two couldn’t possibly be related, but there was no way anyone else would believe it.
“Persie. Come to my office.” Victoria’s voice cut through my pounding heart. “Immediately.”
With those words, she all but painted “guilty” on my forehead.
Eleven
Genie
Balls, balls, balls, and more balls! I perched on a bench outside Victoria’s office, clicking my heels like I wanted a one-way ticket back to Kansas. The head huntswoman had tried to get me to stay behind. Yeah, as if that was going to happen. Who knew what was going down in the dragon’s den right now? Where Persie went, I went. Hell, I probably wouldn’t be in this Institute if she wasn’t here. My best pal would know I was nearby, and I hoped that would give her some comfort.
There’s no shouting. Should there be shouting? Is this a good sign? Chaos, the looks our classmates had given Persie when she’d followed Victoria out. They might as well have been ringing bells and shouting, “Dead woman walking!” They didn’t have a friggin’ clue. Sure, they’d put two and two together with the pixies and Persie. But who the heck looked at a six-inch fairy and went, “Oh, yeah, you know what, they definitely did it.” Did those idiots think the pixies were like ants, lugging around 5000 times their own bodyweight?
Fate works in mysterious ways though, eh? Xanthippe had gotten some serious just desserts. Not that I thought she should have been abducted or anything. But after the mud she’d slung at me last night, it was hard not to feel a teensy-weensy bit like she’d deserved it. Did that make me a terrible person? Probably. Which was why I’d decided to help find her, if I could.
My heels stopped clicking as a figure skidded around the corner. Carrying a pile of books so high they covered his face, he nearly tripped and dumped the whole library into my lap. He froze, the tower wobbling, and leaned this way and that, balancing his books like an expert accountant. I could’ve sworn I’d seen the same move in some grainy old movie that Finch insisted on showing us. Slapstick gold.
“Were you born with two left feet or something?” I teased.
Nathan peered around the side of the stack. “Oh, Genie. I… uh, didn’t see you there.”
“I doubt you can see anything but book spine.” I gave him a feeble smile. I didn’t feel much like grinning right now; not until I knew my pal wasn’t about to get booted out of the Institute.
“Has anyone ever told you, you’re very…” He trailed off, grabbing the top book as it tried to slide off.
“Charming? Debonair? Hilarious?” I offered.
He swayed over to the bench and struggled to sit. “No, abrupt.”
“I prefer mysterious, but I’m not going to put words in your mouth.” Feeling sorry for him, I reached for the stack and took half. “There, now you might be able to see where you’re going.”
“Why would I need to do that when I’m sitting down?” He frowned at me, apparently serious.
I set the tomes down beside me. “You might want to check out a book on humor and read the chapter labeled ‘sarcasm.’ It’ll change your life.”
He’d picked the wrong time if he wanted my sugar-and-rainbows side. After all, he’d shown the pixies off like a cheesy presenter on QVC. It sort of felt like he’d set Persie up for a fall. He knew the whole story. He must’ve known how it would look. So why hadn’t he done anything to avoid this? My friend was inside, getting a grilling. And he’d more or less put her there.
“Are you… annoyed with me?” He put down the rest of his stack. A pro in fidgeting.
I stared dead ahead. “Moi? Why would I be? It’s not like you got my best friend in a crap-ton of trouble or anything.”
“I… I didn’t!” he protested. He clasped his hands together as if he were about to pray. Well, I wasn’t a deity, and I wasn’t listening. “Have you heard anything? Is Persie okay?”
“What do you think?” I snapped back. “Of course not! You saw the way everyone stared at her, like she was some kind of messed-up science experiment. Plus, let’s not forget that I know what she told you. If she let you in on her Purge, then she trusted you. You broke that, and that means you and I have a major issue.”
I was scared for Persie, and it was at least partly this guy’s fault.
His face fell. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen. I tried to catch those pixies without anyone finding out, but… Victoria has
