Unless they want leverage to bargain for their freedom… The thought came out of nowhere. I guessed I hadn’t buried my doubts deep enough. Everyone seemed to think they were responsible, and the timing was pretty suspicious... What if… dammit, no! No what-ifs! I had to keep these doubts at bay. Didn’t I?
Nathan tapped the stack of books. “That’s precisely what I intend to find out, if only to take them off the list of potential culprits. You have to understand, pixies haven’t been seen for hundreds of years, and we don’t know why they stopped being Purged.” He took off his glasses to wipe them clean. A nervous tic, I’d noticed.
Or maybe a thoughtful one.
“Sometimes—and this is only a theory of mine—Chaos appears to remove certain beasts from the Purging roster, if you will, because they’re considered very dangerous. In the old days, magicals would even pray to Chaos to eradicate certain Purge beasts due to crop failures, attacks, deaths in the family, that sort of thing.”
I nodded, partially understanding. “So, you’re saying we don’t know enough about their behavior or their past rap sheets to exonerate them?”
“Yes, exactly.” A curious smile appeared on his lips. Like I’d impressed him. “I haven’t found much in the lore to suggest they’re particularly dangerous, but I need to do more intensive research before I can say that with certainty. I’ve already requested access to old archives from the Cornish coven, which might help us understand why they went extinct. Until now, I mean.”
His broken bracelet fell to the floor. I automatically picked it back up and handed it to him. “You don’t waste time, do you?”
“With a girl missing, we can’t hesitate.” He took the bracelet from me. Our fingertips brushed, and he looked like he’d been jolted with 1000 volts. Fumbling, he tried to tie the bracelet back on. I thought about helping him, but he’d only have wigged out again. Poor guy had clearly spent so much time with his books that he’d forgotten what human contact felt like. And, dammit, it was kind of endearing. But he’d caught me at a sensitive moment. My friend’s fate hung in the balance. Of course, I was going to be affected by his kindness.
I turned to the office door, mostly because I wanted Persie to come striding out, everything a-okay. But partially so Nathan wouldn’t feel self-conscious about botching his bracelet repair.
“What’s the bracelet for? Hippie mumbo-jumbo?” He didn’t strike me as the holistic sort, but if I asked too nicely, he’d have been on his guard.
He braced one of the leather ends against his chest, threading the other end through the loop. “I’ve had it forever. Someone… uh… sent it to me in the mail for my sixteenth birthday, and I’ve worn it ever since. I realize it may look like this is the first time I’ve fixed it, but it’s not.”
“I bet you had a puka necklace too, huh?” I gave him an olive-branch smile.
He chuckled. “Only until an ex-girlfriend told me it looked ridiculous.”
A flicker of irrational jealousy reared its head. “Would you just let me tie it for you? It’s killing me, watching you fumble with it.”
“Oh… uh… that would be very kind,” he said tentatively.
Eager to pivot away from the subject of his ex-girlfriend, I leaned forward and grasped the two ends. He smelled really good. Expensive cologne, masculine and clean. “What’s going to happen to her?” I needed someone to lie to me and tell me it would be fine.
“Persie?”
I rolled my eyes. “Who else? The Queen of Babylon?”
“Ah… yes, sorry.” He adjusted his jacket. No tweed today. Instead, he wore an academic corduroy number over a white polo shirt. Why did he like that look so much? Judging by the anecdote about the puka necklace, his fashion sense must always have been a bit… quirky. “Honestly, I think her ability is too unique and rare for her to be dismissed.”
I squinted at him and released his now-tied bracelet. “You have ‘but’ face.”
“Pardon?” He frantically wiped his face with the sleeve of his jacket. I would’ve laughed if things hadn’t felt so serious.
“I mean, you look like you’re about to say ‘but.’ Ergo, ‘but’ face.”
He lowered his arm and turned beet-red. “Oh… very good. Very funny. Perhaps you’re right about me checking out that book on humor. You say everything so deadpan. You could tell me there was a nine-foot flamingo behind me, and I’d believe you.” He chuckled, embarrassed. “As for my ‘but’ face… We can’t deny the dangers of her ability, much as I’d like to. Personally, I think it’s astonishing. However, if, one day, her Purge ends up killing someone, or if the pixies did abduct a student, then there may be only one option for her.”
Don’t you dare say it. My heels started clicking again.
“She may have to be locked away,” he said.
“What, like Echidna?” My anger peaked again. “Persie’s not a monster, Nathan. She’s not the same. And you can’t just chuck someone in a box because their ability goes haywire. Anyone with magic is capable of messing up. I could, I don’t know, freeze someone for a minute too long and accidentally kill them. Would I deserve to be put in a box?”
Nathan’s eyebrows knitted together. “That’s apples and oranges, Genie. But, yes, you would be culpable if you did something like that, though the accident part would be taken into account. Avarice and Purgatory don’t fill up for no reason.”
I shuddered at those names. The magical prisons—one for little crimes, one for the nastiest. Persie had freaked out over the
