I nodded eagerly. “That’s what I’m trying to say. Talk to my mom at the SDC about this. You might find out you’re investigating the same thing, and a problem shared is a problem halved, right?”
Victoria physically sat back, as though she couldn’t even be near the idea. “This is an internal matter, Persie. Liaising with outside territories is out of the question, but we will conduct interviews with those who were close to Xanthippe within the Institute. That said, until we are able to exclude the pixies as suspects, they will be considered an immediate threat and hunted accordingly.”
“What?! No! Sure, capture them, but don’t kill them!” I blurted out, my protective instinct flaring. The same one I’d felt when I’d held the she-pixie in my hands and knew I could’ve crushed her or spared her.
Victoria mustered a bemused snort. “I didn’t say I’d have them killed, Persie. That’s not what hunting is about. You know that.” Her eyes narrowed slightly, as though she was wary of my impulsive outburst. Nathan sympathized with the monsters, in his own way, but I wondered if anyone had outright suggested an alternative to catching and trapping them. Maybe there wasn’t one.
“Sorry…” I forced a smile. “It’s been a long day. My head’s not on straight.”
She visibly relaxed. “They’ll be captured in the usual fashion and sent to the Bestiary, though I don’t imagine they’ll be much use to the Bestiary’s energy supplies.” Her fingertips toyed with a small, silver clover on her lapel, with the tiniest emerald in the center. “Although we’ll have to keep some specimens for training and research purposes, given their… recent resurgence into the world.”
Specimens? The word riled me up, and I struggled to conceal my distaste. They weren’t lab rats. They had thoughts and personalities, and sass by the bucketload. I didn’t like the idea of them being prodded and poked by the Institute’s researchers. I knew that not all of them would be like Nathan.
“How many pixies are we dealing with? An estimate will suffice,” Victoria said.
I tried to picture the mayhem in my bedroom, my mouth moving in a silent tally. “Um… a couple dozen, I think.”
Truthfully, I had no clue—except that there were definitely more than two dozen. By giving her a loose number, I’d leave some wiggle room to find some on my own and find out if they knew anything about Xanthippe’s disappearance. Getting them to trust me enough to tell me, however, would be the tricky part, and time was of the essence. Everyone knew that the first 72 hours in a missing persons case were the most crucial.
“That shouldn’t be too challenging.” Victoria seemed pleased. If I’d said there were a thousand, even as a joke, I wondered if her calm façade would’ve cracked at all. What did it take to rattle the fabled Ms. Jules? I wasn’t sure, but I liked that she seemed completely fearless. It made the rest of us feel more at ease.
Once I’ve caught some… then what? If I put them in a Repository orb, I’d hate myself for it. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the she-pixie and her abject misery. Perhaps if I talked to Nathan about options, I might be able to come up with a better solution for the pixies. I could hide them somewhere safe, or set them free elsewhere, far from the Institute. Anyway, I’d have to cross that bridge when I came to it. What mattered now was capturing as many pixies as possible before the hunters got to them. Some would end up in boxes, but not all, and that was the most I could ask for at the moment.
“That’ll be all, Persie.” Victoria stood and nodded to the door.
My heart swelled. “Does that mean I’m not expelled?”
“Why would I expel you?” Her expression softened a touch. “You showed perseverance and fortitude by trying to remedy the situation yourself. You were honest when it mattered. You sought help when it mattered. The Institute is here to teach you control, not to punish your mistakes. Do I wish you’d come to me sooner? Yes. That is why I gave you a direct line to my phone, and an emergency beeper. Do I understand why you didn’t? Also, yes. Though I believe you when you say you made the decision to come clean with me, even though the pixies were discovered prior to that. That shows an understanding of your limitations. So, no, you’re not expelled, though you will leave the pixie capture to the experts now.”
“Thank you, Ms. Jules.” I scraped back the chair and hurried away before she could change her mind. Plus, I didn’t want my face to give me away.
I had no intention of leaving it to the experts. Not entirely, at least. If I could use the pixies to find Xanthippe and exonerate them in the same breath, then I would. That way, everyone here would understand that it wasn’t always the monster’s fault. I had nothing but respect for Victoria, but her “they’re fuel and nothing more” attitude left a bitter taste in my mouth.
If it’s not the pixies, then who is responsible? That was a perplexing thought for another day. And not one I could consider just yet, not with the pixies at the top of the culprit list.
Thirteen
Persie
I walked out to find Genie waiting, midway through a tense conversation with Nathan. He shot up like I’d caught him doing something wrong. Genie jumped up with him
