“I’m sorry, but I promise it won’t be for long,” I whispered to the inmates. “I just need to figure out what to do with you. We might have to hide you in an orb for a bit, but only until we can come up with something better. Okay?”
The pixies didn’t reply. After all, the box had turned them back into black mist. But I was definitely going to chalk this up as a victory. I’d gotten ahead of the hunters and caught five pixies of my own accord—six, if you counted my first. It comforted me to think I might be able to save some of my creations. I didn’t know how, just yet, but I’d find a way. But, first, I had to get them to a safe place so I could ask them what they knew about Xanthippe and Randolph. I hoped they’d tell me in exchange for their freedom.
Feeling on top of the world, I slipped the box into the front pocket of my bag and took off down the hall. I hadn’t gone more than a few yards when my bubble of elation was popped by a hunter-shaped needle. A trio of them, not far ahead. I froze, they froze. The only way out was up the stairwell they were blocking. I could lock myself in the refuse room, but they’d either batter it down or wait until I came out.
“What are you doing down here?” barked a tall guy in the customary black suit. “No one is allowed to be out without permission.”
I gulped. “I just wanted to drop off some cardboard boxes.”
“Nice try.” A glowering woman with white-blonde hair folded her arms across her chest. “Why don’t you tell us what’s in the bag?”
“It’s nothing,” I replied, a beat too fast. “Books and stuff.”
Their third colleague—a huge woman, built like a bull—stepped forward. “Hand over the bag. If it’s nothing, we’ll find nothing.”
My legs urged me to run. Perhaps I’d find another stairwell at the opposite end of the hallway. Before I could move a muscle, the guy called out, “And don’t even think about scampering off. Only the guilty run.”
I’m guilty in your eyes. For the first time ever, I wished a Purge would pour out of my mouth then and there—a big one. Something that would keep them occupied while I made a hasty exit. But I had no sweats, no nausea, no nothing.
“I’m not guilty, but I don’t see why I should give you my personal things.” I swallowed the tremble in my voice.
“Because we asked,” the bull-woman grumbled, striding toward me. As hunters went, these ones were really freaking threatening. Her colleagues followed her, and they were on me before I could even contemplate hurtling through the refuse-room door.
The smaller woman yanked the bag off my shoulders while the bull-woman wrenched my arms behind my back. Pain splintered through my bones, my face contorting. I wondered if Victoria was okay with this sort of violence. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Though that wouldn’t have helped me much. In two seconds, they’d see all the evidence they wanted.
“Are these… puzzle boxes?” The guy plucked out the one with the pixies inside. “How come it’s glowing? Did you catch something?”
The other woman sifted through my bag. “She’s got three of them, Gerry. And two Mason jars.”
“Dearie me, looks like you weren’t just getting rid of cardboard boxes.” The man glared at me. “And you’re not authorized to use this stuff. Did you steal it?”
I said nothing, not wanting to implicate Naomi.
He surveyed me for a moment, then said, “You look like a troublemaker.”
The platinum-blonde whispered in his ear. “That’s Persie Merlin-Crowley.”
“Is that so?” The guy’s expression changed in a split second. “You’re the one who caused all this in the first place, aren’t you? From what I hear, you might just be the mastermind, making these things do your bidding.” He smirked at his colleagues. “Apparently, some student saw her chatting to a pixie. Stinks of deceit to me.”
“What?! Who said that? That isn’t true! I was just trying to help!” I gasped. “I wanted to clear up my mess, I’m not masterminding anything.”
He sneered. “Or you wanted to save your little aberrations, so they can keep doing your dirty work.” He glanced at the box, seeing something in the faintly glowing lights that Naomi clearly hadn’t taught us about yet. “Being able to control them would certainly explain how a beginner like you managed to catch five of these.”
“They’re not aberrations!” I blurted out, instantly regretting it. Evidently, the glow from the box told him how many monsters were inside.
“Aww, how cute.” The man laughed coldly.
Flustered, I tried to form the right words. “And I’m not making them do anything. I don’t control them, which should be freaking obvious since they’re evading me as much as they’re evading you! I used knowledge to catch these, not some ability. Oh, and for the last freaking time, they’re not responsible for the disappearances!”
I’d say it until I was blue in the face, or someone listened—whichever came first. And this group definitely wasn’t listening.
“Agnes, get her in Cuffs,” the blonde instructed. “We’re taking you back to your room, and we’re going to make sure you stay there this time, until Victoria decides what to do with you.”
Panic fluttered in my chest as cold metal closed around my wrists. A weird prickly sensation followed, like static electricity—not painful or sapping, just odd, similar to the way it felt when I got too close to Genie in full Verso mode. Magic of some kind, though I could only feel the slightest hint of it. I guessed these weren’t ordinary Cuffs, though slapping a pair of Atomic Cuffs on me seemed like overkill. I wondered if Atomic Cuffs would be able to stop a Purge, if I could make one come? Having felt the force of my
