The mute duo dragged me along the tile floor, passing the first few cells.
“This is bullshit!” I squirmed against their hold. “It’s tyranny! What kind of totalitarian secret police shit are you—”
“Tori?”
I jerked against the cuffs. In the cell ahead, a man in a gray prison jumpsuit stood at the bars, his copper hair rumpled and his jaw scruffed up by a short, unkempt beard.
My heart leaped. “Aaron!”
“Shut it!” one of my captors growled. He hauled me to the cell next to Aaron’s, yanked the barred door open, and tossed me inside. The lock clacked loudly, and by the time I whirled around, the two agents were speed-walking back up the corridor.
“Assholes!” I bellowed. “Cowards! Corrupt bootlickers!”
The security door slammed shut behind them. The bang echoed down the hall, then eerie silence fell.
“Tori, where’s Ezra?”
That voice belonged to Kai, and it came from my other side—one cell beyond mine.
I pressed my face to the bars. “He’s in the building, but they took him somewhere else.”
“What happened?” Aaron demanded.
“Everyone in here is dying to know,” Kai added. His tone was dry, but I recognized the warning he was giving me: be careful what I said.
His remark was answered by an amused snort.
“Go on, entertain us,” a man in another cell called, his voice hoarse like he hadn’t spoken in a while. “Shit all to do in here.”
“Yeah, go for it,” someone else added.
Uh. Okay. Deciding to ignore our audience, I lowered my voice. “We came with Darius. Me and Ezra, I mean. Because …” I paused, ensuring my voice would stay steady. “Because Ezra is not a demon mage. As you both know.”
Silence answered me. This wasn’t how I’d imagined telling them that Ezra and I had successfully completed the mission we’d all begun together. They’d lived for years with the knowledge that they couldn’t save him. They’d suffered and grieved, but against all odds, we’d reversed Ezra’s fate. I wanted to cry and laugh and maybe scream, all while hugging them both until my arms broke.
Instead, I couldn’t see them, let alone touch them, and they couldn’t respond without giving away that Ezra not being a demon mage was a recent development.
“Darius is appealing all the charges against us,” I continued, “and it was going okay, but then the captain, this Blythe person, said some other guy is in charge. Some ‘internal affairs’ guy?”
“Internal Affairs?” Aaron repeated, his voice thick with emotion he hadn’t quite controlled yet. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“He’s probably the same agent who wouldn’t release Makiko,” Kai revealed. He sounded even more businesslike than usual, which was how he coped with strong emotions. “Tori, are you okay?”
“Yeah … fine.”
“Good. What about—” He cut himself off. “Get some rest, okay? Darius knows what he’s doing.”
He wanted to know more, but with so many ears listening in, we couldn’t discuss anything.
I retreated from the bars and assessed my cell. A bunk bed was built against one wall, and there was a toilet in the corner with a tiny handwashing sink. That was it.
Gulping, I sat awkwardly on the lower bunk, my wrists handcuffed in front of me. I shivered, my limbs chilled. I wanted to see Aaron and Kai. I wanted to hug them. I wanted to go home with them and flop on their sofa, play a silly racing game, and drink beer until I passed out.
I wanted to know where Ezra was. What was happening to him. I wanted to drag him out of here and rush him straight home—or better yet, straight to Elisabetta. He’d had some healing, but he was nowhere near okay.
I wanted to hold him and kiss him and never let him go.
I just wanted this nightmare to be over, but I was locked in a cell, separated from everyone, and at the mercy of a man who wore the badge of a protector of justice but smiled like a tyrant.
After several hours of anxiety-filled boredom, an agent came through with dinner for the prisoners. I convinced him to unlock my cuffs, then shoveled down my meal, which resembled the cheapest microwave dinner I’d ever eaten, except worse. The mashed potatoes were made of blended cardboard and water. I was certain of it. Still, it was warm, and a semi-pleasant change from the granola bars and trail mix I’d been living off for the week prior.
Meal finished, I was again left with no distractions as another hour crawled past. Aaron and Kai weren’t talking, and as much as I craved to hear their voices, I didn’t start a conversation. Every word echoed in the concrete-and-tile corridor.
My thoughts returned to Ezra. What if Agent Söze had decided to ignore Darius’s demand that they test Ezra and proceeded to carry out the death sentence? Would they murder Ezra right here in the precinct?
Terror flared and I dug my fingers into my knees, trying to contain my emotions. He couldn’t die now, not when we’d finally, finally succeeded in saving him. Darius would protect him. I had to believe that.
With no better ideas on how to distract my brain, I started doing multiplication tables in my head. Yeah, I was that desperate.
I made it to sixteen times fourteen when the security door beeped and the handle clattered. Leaping off the bunk bed, I rushed to the bars, hoping to see Ezra, or even better, Darius coming to tell us everything was good now and we could leave.
Agent Söze walked into view, accompanied by two agent cronies. The Internal Affairs asshole held a clipboard, his lifeless stare sweeping across the cellblock.
“Aaron Sinclair, Kai Yamada, and Victoria Dawson,” he intoned without emotion. “I’m here to inform you of the additional charges against you. As per regulation, these have already been presented to your guild master. With whom shall I begin?”
He flipped a page up. “Aaron Sinclair. On top of harboring a demon mage, your new charges include performing magic in front of
