by Jessica Gunn
Far from me and the team. Her team.
I gripped the edge of the marble bench beneath me, squeezing so hard I was sure I’d snap off a huge chunk. Screw these guys. Fuck them all to hell and back. “Krystin wouldn’t be in this scenario if they hadn’t taken her.”
“Or if we’d paid closer attention,” Rachel said, inching her fingers toward mine. “Chill out before they take you, too.”
I whipped my hand away and rubbed the back of my neck. “They’re going to fire all of us.”
“We broke into Ether Circle Prison, man,” Nate said. “We’ll be lucky if they let us go with our lives.”
Shawn grinned from ear to ear. “It was pretty epic, though.”
Rachel nudged him in the side with her elbow. “So not the time.”
Shawn wasn’t wrong. The break-in had probably been one of the best-coordinated strikes we’d ever made. But given who it’d been against and the flak Jaffrin was now taking, maybe it hadn’t been the best choice. Especially since Jaffrin was the reason we’d gotten past much of the security magiks.
“Come,” someone bellowed from the bottom of the grand hall. One of the Ether Circle’s Command. Each of the Circle Leaders had one, a group of five individuals they chose to help advise and guide them during their tenure. Except in the case of the Ether Head Circle, where their Command helped arrest wayward Hunters and demons. And innocent people like Krystin.
“Show time,” I muttered as I stood and started a quick descent to the bottom of the stairs. My team followed at a slower clip. I didn’t blame them. But I’d rather take any of the heat we were about to get than let them suffer, so I hurried on ahead.
As soon as we were on the stage of the underground amphitheater, Chairman Otto turned to me. “Because of you, a treasonous Hunter walks free.”
“She’s not a traitor,” I said through gritted teeth. “Kinder did something to her, turned her against her will.”
Jaffrin nodded. “We know, Ben.”
“Then why is this ass—”
Rachel pressed a hand against my chest. “What my cousin means to ask is: if that’s the case, why are we standing around talking about it instead of looking for her?”
Chairman Otto lifted an eyebrow but continued, unfazed by my almost-outburst. “Because Jaffrin believes that with careful supervision, Ms. Blackwood’s penchant for demons and their methods can be checked.”
“What they mean to say,” Jaffrin started, “is that because she’s the Daughter named in the Alzan prophecy, there’s not much they can do to reprimand her if they want to survive the final conflict.”
Oh, shit. I locked eyes with Jaffrin. “Okay. So?”
“We’ll find her using a locator magik and bring her back, supervised, to your team,” Jaffrin said. “Or if not to your team, to the Fire Circle.”
Shawn stepped forward. “Assuming she didn’t run on purpose.”
“She didn’t.”
I spun, looking up at the direction from which the voice had come from. Krystin stood at the top of the stairs, in the last row of benches in the grand hall, right by the door. She had both hands on her hips and her chin held high.
She still wore a prison jumpsuit burned at the edges of her pants and the arms of her shirt. Aside from her dirty hair, smudged skin, and the bags under her eyes, Krystin looked okay.
I released a breath as her gaze drifted to mine for the briefest of moments and she nodded once. Then she turned on Jaffrin and the representatives from the Ether Head Circle. “I didn’t run. I ended up somewhere else via teleport. My magik is… wonky, shall we say. Ever since being locked up in that cell.” She trod down the row, then took each step toward the bottom platform with utter confidence.
Chairman Otto and the other Command didn’t make a move. They stared after her with silent mouths.
“You were right there,” Shawn said, his eyes wide.
Krystin nodded. “Until another explosion hit.”
Nate cringed beside me. “I may have set one too many. Sorry.”
Krystin shrugged. “No biggie.” When she got to the bottom of the grand hall, she walked straight up to Chairman Otto. “As I was saying earlier, I’m perfectly innocent. Yes, I talked to Giyano. But that was to get answers about Kinder, answers no one at the Fire Circle had. And if you all stopped being so damn intimidating, maybe the rest of the Circles and their Hunters would be more inclined to approach you first before a demon.”
Jaffrin moved between Krystin and the Ether Head Circle representatives. “Work out how you want to supervise her amongst yourselves. I’d like to see to it that my Hunter gets immediate medical care.”
“I’m fine, Jaffrin,” she said.
He shook his head. “No, you’re not. You’ve been locked in a cell for the past three months in an unknown condition.”
“Since when do you care?” she spat. “Last I heard, you let them take me.”
Jaffrin’s eyes hardened, but I spoke before he did. “Jaffrin didn’t have a choice, Krystin. None of us did.”
“We nearly got blown apart trying to get to you,” Shawn said. “For what it’s worth.”
Jaffrin stared down Chairman Otto. Finally, the Chairman relented and said, “Fine. See to it that she’s taken care of. We’ll speak in the meantime and determine her fate from here on out.”
Jaffrin nodded. “Thank you.” Then, to us, “Infirmary. Now. All of you.”
No one spoke as we walked up to the Infirmary, although I positioned myself next to Krystin for the duration. Half of it was to protect Jaffrin from her, given her outburst. From her perspective, it did appear as though we’d let the Ether Head Circle imprison her for three months. But what she hadn’t seen were all the talks Nate and Shawn had had with Jaffrin about getting her released, or the times even I’d gone to him about it, despite not really knowing what to do.
I still didn’t know. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get over the fact that she’d gone to Giyano of all demons for help. But she wasn’t responsible for what Kinder had done to her. Especially not when she’d been the main person who’d gone toe-to-toe with her at that warehouse.
Krystin didn’t make eye contact with me as we walked, although I tried to reach out and brush her fingers with mine. She allowed the contact, which sent hope spiraling through me that our Krystin was still there, but only briefly. Then, too soon, we walked through the Infirmary doors.
“Everyone out,” Jaffrin ordered. “Except Dr. Shan.” The nurses and other doctors briefly gave each other glances, then followed Jaffrin’s order anyway. When only Dr. Shan stood before us, Jaffrin said, “We need a private room.”
Dr. Shan nodded. “Absolutely.”
He ushered us into an examination room meant for three people max and sat Krystin on the table. The rest of us piled in around her, standing awkwardly close to one another. The room warmed almost instantly.
Jaffrin tugged a crystal out of his pocket, closed his eyes, and said a few words. A green light emanated from the crystal, a glow that remained even when Jaffrin opened his eyes and set the crystal on the nearby counter.
“What’s said in this room cannot be heard by the Chairman and his party,” Jaffrin said. “Krystin, you may speak freely.”
“Like that’s ever been a problem,” she spat.
I smirked, unable to contain my reaction. “She’s fine.”
“Not really,” Krystin said as she turned her attention on her hands. “You kept me locked up for three months in a prison filled with demons and other Hunters who knew who I was. What I’ve done. What I’m supposed to do.”
Jaffrin’s eyes hardened. “Did they hurt you?”
Krystin shook her head. “I’ve had worse.”
I wanted to reach for her, to shake her out of whatever mental state she was in, but I didn’t move. “The Ether Head Circle wouldn’t let us free you. We all tried. And when they wouldn’t, Jaffrin green-lit a break-in. That’s what we were trying to do when you disappeared.”
Her eyes narr
owed. “About that…”
“Where did you go?” Jaffrin asked.
“I don’t know.”
I looked across the way to Shawn and Nate. They’d been a lot better at reading Krystin than I ever had. Besides, I sort of wanted Nate to check her magik like he’d done before. To see if it was still tainted.
Nate’s eyes met mine and narrowed. Almost imperceptibly, he nodded as if he’d heard the unspoken question.
Shit.
Jaffrin rubbed his chin, then gestured at Dr. Shan. “Check her over, please. I want to make sure they didn’t mistreat her.”
“Like lock me in a cell they only let me out of to interrogate me?” Krystin asked, a bitterness in her voice. “I’m fine. I want to go home. I want to take a long, hot shower and sleep in peace and quiet. Then I’ll be one hundred percent and you guys can stop worrying about me.”
Rachel reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder. “We’re your friends; of course we’re going to worry about you.”
Krystin’s mouth thinned, but she took Rachel’s hand and squeezed it. “I know.”
Dr. Shan checked Krystin over for the next couple of minutes but didn’t appear to find anything amiss. “She’s dehydrated and fatigued but otherwise fine.” And those two things could be fixed.
Jaffrin nodded, arms still crossed at his chest. “Good. Thank you.”
“You should go back downstairs and make sure they’re not going to take me back,” Krystin said, eyeing the door to the main infirmary area.
“I will. This situation is… precarious.”
I looked up at him. “Well, you did sort of order us to break into your boss’s prison and extract one of their prisoners.”
“If only that was the start of it,” Jaffrin replied under his breath. He reached for the glowing green crystal and held it out to me. I took it. “As long as the crystal is glowing, this room is protected. Stay in here if you wish, but do not leave Headquarters.” He looked to Krystin. “I am genuinely sorry for all that’s happened. Your wrongful imprisonment and the time it took us to get you out.”
“Yep,” was all Krystin said in return.
I nodded at Jaffrin and he left with Dr. Shan. Then it was just the five of us.
Rachel squeezed Krystin’s hand again. “Tell us the truth. Are you really okay?”
Krystin’s gaze snapped to mine. “No one outside of this room can be trusted.”
My stomach tightened. I had a feeling she’d say that. “What do you mean? And what happened inside that prison?”
“The Ether Head Circle—they weren’t holding me for trial.” Her words tumbled out quickly, like there was more behind them, but she couldn’t slow herself down long enough to get it all out. “They were unwilling to let me go, innocent or not, because they want to weaponize the Alzanian power.”
Shawn’s brow furrowed. “How can they do that if we haven’t unlocked that magik yet? If we ever will.”
Krystin shook her head. “Not sure. I think they planned to wait until the final conflict was approaching, let me out of jail to stop it, and then, assuming we’d unlocked the power by then, use me as a puppet to take out whatever remained of Darkness. At least, that’s what I think was going to happen. Might still happen if Jaffrin doesn’t put on a good front.”
I blinked slowly. “No. The Ether Head Circle wouldn’t do that.”
She looked at me, deadpan. “Yes, they would. They’re all egotistical manipulators who play by a different set of rules. They can do this and they’re going to.”
“They’re emissaries for Good,” I said. “Sure, they’re assholes. And they definitely let that fight with Kinder go on for way too long before interfering. But their job is to protect the Powers and the humans of the world. That’s what they were doing, even when they took you away.”
Krystin shook her head, a small, sad smile forming on her lips. “We both know this war isn’t black and white, Ben. Nothing is.”
Rachel’s gaze met mine and she frowned. “Did something happen?”
Krystin shifted in her seat. “Giyano.”
So help me… “What do you mean?”
Her eyes rose to mine. “He took me from Ether Circle Prison after Shawn got me out of those handcuffs. I didn’t know it because I blacked out after the third explosion, but I woke up in his house.”
“That demon has a house?” Nate asked.
“He’s not an animal. Not like the other demons.”
“So he’s a civilized piece of crap instead of a murderous animal,” I said. “Makes no difference to me.” That he’d taken her, that he’d used the moment created by our distraction to pull her away from us again… Giyano was a dead man the next time I saw him.
“He saved my ass,” Krystin snapped. “Multiple times. He’s different from the rest, and he has a plan.”
“While also tainting your magik,” Shawn pointed out.
“Again, to save me from Cianza Boston. Not to mention Kinder.”
“She’s not wrong,” Nate said. “If you’d had just your normal ether magik in you and nothing else, I don’t know that you would have survived whatever Kinder did to you.”
Krystin shrugged. “I would have died. According to Giyano at least, and I believe him.”
My jaw locked and it took everything within me not to lose my shit. “This is Giyano we’re talking about here. Did you forget that?”
Her eyes narrowed. “No, Ben. I didn’t forget he murdered my father. Nate’s parents. Or kidnapped Riley. You make it hard to forget. And believe me, I’m just as tired of hearing that list as you are. He’s a piece of shit person who’s done a lot of horrible things. But not this time.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“He saved me from Ether Circle Prison because he wanted to tell me the Hunter Circles want to use my magik as a weapon. Shawn’s magik, too. I always thought something was off about the Hunter Circles, and now I know why.” Krystin held up her hand. “And before you start attacking him again, please remember that Giyano isn’t a demon by choice.”
Not many of them were, actually.
“Still a demon,” Nate muttered under his breath.
“Yeah, and Shawn’s magik is half-demonic too. I don’t see you giving him shit.”
Shawn inhaled sharply. “Let’s stay on topic here.”
“He also told me something else.” Krystin’s gaze focused on the crystal Jaffrin had left behind. “I don’t know where Jaffrin got that magik or how he knows how to use it, but I don’t trust it. Or him. Or Chairman Otto.”
“It’s totally safe,” Rachel said. “It’s the same magik he used to soundproof the grand hall when he told us about the mission to rescue you.”
Krystin shook her head slowly but seemed to come to some conclusion about whatever she was wrestling with, because she looked back up to me and said, “Before Giyano was turned into a demon, he said he and his father were archaeologists of sorts. They supposedly uncovered a major secret about the world. I don’t really know all the details because he insists we’re not ready for them yet. That I’m not ready for them. But Giyano said it puts the war between Darkness and the Hunter Circles in a whole new perspective. And that that’s the reason the Ether Head Circle wants to weaponize the Alzan magik—especially since it theoretically might balance out cianzas.”
I rubbed the back of my neck and forced my mouth to stay shut for longer than normal. A world-shattering secret? It seemed like another way for Giyano to bait Krystin. And whatever else he might say, the Hunter Circles were good. They were doing good. We didn’t kill every demon we found, just the ones threatening human populations. And by extinguishing their dark magik, we were able to keep cianzas from exploding.
Why then, all of a sudden, did I not know who—or what—to trust? I wasn’t the best of soldiers. I disagreed with Jaffrin a lot. But he wasn’t an evil man. Even Chairman Otto had redeeming qualities, if not the soundest of judgments.
“I don’t know, Krystin,” I said finally when no one
else had spoken.
“Neither do I. But I do know that if the Ether Head Circle, maybe even Jaffrin himself, is jerking me around, they’ve also done it to all of you. Especially you and Shawn. Hence why everyone outside this room is no longer trustworthy. To me at least.”
But there was something in her voice, an underlying sense of dread, that told me she might not trust us, either.
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” I said. “Can we focus on that for today?”
Her lips thinned and she looked down. “Sure. For today.”
“One more thing before we leave this room,” Nate said, a hint of concern in his voice. Everyone looked at him. He settled his gaze on Krystin. “Your magik. It’s different. Did you know that?”
Krystin’s jaw hardened. “Didn’t take you long to figure that one out.”
He pointed to her. “I’m the only one who can tell unless you show them. I can’t sense any ether inside of you anymore.”
She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. “Yes, my magik has changed. I don’t really know how, but I do know why.”
“What do you mean ‘changed’?” I asked.
Krystin lifted her hand, cupped it, and opened it the tiniest bit. A spark of flame erupted in her palm, flickering in the air wafting from the vent above.
Everyone gasped. Rachel even took a step back.
What the hell?
“Fire-elemental. And air, too. My telekinesis changed forms, so it’s not really telekinesis anymore, I guess. But the fire…”
“Giyano’s magik,” I said. “You have his magik now?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Kinder shoved a ton of different magik into me. I think when the ether-shapers were working on me they somehow pushed out my ether magik with the others. Somehow this fire-elemental got left behind.”
“Because that makes sense,” I said, sarcasm thick.
Nate shifted his weight, glancing from Krystin to Shawn with worried eyes. “Will that… affect the prophecy?”
