Poison in the Well

by Jessica Gunn

  “And there will be another,” I said. “Where we were standing, you would have taken us down too.”

  “Ben?”

  We all turned. We’d landed in the main lobby on the first floor of Headquarters. Rachel, Ben’s cousin, was standing on the stairs to the upper floors, a severe, questioning look on her face.

  “Hey,” Ben said as he crossed to her, his brow furrowed. “What’s wrong?”

  “The Rebel Darkness Faction is here,” she said, then looked over his shoulder at the rest of our group. “Where’s… Where’s Jeremiah, Ben?”

  Ben’s expression dropped. I frowned and reached for Kian’s hand. Nothing was going to make delivering this news time and time again any easier.

  “He didn’t make it,” Ben said. “Where is everyone? I’ll explain then.”

  There wasn’t much to explain. Mason had killed Jeremiah the same way Dacher and Will had almost died, the same way the other Fire Circle Healer had, and the exact same way Talon was hoping the Neuians would go.

  Rachel nodded, trying to hide a frown but failing. “Everyone’s in the hall. I was on my way down when you appeared. How did it go otherwise?”

  “Not good,” Krystin said as she bypassed her teammate and headed for the stairs. “Let’s see what the Rebel Darkness Faction wants.” She disappeared into the corridor and down the stairs into the great hall.

  Ben gave the rest of us a glance. “You don’t have to come if you need to rest.”

  I stepped forward. “We’re all tired. I’ll live.”

  Kian nodded. “Same. Brian, are you coming?”

  “Yeah,” he said as he made for the stairs. “Hydron will want a brief after this.”

  “Hydron can wait,” Shawn said as he followed behind him. “You were a Hunter first. Remember that.”

  Veres trailed along behind Ben and Rachel, leaving me with Kian. He squeezed my hand when we hadn’t yet moved to follow them. I almost didn’t want to go and listen to whatever the Rebel Darkness Faction had to say. If they were here, something had gone wrong. They didn’t often come to update Ben in person because they were such a small group that even coming to Fire Circle Headquarters wasn’t really safe for them.

  So on top of the awful news regarding Jeremiah that Ben would have to deliver to a Command who had foreseen such a failure, I did not want to know or have to process what information the Rebel Darkness Faction would bring.

  “Are you okay?” Kian asked. His hands still shook, and his eyes were still glowing a soft orange. The Demon’s Blood remained in his system but at least he was coming down off the high.

  I nodded… then shook my head. “I’m tired. Of this war. And of people dying.”

  He pressed his lips together, an understanding look crossing his features. He pulled me in tighter for a hug. For a split second, I was back in the ring, with his hands going for my throat. But I shook the image off.

  This was Jerrick’s doing. And Mason’s. And Veynix’s. They all had taken everything I’ve ever held dear and killed it or otherwise put it in direct danger.

  My eyes widened. “Will. I need to check on him too.” Even if the others were going to call a Circle-wide briefing to deal with these new developments, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be there. Or anywhere near this escalating war.

  In that moment, looking at Kian and knowing the weight of everything that would be awaiting us shortly, the same old fear crept in beneath the layers of figurative armor I always wore. Slipping between the cracks and holes this life as a Hunter has caused, worming its way into my head.

  I wanted nothing more than to grab Will and run as fast as we could, as far as we could, away from all of this. That Paris trip no longer seemed like a lofty, dream-goal but a necessary escape. The only escape. The Hunter Circles had branches everywhere, so if Ben or the others wanted to, I was sure they could track us down.

  But would they?

  Kian would. I sighed and shook my head. I wouldn’t be running anywhere without Kian, and on this his head was more rational. Kian didn’t have the “run away” gene that I did. That sort of extreme self-preservation that overtook all else.

  Kian frowned as if he’d been able to read each and every one of those thoughts. “You know he’s likely at Ether Circle Prison right now, right? You can’t get there on your own and—”

  “I’ll get one of the higher ranked Hunters to take me,” I said. “Don’t worry. They don’t need to stay with me so they shouldn’t mind.”

  His lips pressed together into a thin line. He knew as well as I did that, Landshaft aside, Ether Circle Prison was the one place no Hunter ever wanted to go. Mostly because while yes, they did hold demon criminals there and high-risk captives, they also imprisoned Hunters there who went out of control or totally rogue. Hunters who broke the rules a little too much and gained a little too much power.

  Like Krystin, even if, according to rumors, Kinder, the Fire Circle’s most-wanted ex-Hunter, had been behind most of it.

  “Do you want me to go with you?” Kian lifted an eyebrow and was looking into my eyes as if he were searching for something in particular. Then he blinked, apparently not finding what he sought.

  I shook my head. “I’ll be fine. Stay here and keep an eye out on things in case something happens.”

  Kian hesitated a moment before nodding. “Okay. Be safe and I’ll see you when you get back.”

  “Will do.” I lifted up on to my tiptoes and kissed him quickly before hurrying down the hall to find someone able to take me to Ether Circle Prison.

  I was almost too scared to see what I’d find.

  Chapter 17

  It took some doing, but I finally found a Hunter who had been to Ether Circle Prison before. Tyler Hansen, an almost retired thirty-something Hunter, had actually worked there as a guard for a year when they required a replacement.

  In return for a lift to the prison, I had promised to handle the paperwork for his training group for a month. But when he realized I was going there to check in on a friend who happened to be one of the force-changed Ember witches, Tyler actually took pity on me.

  His eyes softened and he held out a hand. “No problem. Just… you might see things at Ether Circle Prison that you’d wish not to—as a head’s up.”

  My brow raised. “I’ve heard plenty of stories.”

  “There is a difference between stories and rumors and hearsay and what actually happens there,” Tyler said, still holding out his hand for mine so he could teleportante us across the United States. “I’m sure they’re keeping the Ember witches in better conditions than the other inmates because the order to move them there came from a Circle Leader, but even still.”

  I took his hand and tried not to squeeze it in anger. “I’ll be fine, and so will they. So will Will.”

  Tyler gave me a look that very clearly implied I was naïve as hell. I preferred optimistic. Which he should take, because I wasn’t often optimistic these days.

  “Okay,” he said. “Then let’s go.”

  I took his hand. Before I could say anything more, Tyler uttered, “Teleportante.”

  The world around us shifted and we reappeared inside a plain-walled lobby that must belong to Ether Circle Prison. There was a single door in this room which sat behind a large, five-foot tall desk, a device that looked like a metal detector, and a turnstile.

  Tyler let go of my hand and walked up to the man behind the desk. He was tall and severe-looking with a thin, angular face and unamused expression.

  “Hi Tom,” Tyler said to him and extended a hand over the desk.

  Tom didn’t raise a hand in return.

  “Mr. Hansen.” Tom looked down on Tyler as only a superior could. And yet how could someone who was Tyler’s superior be working the front desk?

  “This is Ava Locke,” Tyler said, gesturing to me. “She’s a Fire Circle Hunter working closely with the Command and Hallen’s team regarding the current situation with Landshaft. Her friend was one of the Ember witches taken here for
safety. She’d like to see him.”

  Tom looked down his nose at me. There was no way he was as tall as he appeared, sort of towering over the counter. There must a platform behind the desk.

  “Really now,” Tom said. “You know, most Hunters never willingly come here.”

  I nodded, biting my tongue to keep from saying the first inappropriate thing that came to mind. Being angry with him wouldn’t help matters at all. “I know. And my friend didn’t have a choice either. I want to make sure he’s okay.”

  Tom continued his uncomfortable staring. “All of the Ember witches sent to us by the Fire Circle are in perfectly good care.”

  “Then you won’t mind Ava visiting, will you?” Tyler asked with a raised eyebrow. “After all, we want to keep up civility with all the Circles, yes?”

  Tom’s jaw locked hard, not because he was angry with Tyler, I didn’t think, but because it appeared he just could not be bothered to deal with this.

  “Fine,” Tom finally said. “Ten minutes, then you need to go. The Ember witches aren’t supposed to have contact with any magik-users, so you’ll have to be kept separated if you have magik.”

  “I do,” I said. “And I know. I’ll keep my distance.” As much as it would hurt the both of us to be kept apart, the last thing I’d want would be for Will to have to deal with accidentally killing me.

  “Fine,” Tom said again as he bent down and retrieved a bucket that he placed on the counter. “Drop your weapons in here. All of them. Then step on through the detector.” He picked up a phone and made a call quietly.

  I dropped my Fire Circle knife into the bucket then shoved my hands into my pockets.

  “This is where I’ll leave you,” Tyler said as Tom called some guards to escort us. “I’m not going back in there after having worked here. I hope you understand.”

  I wasn’t sure if he was afraid of the inmates he guarded or the memories, but I wasn’t going to pry into it when we barely knew each other. “No problem. Thank you for bringing me this far.”

  Tyler nodded. “I’ll wait for you out here. I think they’re going to be calling everyone into the hall at Headquarters soon anyway, so I want to make sure you have a way back.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Okay, it’s time,” Tom said as a prison guard came through the only door in the room. “Remember: ten minutes.”

  “I know, I know,” I said, irritation finally working its way into my voice. “Thank you again for that much.”

  I walked on through the detector which buzzed faintly as I did so. The light lit up green, but as I had no metal on me, I wasn’t sure what it was detecting for. The only thing I could think of was magik.

  Wait a minute. Ether Circle Prison had scanners for magik?

  I wasn’t afforded much time to think about it as I was escorted through the door and into the painted brick walls of the prison. It was quiet, so quiet that my ears strained for any noise that wasn’t my own footsteps or the guard’s. The unnatural silence sparked my fear again. A slight sweat broke over my brow and the back of my neck as all the horror stories about torture and awful living conditions came springing back to the forefront of my mind.

  Was Will being treated like that? Was he okay? What if he’d been beaten by guards for information about Ember witches or Talon that he simply didn’t have? Or about Veynix from the time Veynix had kidnapped Will?

  Oh god. My chest tightened with my rising panic. I curled my hands into fists and my fingernails dug into my palms.

  Finally, the guard stopped outside of a door labeled with a sign that said simply: visitation room.

  Visitation room. So… normal. Unassuming.

  I bit my tongue and forced myself to take several deep breaths. Landshaft was worse than this. It would always be worse.

  Chill out, Ava, I told myself.

  “Here,” the guard said as he gestured to the open doorway. “I will wait outside. Your friend will be brought inside in a few minutes. What is his name so I may retrieve him?”

  I gave the guard Will’s full name then waited as he left me in the dimly-lit room alone. The room contained a table with a chair on the other side. A strip of bright yellow tape had been laid out on the dark tile floor, and on this side of the room was a chair. Obviously, I hadn’t been the only person visiting friends and family here. But the tape seemed so extreme when, like in Landshaft, I suspected the guards here used requirem on every inmate just in case, if not completely binding their powers for the duration of their stay at Ether Circle Prison.

  Then I remembered.

  I wouldn’t be allowed to cross the line of tape while Will was in the room.

  A flash of Mason’s face came into my mind, followed by Veynix. I hate you both.

  After a long couple of minutes, the door on the far side of the visitation room finally opened. The same guard who had escorted me to this room now walked behind a handcuffed Will who was wearing a pale orange jumpsuit as though he were in a prison in a movie. Will kept his eyes down until the guard set him at the table and connected the cuffs at his wrists to a ring on the center of the table. Then the guard left us alone, closing the door behind him as he reminded us: “Ten minutes!”

  As soon as the door shut, I hurried as close to the line of tape as I dared. I didn’t want anyone who might be watching to think I was going to step over it and get myself killed or something and cut short our time together.

  “Will!” I said.

  Finally, Will lifted his eyes to mine. His tightly-wound form relaxed when he saw me. “Ava. God. Why are you here?” He went to stand up, instinct taking over, the same instinct to run and hug him that I was currently fighting. But the cuffs kept him locked to the table. “Shit.”

  I tried to smile because that was all I could really do at this point. “I came to see you, obviously. Duh.”

  “Why?” he asked, his voice almost cold. “It’s not safe here.”

  “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s not really safe anywhere,” I said to him. “Besides, I’ll always come to see and rescue you. You know that.”

  “What I want is to not need to be rescued anymore.” Will’s gaze dropped. “Are we ever getting out of here?”

  “We?” I asked him.

  “Me and the other witches.”

  I swallowed hard. I wasn’t sure about the others, but with the Neuians’ help, at least Will should be okay. “I think so. We…” Then I remembered what had brought us here in the first place. “Some of us went to Landshaft to try and make a deal with Jerrick and Talon.”

  Will’s eyes widened. “What?”

  I nodded. “I know. It was a really shit idea, but it seemed like a better idea than tempting the Neuians. But it all went wrong and now I’m not really sure what’s going to happen. Especially since…” Tears finally pricked my eyes but I blinked them away. If I started crying now, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop when the time came to fight once more. “Jeremiah didn’t make it. The rest of the Command is panicking. There’s probably going to be a Circle-wide briefing soon, but I have no idea what they’re going to tell us in it or decide to do.”

  “If anything,” Will said sharply.

  I hesitated to respond, then nodded. “Yeah. If anything. I don’t know, Will.”

  “I do,” he snapped. “The Fire Circle only acts when the Command has had enough. Seems like that’s pretty par for the course for the Hunter Circles on a whole. They don’t actually care about the innocents involved.”

  Part of me wanted to tell Will he was wrong. That the Circles weren’t like that. But a bigger part of me knew he was right, at least about the most recent Leaders.

  “They’re worried this is going to lead to all-out war, I think,” I said.

  “And that makes it better how?”

  “It doesn’t. And it doesn’t excuse them. But I can’t blame the Circles for wanting to be careful.” I sighed. “War is coming. And it’s not going to be pretty. And it’s definitely going to result in the rest of t
he world finding out about Darkness and the Circles and magik and all of it.”

  Will lifted his hands as high as he could and moved his pointer fingers around in small circles. “Woo hoo. Now they all know like us.” His voice was the least amused I’d ever heard it.

  I wanted to go to him so badly. To cross the line of tape, to hell with the rules and the danger, and give my best friend the hug he so clearly needed.

  But I kept my feet planted firmly in place.

  “We can still go to Paris,” I said, the fear from earlier now translating into a want so great that I felt it in my chest, as though my ribcage might burst and my heart would ache. “It won’t be far enough to out-run the war, but at least we can get away from everything before then.”

  Will lifted his eyes to mine once more. “You’d quit now? After everything?”

  “Because of everything, yes,” I said. “And especially if they don’t help you.”

  His eyes blazed. “I don’t want you to help me, Ava. I want you to help everyone like me. Every single one of us Ember witches who are fucked by what Talon is doing. Every innocent unwillingly and unknowingly part of this clandestine war. Help us, then we can go to Paris. Because helping us might help everything else.”

  His words drove through me to some deep part of myself, beneath the armor and the fear, to a place that hurt.

  Will was right. About all of it.

  The Circle had spent so much time worrying about the war on a whole, the Circles on a whole, the Hunters needed to patrol X and carry out mission Z. They’d stopped caring a long time ago about the real mission. The original oath.

  Protect the innocent, fight with bravery, and never leave a Hunter or innocent to the clutches of Darkness.

  Determination solidified inside me.

  “I’ll make sure we end this, Will,” I said. “And get the help needed for you and the other witches. Then we can sort the rest together.”

  This ends now.

  Chapter 18

  At the end of the ten minutes, the guard returned and escorted me out of the visitation room. I met back up with Tyler and he returned us to Fire Circle Headquarters.