Endlessly

He stalked off down the hall and around the corner out of my sight, dragging the wolf woman in his wake.

“Well, that’s just great,” I muttered. “I make friends everywhere.” While I had to admit that his situation did totally stink, and I could see why he would want someone to blame, I wasn’t going to feel guilty about it. A) I didn’t have time, and B) freeing all the Center’s werewolves had freed Charlotte, my tutor, reuniting her with her family. I couldn’t hold myself responsible for the actions of every paranormal I’d ever come into contact with one way or another.

Okay, maybe I could have done more to make sure they were all accounted for and had plans in place to control themselves at full moons. I banged my head back against my doorframe. Not my fault. Not my fault. Not my fault.

A voice from one of the other cells I couldn’t see into drifted toward me. “Leibchen, are you still sad? I could help.”

Yeah, because being trapped with no way to get out and save Lend and all IPCA against me wasn’t bad enough, my block mate was the creeptastic uber-vamp stalker I partially drained on Halloween. He kept trying to start up a conversation, but even his voice set my teeth on edge. And then there was the matter of the part of his soul I was carting around inside myself.

But thinking about draining him made me wonder … if I could still feel nervous energy from him, and rushing chill from the fossegrim, and sparks from the sylph … I scooted back into my room, ignoring Uber-vamp. If I could concentrate the energy from souls enough to open gates between worlds, I should be able to do something else with it. Maybe.

It was worth a shot. I rolled up my pant leg, then closed my eyes, breathing deeply. Focusing inward, I tried to pick out the sense of the sylph’s soul, the sparking, dry heat, the rush of wind. There! And there! Willing it to come together, I mentally directed it to my hand, and then to my pointer finger. It took a while, but eventually I could feel it building up, gathering there like a miniature storm. I opened my eyes and saw sparks dancing along the length of my finger beneath my skin. I squealed with happiness, and they scattered.

Bleep. After repeating the process, I finally had all the sylph energy more or less concentrated. “Here goes nothing,” I muttered, then reached down, put my finger against the ankle tracker, and willed the sparks to leave.

And then screamed as currents of electricity shot back and forth between my finger and the ankle tracker. I shook all over but couldn’t control my muscles enough to move my finger. Finally it stopped and I collapsed on the ground, my nose assailed by the smell of burned plastic and skin.

I moaned softly, biting my tongue against the pain in my ankle and willing myself not to scream. After what felt like forever I was able to sit up and survey the damage. Angry red marks were already bubbling into blisters around the ankle tracker, which, as far as I could tell from the warped surface and faint smoke still drifting up, was out of commission.

I braced for an alarm, but none went off. Which meant I probably had a few minutes tops before the computer system registered that my ankle tracker was down. I stood up and gasped over the pain screaming through my ankle.

Okay, electricity burns? NOT. FUN.

But I could hurt later. Right now I had to get out and save Lend.

I limped over, then hesitated at the doorway. I didn’t think I could handle another shock, but there was no avoiding it. Taking a deep breath, I pushed my foot across the threshold into the hall.

Nothing.

“Thank you, you crazy sylph,” I whispered, then hobbled hurriedly down the hall away from Uber-vamp’s voice. I had never known this wing existed when I lived here, but Jack had brought me here to visit Vivian. Just after my entire life fell apart and just before he left me in the Faerie Paths to die. So I hadn’t been paying the best attention, but I was pretty sure the door was at the end of this hall.

I paused. Vivian was still here, on the other end of the hall. I had trusted Raquel with her care, but now that Raquel was somehow out of power, I didn’t want to leave Viv alone and asleep. But I didn’t have time to grab her, and even if I did, I didn’t think I could execute what was probably already an impossible escape while carrying her on my back.

I shook my head. I’d come back for her soon. She’d wanted me to get to Lend as fast as I could; she’d understand. I needed to get out of this hall. After that, my only hope was to run into a faerie. I hurried to the end of the Iron Wing and opened the door.

Where I found myself face-to-face with Anne-Whatever Whatever herself.

I pulled my hand back to punch her. “What are you—” she started, when her eyes went wide and she collapsed on the ground, revealing Tasey in the hands of a teen boy with blond curls, blue eyes, dimples, and the most impish smile I’d ever seen.

“Hey-oh, did you miss me?” Jack asked.

Since my hand was already pulled back, I went ahead and punched Jack.

“Bloody— What was that for?” he asked, hand over his nose.

I stepped past the unconscious body of Anne-Whatever Whatever lying on the white tile floor and snatched Tasey from the blond nightmare. “Are you kidding me? The last time I saw you, you left me for dead.”

“Well, yeah, there was that. But I thought rescuing you from IPCA might make up for it a bit.”

“I’m in the middle of rescuing myself,” I snapped.

“And how were you planning on getting past her?” He nudged the prone body with a none-too-gentle foot.

“Improvising.”

“And once you were past her, you were going to get out of here … how?”

“Shut up!” I turned and tried to stomp down the hall, then cringed in pain from my ankle. Okay, no dramatic stomping. I opted for emphatic limping instead, which unfortunately allowed Jack to catch up quite quickly.

“Come on, Ev, listen. I’m sorry, okay? I came back for you that day on the Paths!”

“If you leave someone on the Paths, you can’t ever find them again.”

He scratched his head and looked down at the floor. “Yeah, I kind of figured that out. I really am sorry, though. And I’m glad you’re not dead!”

“Go. Away.” I didn’t have time to deal with him the way I wanted to, which mostly revolved around tasing him into oblivion. Lend came first. If Jack showed up again later, fine, but for now I wasn’t taking any detours.

“I was wrong! I know I was wrong. I was just so mad at you. And, you know, sometimes when I get mad, I do stupid things.”

“You weren’t ‘just mad’ at me!” I snapped. “You manipulated me! You created this whole path of destruction in my life to try and force me into doing what you wanted me to! You’re as bad as IPCA and the paranormals and everyone else! I want nothing to do with you.” I stopped and looked him straight in the eyes. “I mean it, Jack. I never want to see you again.”

Hurt flitted across his cherubic features, then he grinned. “Well, it’s not really up to you.”

I rolled my eyes and kept walking. Transport was my best bet for finding a faerie. I’d have tried running, but I figured it was in my interest not to attract any attention. Plus I honestly didn’t think I could run with the level of pain in my ankle.

Jack continued. “’Cause, umm, there’s another reason I’m here.”

“Shocking. Not simply the goodness of your heart. I can’t believe it.”

“Yeah, well, I couldn’t have found you on my own. None of this was my idea.” He paused, eyeing Tasey warily. “I mean, I’m all for it. Yay rescuing Evie! But I was … well, I guess you could say I was drafted.”

“Drafted?”

“Forcibly.”

“Well, consider yourself undrafted and bug off.” I turned a corner and almost ran smack into … Bud. So not good.

I considered using Tasey, but couldn’t bring myself to do it. I remembered all the hours he’d dedicated to training me, even though I was the worst student ever. I still held the Taser ready in my hand, but I had to at least try to talk him out of turning me in. “Bud … please.”

He looked shocked to see me, then frowned. “Remember that knife I made for you? Stupid pink handle?”

“I— Yes. It got lost when I was escaping from here last time. Sorry.” I blushed guiltily, then wondered why I was worried about a silly knife, and why Bud hadn’t sounded an alarm yet.

He sighed in an annoyed way. “Well then, it’s probably best that you’ll never get the companion knife I made right before you left. Pity, too, because it was a particularly nice piece of work.” He held out a small package wrapped in black cloth and I took it, wordless with surprise. “It’s also a pity that I’ve got to get to bed right now and didn’t even notice you in the hall as I hurried by.”

A hint of a smile made his eyes light up and I beamed, tears filling my own. “Thank you.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about. In fact, I don’t even know who you are. Or that I’ve seen you. So I suggest you book it.”