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“Not a woman. A nymph. A brainless fucking plant.” Ralph insulted Daphne and it made something snap inside Baptiste.
“She’s smarter than you, dough boy.” Baptiste pulled at the cage holding him and heard a satisfying creak.
Ralph retreated with wide eyes, his ass hitting the bars of Marissa’s cell. Her arm emerged and wrapped around his throat, choking him off. Ralph struggled and clawed at her arm but Marissa didn’t relent until he slumped, unconscious.
“Two-timing fucker,” Marissa muttered. “The only reason he hasn’t been fired is because his daddy used to be a hero.” She dropped to her knees and searched the snoring body.
“He doesn’t have the cell block keys,” Baptiste remarked. Those remained in the anti-magic Faraday-type box by the door.
“No, but he does have the cuff ones.” She lifted the little keys triumphantly. In seconds, she’d shed her magic-disrupting manacles and was groping the lock to her cell.
“You can’t do magic inside CA buildings,” Baptiste noted.
“Not entirely true. For most it’s impossible because of safeguards, but I’m not most people. Now that the cuffs are off, the magic is muffled but still there.” Her forehead creased as she concentrated. The lock glowed and clicked. “Lucky for us, I don’t need much to open doors.” She crossed to his cell and unlocked his cage. The silver manacles dropped at her touch.
Freedom, Garou crowed.
Ralph groaned on the floor.
Now can I eat him?
“We don’t have time,” he murmured.
“Agreed,” she replied, thinking he spoke to her. “We better go before this uncle of yours arrives.”
“Go how? We’re in the heart of the CA building. We can’t exactly walk out.”
The corner of her mouth lifted. “Wanna bet? First, we need a distraction.”
“Going to pull the fire alarm?” He wasn’t entirely joking. It worked in movies.
“No, because that just evacuates the building, meaning we’d have guards in here looking to drag us out. We need something that will keep them too busy to think about us and I know just the thing.” She didn’t head for the door Ralph came through but the one on the opposite end.
Given Ralph was starting to stir, Baptiste grabbed hold and heaved him into his cell, the clang of the door shutting very satisfying.
“Does Ralph have magic?” he asked.
“Not enough to do anything. His claim to fame is he can move small objects. Very small,” she tossed over her shoulder as she fiddled with the door.
“What’s in that room?” he asked as he neared to see her undoing a series of locks, some of them mechanical, others bound by spells.
“Illegal cryptids waiting for shipment back to their countries.”
“Should you be releasing them? I assume they’re dangerous given that you’ve got them locked away.”
She cast a grin in his direction. “Not dangerous so much as pesky. Also, very hard to catch. Leprechauns are tricky creatures. Mischievous and vindictive to those who wrong them. Say, like the agents who brought them in,” she said as she swung open the door.
A little man with red hair and a matching beard in a bright green suit stood waiting, looking benign. “Fair witch, how are you this fine day?”
She crouched. “I’m excellent, Rufus. But I’d like to exchange favors.”
“Speak your bargain, milady.” He tucked his diminutive hands behind his back.
Baptiste glanced past him to see other figures in green eyeing the conversation. All male. Eight in total.
“In exchange for me releasing you and your band, I need a distraction of epic proportion that my friend and I might slip away unnoticed.”
Rufus had a smile bigger than his head. “That can be arranged with pleasure, fair witch.”
