All true. But logic couldn’t solve one thing, my fears.
"What happens if I do everything I should and they still don’t release me?"
"Well, then you're trapped," he said, simple as that.
"…is this supposed to make me feel better?" If so, he totally failed.
"If you know for sure you’re trapped, you can formulate agoodescape plan instead of a half-assed attempt to flee at the first opportunity."
"Hey!"
"Either you’ll be free and healthy,” he continued calmly over my protest. “Or you’ll know you’re trapped. Either way—”
His words from before came to mind. “I’ll learn something and be a step closer to my goal?”
Lysander Temple nodded. “Each piece of information gives you more to work with than you had before.”
Needing to break the heavy atmosphere, I tried to laugh. “Like that’s hard, I have nothing.”
“If you left tonight, maybe. But you didn’t.”
“Yeah and what did that get me?”
“Everything on the table.” He nodded as he moved to the door. “Think about what I said. Goodnight.”
Alone in the room, I felt no shame in shoving my face into the soft fabric of the blanket. Whether clean and smelling of laundry detergent or grimy and all I had in the basement, the object comforted me. So glad I hadn’t left this behind after all.
In my first memory of the basement, a woman with matted hair and frantic eyes pressed it into my hands and told me to be strong and find comfort where I could. Her act of kindness and the soft material inspired me countless times when I felt like giving up.
Also on the table was a business card, his business card. Lysander Temple, agent of the Ashvale Department of Supernatural Affairs. He scrawled down a message on the back.Call me if you ever need anything.
I had no idea what to do with it. Or even if I could make it to my room tonight. Would they let me sleep in here? While I may not be doomed to a terrible fate anymore, nothing could save me from feeling sore from all my travels tomorrow.
Freedom was a gift. A strange, incomprehensible gift I hadn’t totally adjusted to. I wouldn’t complain about it. But nobody warned me freedom was so damn complicated.
5.How do you solve a problem like John Davis?
Lysander
“Petty theft, property destruction, assault, and other crimes of opportunity. Their main priority is arson and starting fires as a form of ‘worship.’”
Hey, that sounded familiar.
The men in front of me continued their conversation. “They call themselves the Accelerant Coven. Popped up a few months ago. They strike after dark, cause chaos for days at a time, then they lay low and go quiet.”
With the rabid fire starting and assault on a victim of opportunity, Chase had figured out who they were at the scene. A crazed coven on the DSA radar. If they hid when not active, we had to catch them in the act or learn more about who they were as individuals to find them when they weren’t busy terrorizing innocent people and throwing up walls of flame to escape.
“Magically starting fires? Damn, must be a real bitch to explain to the human police. We don’t have anybody Aware in the arson department, do we? Not since the last guy retired.”
“Yeah, the whole thing—”
The detective stopped talking as he finished fixing his coffee and turned around, face closing off as he saw me. “Do you need something, Agent Temple?”
I held up my empty mug. “Only a refill.”
The other agents paused their conversation as they left the breakroom, ending my opportunity to learn more about their progress. They were also on the other end of the bullpen and the general noise level made it difficult to eavesdrop, though professional courtesy meant I wouldn’t anyway.
I filled my coffee mug to the brim, enjoying the relative quiet while alone. Happening onto a conversation about the fire-wielding lunatics we ran into a few weeks back would probably count as the highlight of my day.
