He’s a minion that my family uses and a fellow tech’er who loves to make my life hell.
If he knows I’m here, then it won’t be long before my family storms the gates and demands my return.
Darby looks down at the blank tablet as if he’s unsure what just happened. He yanks a smartphone from his back pocket, then taps on it so hard, it’s like he’s trying to punch through the screen.
“What the fuck?” He glances at Porter, looking a little lost. “It’s gone.”
“What’s gone?” Porter glances at the phone, then back to Darby, a fierce scowl darkening his face. That’s when I notice the room is actually darkening.
What the fuck?!
“Her file is gone. Someone hacked the system and inserted a virus to erase every mention of her if the alteration was detected.” Darby lowers the phone, as if it disappointed him for the first time. “I tried to trace the hack, but they crashed my system before I could locate the source. Everything is gone.”
When all three males look at me like it’s my fault, I throw my hands up in exasperation. “Don’t look at me. I’ve been sitting here the whole time.”
To my surprise, Darby comes to my rescue…in a backhanded insult. “Only another tech’er would have the skills to outrun me.”
Before anyone else can throw about any other accusations, Soren bursts into the room. “It’s gone. Death row has been scrubbed, and any evidence of her stay has been erased. Fresh spells overlay everything. The cell has been walled off like it never existed. There’s nothing to find.”
Everyone looks at me once more, and I feel very much like a pixie under a glass—a magical oddity forced to perform for an audience. Since pixies are vicious, carnivorous little buggers, I kind of like the comparison—small but deadly.
Porter stalks forward until he towers over me. “Why would someone go through so much effort for you?”
“Ouch,” I mutter, hurt despite knowing better than to get close to any of them, and I frown up at the asshole. “Rude much?”
CHAPTER FOUR
CASSIUS
With every step I take closer to Anita, she stiffens more and more, sensing the predator in me.
Smart girl!
Then her chin rises stubbornly, and her whole body goes taut, as if waiting for a blow. My rattle vibrates in my chest, and my muscles stiffen until they are ready to snap.
Memories of my nest mates beating me surface. Basilisks have no use for the weak. While they might have dozens of siblings in a batch, less than half make it to the age of five. Only one or two reach puberty, and even fewer survive to adulthood.
They thought I was weak. My poison hadn’t developed yet, and I couldn’t even petrify a rabbit with my stare. I came into my powers during one particularly nasty beating, and I ended up killing all five of my siblings. My basilisk burst into existence and took over…and he hasn’t left since.
Without my specially designed, spelled sunglasses, everyone I looked at would be turned to stone. If it’s an accidental glance, it’s usually not a permanent condition, but if I stare longer thantwenty seconds, the stone effect can reach the heart and stop it from beating. There is no coming back from that, even if they thaw.
Anything longer than a full minute or two, and they never come back. My family has a whole stone collection in their garden, standing like proud statues.
A testament to their might.
A warning that they should be feared.
Looking at the girl on the cot, I recognize the signs of a survivor. Whatever happened to her, she barely got out alive.
It makes her unpredictable.
And dangerous.
My damn rattle shakes in my chest, and my basilisk slithers uncomfortably under my skin with the need to get closer. It likes that she touched us without fear, while I nearly had a heart attack.
No matter how hard I search, she doesn’t appear to be affected by the poison I naturally secrete from my skin. I want to yank off my sunglasses to get a good look at her. The fucking lenses leave me virtually blind while indoors, but I don’t dare risk it.
I somehow find myself hovering over Porter’s shoulder. I’m not sure if I’m trying to make sure that he doesn’t hurt her or if I’m just curious about her answer.
