My lord? I was listening so intently now, I was straining my ears.
“They exist,” the Warden replied. “They’re merely in hiding, and they’re here. We’ll force them out, and once we have them, our experiment will finally bear fruit.”
“What do you want us to do, my lord?” Professor Mazur asked.
“I want a list of the most powerful students in your classes. We’ll go through them one by one, determine which ones are the strongest, which ones could be demigods,” the Warden replied. “We’ll proceed from there.”
“And what about their families? The last girl’s mother was particularly difficult to convince,” Gael said.
“Accidents happen all the time at the Institute,” the Warden replied smugly. “And like Mazur said— most won’t even care their children have gone missing. It’s all about taking the right students at the right moment.”
“Yes, my lord.” There was the sound of flowing capes, like the three teachers werebowingto the Warden, before I heard their footsteps shuffle away.
I booked my ass to the other side of the laundry room as quickly as possible, to grab my stuff. I didn’t even care if I got in trouble for skipping work. I had to get out of here.
As I gathered my bag, my mind spun a hundred miles an hour. There were so many angel professors at the school. Were they all working for the Warden? And why?
Experiments had been performed on inmates at the Institute for years. It was part of the prison’s history. But when we’d come here, the people in charge had insisted that wasn’t the case. These creepyexperimentsno longer happened here.
Apparently, we’d been lied to. I flung my bag over my shoulder, but stopped in my tracks when I saw the Warden standing in the doorway to the laundry room, which was now open. He had the worst smile on his face, taunting me.
He’d known I was listening in. It was almost like hewantedme to overhear.
Did the Warden know I was looking for Forevermore, and what the Elves had left behind? That seemed like my worst nightmare.
“You know better than to eavesdrop, Miss Mitoh,” the Warden said. “It isn’t polite.”
My throat ran dry. “I heard nothing.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure. And I’m also sure you’re aware that you’re very alone in here. With me, I might add.”
I felt my lungs seize up in fear. I went to move past him, but froze at the wrong moment. The Warden grabbed my arm before I could leave. His touch made my entire body go rigid.
“Your research in your free time is quite interesting. Not all of us have the time to go looking for missing cities. I wish I did— a pastime of mine I had to give up for other hobbies, I’m afraid.”
Ohfuck, he knew. He definitely knew. I felt my face drain of color as he leaned in. “But I’m sure you’ll find it. If anyone could, it’s certainly you.”
“I’m not looking for anything,” I spat. “Let me go.”
I wanted to conjure Fire, or Water, to protect myself, but my magic refused to rise to my command. I was too frightened.
The Warden smirked. “Mister Wahkin’s an interesting choice. Very domineering, wouldn’t you agree?”
My throat tightened. This wasexactlywhat I’d been worried about— people at the prison finding out I loved someone, and then hurting them to get what they wanted from me.
“We’re not involved,” I lied. I tried to take a step back, but the Warden held me in place.
“Oh, but you are, Miss Mitoh.” The Warden gave me a sinister, gloating smile that made me want to slap it off. “Because you don’t need someone who’s going to set you loose, do you? You need someone who can control your darkest impulses and rein you in. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To be contained.”
I gritted my teeth together as I growled my next words. “If Charlie’s keeping me under control, you’d damn well better be ready when he lets me out of my cage.”
I ripped my arm away from the Warden. He grinned, like he knew he’d broken me, before letting me walk away.
The Warden acted like Charlie had me on a leash. But maybe he did. Maybe I was just like Mad Dog... a psychopathic lunatic who was waiting for the wrong moment to go off.
I was so scared that I wanted to cry.Demigods.They wanteddemigods.And by the sound of things, I knew that the inmates who were taken for these experiments didn’t come back alive.
The Warden couldn’t find out what Charlie, Kallie, Marcus and I were. Otherwise, we’d be used for these strange experiments… which I didn’t even know the purpose of yet.
