Once in the basement, we inspected the cell. There wasn’t much to see. Tanner’s clothes and boots were on the floor. The shackles were locked. The chain was strong and whole.
I checked the cell inch by inch. “If Graves hadn’t seen the man transforming into a bird, I would have never guessed that was how Tanner escaped.”
Darius stepped inside, dressed in an elegant suit with a dark green waistcoat and a tailored jacket. “Good morning.”
“Do you have any news?” I jumped to reach the bloody bars; they were tight.
He smirked, unnerving me. “I came to a conclusion, the only logical one.”
“Suspense is killing us.” Irene wrung her hands.
“A curse.” Darius touched the clothes with the tip of his shiny shoe. “The man has no power of his own, as both Alex and Graves confirmed. I can confirm that, too. I would have sensed magic. Yet he’s a human capable of changing his shape. And I wondered why he hadn’t turned into a sparrow last night. Why wait, knowing that we could have hurt him? The only explanation is that he can’t control the transformation, which means he’s cursed to transform into a bird when the sun rises. There’s nothing he can do to prevent that. It’s against his will, but convenient at times. To escape, all he had to do was wait for dawn.”
“That night…” Irene paused. “Sean kept checking his watch, and when his men arrived, the sun had just set.”
He nodded solemnly. “He created an army of cursed minions. They’re undetectable during the day. Quite convenient.”
“How do we catch him?” That was what mattered most to me.
The minions didn’t matter, but Sean had attacked Irene.
“Well…” Darius lost his usual confidence and chatty attitude. “He’s been able to elude us for years, but even the most clever criminal leaves traces.”
I waited for him to add something else. “Anything else? Where can we find him? How do we catch him? How do we kill him?”
“I don’t have all the answers. I need to know more.” He glowered. “Data, data, data. I can’t make bricks without clay!” Magic rumbled out of him.
“Fine!” I was too reliant upon Darius’s magic. “We’ll start asking Knight’s pack. Sean lived in Whitechapel when he called himself Riley. Someone might know something.”
He huffed. “That’s incredibly vague, like describing your being a vampire by saying you follow a peculiar diet.”
“Don’t get angry with me because you’ve just realised there might be a mage stronger than you are.”
“When we find this mage, I’ll show you who the stronger one is.” He strode out, carrying his wounded pride.
“Get ready to leave,” I said to his retreating back. “We have a meeting with the courts.”
Irene lingered in the cell after Darius left.
I waited for her in the passageway. “What are you thinking?”
“I want to kill this wizard.” A cold silver light surrounded her. “For all the pain he caused.”
“So do I.”
“I don’t like the feeling of wanting to kill someone. This mage changed who I was. He turned me into an assassin.”
“The sweetest person becomes aggressive when threatened and pushed into a corner. Everyone has killing instincts. It’s only a matter of finding the right motivation.”
“It’s terribly sad.” She rubbed her arms.
I stretched out an arm towards her, trembling. “Not every change is bad.”
She gazed at my hand then at my face before inching her hand towards my fingertips. She brushed them, and the jolt running down my spine was both pain and pleasure.
“See?” I almost stuttered. “You changed who I was, and some changes are good.”
38
