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“I’m in charge here,” Mac insisted.
“We never agreed upon that,” Brad said, his voice silky smooth, the aural equivalent of melted chocolate. “I know you would never agree upon an elf as the leader, so we will compromise. A wizard may lead us, as long as Katie is that wizard.”
I opened my mouth to say that I wasn’t really a wizard, but Owen elbowed me in the side. When I turned to look at him, he shook his head almost imperceptively, and I could have sworn he was fighting back a smile.
Mac sputtered, too irate for words, and glared at Owen and me. Owen maintained an expression of pure innocence. Brad’s smile was even more innocent than that. “Shall we put it to a vote?” he asked with a glance over his shoulder to his people, as if to remind us that the elves had the wizards outnumbered, even if the vote split along those lines.
“Very well,” Mac grumbled. “But you’re making a mistake.”
“Katie’s been MSI’s secret weapon for a while now, so you may be surprised,” Owen said, speaking for the first time in the meeting.
“So, Katie, our fearless leader, what do you think about the prison break plan?” Brad asked.
I gulped and took a couple of deep breaths. I’d never led much of anything in my life, despite Owen’s vote of confidence. I’d never even been an officer in a club when I was in school. I was more likely to be the person who got things done behind the scenes. “I think the uprising should be a last resort,” I said when I trusted myself to speak and sound authoritative instead of like a scared little girl. “There haven’t been that many uprisings that were actually successful. They’ve been more symbolic than anything, something to rally around without doing any practical good. Has any inmate prison uprising ever resulted in the inmates going free for good?” I directed that question at Mac. To be honest, I wasn’t sure of the answer, but it didn’t seem like the kind of thing that was likely to happen.
Mac shrugged grudgingly, but he didn’t speak, so I continued, gaining confidence as I went on. “We’re at even more of a disadvantage because we don’t yet know how to get back home. Information gathering should be our first priority, and we need to know about both sides of the portal. We need to find any fellow prisoners who were taken after we were and see if they know anything more about what Sylvester’s doing. Since people are being sent here for knowing too much, someone’s bound to know something important. For instance, I know there’s an MSI security operative here who was taken after we were, and if I find him again, he may have information.”
“I will spread the word through my people,” Brad said with a nod.
“But be careful about that. Mac was right that we should keep this in separate cells. If they’re smart, they’ll have had at least one plant in among the prisoners, someone we’re likely to trust. If we don’t all know each other, they won’t be able to track all of us down, no matter who they catch. You have warned everyone you’ve awakened about writing down possible memory triggers, right?”
Everyone in the room pulled pieces of paper out of their pockets. “Good,” I said with a nod, suddenly feeling very official. “Then we’ll need to learn about this side of the portal. If you’ve got someone who could infiltrate the gray guards, that would be good. You may need to observe them a while to fit in. Check for magic use to make sure your illusions don’t give you away. We shouldn’t meet too frequently. Earl at the bookstore makes a good information drop point. Do any of you know an elf named Perdita?”
“Everyone knows or knows of Perdita,” Brad said with a fond smile.
“She works at a café near here. I’ll talk to her; she may be able to pass on messages, since she does know everyone, and her position is pretty public. Don’t try to talk to me at the store, though. I suspect the other person working at the coffee shop with me is a guard.” I looked around at the others and said, “So, does it sound like we’ve got a plan to start with?”
Mac was still scowling, but he nodded, and the others all nodded in agreement. Before everyone started to disperse, Owen glanced out the window to check for guards. He returned to us, his expression tense. “No one can leave yet,” he said. “There are gray guards outside, watching the building.”
Chapter Fifteen
Of course, all the others had to verify for themselves that the building was being watched. Once that was certain, the accusations started flying. “Who let them follow you?” Mac asked.
“We were here before you were and you didn’t even notice us,” Brad said. “Do you think they’d have been able to follow us?”
“You’re a bigger group,” McClusky said. “In here, you were being still, but you’d attract attention traveling together.”
“Do you think we’re that stupid?” Earl said. He hesitated and glanced around like he was waiting for someone to tell him to shut up. I wondered if he’d ever get over that.
Doris said, “You two were probably easiest to follow, and you were the last ones to arrive.”
“We know they’ve already been tracking Katie and Owen,” McClusky argued.
“How do we know someone in your group didn’t tip them off?” Mac asked the elves. “After all, these are your people.”
Listening to all the arguing was frustrating, but then I remembered that I was theoretically in charge. I clapped my hands together once, then hissed, “Hey!” When they all turned to look at me, I whispered, “If they don’t already know we’re in here, we’re sure tipping them off with all this racket.” They looked like contrite schoolkids. “Now, it seems we’re stuck here for the time being. Does anyone want a cookie?”
I passed around the refreshment bag, and all the magical people conjured their own beverages. Owen handed me a cup of coffee, then went back to check out the window. “They’re still out there,” he reported.
“But they haven’t come in here, which is probably a good sign,” I said. “Maybe they’re just trying to see if something is going on or who’s here.” I figured that part of my job as resistance leader was keeping up morale.
“Why should we trust her?” McClusky muttered into his coffee cup. “She’s probably as bad as he is, since she’s dating him.”
Without thinking, I snapped, “Maybe I’m smart enough to rate people based on the way I’ve seen them act rather than on the deeds of parents they never even knew. How would you like to be judged strictly by your parents?” I hoped his parents weren’t saints who were pillars of the community, or that would kill my argument. He winced ever so slightly, so I must have hit close to home.
“I trust Katie,” Earl said. “She listened to me when no one else would, and she destroyed the Eye of the Moon when she could have used it to gain great power.”
“She did gain power from it,” Mac pointed out.
