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“Until they are certain that the risk has passed. ”
“So, a long time. ”
“No way to tell. The information is coming in; I need to get back to it. ” She looked away, focusing on one of her many screens. I wished that Lish wasn't stuck behind the glass. She was my best friend, but sometimes she seemed so inaccessible.
I turned to the side as the brilliant outline of a door formed on the blank wall. Raquel walked out with a faerie. I wondered when the Supervisors would get here. I had seen a few of them before, back when IPCA was officially forming. I didn't remember too much, just a lot of head patting. I hated that.
Raquel looked like she had aged about ten years in the past few days. “Initiate lockdown protocol,” she said, not even bothering to acknowledge Lish with a nod, a hello, or a how's the water this morning.
“Lockdown protocol initiated. ” Lish darted her hands around, the movements quick and precise.
“Call the other faeries,” Raquel said to the faerie who had brought her here. Looking annoyed, the faerie opened another door and disappeared through it.
Raquel finally noticed me. “Oh, Evie. You're here. Good. We need to talk. ”
“Yeah, we do. ” Before I could launch into the speech I'd been mulling over since I decided to stick up for Lend, a brilliant light traced a line through the wall and a whole section opened up into the black. Faeries stepped out--more faeries than I had ever seen before. More than I even knew IPCA had. There were at least a hundred of them.
It was overwhelming. One faerie alone is distractingly beautiful. This many at once and it was like a tidal wave for your eyes--stunning and inescapable. I had a hard time focusing on what Raquel was saying to them. Besides the faerie sensory overload, I noticed something, something I had never seen before.
Faerie clothing is similar to ours, but it always seems older, more refined, and simple at the same time. Many of the male faeries had their shirts unbuttoned and chests bare. (How's this for freaky: no nipples or belly buttons. ) Faeries always have a hint of a glow, but now they seemed to have a bright spot--right where I assumed their hearts were. It wasn't dramatic, but there was definitely something extra there. I hoped it didn't have anything to do with my now-?glowing heart.
Then I looked at their faces. A lot of them were just bored and annoyed. Standard faerie. But there were some--and these seemed to be grouped together--that had sly twinkles in their eyes, like something about all this was terribly amusing. That look bothered me; anything that amused a faerie couldn't be a good thing. Then my eyes met Reth's. He wasn't with that group, but his smile was the biggest of all.
I wanted to get out of that room. All those faeries--I felt almost dizzy. I did my best to ignore Reth's stare, waiting until Raquel finished issuing instructions and the faeries started leaving to pick up their assigned groups. “Raquel, we need to talk. ”
She turned to me, an intense look on her face. “Yes. I need you to tell me everything you know about Lend. ”
“Why?”
“Because the Supervisors are coming, and he's one of our only links to what's happening. ”
“That's stupid! That makes it sound like he's connected to it. He's not a link, he's a resource. ”
“I'm afraid we see it differently. What has he told you?”
I folded my arms, glaring at her. “What makes you think he's told me anything? And, even if he has, why would I tell you?”
Her voice was flat and a little dangerous. “You'll tell me because it's your job. ”
“My job? I'm sixteen! I didn't ask for any of this! Besides, why is it that I can prance around here without an ankle tracker, but you won't even let him out of his cell? Maybe if you'd stop being so scared of him and let him go, we could work with him and his group and actually have a chance at figuring this all out!”
“You know we can't do that. It's against the charter to release a paranormal untagged. ”
“What the crap am I, then? Huh? You can't stand here telling me that Lend is automatically an enemy because he's an unknown paranormal when I'm a freaking Level Seven!”
Her expression softened. “Please, don't do this. Not now. I've worked long and hard to make certain that the Supervisors see you not as a paranormal but as a girl who can do something unusual. We can't help Lend, honey, not right now. ”
Angry tears pricked my eyes. “Don't call me honey. I'm not your daughter. I'm your employee. ”
Her dark eyes went wide with hurt, then her face quickly hardened. “If you won't help us with Lend, you'll be confined to quarters. ”
I let out a harsh laugh. “Great, now you're grounding me. ” I couldn't believe how stupid I had been, pretending and wishing that Raquel was really my mom. Whatever else she might be, she was always professional. She was not my family.
The room around us had grown noisy, filling up as faeries dropped off more and more paranormals. Werewolf security guards milled around the edges and tried to direct the traffic into an orderly line in front of Lish's tank.
Raquel sighed. “I think it would be best if you went to your room. You're in no state to be around the Supervisors and they'll be here any minute. ”
I was about to come up with a snotty retort when shouting distracted both of us.
