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Liar.
She was right there, five feet away. I could blast her mind with my song, and she would confess to everything.
Alessandro reached, took my fingers into his, and squeezed my hand. He knew me too well. Nobody in that room realized that I was on the edge of violence, but he did, and he was trying to keep me from leaping off that cliff.
Kaylee’s gaze snagged on our hands. A furious spark flared in her mind.
The FBI agents leaned forward, focused on Kaylee like sharks.
Alessandro gave her his charming, irresistible smile, trying to defuse the bomb before it had a chance to explode.
I stared straight at her. Go ahead. Target me. Hit me. Do it. Do it right now, so I can end this. All I needed was the tiniest excuse, the smallest justification. I had the FBI right here as my witnesses. Just a little bit of aggression, Kaylee. Take a swing, and I will make you relive Pete’s death until your mind snaps like a twig.
Alessandro locked his fingers on mine in a silent no. His voice was smooth, almost intimate. “Where were you between the hours of 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. last night?”
The shell on Kaylee’s mind tore. A burst of magic shot out, uneven, knotted, and powerful, like a flooded mountain stream dragging branches and rocks as the water tore down. She’d meant to focus it on Alessandro, but her control was sloppy, and it splashed the entire room on its way to him. The magic smashed against my shields, burning hot, and harmlessly dissipated. The minds of the two uncles flashed in response, their shells impregnable.
Like me!
Agent Wahl’s face softened into a smile. It was one of the most disturbing things I had ever seen.
Next to him, Agent Garcia wasn’t smiling. She looked ready to rip Kaylee’s head off.
“As I said . . .”
A second flood of magic smashed into Alessandro, so potent, it was shocking. The edge of it swiped me. It was like sticking your head into a fireplace with a fire raging inside. Her magic was attempting to do the same thing a halcyon would, but it didn’t feel like any halcyon I had come across.
Like me. Like me! LIKE ME!
My magic bucked like a wild horse, straining my hold and trying to splay out into wings. I gritted my teeth and kept it in check.
“. . . I had homework,” Kaylee said.
A third flood. She was trying to cook him, except she had no training, so she was relying solely on power. There was no subtlety there. No skill. Just raw impact. She smashed his mind like a hammer.
Most mental mages hid their minds behind shields. It was one of the first things we learned. The shield was like a wall of stone. With enough power, you could shatter your opponent’s wall. Committing too much power to an attack like that could leave you vulnerable, but you could break through if you were strong enough.
Alessandro’s mind appeared to have a wall, but if you tried chipping at it, you realized that the wall never ended. His entire mind was a basalt craig, a solid chunk of stone. There was no breaking through.
“I didn’t take any walks.” A fourth flood.
Her magic burned a painful lesion across my defenses. If Alessandro wasn’t an antistasi, she wouldn’t have just turned him into a happy idiot, she would’ve damaged his brain.
Agent Garcia turned and stared at me, outrage in her eyes.
I wanted to kill Kaylee. She hurt Linus. She hurt my family. I needed to wipe her off the face of the planet here and now, before she hurt anyone else I cared about. There was a stormy ocean inside of me, with furious waves battering the rocks and unstoppable currents swirling, and I needed to drown Kaylee in it.
Alessandro shook his head at both me and Garcia.
Another splash of magic, weaker this time. She was getting tired.
None of her attacks even fazed him. He squeezed my hand again and said, his voice smooth, almost chiding, “Are you sure you didn’t go out? Perhaps a quick walk around the neighborhood? I’m here to help you, but you have to be honest with me.”
Kaylee stared at him, incredulous.
Agent Wahl let out a happy sigh. “I’m so relaxed right now. I really like it here. You are a lovely person, Ms. Cabera.”
Elias and Julian rose in unison.
No. We’re not finished. I didn’t have my turn.
“My niece is tired,” Julian announced.
“Does your niece know the meaning of an assault on a federal officer?” Agent Garcia ground out.
“This interview is over,” Elias said.
Agent Garcia grabbed Wahl by his arm and hauled him to his feet.
He blinked at her. “Are we leaving? Can’t we stay a little bit longer?”
“No, we can’t.” Agent Garcia steered him to the door. “This isn’t over. We’ll be in touch.”
