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“Tell me about the kids.” I crowded Tommy’s space. He hunched backwards. “Why were the Forsaken Lunars taking them from where they were safe?”
Tommy didn’t meet our eyes, his mouth pressed into a line. I gave him a serious chance to talk, but he didn’t speak. I conjured up a ball of water, making Tommy’s eyes widen.
“Hold his mouth open,” I said to Lex.
Lex grabbed Tommy’s jaw, wrenching it open. I shot the ball of water into his throat, making him squirm and sputter until I’d blocked his airway entirely. Just when I thought Tommy was going to pass out, I yanked the water back. When he didn’t speak immediately, I did it again until he was on his knees, trying to grab at his throat. I stopped, pulling the water out of his windpipe and levitating it over my hand.
“I’ll talk, I’ll talk!” Tommy wheezed. “We took them away to join our ranks!”
“Children?” Lex asked. “Some of them were just ten years old. And you’re stealing them from their beds and trying to convert them to your weird cult?”
“They don’t have homes,” Tommy said with a scoff. Very bold for someone who had just been drowning on dry land moments ago. “You really think they’d be better off in orphanages instead of with the Forsaken Lunars? Doubtful.”
“Tommy, youwereone of those kids,” Arden said, her voice flat. “The orphanages sucked, but they weren’t criminal organizations.”
“Depends on your definition of criminal.” Tommy sat up. He was too small to look intimidating, though he tried. “We take them away from these places where nothing is the same and their ‘family’ barely gives a shit, and we give them a purpose. A goal. A family. The Moon Oracle is their guiding light.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Who started this? The Moon Oracle?”
“Yes.” Tommy swallowed. “She wanted kids because they’re easier to guide to do our bidding. They’re hungrier. And the world has already screwed them over, so they’re usually happy to do anything to undermine the world as we know it. All of those recent break-ins, robberies, and disorder? Nine times out of ten, it was us.”
Tommy and I locked eyes for several moments. His gaze was so intense, like he believed in his mission with every fiber of his being. If even a quarter of the Forsaken Lunars had that fire in them…
I didn’t want to think about that.
But we had the Moon Oracle in custody. Once we took her down, the rest of the structure would crumble.
“God, this guy is annoying,” Jagger finally said. “Can I burn him alive?”
“Not yet. What else can you tell us?” I asked, making the water dance around Tommy’s face to get him to speak.
“Please. I don’t have anything more to say,” Tommy said, closing his eyes. “That’s it. You’ve found all the kids we’ve kidnapped and rescued them. We just use them to fill out our ranks. I swear. Please don’t hurt me. The Moon Oracle knows everything else.”
“Last chance to speak,” Lex warned.
“I swear!” Tommy’s voice cracked.
I glanced at Jagger and Lex, who glanced at Tommy. Lex pulled the oxygen from Tommy’s body as I stopped the water in his blood. He died almost immediately, slumping over.
Arden gasped, her hands covering her mouth.
“Sorry you had to see that, Kitten,” Lex said, cupping the back of her neck.
Arden took a deep breath. “It—it’s okay. We got what we needed from him. That wasn’t the Tommy I’d known.
“Come on.” I extended my hand and helped her to her feet. “Let’s go talk to the Moon Oracle next.”
We walked to the higher security section of the prisoners’ complex. The magic was heavy there, but not nearly as heavy as I assumed it would have been. I glanced at the enforcers standing watch, who were staring off into space in a daze. My stomach dropped.
Jagger snapped his fingers in front of an enforcer’s face. Nothing.
“Fuck,” Jagger mumbled. “How? Who did this?”
I tried a few counter-spells until I found one that woke them up. They staggered back, looking around.
“What happened? Who did this to you?” I demanded.
Lex pushed past them and started unlocking the doors holding the Moon Oracle.
