“The government,” she said, waiting for Mercy to nod. “We take a lot of contracts from the government. Not just ours, but globally. The list represented people they want dead, or in cuffs, or intel on.”
As the table turned on, Mercy grabbed it and held it in front of her face. I didn’t see, but I assumed it was scanning her. “You might see some familiar names.”
My fear was seeing Donovan’s name more than anything. She passed the tablet down the table, the sharp white light forcing my eyes into a squint.
“There are three colors,” Marzia said. “Red is kill, black is cuffs, blue is intel. You can tap their names and current information will appear.”
The first name on the list in red was simple,The Chemist, the second one,Valentina “Saint” Ricci. I scanned, looking for familiar names, and one of them caught my eye.
“Nathaniel Blackwell the third,” I said, tapping his name. “He owns the Equinox Antiques, that’s the company that tried to traffick me. I thought they were the people I’d killed.” Either I’d been lied to, or this information was outdated.
“Equinox Antiques is a real company,” Mercy said, inserting herself in the space between me and Marzia. “I wasn’t going to have you kill Nathaniel. He’s in blue, he’s for intel. The Blackwell family.”
“I know that name,” I grumbled. “Blackwell, they’re—they’re part of The Board at Whitespire.”
“And they’re also not to be killed,” Mercy said. “We’re not here to create economical collapse or downfall, we’re here to make sure people in power, like Nathaniel, know they can be killed at any time. It’s a much better motivator than a gun to the head.”
“That’s why I think you should come to the intel side of things,” Marzia said. “Leave killing to Donovan and those others who like to fight.”
The idea of taking a punch and feeling pain often made me flinch, so she had a point. “I don’t wanna be one of the fairies,” I let out to their laughter.
“Oh no, they’re just assistants,” Mercy said. “Intel workers knoweverything. And they gathereverything. You can take some time to think about it, but it would make you and Donovan a much stronger team.”
My dream of being out in the world was no squished into nothing, they wanted me behind a desk, a computer, and having to read so much I might as well have gone back to college. “This is another test,” I mumbled to seeing their big eyes staring at me like I was lunch.
“You tell us,” Mercy said. “Is this a test?”
I laughed. “You’re fucking with me,” I said. “You’re both fucking with me.”
Marzia reached out across the table to take the tablet back. “Well, there’s not a lot of people in this world who can do the work here.”
“I can do it,” I said, gritting my teeth. “I can absolutely do it.”
Mercy placed a hand on my shoulder, then extended one in front of me to shake it. I took it, I’d be a fool not to take it while I was in her literal domain. But what did this mean now? We shook hands for what felt like forever. Just staring into her eyes and smiling.
“You’re part of Sanctum,” Marzia said. “Congratulations.”
It couldn’t be that easy, could it?
***
I laid on my bed, cuddling the teddy, staring at the ceiling. I sat upright and realized they’d installed more tech into the room now. There was a TV with channels from all across the globe, the remote had so many buttons on it. Mashing my fingers against them all, I came across a screen. It showed how much money there was in my account. Money I could take out whenever I wanted. Just over a quarter-million dollars.
A knock came at the door as I sat there, staring at the figure on the screen, squeezing my teddy in my arms. Today had confused me, and the only thing I could count on was myself, and the comfort of my teddy. It was the only thing I needed right now to process.
“Art,” Donovan’s voice came through. “Are you in there?”
My chest rose and dipped as I took deep breaths. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do now. Donovan wasn’t going to be pushing me, controlling me, or anything now, and I didn’t know what to think or trust from what Mercy and Marzia said.
“I guess yougraduated,” Donovan said with a chuckle. “Congrats.”
Shuffling off the bed, I left the bear behind. “Thanks,” I said, turning the TV off.
At the door, Donovan stood with a big smile and a small teddy bear in his arms. He smelled so nice, warm and citrussy. “I didn’t know what to get you,” he said. “So, I just got you another one of these.”
“Another one?” I asked.
He nodded to the one in my room. “I bought you that months ago, it had been in my room for the longest time,” he said. “They put it in your room when you came in.”
