Natalie drags her hand down her face. “Katie…”
I wrench out of her grasp and stop walking, my fists clenched. “You believed me when I told you I’m an empath, and you believed me when I told you I could sense curses and magic. What’s so different about this?”
She waves her arms. “Because this time you’re telling me you’re having conversations withmagic. It doesn’t make sense.”
“I know.” My voice softens as Natalie’s expression turns distraught. I guess I am throwing everything she knows into question. “Natalie, there’s more to the chimeras than the coven understands. They’re sentient, conscious—”
“And dangerous!” She steps closer, dropping her voice. “Bio magic is what witches have used to perform mind control. If these chimeras were inside your head, we need to be careful. You’re being influenced by dark forces.”
I shake my head, frustration building in my chest. “It wasn’t like that! They wanted to show me—” I swallow hard. I could tell her about finding Millie, but that might reinforce her belief that bio magic isdangerous. Besides, Millie and Sebastian didn’t want me to tell anyone. “The chimeras want to be left alone and free. Natalie, I don’t think this magic should be caged. I don’t think chimeras are dangerous unless—”
“Unless witches dedicate our whole lives to keeping them out of the wrong hands?” She looks around again, maybe afraid someone will overhear. Her face is pale in the dim light. “Do you understand what bio magic has done in the past? What the Madsens could do with it?”
“Of course I do.” I grit my teeth, trying to keep my voice level. “I get that their power needs to be kept safe. But is trapping and caging them the answer? There has to be another way.”
“There isn’t,” Natalie snaps. Something flickers across her expression—a flash of uncertainty before she shakes her head. “The coven has studied these entities for centuries. We wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t the only way.”
“But what if—”
“I thought you wanted to avoid getting sent to prison.” She spins and strides toward her room, her cloak billowing. The plants on the walls lean away as she passes.
“I do!” I cry, racing after her.
“Then why are we arguing about whether we should trap these things?” she says over her shoulder.
I open my mouth, but any arguments die in my throat. Am I getting distracted from the more important issue of my freedom? My trial gave me one path forward: catch every chimera or spend five years in a cell.
“Maybe the chimeras spoke to you, Katie, but that doesn’t mean they can be trusted.”
The words hit hard, and my heart stumbles. Was I tricked? Did Lucy read into my deepest desires and use that to manipulate me?
I’ve been so desperate to belong in the coven, twisting myself into knots to try and prove my worth, and it’s possible she reached into my mind and pulled that shameful fact right out of me. Used it againstme. Made me feel validated, knowing how readily I would believe I was special.
I clench my fists, my palms sweating. The certainty I felt at the cove suddenly seems fragile.
But then there’s my intuition, which has never led me astray. Thinking back to the cove, the way Lucy’s words resonated in my bones…I felt something real. And what about Troy telling me to trust my gut? I can’t ignore that.
The silence stretches out, the air between us thick and murky.
“Everything’s a fucking mess,” Natalie growls, running a hand through her hair. “Has Hazel at least told you where Oaklyn lives?”
“No,” I say, bristling.
Natalie shoots me a glare, her dark eyes piercing me. “She’s staying at Oaklyn’s place, isn’t she?”
I glare back. “We’re asking her to share information that will destroy any future she has with a woman she’s infatuated with. Give her time.”
“Where the Madsens are involved, we don’t have time.” We reach Natalie’s door, and she faces me with her jaw set. “Are we going back to Lighthouse Park to trap these things?”
I splutter, Lucy’s warning fresh in my mind. “If you want to get us killed.”
“This nest you found is exactly what we need to win your freedom.”
I stare at her, my heart pounding. I could argue that the chimeras might not be there anymore, but Lucy did say that Sebastian and Millie would be there for a few more days as they tried to separate her from the magic she absorbed.
Natalie drops her voice. “Katie, you’ve just told me you visited an entire pack of chimeras, and your best friend, who has an algorithm to track where these things are located, is currently bunking up with Oaklyn Madsen. We need to go back and trap them as soon as possiblebefore someone else gets there first. We’ll bring Sky and whoever agrees to help.”
I open my mouth, strangled by several arguments at once. First, how dare she imply that Hazel can’t be trusted. Second, will Sky be up for it after having her leg bitten? Third, the image of Lucy trapped beneath a net, thrashing in pain, sends a shudder through me.
