He dug into her mind, then attempted to bind her. She stayed quiet, not letting on that he couldn’t. He grunted suspiciously and walked around her.
“Witch,” he growled. “What do you want? What is your goal?”
Abigail said nothing. No answer would appease this male.
He stared at her for a long time, then said, “Take her inside.”
She remained silent, keeping her eyes on the ground and her hands clenched together.
“This way,” the lieutenant called. “Move as a unit to fingerprinting.”
Abigail shuffled down the hallway with the vermin on all sides of her, plotting her escape.
***
“Your thumb,” thevodvodsaid, taking Abigail’s thumb and rolling it in ink.
‘Sally Sunshine’ was in the room close by, watching. Her power had shrunk more, revealing something interesting. She was with young. Power pulsed around the young in her belly, protecting it, but ‘Sally Sunshine hadn’t protected herself.
On Abigail’s shoulders, her stole jumped in the air.
Dear deae, no.
She surreptitiously clutched its little mouth, squeezing it together, mentally whispering,‘shhhhh, quiet, sleeeeepp’.
The body of the stole jumped again, independently of its head, its little belly bobbing. Thevodvodtook a step away from her, his face suspicious. He snarled, seeming ready to shift.
A ripping sound rent the air, spewing panic through Abigail. Hercask, one of her most important magical items, parted down the middle like a piece of wet paper. Balls of color and light flew everywhere, disappearing into the walls. Two orange balls and a black one unfurled into animal-like shapes, running up the walls and diving into the ceiling like it was an inverted pool. A small whitish lump hit the ground, and two leather-like scraps fluttered to lay beside it.
“Noooo!” Abigail cried, trying to catch her possessions as they flew out.
“Holy shit!” Beckett shouted. He threw his arms over his face, then stood in front of Cerise. “I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark! Don’t look, Cerise!”
‘Sally Sunshine’ thrust power at Abigail, and Abigail siphoned some of it, but found it difficult to work with. She deflected it back onto the cur-lover, wrapping her in a ball of her own power.
The door slammed open and her favoritevodvod, Harlan Mundelein stood there, his broad chest puffed out, his eyes taking in the room. “What in the hell?” he yelled.
“Don’t look at the fox spirits!” The othervodvodyelled. “They’re everywhere!”
Harlan growled for a moment, then fell silent. Abigail dropped to her knees and gathered up the tooth and the renqua scraps, hiding them in her fists, gathering up her splitcaskand pretending to cry.
“Open your eyes, Oswego,” Harlan snarled.
The vodvod squinted, cracking an eye open to check. “Ah shit. They’re gone.”
Abigail stood, usingvvystto help her look strong.
“Now that nothing remains hidden,” she snarled, “He comes. I suggest you prepare yourselves.” She backed against the wall and castvvystbehind her, summoning colors and light and sound, pressing her body into the wall.
Dimmmm,she instructed her body.Deeply dim, completely dim, entirely dimmm,she told her cells, using every ounce of power she had, her senses dimming with her physical form. She heard the males’ startled exclamations, as if from a distance.
“She fucking disappeared!”
“Right into the wall. I saw that shit.Evie!”
Even more distant, she heard a female shouting, “Harlan! We need you at Vice’s cellblock!”
Abigail, lighter and faster than normal, moved with the vod out into the hallway. She followed them into another section of the building and saw Conri Bloom. He was in a cell, holding on to the bars, shouting, ‘What’s going on?!’
