He rolled his eyes, taking a bite of a cucumber sandwich. “Did you see what they did to my homeland?” He gestured out beyond his yard, down at the base of the backside of the hill. He lived right on the fey border, but you could see Troll Village from here, and the farmlands. Once so beautiful with their golds and greens, everything was now black as far as the eye could see. “They burned it all. I’m not keen on giving them anything they want anytime soon. Besides, that ring will easily fix this place up and I can retire early. I don’t need much here.”
Okay … it was a decent answer, but I wasn’t going to trust it. He could turn on me at any time and I was going to treat him as such.
“How did you escape?” I asked. “Tell me everything.”
He eyed the two chairs on the other side of the table. “Sit, this will take a while.”
Two hours later,we’d heard the entire story. Magic City Prison was built up eighty stories into the sky. It was the tallest building in Magic City, which was in downtown Light Fey Territory, and the prisoners were all kept on the upper fifty floors. The lower thirty floors were for administration, storage, and other things. It was almost as tall as the freaking Eiffel Tower! But the worst news I heard was that it was on a tiny sandbank island in the middle of a giant roaring river. You had to swim or take a boat to get to the building.
“So even the lowest level is two hundred feet in the sky,” I observed as he described the layout.
He nodded. “Can’t jump out that window without certain death.”
I squirmed as I stared at the nub on the end of his arm. He’d recounted his story of cutting off his own hand to release the cuff’s magic. “So they only had one cuff before?” I asked for the fifth time.
He bobbed his head. “And now they do both armsandlegs.”
Shit. Maybe Sawyer was right and this was hopeless. Seam had told us that there was a magical grid built into the building, and even if you did make it out, you couldn’t leave the property with the cuffs still on or you’d die instantly. So I’d need to get Sawyer and Walsh’s cuffs off and then break them out somehow.
I decided to leave that for later and focus on any other information I could use. “So after you…?” I looked at his handless arm.
He grinned. “I lured the guard in and knocked him out.”
I nodded, replaying the story he’d just told us. “And you then dragged his body over to the cell and used his handprint to unlock the door because the doors lock behind them…”
He nodded. “Once I was in the hallway, I climbed into the air conditioning shaft, which I’d noticed was loose after a routine maintenance.”
Sage bobbed her head. “Because normally they are bolted shut.”
We’d been over this ten times, trying to find something we could use for Sawyer.
“Precisely. And then I climbed thirty floors down through the narrow venting until I hit the underground parking lot.”
“From there you stole a boat. All of this is likely not going to help us since after you left they have tightened security.”
Frick.
He looked at me seriously, stroking his chin with his good hand. “Is it true that you’re a cursed one? Demon? Soul jumper?”
I swallowed hard. Soul jumper? That was new. “No. I don’t know what that is,” I lied immediately.
His eyes glittered as if he didn’t believe me. “Because if the rumors are true, you could just have your wolf soul jump into your little friend here…” He pointed to Sage. “…and then she could get you inside the building. Two-for-one special.”
I frowned. What was he talking about?
Sage leaned forward. “What do you mean?”
The Ithaki rolled his eyes. “Her wolf, if the rumor is true, it jumped out of her body before with cuffs on, so surely it can do it again. She can’t get arrested because the Magic City warden will just turn her over to Queen Drake, but you…” He appraised Sage. “You they would gladly take in.”
A light dawned on me. “Trojan horse.”
He slammed his good hand down on the table and we both jumped. “Exactly!”
Sage could sneak my wolf into the building and then I could pull her out and … somehow free them all. But I could never ask Sage to do that, risk her life like that.
“Well, if the rumors were true, which they’re not, that would be a good idea,” Sage said, giving me the wide “let’s talk later” eyes.
I looked at Seam, wondering why the hell he was giving us these good ideas when he so clearly could turn me in or worse, try to “steal my essence” like all of the other psychos I’d met along the way.
