Lady Sarhin greetedus when we reached the high court.
“Dathal, Gabriel. I have everything set up for you in my office.” She turned on her heel, not waiting for a reply before setting off along the corridor with Gabriel and me hurrying to follow.
Axel had already sent word of the hunter’s death and what we were looking for. With any luck, we would be back in the human realm before too much time had passed.
Our methods of storing information were considerably different from the electronic tablet that Gabriel pulled out of his rucksack when we got to Lady Sarhin’s office.
His forehead scrunched in confusion as he glanced at the three silver boxes on the table. “Erm…”
Lady Sarhin had left us alone, and I took a seat at the table, gesturing for Gabriel to do the same.
I picked up a box and held it out to him. “This is apravix.”
Gabriel took it, a gasp escaping as it touched his skin. His eyes widened and his gaze shot to mine. “It’s… thrumming. Vibrating almost.”
I smiled, pleased that he could feel it. I hadn’t been sure whether he’d be able to or not. “That’s the magic.” I let him hold it for a moment longer, then plucked it out of his fingers. “It’s where all the prison files are stored.”
“In there?”
“Yes.” I chuckled. “What were you expecting?”
He looked guiltily at his tablet, then back at the pravix. “How does it work?”
“Much like one of your police files that you printed out for me.” I stroked a finger along the smooth surface, the tickle of magic skittering over my skin, waiting for me to access it. “I connect to it with my magic, then search through the records stored in there until we find what we’re looking for.”
He frowned again. “How, though?”
I tapped my temple. “I’ll see it all in here.” It was the easiest way I could think to describe it. He still looked sceptical. “Trust me,” I said, not wanting to waste time trying to explain it further. “I’ll search for all the witches released in the last year, and you see if you can match them to the list Max gave you.”
“Okay.”
As well as detailed information on all the witches sent through the gateway for trial, Max also had a document from the witches’ council detailing the whereabouts of the witches. Or where the council believed them to be.
In theory, the two should match up.
For the sake of our investigation, we were hoping that it didn’t.
“Ready?” I asked, and Gabriel nodded then tapped at his tablet.
I closed my eyes, let my magic flow out, and connected to the pravix.
A shiver raced down my spine as the pathway clicked into place. Although trained to use boxes like these, I rarely had cause to do so, and the feeling was foreign enough that it took me a moment to get used to it.
Information swirled in my mind’s eye, ready and waiting for my commands. When I felt settled enough to start our search, I focused my thoughts and got to work.
* * *
“Fucking hell.”Gabriel ran his hands through already messy hair. It wasn’t the first time he’d done it. “How can that be?”
We hadn’t found any witches that were unaccounted for, but I had found three witches that matched the description Axel had given us based on the faces he’d seen in Melhak’s memories.
Faces of people he’d escorted through the gateway with Blake.
The only problem with that was the fact all three witches were listed as deceased by the witches’ council. Killed by hunters.
Gabriel swung his tablet towards me. “It says they were killed a month after their release. That’s almost a year ago. How can Axel be certain that Melhak saw them recently?”
I shook my head. “I can’t tell you how, but if Axel says it’s true, then it is. You’ll have to trust him on that.”
