“Her powers must’ve recently awakened, otherwise, she would’ve been here sooner,” Marcus theorized. “But why wouldn’t the Warden experiment on her, instead of going after all of us? He cares more about his plans than he does his family.”
“Because she’s useful to him,” Charlie said. “Her loyalty is more valuable to him than her power, for now. She’s a tool he can use against us. He’s using one demigod to get four. It’s a better deal for him.”
“Yeah, but why is she here now?” Kallie pressed. “It’s the middle of the semester. If the Warden’s telling the truth—”
“Which he never does,” I grumbled.
“— And she chose to be here, she shouldn’t have arrived until the start of fall,” Kallie pressed.
“Then the Warden must’ve been impatient to get her here,” I suggested. “He doesn’t want to wait until the fall to put her up to whatever she’s got planned.”
“Or Warden already gave her a job, and she completed the mission he gave her early,” Marcus worried.
“That’s absolutely terrifying,” Charlie stated. “We have no idea what kind of task he asked her to do.”
“Is there any possible way we can get her on our side?” I pressed.
Chancey shook his head. “Doubt it. She’ll do what it takes to be at the top, and she ain’t gonna help you outta the kindness of her heart. You’re not gonna be able to beat whatever the Warden’s offering her.”
“Maybe we could trick her,” Charlie said.
“I wouldn’t try,” Chancey warned. “She’s a master manipulator and will see right through it.”
I gave a cold laugh. “She hasn’t met me yet.”
“I know it don’t make much sense, but she’sveryreligious, and she doesn’t mind whipping out any verse our holy book has as a weapon against people. That makes her more dangerous than most of the prisoners in here,” Chancey insisted.
“She probably thinks serving the Warden is her duty to the Celestial Church,” Kallie mumbled.
I gave a scoff. “I’m not worried about some choir girl attempting to convert inmates with her fire and brimstone sermon.”
“You should be,” Chancey warned me. “Religious texts in the hands of bad people can be used to start a lot of chaos, especially when it’s being preached to some angry individuals. And there’s a lot of angels in this prison who are really angry about what happened to Celestial City.”
“You sound like you know,” Marcus asked curiously.
“My parents left Celestial City for New York before I was born, and I never would’ve gone back to Celestial City if the Church hadn’t forced me to return,” Chancey said. “Let’s just say before I got sentenced… what was being preached in the halls of the Church was enough to make my blood run cold. And I ain’t an easy guy to scare. All I’m saying is, you guys better be careful. Real careful.”
Marcus ducked his head out of the entrance to the staircase. “We better get back to class. Don’t want anyone to notice we’re missing.”
We went to the main entry hall. Chancey stopped dead in his tracks, causing Charlie to push me into him. Chancey stumbled forward, catching the attention of two people standing before the fireplace.
I had to look twice, because I didn’t recognize him. He’d taken a potion to dye his hair black, and his makeup and rings were gone. The skirt he’d been wearing this morning was replaced by plain slacks and male dress shoes. That mischievous spark in his eye had been snuffed out.
It was Ivy. But he looked lessIvythan he ever had before. It was one of the saddest things I’d ever witnessed, and I’d seen some sad shit.
What’s going on? Charlie asked.
Ivy’s dad showed up, I told him.Our friend doesn’t look like himself.
Looming in the shadow of the firelight was a tall, lithe man, with slicked back hair and a tailored suit that was completely out of place amongst the filth of the prison. A pointed nose, high cheekbones and heavy eyebrows accentuated his masculine features. Everything about the man was staunchly vampire. Dude could call Dracula a poser and get away with it.
Ivy for sure looked like his mother. Ivy’s father hardly shared anything in common with his son.
Ivy saw us coming. He faced us warily and gave a nod toward his father.
The movement was so out of place. Ivy flowed like a dancer, but this gesture was firm and stiff. “Hey, guys. This is my dad, Salvatore Bianchi.”
Salvatore didn’t say anything, merely looked us up and down. He was surveying us like we were merchandise.
