“Brother?”
The curly-haired woman rolls her eyes. “Jade is very cynical about the IBMA—even though she’s well on her way to being one of them!”
The punk girl, Jade, blows a raspberry. “I’m very content running the coffee shop and havenooogrand ideas of joining these uptight losers.”
Amyrah clears her throat loudly.
“Offense intended,” Jade says with a feral smile.
The red demon grunts and pulls Jade against his side, then leans down and mumbles something in her ear. Her cheeks turn bright red and she mashes her lips together.
“I’m Sylvia, and this is Apollo,” the curly-haired woman says, reaching out for a handshake.
“Cait,” I say, accepting the gesture.
Apollo reaches for me next, and when I clasp his hand, I sense moisture and heat. He smells vaguely sulfuric, but not in a rotten egg way.
“I’m Rhazan,” the red demon says, not offering his hand.
I dip my head to him, then look at Amyrah. “What’s this about?”
“These two were the first of their kind to be categorized into the IBMA system, and they’re fairly certain Bastian is one of their brothers.”
I wait for her to go on, but she doesn’t. “And if he is?”
“I can pass off the case to another division.”
“But what would itmeanif he’s one of their brothers? Would there be any consequences, or requirements from him?”
Amyrah shrugs. “It wouldn’t be my responsibility, so I couldn’t tell you.”
Jade scoffs from the back of her throat and rolls her eyes.
Amyrah glares daggers at her.
“More IBB,” Jade murmurs to me.
I scowl. “What?”
“Interdimensional Bureau Bullshit,” Sylvia says.
“The I stands for Incompetent, actually,” Jade says with a saccharine smile for Amyrah.
“We’d like to see him now, please,” Apollo says with a placating gesture to disrupt the tension.
Amyrah grimaces, sighs, and then turns for the wall. Her magic opens the way and we step out into the street. She reaches out and everyone else grabs onto her arm.
“Well, coming?” Sylvia asks as she extends her hand to me.
I hold her hand and, once again, we’re surrounded by light. The floor mumbles off our trajectory, and then my body is sucked apart. The transportation is less violent this time, and when I open my eyes, we’re back at the hospital district.
My stomach is tight and full of fire as we make our way up to Bastian’s level. Is he going to be angry? Happy? Scared?
I’m not even sure what I am. There’s so much happening, I’m numb. It’s massive overload and I can’t process anything anymore.
Amyrah turns for his room and pushes me ahead. “Best that you go first.”
I walk to the wall and my orange magic lights up the way through. Not even a microsecond before my hand passes the threshold am I being tugged forward. Bastian’s arms wrap around me and I sigh contentedly against his warm chest.
