The walls are a faded green, peeling in places to reveal cold concrete beneath.
My minotaur already knows we need to go down a level to find the children. I inform my Nymph.
—OK—
A door to my left opens and a small woman steps out. I scan the office. Filing cabinets, a desk, then my attention turns to her.
Mid-thirties, glasses. An air of being an administrator, not a decision maker.
“I’ll take them down,” the woman says. The guard nods and leaves us.
She looks at our group. “You don’t all need to come.”
Nobody responds. After a shrug the woman opens another door to reveal a flight of stairs. This makes my minotaur stir.
Down.
Yes. I can feel the change in atmosphere, and something else…familiarity.
I have been here before.
My boots echo on the metal grating of the stairs, a sound that vibrates straight into my marrow. I remember this sound.
The footsteps.
—Lu?...What’s wrong?—
I tighten my grip on Theo’s arm, playing the part of a guard, but drawing comfort from the contact.
The urge to burn this place to the ground is overwhelming.
We reach the bottom of the flight.
The air here is thick with mold, urine and fear.
The woman with the glasses checks her tablet, then leads us past a row of heavy, reinforced doors. Each has a small viewing port. As we pass, I see a flicker of movement behind one—a small, pale face that quickly vanishes into the shadows.
"Cell 7 at the end," the woman says. Her tone is bored. Bored of imprisoning children.
I watch her take a key card from a lanyard around her neck. A neck I’d like to break. She slides it through the reader, then stands to one side. “You know the drill.”
The cell is a concrete box with a thin mat and a bucket.
I escort our captive into the space. She acts perfectly, her head bowed, her shoulders slumped.
The presence of the hound and gryphon behind me is reassuring.
I do not like this box.
“Hey, back up,” I hear the woman complain.
The next second, she stumbles forward, pushed from behind. I don’t hesitate in taking her head and snapping her neck in an instant.
The gryphon speaks quietly. “Theo, put on her clothes. With the glasses on and your hair up, from a distance you can pass for her.”
She immediately starts stripping as Feniks takes the key card.
“Max, you need to shift. You’ll be the first line of attack, then me and Cosmo with guns. Ludo, you help Theo with the kids.” He hands her the spectacles. “And,pulu, can you let Donovan know what’s happening?”
