NEW JEWELRY

Oh. My. Galloping. Gremlins. My head hurt so bad that when I opened my eyes, everything was the same shade of blinding white. My tongue felt thick and dry and too big for my mouth, and my entire body ached. I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them again, trying to blink away the whiteness.

Which was when it hit me. The white wasn't in my eyes. It was outside-and all around me. I sat up from my small cot and stared in horror at the seven feet by seven feet cube of a room I was in. My hand went immediately to my neck. My necklace, with the iron heart that Lend gave me, was gone.

My heart raced, panic setting in. No, this was wrong. They just brought me in to chew me out, or demand I work for them again, or-

I reached a hand down to my ankle and was immediately sick to my stomach over the small bulk beneath my jeans hem. No, no, no, no, no.

I'd been bagged and tagged. The ankle bracelet I was wearing was as familiar to me as Tasey; I knew exactly how it worked, and even then it was all I could do to keep my fingers from trying to rip it off.

I'd only get electrocuted again.

I stared at the open doorway, tormenting me with a free pass to freedom-or at least, freedom for anyone who hadn't been tagged. And if I had to guess, I'd say I wasn't in Containment or the normal cellblock. If they had any brains, they'd have put me in the Iron Wing.

Which wasn't to say I thought they had any brains at all, because the second one of them came in the room, he was going to get the surprise of a lifetime. I didn't think they knew what I could do besides seeing beneath glamours. They never knew that Viv and I were the same. Raquel wouldn't have told them; I had to believe that.

Which meant that I was armed, and they had absolutely no idea.

Normally I wouldn't even consider using my abilities on a werewolf, much less a human. Their souls were already so fragile, everything about the idea felt wrong. Even Vivian never sucked a normal human dry. But there was no way I was going to sit around in lockup while my boyfriend was being held prisoner. I didn't care what it would take to get out of here.

"HEY," I shouted, walking barefoot right up to the doorway. "HEY. I wanna talk to Raquel."

No response. I went back to my cot and tried to pry it up to throw out in the hall, but it was bolted to the floor. Figured. I grabbed the scratchy gray blanket and tossed it out into the hall, followed by the thin mattress.

"HELLO! You better get whoever's in charge the bleep in here or you're going to regret it! People know I'm missing! And by people I mean paranormals the likes of which you can only imagine in your worst nightmares!"

Well, that was probably a lie. I'd walked out on them. And why would they think to look for me here? Still, I was going to play every card I could. "You think last April was bad? Wait and see how many of you are left standing if you keep me in here, you bunch of-"

"Evie," a gruff voice said and Bud, my old trainer, came into view. He looked older than the last time I'd seen him, and much sadder.

"Bud! Listen, you have to let me go. This is a huge mistake."

He shook his head, the heavy creases in his grizzled face deepening. "Sorry, kid. Things have changed around here." He looked both ways down the hall, then leaned in closer. "And not for the better."

"Bud. I just-I have to get out of here." Tears of desperation pooled in my eyes. "My boyfriend, he's been kidnapped by faeries and I'm the only one who can help him. Please, Bud, they're going to hurt him. Help me. Where's Raquel?" I wasn't trying to manipulate him by crying, really I wasn't, but the second I wasn't angry I was overwhelmed with fear and hopelessness.

He looked torn, then shook his head. "I'll tell them you're awake. I wish there was something more I could do for you, I really do." Frowning, he walked out of my vision.

I cried harder. Then I straightened and wiped my eyes. I was not going to cry in front of anyone else here. Ever. They were screwing with the wrong girl.

I paced my room-one-two-three-four-five-six-seven, turn two-three-four-five-six-seven, turn two-three-four-five-six-seven, turn two-three-four-five-six-seven.

One. Get out of the bleeping Center.

Two. Get to the Faerie Realms.

Three. Kill the Dark Queen.

Four. Save Lend.

Five. Make IPCA pay.

Six. Help the paranormals figure out another way home.

Seven. Finish plans for the Winter Formal.

Simple enough.

One. Get out of the bleeping Center, assuming anyone ever came to talk to me.

Two. Get to the Faerie Realms, assuming I could somehow get a faerie name and then control that faerie even though half the faeries wanted me dead and the other half wanted to use me.

Three. Kill the Dark Queen, assuming I could get within twenty feet of her without falling under her thrall and also somehow drain her before she snuffed me out of existence.

Four. Save Lend, assuming he was still...

"Get me out of this freaking white cell! Come on!" I screamed. "Get. Me. Out. Now. If my boyfriend gets hurt because of this, I swear I will come back here and BURN THIS PLACE TO THE GROUND!"

"Now, now," said Anne-Whatever Whatever, stepping in front of my doorway but just out of arm's reach. "Calm down, Evelyn."

"Let me go. You have no right to do this, and you have no idea what you're messing with."

"Actually, we have every right. You've violated enough sections of the charter to qualify for lifetime lockup."

"I'm not a member of IPCA anymore!"

"No, but you're not a person, either, not legally. You remain a Level Seven paranormal of unidentified origin. Which means that I have final say in any and all containment policy."

My insides turned to ice, and I stood straighter, glaring at her. "What do you know about being a person?"

She sniffed primly. "We have a lot to discuss. This would all be much easier if you'd cooperate. Wouldn't you rather be useful, make a difference to humanity, than be locked up in this cell for the rest of your life?"

I laughed. "Don't talk to me about humanity. I know a pair of freaking seals that have more humanity in their flippers than you do in your whole organization. You want to talk about protecting humanity? If you don't let me out, the best person I have ever known will get hurt. If you have any shred of human decency in you, you'll let me go right now so I can save him."

She raised an eyebrow, and I continued, desperate.

"Let me go right now, and I swear I'll come back. I'll work for you however you want me to, whatever you want me to do. You want me to come back full-time to the Center, I'll do it. You have my word. But please, please, please, let me go. Please."

She cocked her head. "What I think you fail to realize is that you're not in any position to bargain here. You'll do what I want you to because you have no other choice. Think about that, and we'll talk again tomorrow."

She started to walk off and I felt like I was going to explode. "Stop! Stop! I want to talk to Raquel! She's a Supervisor-you have to let me talk to her."

Anne-Whatever Whatever stopped and looked back at me with a small smile on her face. "Was a Supervisor. Have a good night, Evelyn."