I didn’t wait for permission to make a break for it, but took off after Ari and Mitch.
“Don’t let them out of this block!” the wolf shifter snarled. This was followed by a piercing howl that sent a tremor through me and roused the remaining inmates. Most jeered as I ran past. I couldn’t tell if they were encouraging me to escape or cheering for me to get caught.
“Riley! Behind you!” Ari yelled.
I spun—right as the wolf shifter leapt at me.
I kicked without thinking, managing to clip the wolf’s front paws and causing her to splay as she landed. Her jaws snapped at my arms but before she could attack again Mitch, in full lion form, barreled into her side.
“Stop gaping and run!” he roared at me.
I didn’t need to be told twice. Ari’s cheetah form cut right around the corner, leading the way. I ducked a prisoner’s grasping hands and skidded to follow her. My feet slipped and I nearly went sprawling. Teeth clamped on the back of my shirt and dragged me back. I flailed, trying to break free.
“I’ve got you, hold still!” Ari said.
I planted my feet and crouched beside her right as Mitch ran past. “I’ll draw them off and meet you later! You two find my son. We’re not leaving without him.”
And then he was gone. I backed up, ushering Ari with me, as the wolf shifters sprinted past, followed by no fewer than four other guards, some of them shifters, others vampires.
“Back. Back up,” I whispered. “Take this hallway to the end—”
The alarm blared again, cutting off my words. I clamped my hands over my ears. The movement caught the attention of the next couple guards as they ran past. They both shifted into wolves and advanced on us, growling. I felt Ari tug on the back of my shirt again.
“Time to jump.”
“Time to…”
I looked back. Over the railing from where we stood was another platform—perhaps for maintenance or something—cutting the distance from us and the first floor in half.
“That gap’s too big,” I said.
“No it’s not. Jump.”
“Ari, I’m telling you—”
The wolves began to charge. We were out of time. Pushing aside my fear, I leapt up, braced my arms against the railing, and threw myself over it right as the nearest wolf snapped at the back of my head. Ari did the same, her long cheetah form extended in athletic perfection as she stretched gracefully toward our landing point.
I wish I could say I looked half as elegant.
My stomach hit the dead center of the railing below, knocking the air out of me with the force of a professional boxer’s punch. I gasped, trying to keep from blacking out as I gingerly rolled myself the rest of the way over and collapsed onto the platform.
“Get up!” Ari said. “They’re right behind us!”
I used her shoulders to leverage myself to standing, shooting a glance back at our pursuers. The two wolves were glaring down at us, clearly not willing to risk making the jump. I couldn’t believe we’d made it. Thank you, adrenaline.
My steps were wobbly as we started running again, but soon I’d caught my breath and we were at a true sprint once more, leaving the guards and Mitch behind.
After ten minutes of hard running, I came to a stop, wheezing heavily. “Let’s rest here,” I gasped.
Ari agreed. She reverted back into her human form and slumped against the metal wall. She’d ditched her guard hat somewhere amongst the dozen twists and turns we’d taken to put space between us and the main prison block.
After my lungs and legs stopped screaming at me, I pushed off my knees and gauged our surroundings. I could still hear the alarm blaring in the main part of the complex, but here it was no louder than a fading memory, nearly obscured by the trickling water running beneath the grates at our feet. We were alone. That was easy to tell. Something about where we’d ended up—with its oppressively low ceilings and narrow walls—screamed that we were apart from everything and everyone. It was cold, too. Like, really freaking cold. So cold I could practically smell the cold.
“Are we in a different block?” I said. “Maybe where the vampires are?”
Ari looked up. She stilled. “No, we’re not.”
There was only one way to go. Hopefully Mitch hadn’t been caught yet and we still had time to find Corey. I sighed and pointed down the hall.
“Let’s see if this loops back around somewhere.”
“It doesn’t,” Ari said. “It’s a dead end.”
“How do you know?”
With slow reluctance Ari pushed herself to standing and we walked to the next doorway. If it was possible, the hallways beyond were even narrower and more oppressive. Ari pointed to the words above the frame.
Isolation Ward
“Ah,” I said, my earlier feeling of inexplicable dread suddenly making a lot more sense. “The exact place they told us not to go. Did you lead us here?”
“I didn’t know the way. Every time I…I’ve never seen the way here. But it’s one place we haven’t checked. We can’t leave until we do.”
She was gnawing on her bottom lip, staring at the narrow passage beyond as though it was a dragon about to swallow her whole. I’d noticed she’d begun to tremble, but I didn’t think it was from the cold.
“Ari.” I put a hand on her arm. We’d long left the blanket of suppression magic back in block one and, if I concentrated, I was able to draw forth a bit of my fire, warming my hands. “You don’t have to go in there if you don’t want to. I’ll go in, check, be right out before you can say ‘cruel and unusual punishment.’”
Ari gave me a pained smile. “Thanks, but I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me.”
But I was worried about her. A lot, actually. I’d seen Ari scared a few times, mostly when the Outcasts were under threat. Like Jasper, she cared for us, her family, more than anything in the world. A true den mother if I’d ever seen one. But this fear was different. It was the kind of fear that wrapped your mind in darkness, pulled you back to a place in your past you’d tried so hard to forget.
“Okay,” I conceded. “We’ll make this quick.”
We stepped through the doorway and immediately the last of the alarm cut off as though we’d shut a thick leaden door behind us. The narrow walls seemed to close in even more, though I knew it was only my imagination. My chest tightened. I concentrated only on what lay ahead, putting one foot in front of the other.
Five doors inlaid within the steel walls lined either side, with nothing but a narrow slit covered with glass to look in or out.
“This is crazy,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “How can they do this to anyone? If I had to stay here, I’d be insane within a week—”
I heard a faint bump. I looked over to find Ari crouched, bracing herself against the wall.
“Ari?”
“I can’t do this,” she whispered when I knelt beside her. “I thought I could, but I’m not strong enough.”
I put a hand on her back, letting her know I was here with her. “Hate to break it to you, but you’re already in here and doing it. You are strong enough. You’re one of the strongest people I know.”
Ari pinched the corners of her eyes, wetting the tips of her fingers with tears. She grimaced as another swell of whatever sick magic they used to dampen this place washed over us. “No, I’m not. I’m scared and weak and frightened. I try to act tough, but I always fail when it counts.”
I drew out more of my magic and put my hands on Ari’s shoulders. She winced at the initial exposure of heat but soon relaxed into it. I tried drawing more, but almost as soon as I did the magic began to fade. It was as though I was feeding whatever fueled this oppressive place. Like it was a beast slowly gaining strength from our fear and hopelessness.
“Being scared doesn’t mean you aren’t tough,” I said. “It just means you’re human. Well, part, anyway. I’m scared too. Really, really scared. I need you with me, so if you aren’t, neither of us is going anywhere.” I couldn’t stop a small smile. “No offense, but you kind of talked me into doing this. The least you can do is get me out in one piece.”
Ari chuckled. She pressed the corners of her eyes again, taking a few deep breaths. At last she pulled her head up.
“Riley, you’re kind of burning me.”
“Sorry!”
Ari stood and gave me a quick hug. “Thanks. Let’s check these quick and get out of here. Oh, maybe don’t mention this, uh, breakdown to the other Outcasts?”
“There’s nothing to mention.”
Nothing they wouldn’t already know, anyway. She’d had a moment of weakness, something we could all relate to. I’d seen it in Rasesh as he died, seen it in Iris more than once since we’d been reunited. Even Jasper—strong, capable Jasper—had on more than one occasion shown vulnerability. I didn’t see it as weak. The complete opposite: it was the sign of someone strong enough to admit they weren’t always strong.
Ari took the right side of the ward and I took the left, each of us peering through the glass-covered slits into the cells. The first two held nothing but a single metal bed jutting from one end and a toilet in the corner. But the third…
I raised myself on my tiptoes. A shape hunched in the corner, head between their knees. It was impossible to tell who it was from here.
“Hey, you awake in there?”
“I am now, no thanks to you…” a man replied. He pulled his head up and I was hit with piercing purple eyes, something I’d never seen in shifters, vampires, or any witches. A grin slid up one side of his face. “Even with that hat on I can tell someone cute is asking.”
Great. A candidate for “worst time and place to flirt ever.”
“We’re searching for someone,” I said.
“Congrats, you’ve found someone.”
“His name is Corey.”
The man stood so that our eyes were inches apart, separated only by the thin pane of glass. “Who’s looking?”
“His father. Mitch.”
There it was, a flicker of recognition. This close, I could see that the sharp planes of his face and slightly crooked nose—a nose that looked as though it’d been on the receiving end of a solid punch one too many times—resembled Mitch too much to be anyone other than Corey.
“My dad’s here?” Corey said.
“Here, running around the prison being chased by guards, it’s all relative,” I said. “Ari! I found him!”
Ari finished peering in the final cell on her end and hurried over. “You sure this is the guy?”
“You’re Arianna Lucinda Vanderpolt,” Corey said to her. “My dad told me about you. You were part of Fang and Claw with my dad Mitch and my mom Tricia. Dad’s a lion shifter, mom’s a wolf shifter when she’s not busy chewing off his ear and anyone else who gets on her nerves. Which is a lot of people.” That cocky grin was back. “Do I get a prize?”
“That’s him,” Ari said, grinding her teeth. “Though I kind of wish it wasn’t.”
“Come on, Arianna, don’t be like that,” Corey said.
“Call me Arianna one more time and we’re walking out of here.”
“What if I call you sweetheart?”
Ari looked ready to castrate him, and I would gladly unlock the door for her to do it.
“Don’t get yourself in a twist.” Corey snorted. He went still as something bumped a few cells down. “Did you check all the cells?” he said, voice lower.
“Not on this side,” I said. “Why?”
Corey nudged his head. “They brought another guy in with me. We got into a fight in the yard. Nasty piece of work. Crazy powerful. Almost as powerful as me, and I don’t admit that often. They have suppression magic of a different kind in here but I don’t trust it. Just make sure he’s not awake.”
I cautiously checked the remaining cells. The one on the very end was full. A man sat cross legged against the wall, head covered in stringy hair, eyes closed, hands resting on his knees. His lips moved as though he was talking in his sleep. His fingers twitched. If I looked closely, it seemed like the edges of his body were a bit fuzzy, though that could have been my breath on the glass.
“I think we’re okay,” I said when I returned to the others.
Corey relaxed. “Good. Then how about getting me out of here?”
“Care to do the honors, Riley?” Ari said.
The lock was inlaid with the rest of the door so it’d be impossible to simply break it off. Instead, I placed my hand against where the lock and handle met and pushed fire into it. The metal slowly changed from red, to orange, to yellow. Ari stepped back as bits of it sloughed off the door and pooled on the floor.
“Is this going to take long?” Corey said. “Believe it or not, the guards do check on us every so often.”
“Why don’t you put your hand against the handle and push,” Ari snapped.
“Touchy, touchy. I like that.”
I could practically hear one of Ari’s molars snap as she ground her teeth together again. I continued focusing on growing my flames. The lock now resembled a Salvador Dali painting, the metal droopy and thick. Just a little bit longer.
“You hear that?” Corey said.
“Not a good time for jokes,” I snapped.
“Seriously. I think the guards might be coming.”
The last bit of the lock fell off. The door shifted as though coming out of its frame. “Push it open.”
Corey did so without hesitation and stepped out. He wasn’t as tall as I’d first thought, but barrel-chested and stocky like his dad. A thin layer of stubble covered his face. He looked toward the exit. “Now would be a great time to leave.”
“What an excellent plan,” Ari said. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
There was another sound, and this time I knew it wasn’t from any guard. For one, it sizzled, like hot metal being dropped into water, or the buzz of a live wire snapping at the air. For another, it came from behind us, not the hallway.
“Damn,” Corey said when we all turned.
The other prisoner stood outside his cell, murder in his eyes.