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  “Shh. It’s all right.” The hand I had freed reached out to touch my hair, and I wanted to start crying for real then, feeling the warmth of his skin, the wave of love coming from him so palpable, it was like the first kiss of the sun after a long, cold winter.

  Then his right hand was free as well, and he was pulling me against him, his mouth finding mine. I kissed him, even though I knew I should be moving on to free his feet. But I had to taste him again, glory in the sensation of those lips pressed to my lips, if only for a stolen second or two.

  I did pull away, though, and began sawing through the rope that held his right foot. At the same time, he was bending down to start pulling at the knots of the other rope, the one on his left leg. In less than a minute he was free, and I stepped away so he could push himself up off the bed.

  Oh, he was so gloriously tall, and although I could see the shadows of pain in his features, his confinement didn’t seem to have affected the heavy muscles of his arms and chest, the strength of his back. His expression was grave as he stared down at me, and although I could tell he wanted to reach out and pull me against him again, he didn’t.

  “So,” he said. “I am free. Now what?”

  “We get the hell out of here.”

  “And what is the temperature outside?”

  “A little below zero,” I admitted. “But the cold never bothered you before — ”

  “When I was in full possession of my powers, no. But that device is sapping me of most of my strength, and until I am completely free of its area of effect, I can be hurt by the cold like any mortal man. Unfortunately, I am not dressed for such an outing.”

  As I stared at him, I realized for the first time that he wore a plain black T-shirt and a pair of black sweat pants. His feet were bare. He could probably survive a few minutes outside dressed like that, but not the long trudge back to where I’d left the Cherokee, even though it was downhill.

  “We’ll find something,” I said. “There has to be someplace in this building where there’s a spare coat or two, and maybe some boots. But we can’t stay in here — we still have to find Natila first.”

  Jasreel watched me for a few seconds, then nodded grimly. “And perhaps if I get far enough away from the device in this building, it will not affect me as adversely, and I’ll be able to endure more than I thought I could.”

  “Exactly,” I said, keeping my tone as encouraging as possible. For all I knew, he could be right. I didn’t know enough about how the boxes worked to even begin to estimate how far their effect extended.

  I reached out and took his hand, and he grasped my gloved fingers. Worse come to worst, I’d give him my scarf and my knitted cap. He could never fit into my coat or my boots, but having a little extra protection from the cold would help some.

  Hand in hand, we slipped away from the small room that had been his prison. The corridor was still empty, to my relief. Even so, I made sure my voice was barely above a whisper as I asked, “Do you think Natila is on this floor?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so. We djinn can sense one another. Even with the device switched on, I was aware of her presence, if she was close enough — which is how it was back at the first place they were keeping us. Once we were here, though, I lost contact.”

  Which meant she had to be on the second floor. Unless the light I had seen earlier had absolutely nothing to do with Odekirk’s second captured djinn, and she was being held in an entirely different building after all.

  I pushed the worry away. We were here now, so the logical thing to do would be to search the second floor before we started second-guessing ourselves.

  “This way,” I said, hurrying in the direction of the stairwell. I supposed I should be glad that Natila’s likely location was only one floor below us, and not farther up in the building.

  But we never got to the stairs. When we were halfway there, the doors to the elevator opened, and out stepped Miles Odekirk, flanked by not two, but four guards. The fluorescent light in the hallway glinted off his glasses, obscuring his eyes. I saw his mouth, though. It curved in a faint smile, just before he said,

  “Going somewhere, Ms. Monroe?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  The room might have been a twin to the one where’d they’d been keeping Jace locked up — square, with ugly green carpet and a clock ticking away somewhere above my head. In this case, however, it felt far more cramped, mostly because it held Miles Odekirk, Captain Margolis, and two guards in addition to me.

  I had no idea where Jace had been taken. One of the guards had spirited him off. Well, attempted to, actually. Weakened and drained by the constant influence of the device he might be, but Jace still fought back, landing a blow to the man’s temple before launching himself in my direction, fear and desperation clearly etched on his face.

  At once two of the other guards tackled him, wrestling him to the ground and then slapping a pair of handcuffs on him. I screamed my own protest, but with Margolis’ hand clamped around my arm like a band of steel, I knew I was powerless to help my lover. He was hauled off down the hallway — not in the direction of the room where he’d originally been imprisoned — and I was dragged into this other chamber, where I now sat on a hard little chair, hands bound behind me.

  “Well,” said Margolis, an unpleasant sneer on his face, “it appears that Dr. Odekirk’s suspicions about you were correct.”

  I maintained a stony silence, since I’d decided as they brought me in here that keeping my mouth shut was probably the best approach. Protesting my innocence wouldn’t do much good, seeing how they’d pretty much caught me red-handed.

  The two men exchanged a glance, while the guards to either side were doing their best not to react. I didn’t know either of them, although I thought I’d seen the taller of the two in Pajarito’s once or twice. But I could tell by the not-quite smirks pulling at both their mouths that neither of them had much sympathy for me or my predicament. Well, why should they? To them I must seem like the lowest of the low, someone who had cast her lot in with the enemy.

  I supposed I should be glad that no one had referred to me as a “djinn-fucker.”

  Not yet, anyway.

  “I’d ask if the cat had your tongue,” Margolis went on in conversational tones, “except I think we all know why you’re not talking. There isn’t much of a defense for what you did, is there?”

  Mouth tight, I lifted my shoulders. I had a feeling the expression I wore was one my mother had always hated — the not-quite pout, eyes shifted to the side. It practically radiated guilt but wouldn’t admit to it, although in this case I was guilty of a whole hell of a lot more than just coming home an hour after my parents’ designated curfew, back when I was in high school and had stayed out too late with my friends.

  “She’s not going to talk,” Odekirk put in. “We’ve seen the same thing in the other one. They fancy themselves in love with these creatures.”

  I stiffened. “Other one”? He had to be talking about Evony. According to the clock, I’d been in their custody for a little more than an hour. Plenty of time for them to send someone over to the house and haul Evony out of bed, then bring her here for questioning.

  Despite my vow to keep silent no matter what, I burst out, “Evony Rodriguez had nothing to do with this. She doesn’t even know that I left the house tonight!”

  Again Margolis and Odekirk exchanged one of those sidelong glances. “Funny, she said almost exactly the same thing,” the commander remarked. “Sounds a bit rehearsed, if you ask me.”

  “I don’t give a shit what it ‘sounds’ like,” I snapped. “She was sleeping when I left, and if she’d known what I was planning, she would’ve tried to stop me.” Maybe that was true…maybe it wasn’t. I didn’t know if she would have volunteered to come along, but I had a feeling she wouldn’t have tried to keep me from going, if it meant a chance at getting Natila back.

  “So, are you saying her devotion to her lover isn’t as strong as yours is to thi
s…Jasreel?” Odekirk pronounced the unfamiliar name with distaste.

  “I’m not saying that at all. I’m just saying she probably has more common sense than I do.”

  Margolis smiled. There was no warmth in his eyes, though, and I knew he was enjoying this, liked seeing me completely in his power. Julia had told me that he liked to play the role of seducer and didn’t take things any farther than that, was certainly no rapist, but now I had to wonder whether that assessment had been entirely accurate. And I got it then. What he enjoyed was baiting me. Messing with my head. I certainly wasn’t anything special to him, just another female he might find a way to exploit.

  In a way, even though Miles Odekirk’s was not what you would generally call the most comforting presence in the world, I found myself glad that he was here. I doubted Margolis would attempt anything while the scientist was around.

  “You may be right about Ms. Rodriguez,” Odekirk said. “But let’s test that hypothesis, shall we?”

  A shiver went through me, even though the entire building was slightly overheated, and I’d begun to perspire in the heavy sweater and boots I was wearing. They’d taken my coat away, saying I wouldn’t need it. Right then, I didn’t. But, like Jace, I wouldn’t get far without it….

  “Test?”

  Margolis jerked his chin at the two guards, and they came over to me and undid the ropes that had held me to the chair. It felt good to stand up, to be able to move my arms, but I doubted they’d freed me out of the kindness of their hearts.

  “Building C,” he instructed the guards, and they nodded briefly.

  Each of them took me by an arm and marched me out of the room, then down the hallway to the elevator. Margolis and Odekirk followed us, not speaking as we descended to the ground floor. From there we headed outside, the bitter wind literally taking my breath away as it hit me. In that moment, my thick wool sweater felt like the world’s thinnest chiffon.

  But I didn’t have time to worry about frostbite, because almost as quickly as we’d gone outside, we entered another building, this one a low, sprawling single-story structure. Something about it felt squat, evil, although I tried to tell myself that was just my fear talking. Buildings couldn’t be evil.

  What people did in them, on the other hand….

  We moved through one corridor, then turned down another, and another. Overhead, more fluorescent fixtures glowed, and I wondered how much of the colony’s energy was being wasted here on keeping this place lit when everyone else’s power was rationed, and it was strictly lights out after ten o’clock for all the rest of us plebeians.

  I told myself it didn’t matter. I knew I was letting my mind run here and there so I wouldn’t let myself worry about where they were taking me, what kind of test they were referencing. About what might lie ahead.

  The distraction wasn’t working very well.

  After turning down yet another corridor, a short one this time, the guards stopped in front of a large industrial-looking door. One of them reached out to open it, and the other pushed me inside.

  The room was big, with high ceilings and a cement floor. It looked as if it might have been a workshop at one time; metal tables lined the walls, but any equipment they had possibly once held now appeared to be long gone. Now the space was empty.

  Well, almost empty.

  On the other side of the room, not quite placed up against the wall, were two heavy chairs. Tied to those chairs were Jace and a woman I didn’t recognize, but guessed must be Natila. Like him, she looked tired, with smudged-looking shadows under her big blue eyes. Somehow, though, that didn’t diminish her beauty, the perfection of her ivory skin and the fine bones of her face. Her lips were rosy and full, and pale, wavy hair flowed almost to her waist. No wonder Evony had fallen for her, had thought she must be something right out of a dream.

  Evony. I realized then that she was there as well, standing off to one side with her hands tied behind her back and two more guards flanking her. They were none other than Mitch and Butch, and, judging by the grins they wore, they were enjoying this immensely.

  The guards accompanying me pushed me forward until I was more or less lined up with Evony. She shot me a look of pure venom and snarled, “What the fuck were you thinking?”

  “I’m so sorry — ” I began, but one of my guards, the man on the right, clamped his fingers on my upper arm in warning.

  Margolis stepped forward, lips twitching oddly. I couldn’t figure out what the hell his problem was, until I realized he was fighting to keep back a smile. Like Butch and Mitch, he was probably having a good old time tonight, but didn’t want to look undignified.

  Too late for that, asshole.

  He said, “We’d been planning to perform this little experiment anyway, but Ms. Monroe’s stunt this evening made us realize it really required an audience. Dr. Odekirk and I agree that it will also be an interesting test of your…love…to see how the two of you react.”

  Evony made a growling sound, but I could tell both Mitch and Butch must have clamped down on her arms as well, because she winced and fell silent. The whole time, though, her gaze was fixed on Natila, and I knew the longing and fear on Evony’s face had to be mirrored in my own.

  I forced myself to stand still, though, to not react any more than I already had. The bastard looking gloating enough as it was, and I didn’t want to give him any additional satisfaction.

  Margolis’ jaw hardened, and he nodded at Dr. Odekirk. “Proceed.”

  He stepped forward, saying, “We’ve performed various tests on the two prisoners, both of whom exhibit exceptional powers of healing. After discussing the situation with Captain Margolis, I’ve decided to move on to more traditional, but no less effective, means of gathering information.”

  In other words, torture. I wanted to yank my arms away from the men who held them, run to Jace and Natila. But I knew I wouldn’t get more than a foot. I could only stand there, cold dread coiling in my stomach. Jace had already spoken of broken fingers, electric shocks. What the hell were they going to try this time?

  Margolis unclipped the walkie-talkie from his belt and said, “We’re ready.”

  A door on the other side of the room opened, and three more guards entered. The first one held one of Miles Odekirk’s devices, while the other two were lugging heavy buckets with them. Some water slopped over, and a horrible suspicion began to grow in me. No, they couldn’t….

  Evony seemed to get it at the same time. Pulling against the men who held her, she burst out, “You can’t do this! It’s — it’s un-American!”

  A look of pure irritation passed over Odekirk’s thin features. “Actually, not to be pedantic, Ms. Rodriguez, but the United States utilized this form of interrogation on many occasions. Besides, one can argue that effectively, there is no America any longer, and therefore our actions can’t be labeled un-American.” His gaze flicked over to Margolis. “Proceed when you’re ready.”

  The commander nodded. “Oh, we’re ready now. Williams, D’Olivo, go ahead.”

  And the guards tilted the chairs backward so both Jace’s and Natila’s heads were angled downward toward the floor. It looked supremely uncomfortable, but I knew their current position wasn’t the worst of it. Not by a long shot. I wanted to be relieved that this wasn’t a traditional waterboarding — neither of their faces had been covered, and they were only secured to chairs and not a slab of plywood or something — but I had a feeling this was going to be bad enough.

  Then the two men lifted their buckets and began pouring water onto their captives’ faces. I wanted to scream, to kick back at the guards who held me. But even if I somehow managed to get away from them, there was still Captain Margolis to contend with, or Butch and Mitch, or even the guard who held the djinn-control box. There was nothing I could do to stop the scenario playing out before me.

  Jace spluttered, water spraying up and away from his mouth. In her chair, Natila was twisting and writhing, attempting to turn her face to one side so the wat
er would splash off her cheek and not go into her nose and mouth. She was only partially successful, however, and when the man assaulting her realized what she was doing, he grasped her by the chin and held her in place so she couldn’t move.

  I wished I could look away. But I had a feeling my guards would do the same thing to me — grab my head and force me to watch, and I wouldn’t allow them to manhandle me any more than they already had. Instead, I looked on grimly, knowing this was horrible, but that Jace and Natila would survive it, just as they’d already survived every other torture Margolis and Odekirk had thrown at them.

  But then Jace’s words came back to me: …take away my breath, my air, choke me or smother me, and I die. Just as Natila, water elemental that she is, can be drowned….

  Oh, my God.

  I risked a quick glance over at Evony, and although she was straining against Mitch’s and Butch’s cruel grip on her arms, I saw more anger than fear in her face. She didn’t know. Natila must never have revealed to her how she could die.

  Natila was gasping, horrible gargling sounds coming from her throat. Margolis looked on, satisfaction clear in every line of his smug features, while Dr. Odekirk was tapping away on that goddamn iPad of his. It was obvious that neither one of them was going to put a stop to this. No, they were going to watch and, if not precisely enjoy it, in Odekirk’s case, then learn everything they could from it.

  If Natila died, and he put two and two together….

  I lunged forward, breaking the grip the guards had on my arms. Right then I wasn’t even sure what I intended to do — knock the buckets of water away from the men’s hands, I supposed — but it didn’t matter that I had no clear plan. I had to stop this. Not just for Natila’s and Evony’s sakes, but for Jace’s as well.

  But Margolis was in the way, and as soon as he saw me tear myself out of the guards’ grasp, he was moving, snaking one arm around my throat and pulling me against him. I struggled, but he tightened his grip.