by Abbie Lyons
I sighed heavily. “Finally! I’ve been telling you this. I just need to prove my innocence. Seriously, you said yourself that I don’t seem like a murderer—”
Tarian held up a hand. “No. That’s not it. Take it from me. There is no proving you’re innocent. I can’t do it, you can’t do it, none of the miserable souls penned up in here can make any kind of argument like that, short of some kind of absurdly unlikely appeal. You’re just wailing to the sky, rattling the bars of your cage.” He pursed his lips. “But there is another way out.”
“Which is?” I racked my brain for whatever royal tricks the Fae prince might have up his sleeve. And I took the opportunity to drink him in a bit more: his slim but strong shoulders, his narrow waist, the firm lines of his throat as he tipped his chin into the light.
He raised an eyebrow. “I should think that’s obvious. Escape.”
I gasped in spite of myself. “What?”
“You really think I’d while away all my time here just sulking and thinking about fruitless revenge?” He shook his head, still smiling. “Deep down, I’m still a man of action. And I like concocting a good plan.”
Above us, the end-of-meal bell rang. Tarian smirked and got to his feet.
“Think about it,” he said, spreading his hands wide. “I can see it in you. You’re smarter than the average prisoner. And you won’t find a better partner in crime than me, Petal Pink.”
“Inmate.”
I spun around to see Cobalt looming over me.
“Mealtime has concluded,” he said, his voice breaking a bit as he spoke. I nodded and got to my feet, still a bit stunned from what Tarian had proposed.
Escape.
As we trudged back to my cell, I realized that it wasn’t just Gage as my friend that I was missing now that I had a substitute guard. Cobalt just...wasn’t as intimidating. He still had all the trappings of an Azelorian guardsman, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t as impressed as I was with Gage. I got the sense that it was the uniform that made him feel and act powerful, not some kind of inner confidence.
Not that it mattered. Because soon Gage would be back to being my guardsman.
Hopefully.
Cobalt waved open my cell and stood, waiting for me to reenter. I opened my mouth, wanting to ask when Gage would be coming back, but in the brief pause I took to do so, Cobalt shoved me.
Hard.
“Hey!” I yelped, stumbling over the threshold to my cell.
“Back in your cell, inmate,” Cobalt said. “Don’t delay.”
“What the hell?” I rubbed my arm where he’d pushed me.
“You heard me.” He jerked his head in a nod that wasn’t at all friendly, turned on his heel, and left.
What a dick. Guess my suspicions were confirmed. I sank onto my thin mattress, still rubbing my arm, and wondered how Gage ended up friends with someone like that.
And wondered how I’d ended up friends with someone like Tarian.
Chapter Fifteen
“SO ARE YOU GONNA TELL me what you two were blabbering on about or what?”
I’d hardly stepped a foot into the kitchen, and Delilah was practically in my face.
“It looked like a verrrry interesting conversation you two were having,” she added. “And you know I’ve been great at giving you all the juiciest gossip. So spill!”
Babs shook her head. “Delilah, she hasn’t even gotten a chance to put an apron on yet. You’ve got plenty of time to hound the girl. Let her get ready!”
I remained in awe of how much Babs got away with when it came to talking to Delilah. She remained the only person I’d seen her obey a command from.
I went ahead and grabbed my apron off the hook, and took a spot at the fryers next to Delilah. Thus far, we hadn’t managed to cook a single thing successfully. But at this point, I figured that’s precisely what Babs expected. She knew it was a requirement for us to have jobs, but she preferred to run the kitchen herself. As long as we reported for work and didn’t cause too much chaos, that was fine. If we ever cooked anything edible, well, that was just a bonus.
Delilah went through the motions of pouring some unidentifiable food into the fryer anyway. Bless that wild girl’s heart—at least she tried to look like she tried to make it look like she was productive.
“We’re working!” she cheered. “Look at us go! Now, do you wanna tell me what you and the prince were talking about?”
“Well—” I started.
She immediately interrupted. “You think he’s really cute, don’t you? He reminds me of one of my exes. Those dashing good looks, you know? He was the most handsome boy I’d ever known, I could just eat him with a spoon! Of course, I got very jealous of another girl he was hanging around, so I tried to kill her. That’s why I’m here!”
This was at least the third or fourth story Delilah had told me about why she was here. Killing her ex-boyfriends, murdering a girl she was jealous of, robbing a bunch of wealthy Fae, burning government buildings down. I’m sure there were more to come. I wondered which of those stories most resembled the truth. Maybe none of them. Maybe all of them.
“He’s definitely cute,” I said. “But I’m not really looking for a guy right now.”
Her jaw dropped. “Does that mean...you’re looking for a girl right now? I didn’t know you rolled that way, Em! I’m shocked!”
I held back a sigh. “I’m not looking for anybody right now. I’ll waste my time with romance again when I’m out of here.”
“So you mean to tell me you’re just gonna wait ten whole years to get a little more action? Seriously? A woman has her needs, Em! You can’t tell me you’re any different!”
In my old life—that was a phrase I was using a lot these days—I was an open book. I’d tell absolutely anybody about the boys I liked or the ups and downs of my romantic pursuits. No question was too personal for me, especially if it was April doing the asking. There were no secrets between us. Ever.
Here in the penitentiary, though, I was much more guarded—pun definitely not intended. It used to be that if I thought a guy was cute I’d just say it. Here there were at least two guys who, okay, I objectively had to admit were super-hot, but I’d kept that totally to myself.
“Yes,” I said. “I can wait that long.”
But I said it with a little too much hesitation. Because at the back of my mind I was still thinking about my conversation with Tarian. Escape was possible. Maybe. In which case—goddess willing—I’d be with a boy again soon enough. Delilah was right. A girl does have needs. And maybe just maybe I’d have those needs fulfilled without a ten-year wait.
The problem was that Delilah immediately picked up on my hesitation.
“Hmmm,” she muttered. “You didn’t say that with a whole lot of conviction, did you, Em? Is there something you’d like to tell me? Are you planning on an early exit?”
Delilah might’ve had a few screws loose, but she was anything but dumb. I’d met more than a few wannabe actresses in Los Angeles, and trying to have a conversation with some of them was like talking to a doorknob. Delilah wasn’t like that. There was a lot going on in that unique mind of hers.
“What’re you implying?” I asked.
“Take me with you. You gotta. You just gotta!”
I pulled one of the baskets out of the fryer. The food actually looked like it could be served—a minor miracle.
“You two were talking about blowing this popsicle stand, weren’t you?” Delilah prodded, giving me a friendly little punch in the side. She stared me down, a goofy but scary grin on her face. “Has anybody ever told you that your eyes are very honest? I can look right into them and see what you’re thinking. And the look in your eyes right now is telling me that I’m right. You and Tarian were talking about...” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “...the E word.”
I couldn’t stay quiet. She had me figured out. “Yes,” I whispered back.
“Hey, Babs!” Delilah called out. “Em and I are exhausted. We’re gonn
a take a break in the back of the kitchen if you don’t mind! There’s some food over here that we cooked up. Hot and ready!”
Babs walked over and examined the food. It looked an awful lot like fries but wasn’t. It was probably altogether far less tasty. “Congratulations, Delilah. The first batch you haven’t ruined. I think that earns you two a breather.” She gave us each a pat on the shoulder before returning to her stove.
Delilah grabbed my hand and practically dragged me past the dishwashing trolls to the back of the room, where she opened a thick metal door which led us directly into...
The freezer. Where boxes and boxes of food were piled ten feet high between walls lined with actual icicles that gleamed with iridescent light—some kind of obscure culinary charm, I had to think, and one that was utterly fucking Arctic. I wasn’t sure how long I could stand in there without a jacket. I was a California girl, after all.
“Why here?” I asked.
“As far as I’m concerned,” she said, “this freezer is the most secure place in this whole damn prison. Ain’t nobody got their eyes and ears in here! We can say whatever we want. Fuck you, warden! Fuck you, Enchanted Penitentiary!”
She collapsed into giggles, but she was probably right. If there was any place somebody wouldn’t be able to listen in, it was this magicked-up mini-tundra.
“So,” she started again after collecting herself, “Tarian wants to escape. And he wants you to escape with him, right? The day he arrived I knew he’d have his mind set on getting out of here. You’re the first person I’ve seen him having any sort of conversation with, so I put two and two together. I’m brilliant that way! When I was a young Fae I took this test that said I had genius levels of intelligence. Can you believe that? Me...a genius!”
Of all the things Delilah had told me, that might’ve actually been the most believable. It was becoming obvious that she wasn’t a girl to be underestimated.
“You’re totally right,” I told her. “You knew it.”
She was beaming. “Perfect. Well, like I said, you’re going to have to take me with you. You know, if you don’t, that might be a big mistake. I might accidentally spill the beans. Me and my big mouth. I can’t shut up about anything sometimes. I’m not saying I’d purposefully rat on you. I like you too much for that. But I can’t control what I say!”
I couldn’t tell if she was blackmailing me with a threat or if she was being truly honest about the fact that she wouldn’t be able to keep her mouth shut. It might’ve even been a little bit of both. The best thing to do for right now was hedge my bets.
“There’s not even a real plan yet,” I said. Which was the truth. I mean, there was barely anything at all, beyond an intimation. That seemed to be how it kind of worked with Tarian. “Just the early stages of discussion. But Tarian seems to think we can pull it off. I don’t know what we’d do once we escaped but—”
Delilah did one of her trademark frowns, like a sad clown. “You’re hurting my feelings now! Answer my question. Will you let me come with you? You need to let me come with you!”
“I don’t even know if I’m going to try and escape yet,” I protested.
Also not a lie. If the plan seemed too risky, I wasn’t about to bust my ass only to end up getting an even longer sentence.
But that’s when something I really never would’ve expected happened. Tears started to stream down Delilah’s face, twining over her cheeks and her elaborate tattoo. She’d never struck me as the kind of girl who’d be caught crying in front of anybody. And unless she was the best actor in the world, it was a totally genuine show of emotion.
“This is so embarrassing,” she moaned. “I don’t want you seeing me like this. Usually, I’d just kill anybody who saw me cry. But you have to know something, Em. I need to be out of here. Not for myself. For everybody else.”
I put my hand on her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. Even if she was the kind of girl who cried occasionally, I wasn’t sure she was the kind of girl who’d be fine with a gesture like that, but the poor thing really looked like she needed a little comforting. And if there was one thing I did well, it was being a supportive friend. No matter what. Plus, if it offended her, she didn’t show it.
“We all want to get out of here,” I said. “Let’s face it, this place totally blows. Not a single redeeming quality.”
“It’s not about that!” she cried. She took a seat on one of the boxes of frozen food, and I sat down beside her wrapping my arm around her.
“What’s it about, then?” I asked as gently as I possibly could.
“I’m not like other people. Not even close. There’s something inside of me, Em. Something that I can’t control. The other Fae here are different. They’re more purposeful. Me, I’m just plain old nuts. And I don’t want to be this way! Not a single bit! I don’t hurt others because I want to—I do it because I don’t have a choice. This is a place for criminals, and I’m no criminal. I’m just a sick girl who needs help. If I stay cooped up in here too much longer, I might do something real, real nasty. There’s no telling. But if I make it out of here? Maybe I could hide out somewhere away from any humans or Fae. Live in a forest somewhere where I couldn’t hurt anybody.”
I’d never thought of it that way. Some of the Fae here—like white-collar criminal Blossom over in my Citizenship class—were locked up because of crimes that they planned out and committed with clear premeditation. That wasn’t Delilah’s style. It still wasn’t clear to me exactly why she was here—I wasn’t sure she’d ever actually want to open up to me about her actual crime, though could probably ask around—but one thing was obvious: more than anybody else I’d met at the Enchanted Penitentiary, Delilah was not going to end up a better person as a result of her time here. Actually, it could only make her worse.
“Like take this, for example,” Delilah said, producing a kitchen knife from out of her pocket. “I don’t know why I’m holding on to this. I shouldn’t even be around something this dangerous. But I know that at any moment I could use it to hurt myself or somebody else. It’s not up to me! It’s up to the damn dirty monster living inside my brain.”
I wasn’t even sure how she would’ve gotten that knife. Babs was the only one in the kitchen with access to anything like that, but Delilah must’ve snagged one somehow.
“Please,” I reasoned with her, trying to stay calm even with the blade just inches away, “don’t hurt yourself. I promise I’ll do my best to get you out of here.”
She sighed. “Like I said, it ain’t up to me whether or not I hurt myself. I’m not trying to scare you. Just telling it like it is.”
Something about her honesty struck me. Maybe it was just that a loyal person recognizes another person, or maybe it was the panic in those eyes, framed by her wild red hair and the tattoo. But I wanted to help her.
“You’ve got my word,” I told her. “If Tarian and I actually go through with this escape thing, we’ll get you out of here. Just remember, that’s a pretty big if,” I added.
She put the knife back—thank goddess—and grabbed my hand. “I knew you were a good one. Not like all the other jerks in here. And remember, I owe you a life debt! I need to help you get out of here just as much as you’re gonna help me get out of here.”
“Deal,” I said. “Now let’s get back to work, okay?”
“Yeah! It’s fucking freezing! What was I thinking dragging us in here? I think I’m getting frostbite.”
So that was that. Delilah would have to be part of any possible escape plan. Safe to say I’d keep that little bit of information from Tarian as long as I could.
Chapter Sixteen
MY EYES FLEW OPEN IN the dark—a real dark that I could tell was deep in the middle of the night, even though I had no actual idea when the sun rose and set anymore. Blinking, I saw a guardsman-shaped silhouette at the edge of my cell.
“Inmate,” he said. “You’re to report for an administrative hearing.”
My heart immediately started pounding. Wa
s I in trouble? Did the warden, or whoever, somehow get wind of the fact that I was talking to Tarian? Was just the mention of the word “escape” enough to get me thrown in solitary, like Delilah almost was? Maybe Delilah ratted me out. But no...she didn’t seem like the type. Even though she was nuts, she was loyal, too. And as someone who prided myself on my loyalty, I knew it took one to know one.
“Inmate!” barked the guardsman. Cobalt, I now realized. Ugh, goddess, not this guy again. My rushing thoughts settled and I pushed myself to sit, and then stand.
“I’m here,” I croaked. “Am I in trouble?”
“The meeting’s purpose will be discussed when you arrive,” he said stiffly. “Walk.”
After he tied my wrists together with the magical binding (kind of overkill, if you asked me, but whatever), I followed him through the cell block, the hallway unusually quiet, most of the other prisoners still asleep. It was eerie, and at the same time, kind of comforting. No matter what we all did to land ourselves in here, our varied crimes—or lack thereof, in my case—we all had to take time to rest at some point. We couldn’t wail and rail against our situations 24/7. Everyone slept.
Unbidden, an image of Tarian stretched out on his cell bed flew into my head.
I shook it away. Goddess, Em, what’s going on with you? As if my weird flashback dreams weren’t enough, now my brain was taking me weird places even when I was awake.
Still, even in my imagination, the guy looked good.
We left the cell block and crossed into the main administrative area, near the infirmary and the warden’s office. The chains that locked that door shut, which had been glowing gold before, were now dark, almost as though they were just ordinary chains.
“Warden’s taking a nap?” I said froggily, trying to joke with Cobalt.
He broke his straight-ahead gaze to glare at me, hard.
“No joking about the warden, inmate. Or I will report you.”
He glanced over at the chain, and with the wave of a hand, it was once again glowing gold. Whatever that meant.