It sent chills down Winnie’s spine. If they stripped her magic, they’d take all she had left. There would be no chance to save her mom without magic. It was Winnie’s only skill.

  Danny was gone, and her friends were all captives. She hadn’t counted on all the others getting pinched, too. It was too much to handle.

  A hand fell on her shoulder. Winnie turned to see Cait standing beside her. Tris was coming closer, too.

  “They got us all back at the shop,” Cait said. “They were waiting inside. Somehow they got in without tripping any of the alarms, though I’ve no idea how they could have done that without someone telling them our passwords. It was a magical system and should’ve been foolproof. They were on us as soon as we opened the door. Nothing we could do. They put us in cuffs then trashed the place. They knocked over whatever they couldn’t take or break. They even hung signs in the windows that read Illegal Sable traders and put crime scene tape across the doors after they pulled us out.”

  Winnie looked around. “Did they get Morgan?”

  “No,” Cait whispered. “She said she had to get home. Maybe she wasn’t on their radar like me and Tris?”

  Winnie looked at Tris and saw the despair in her eyes. “Winnie, what are we going to do? They said they’re contacting my boss and revoking my Tech’s license. Can they do that? How can they do that?”

  Winnie could only shake her head. She noticed Joey sitting on a bench in the corner, his legs drawn up in front of him, chin resting on his knees. He looked resigned with a bottomless sorrow. She could understand; he’d been here before.

  Winnie turned back to look past the bars to the elevator. They said Danny was innocent, and that they were letting him go. Cait was right: someone had given their passwords. A chill rolled through her. She looked at the elevator doors again, then turned back to greet her captivity.

  Chapter 36

  Forty-eight hours later, Winnie Durham walked out of the detention center on the outskirts of Baltimore and looked around. The sun was bright, searing her eyes after being locked inside for two days. Lawyers had filed for their release. The others had been let go hours before. Winnie was the last.

  Squinting, she saw a familiar black limo nearby, its wheels to the curb. Mr. Gunderson stood by the rear door, waiting. He nodded, as if picking Winnie up in front of the station was no different than picking her up for a night on the town. She considered chiding him but decided against it, saving her angst for another.

  “Is he inside?”

  “He is.” The older man opened the rear door. “He’s waiting for you.”

  Winnie climbed into the back and settled on the long seat opposite its long occupant. She waited for Artos to speak, not trusting her boiling rage.

  “Winnie, my dear. It’s good to see you unharmed. After what happened to your cousin, we were most concerned that something similar might happen to you.”

  “Took you long enough.”

  “Yes, well, it took longer to arrange a release for you and your friends than we anticipated. Our initial efforts were focused on determining your exact whereabouts, and to ensure that no unusual medical procedures were ordered by senior members of the Assembly.”

  “So I guess I should be happy they didn’t cut into me like Joey?”

  “I should say so. No one said that was on the table, but I got the feeling it was in their original plan. Good thing we could prove your innocence.”

  Winnie was surprised. “How did you do that? We were guilty. I saw and heard the evidence Constable Holmes had against us myself.”

  “Turns out, most of that evidence had to be thrown out when it was revealed the justice had a conflict of interest with his granddaughter. Seems that one of her earlier victims was the grandson of a rival judge. There were other apparently politically motivated targets as well. Justice Harriman was in on it the entire time, egging his granddaughter on. We presented that evidence to his opponents, and what they had against you was thrown out as illegally secured and therefore inadmissible. If you weren’t a chanter, you’d be lauded a hero by some. As it is, all charges against you have been dropped.”

  “Why did you need us to run this blackmail scam if you knew all of this? We were picked up and roughed up by the Red Legs. It was awful, Artos.”

  “Because, my dear, I suspected there was a mole in your organization. And this was a way to kill two birds with a single stone. If you were successful, we would have had the justice over a barrel, right where we wanted him. I didn’t wish to see him disgraced. I wanted him working for us. On the other hand, if I was correct in my assumptions, you would be caught and we could expose the person who revealed your plan to the authorities, and specifically, to Constable Holmes. He was successful in his endeavor to close your shop. There was no way I could stop him there.”

  “What?”

  “Yes, I’m afraid your little side venture there is out of business. But never fear. I have plenty of work for you now that you don’t have to worry about repairing random charms for wealthy snobs who looked down on you.”

  “I don’t want to work just for you. I made that clear in the beginning. That shop was my livelihood.”

  “It was holding you back, my dear, keeping you from realizing your true potential.”

  “How do I know this isn’t what you were after all along? You say one of my friends turned us in.” Winnie’s voice turned icy. She spat her words like daggers at Artos. “It makes just as much sense if you did it yourself.”

  He laughed. “I told you my feelings on the matter. I would have been better off without you locked up and with Harriman in my back pocket. No, my money is on that attractive young man you’ve been seeing. He isn’t one of us, and doesn’t truly understand who we are. You don’t know him as well as you think.”

  What Artos was saying did make sense. Danny had been released almost immediately after their capture. The guards had been deferential to him when they’d taken him from the cell, while mocking her and the others. A lick of vomit soured the back of her throat as Winnie considered all that she’d given to him — that he’d taken away.

  “Goodness, my dear, are you going to be ill?” Artos waved toward the front of the limo. “Gunderson. Pull over.”

  The car stopped and Winnie jumped out, emptying her stomach and painting the highway guardrail with her shame. The retching passed and tears followed.

  There was a light hand on her shoulder. Mr. Gunderson handed her a linen napkin.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, her throat raw with bile and emotion. She dabbed at her mouth.

  “You’re welcome. I’ll return to the driver’s seat. Please take your time.”

  After a few moments, Winnie regained her composure and climbed back into the limo. She looked at Artos. His eyes were now so much softer than they had been before.

  “I’m sorry. It must have been something I ate at the detention center.”

  “Indeed. Do you feel up to eating something else? I can have my cook prepare something back at my office.”

  “No, thank you. I’d like to go home. My mother will be worried about me, and I have a lot to think about.”

  “I understand. Mr. Gunderson, to Miss Durham’s apartment in the Enclave.”

  Chapter 37

  It took two days for Danny to call after Winnie was let go. That made it four since his own release. The delay made her angry, and suspicious. She didn’t recognize the number or she probably wouldn’t have picked up the call, and only caught it on the fourth ring as it was.

  “Winnie, thank God you picked up. I had to borrow the maid’s phone. You alright?”

  “Am I alright? Is that what you want to lead with? How about I’m sorry, Winnie, or It’s been two days Winnie and I’ve been in a coma until now? No, Danny. I’m not alright.”

  “I know it’s been a long time, but I couldn’t reach out to you sooner. My parents have me on lock down.”

  “You’re a grown man, Danny. No one can keep you from doing what you really want to do unless you’re in jail.”

  “What was I supposed to do? They took my car and my phone. They told me I couldn’t leave the house if I ever wanted to get them back.”

  Winnie laughed out loud, unable to believe that she’d ever fallen for such a spoiled asshat. “A real man would have left everything for the real world. It’s hard out here, but we get by. You made your choices, Danny. Now you can live with them. We didn’t get charged in the end, despite your best efforts.”

  “I heard. I was thrilled that … wait … my best efforts? You don’t think I had anything to do with the operation failing, do you?”

  “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, what with being locked up, then out here on the street. The shop is permanently closed, you know. I don’t know if that was part of the plan or not. But it worked. And now I have nothing left in my name.” Winnie stopped talking and choked back her tears.

  “I didn’t have anything to do with this. I couldn’t betray you. You have to believe me.”

  Winnie wiped tears from her cheek. “Is that the only thing you called to say?”

  “No, I wanted you know that my father’s forbidden us from seeing each other again.”

  Perfect.

  “You have to understand. I need his money right now. But give me time and I’ll find a way around this. I don’t know how long it will take, but I promise that I will.”

  She’d had enough of his posturing. “Take your time, Danny. There’s no hurry. We’re finished. Have a good life. I hope your choice was worth it.”

  Winnie killed the connection. Danny had a lot of balls calling after his betrayal. Her stomach heaved again and sent her running to the toilet. It happened every time she thought about him, and talking made it worse. Hopefully, now that she’d dumped Danny, her illness would go away.

  She was glad that her mom wasn’t home. She would have wanted to know who was on the phone and why she was crying. She’d been keeping much of what had happened secret from her mother, though she suspected her mother knew more than she let on. Elaine was at the market down the street getting ingredients for dinner — Winnie was glad she hadn’t been around to witness the exchange.

  Winnie stood beside the cold porcelain, steadying herself as she stared at her red-rimmed eyes in the mirror.

  The phone rang again.

  Damn, if that was Danny calling back, she’d hurl the thing across the room. She looked down at the screen and saw that it wasn’t.

  “Hey, Joey. What’s up?”

  “Winnie! Get to the market now. Your mom’s collapsed and we can’t wake her up!”

  The Chanter’s Hospital in the Enclave wasn’t much of a facility, but it served as an emergency room and clinic for the community. Winnie sat by her mother’s bed in the ER, awaiting word from the myriad of tests they’d done on her mother’s arrival, wondering how much all of that would cost. Yet one more thing to prove her life sucked.

  Her mother still hadn’t regained consciousness, and was occasionally moaning. The doctor said she was showing signs of a bad reaction to her meds. That surprised Winnie, because she knew all of her mother’s medications, and none caused her problems beyond the usual side effects listed on the packaging.

  While running down her mother’s diagnosis, the nurse practitioner asked if anyone else was sick at home. Winnie told her about her nausea and vomiting. She’d never forgive herself if she had brought home some illness from being in jail that had hurt her mother. The nurse didn’t think it was related, but drew some of Winnie’s blood and had her pee in a cup just to be sure.

  Now came the waiting. Lately, that was all she’d been doing. Artos wanted her to come and work directly for him. She’d put him off for a while, professing the need to tend to her mother. But now that her mom was actually ill, she’d have to take Artos up on his offer, if only to pay the new bills.

  Winnie looked up, then stood as her mom’s nurse practitioner entered the room.

  The woman shut the door, asked Winnie to sit, then pulled a wheeled stool out from the other side of the bed and sat, settling her mother’s chart on her knees. She smiled at Winnie, though the expression seemed somehow grim.

  “We’ve got most of the tests back and know a bit more about what’s going on with your mother.” The nurse smiled again, but this time it seemed warmer. “She had an allergic reaction to her primary arthritis medication. It sent her into shock and caused her to collapse at the market.”

  “But that’s impossible. She’s been taking that medication for years.”

  “Unusual, but not impossible. Our bodies change with age. Sometimes our allergies change as well.”

  “How long will she be like this?”

  “It’ll be touch and go for a while. We think she’s through the worst of it, and we caught it in time to reverse some of the effects. She’ll have to stop taking the Elara, of course.”

  “But that’s the only thing keeping her arthritis in check.”

  “I’m afraid it’s do that or she’ll die the next time she takes it.” She stood. “There is another, newer medicine on the market. It’s twice as expensive and devilishly hard to get, but it might do the trick, once she’s recovered enough to start taking it.”

  Twice as expensive? Well, that was it. Winnie would have to call Artos. She needed the work now more than ever. First Danny and now this. The day couldn’t suck any more.

  “Oh, and one more thing.”

  Winnie looked up. The apprehension must have showed in her eyes.

  “Don’t worry,” the nurse assured her. “It’s a good thing. You’re pregnant.”

  Chapter 38

  Winnie looked at the hands clasped in hers, knuckles gnarled by disease. Broken hands, yet also the caring hands that had helped dress her as a child, wiped away her tears, and picked her up when she fell. Some of her biggest moments had been lived in those hands.

  Now, holding her mother’s hands at yet another momentous occasion, Winnie couldn’t share the news. She needed her mom more than ever, but this time, she wasn’t there. Winnie searched her mind for someone, anyone to turn to.

  She considered Cait or Tris, but they were dealing with the aftermath of their own incarcerations. They didn’t need to hear her problems now. It should be family. But Joey wouldn’t be any help. He was a boy and boys tried to fix things.

  This couldn’t be fixed, at least not by him. Joey would want to hunt Danny down and beat him up. He’d probably get pummeled himself.

  She pulled out her phone and tapped through her contacts — it was late, but she’d reach out anyway. Winnie tapped out a message to Morgan, seeing if she was available to meet for lunch the following day. Recent events had pushed the girls closer. She could give Winnie advice; they were close in age and Morgan would understand the difficult situation with Danny’s betrayal and might have insight as to what she should do with her unexpected pregnancy.

  She sent the text, stowed her phone, and gripped her mother’s hand.

  Winnie leaned against the side of her mother’s bed, resting her head, listening to her mom’s steady breathing, its rise and fall soon matched by Winnie’s regular breathing as she met her mother in slumber.

  Morgan sighed as her climax subsided.

  She rolled off Victor and settled in bed beside him.

  This was the love of her life. That might seem dramatic to some, but Morgan felt it in her soul. This man represented a solid, steady presence that she’d never known before. Her father had never been steady, wavering in his devotion to his family and fathering a child with another woman.

  She winced, thinking of Winnie. The betrayal had killed her. Though Morgan was still angry at her father for his adultery, she’d grown close to her sister over the years. Only through Victor’s insistence that this was for the best — that they were saving Winnie from the unholy influence of Artos Merrilyn — had she agreed to continue her deception.

  Morgan’s phone buzzed on the table. Victor’s heavy breathing had settled. He slept so easily. She envied his peace.

  Rolling out of bed without disturbing him, Morgan padded across the bare floor, feeling the cool wood on her soles as she crossed the small studio apartment to pick up her phone. Activating the screen, she saw the text from Winnie. They hadn’t talked since the raid on the shop and everyone’s arrest. Morgan had assumed that Winnie had figured out that she was the rat.

  But Victor explained that they’d twisted Danny’s early release, because of his father’s connections, to be seen by Winnie as a potential betrayal. It was for the best. He wasn’t right for her, anyway. He didn’t care for Winnie the way a man should, not like Victor cared for her.

  Morgan looked at her phone again, trying to interpret the meaning behind her message. Winnie wanted to meet for lunch the next day. Morgan had time after her morning classes, before she had to report for the academy’s afternoon session. Her training to become a Red Leg was fast-tracked at the request of one Constable, soon to be Inspector, Holmes.

  Everyone saw Victor as a rising star in the force and knew of his personal meetings with Director Kane. Morgan couldn’t have been prouder. She saw their future on the force as he rose to become a chief inspector, or maybe even a superintendent in the police arm of the Department of Magical Containment. With Director Kane’s backing, the sky was the limit for the force’s golden boy. And Morgan would rise right alongside him.

  Morgan tapped out an answer, suggesting that they meet at the pub on the university campus, then set her phone on the table and went back to bed.

  Victor’s gentle snoring didn’t bother her, and soon, she was sleeping beside him.

  Morgan saw Winnie enter the pub and waved.

  God, she looked like hell. The girl was gaunt, with heavy dark circles under her eyes. Another twinge of guilt stabbed at her. Morgan hadn’t thought her sister would be affected this way. She was always so strong and resilient.