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Instead, he’d let them go.

“Why did he grab you at all?” I asked, causing Black, Cowboy, Nick, Angel, and Javi to turn and look at me. “If he didn’t want you as hostages, in order to force us to keep our distance, then why––”

“I don’t know.” Angel’s voice sounded even more bitter than before. “He had me babysitting the girl on the way to New York while the two of them flew the plane. I have no idea why he neededmefor that. I sat in back with the girl handcuffed to my wrist the entire time. I’m pretty sure that was my only function. The only thing I could think is that he couldn’t push her, her being a seer and having that implant, so he pushed me to watch her, instead. I remember thinking I was supposed to scream if she did anything, or tried to get free.”

I frowned, glanced at Black, then back at Angel. “Did he hurtherat all? Aura?”

Angel frowned, but shook her head slowly.

“Not that I saw,” she conceded. “He didn’t speak to her at all during that first flight. He basically ignored both of us. After we arrived in New York, I heard him talk to her a few times, but it was so low I couldn’t hear it. It seemed like he might be threatening her, maybe to stay quiet, but I don’t know what he threatened her with. She didn’t fight him once we got on the commercial plane, but for all I know, he might have drugged her with something.”

“Were you still handcuffed to her?” Black asked.

Angel shook her head. “No. He left her free the whole time, including in the terminal at J.F.K. She mostly slept on that second plane.”

“He didn’t keep her up?” I asked, surprised. “Only you and Javi? Why?”

Angel shrugged, a little helplessly. “I don’t know. It was odd, though, how complacent he got about her all of a sudden. And how calm she seemed.”

“Why didn’t he just leave you and Javi in New York?” Kiko asked.

Angel shrugged again. “No idea.”

“How long were you in New York?” Black asked.

“Only about forty minutes,” Angel answered. “I’m pretty confident about that. I didn’t notice any weird gaps while we were there… and I checked the time. A lot.”

“How was he acting?” Nick asked. “Jem. Did he seem calm at the airport? You said he seemed ‘complacent’ about the girl. Was he too calm, maybe?”

Angel frowned as she turned that over.

“No,” she said slowly. “I wouldn’t say he wascalm.He didn’t seem worried about the girl by then, or about her running off, but he wasn’t exactly calm, either. He seemed really tense bordering on paranoid to me. Like he worried people would be waiting for us there, or that the cops might be after him. He was definitely in a hurry to get us on the plane. He kept checking his watch, and I think he must have pushed the ticket sellers to give us someone else’s seats, because I distinctly remember her saying the flight was completely full.”

Black and I exchanged looks.

If Angel noticed, she didn’t react.

“Sorry I’m not more helpful,” she said, leaning her head on Cowboy’s shoulder. “I’m just really damned glad he decided he didn’t need me and Javi anymore.” She shoved her hands inher jeans pockets, still leaning against Cowboy, and swallowed. “Where’s everyone else?”

Her voice sounded worried, almost like she was nervous to ask.

“Looking at video.” Black checked his watch. “They should be back soon. I sent Alisha to see if she could find a way to plug into the camera system all over the city. I’m pretty sure the local police have them all networked since that last big terrorist attack a few years back.”

I thought about everything we’d just talked about.

There were still so many unanswered questions.

I was so glad to have Angel back, I told myself the answers didn’t matter right now, but I could feel all the gaps, and there were gaps in every part of this. There were gaps in Angel and Javier’s story. There were gaps in Nick and Black’s theory about the vampires being behind this. There were gaps a truck could drive through in the story we’d gotten from Prometharis. There gaps in what we knew about Aura, and why Jem reacted to her the way he did.

Would Brick really orchestrate all this, just to get his hands on sight-blocking technology he could use against seers?

The thought made me feel faintly sick.

The alternative was worse, though. Could Jem really be working alone?

He’d violated my best friend.

God, why?Whyhad he done it?