Page 33 of A Malicious Menagerie (Fangs & Fables #1)

The Ally

…But after I take a minute to calm down, I realize that ‘every prisoner’ might be too ambitious.

What am I going to do, drag the sea serpent out by its tail or bargain with the wendigo not to eat me?

Maybe I need to concentrate on the residents that will be able to understand what I’m trying to do without turning me into a snack in the process.

Once I’ve decided to plot an escape, I can’t think of anything else.

I worry the thought like a sore tooth until I can’t ignore the throb of longing and anxiety.

If I do this, there’s no going back to my isolated life in the house I grew up in.

I will have to uproot everything for an uncertain future on the run.

After all, Mathis made it clear that he would not tolerate anyone threatening his playground.

I’m self-aware enough to know that there’s no way I can stage a jailbreak of this scale without assistance. And so, step one of making a plan to free the residents of the menagerie is recruiting some help.

I’m fairly certain that Colby has been avoiding me since our tentative truce.

At least, I haven’t seen more than a passing glimpse of his red hair since that night, and I certainly haven’t seen him in the breakroom again.

But there is one place I know he’s likely to turn up, which is how I find myself staking out the kelpie enclosure from behind a thick tree trunk.

I’m checking my watch for the fifth time, about to call it quits so I don’t get behind on my tasks, when the sound of footfalls on the gravel path snags my attention.

I hold my breath until Colby’s hulking frame comes into view.

Steeling myself, I step out of my hiding place and into his path. “Hey there!”

Colby tenses, his bright eyes darting around as if looking for an ambush. “What are you doing?” he grumbles.

“Waiting for you.”

“I thought we had an agreement. You know my secret, and I know yours. We stay out of each other’s way, and everyone is happy.”

“Are you happy?” I ask skeptically. “Is Ciara? Because Chase certainly isn’t happy.”

His brow furrows. “Who’s Chase?”

“The wolf.” I take a deep breath. “The werewolf .”

His eyes widen. “I didn’t know.”

“Neither did I, until the night of the gala. But he’s stuck here, just like Ciara is. Doesn’t it bother you? Don’t you want to see her free?”

Colby is silent for a moment, chewing over his next words. “Of course I want to see her free,” he says, and there’s something uncharacteristically wistful in his voice. “But what am I supposed to do? Break her out?”

I shrug, though I feel anything but casual as my heart races behind my ribs. “Why not?”

Colby splutters. “Why… why not ? Maybe because Mathis will sink my body to the bottom of the river?”

“We’ll be careful. We’ll find the right time and a secret place to put them all—”

“Them all?!” Colby stops to take a calming breath, which is probably for the best. I’m concerned a vein in his forehead is about to burst. “What do you mean, ‘them all’? Aren’t Ciara and the werewolf enough?”

“Of course not,” I huff, planting my hands on my hips. Power pose . “What about Fionn? I doubt Ciara is going to leave without her brother. And Rory… even though he could probably leave at any time and chooses not to.”

Colby’s pale red eyebrows bounce up his forehead. “Who?”

“Oh, and Delia. She’s the vampire.”

He splutters. “Anna—”

I wave off his consternation. “Then there are the mermaids, and the centaurs, and the sea serpent…”

“Alright, I am definitely drawing the line at the sea serpent. You’ll be saying we should free the wendigo next.”

Eek! “Definitely not. But you’re in for the rest of them?”

“Absolutely not! Are you even listening to me?”

“But you just said you draw the line at the sea serpent. Which means you don’t draw the line at Chase, Delia, the kelpies, the mermaids, or the centaurs.”

A frustrated growl rumbles from Colby’s massive chest. “You’re twisting my words. I am not helping you rescue half the menagerie like some sort of demented Noah’s ark.”

“Mathis is going to sell Chase,” I blurt out, unable to hold it in a minute longer. The words have been bubbling in my chest like molten acid.

Colby reels back like I punched him. “He’s what ?”

“Going to sell Chase.” The repetition somehow makes the words more real. More final. I wrap my arms around my chest to hold myself together. I don’t have the luxury of falling apart right now. “Or trade him, I guess. To Radha Gupta. For a Grootslang.”

Colby runs a hand over his face. “Anna, I don’t know what you want me to do here.”

“Help me rescue them.”

“What you’re asking is insane.”

“So how do you think this is all going to end?” I ask, raising my arms helplessly.

I need his cooperation. I’m never going to be able to pull this off alone.

“What do you think happens to Ciara? She grows old here? She gets sold off somewhere even worse when old man Mathis dies or gets bored with her? Or trades her for a unicorn or something? What if Mathis fires you? You’re just going to walk away from her? ”

“Of course not,” he snips, but I can tell my words have hit their mark. “But, Anna, you have to see that this is impossible. Think about everything that could go wrong every step of the way.”

“Think about what could go right ,” a feminine voice rings out, and I turn my head so quickly my neck twinges.

Ciara is walking toward us, her bearing proud in spite of her nudity.

Despite their difference in coloring, her features share similarities with Fionn’s, with arched cheekbones and a narrow nose.

Still, while Fionn mostly treats the world like it’s one big joke, Ciara looks deadly serious.

“Ciara,” Colby says, his tone somewhere between longing and foreboding.

“Ciara,” Fionn echoes, following after her. He looks from his sister to Colby with a scowl. “I told you to stay away from him.”

“And I told you, dear brother, that you are not my keeper.” Like Fionn, Ciara’s Irish accent is musical, but with her undercurrent of anger, it’s also cutting as piano wire. She scowls as she turns her obsidian gaze to Colby. “So when it comes down to it, you care about me, but just not enough.”

“That’s not it—”

“We’ve talked about it,” Ciara interrupts. Her tone is sharp, but it’s vulnerable, too. “About what it would be like if I were free. About us being together . But it was just a daydream, wasn’t it? It was never meant to be real.”

“Ciara, no,” Colby replies vehemently. “I meant every word. But this… It’s a suicide mission.”

“And I would never want to see you hurt,” Ciara retorts just as fervently. “But Anna wants to try, so what if this is the best opportunity we have?”

Colby snorts skeptically. “Anna just wants to save her werewolf.”

“Werewolf?” Fionn chimes in curiously.

“Hush,” Ciara tells her brother, and he scowls at her. Turning back to Colby, she snips, “At least Anna wants to try. And besides, she’s our friend. I trust her.”

“I am? You do?” I ask, shocked. Ciara has never deigned to speak to me even once since the night we met, always choosing to hide behind horseflesh.

“Of course,” Fionn agrees. This time, it’s me shushing him.

“You care, Anna,” Ciara continues, her voice trembling with her conviction. “You’ve cared since the beginning. You even sewed up Fionn’s arm when he slipped and fell on the rocks.”

“Whoa, now,” Fionn interrupts, looking mildly offended. “That was a secret.”

“Hush,” Ciara says again. Such a little sister.

Ignoring him, she continues, “You barely knew him, and even knowing what we are, you put yourself at risk to help him. And you’ve advocated for us.

So, yes, you are my friend, even if I was too scared that you might be too good to be true to trust you. ”

“Hey,” Colby interjects, no doubt sensing that he’s become the villain in this conversation.

“Decide what you want, Colby,” Ciara replies acerbically. “If you decide to save your own hide, I understand. But I will help Anna. I will fight for my freedom, with or without you.” With that, Ciara gives a toss of her glossy dark hair, turns on her heel, and stalks back into the trees.

“What she said,” Fionn tacks on, amused, before following after his sister.

“Goddammit,” Colby growls, running a hand down his face before turning to scowl at me. “Look what you did.”

I shrug. “I agree with Ciara. I won’t blame you for opting out. I ask that you don’t tell Mathis, but beyond that, I won’t ask you for anything you’re not willing to give. But if you want Ciara the way I want Chase… You’ll help me.”

“You’re putting me in an impossible position,” he says desperately.

“What do you want more: the status quo or Ciara?” That draws him up short. He opens his mouth to reply, but I raise one hand to quiet him. “Don’t answer now. Think about it. Here.” I pull a note card with my phone number from my pocket. I was anticipating something like this response from him.

Colby takes it with a scowl. “What, you’ve got business cards now?”

“Just call me when you decide,” I snip back.

With nothing more to say, I walk away, leaving an irate Colby to stare out at the still pond as if its depths are a crystal ball that might hold some answers.

* * *

I have the next two days off, and waiting to hear from Colby with nothing else to occupy my thoughts is excruciating.

I try to reason with myself that he has to have the same come-to-Jesus talk with himself that I did.

I warn myself that I might just be asking too much.

And I hope that I didn’t make a terrible mistake revealing my traitorous thoughts to someone who might rat me out to Mathis.

By the time I’ve bitten all my nails down to the quick and concocted a dozen doomed plans to rescue Chase myself, my phone finally rings. I get so few calls, especially now that Rebecca is happy and there are no more late fees, so I know who the unknown number is immediately.

“Hello?”

“Anna.” Colby’s voice is gruff. “I’m in.”