Page 126 of A Thousand Cuts

Too much time in between.

Then two.

Even more time.

Three.

He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against Liam’s temple.

“Please,” he whispered to him as the rumble of car engines drowned out everything else.

“We’re here,” Ash said, however much time later. Fix couldn’t tell. He grabbed his marker and pocketed it, vaguely aware that he didn’t have a lot left in him. But he’d give it all for Liam. “Hart called Gwen. She’s expecting us.”

They got out of the car, Fix clutching Liam in his arms as he rushed toward the entrance.

“My darling boy,” Gwen said when she saw him, eyes red-rimmed and desperate. “I prepared the containment room onthe bottom floor. We’ll get him there and tested for power levels. We’ll see what’s happening and where to go from there.”

“Containment room?” Fix asked. “He’s not dangerous, Gwen. He’s not gonna blow up the facility.”

“He’s a danger to himself, Fix,” Gwen said. “We don’t know what he’s capable of, and based on what the others have said, he has no idea either. It’s best to keep him contained until we do. It’s for his own good.”

“I’m staying with him,” he said.

She shook her head. “Fix, be reasonable.”

“No,” he said, fear making him lash out. “No, he’s not going through another thing alone. I promised him I’d protect him and that’s what I’m gonna do.”

“Even if it means putting yourself in danger more than you already have?” she asked.

He nodded. “He’s the only thing that matters.”

She gave him a look he didn’t want to analyze at the moment before nodding shortly and leading them to the bottom floor.

Containment rooms.

There for Casters who couldn’t control their magic or didn’t know how yet.

There to stop them from hurting others, even if it meant hurting themselves.

The walls of the rooms wouldn’t allow any of the magic to escape. It would bounce and ricochet and inevitably hit the person it came from.

Gwen opened up the first of the rooms and Fix looked at his brothers for a moment.

“I get it,” Ash said. “I’d do the same for Morgan.”

“Decisions are easy when your values are clear,” Hart said.

Midas stood still, not saying a word. But the fact that he was there told Fix everything he needed to know.

“Can I take photos if you get blown up?” Black asked, and while everyone else might have seen it as cold, Fix saw the shine in Black’s eyes. The tremble of his lip. The desperate way he clung to the back of Ash’s shirt.

He nodded at them all and with a final deep breath, stepped inside the containment room. The heavy door screamed as it was bolted shut, and then it was just them.

“Put him on the table,” Gwen said, and Fix whirled around to find her standing in the room with him.

“Gwen…”

“Oh, Fix,” she said, eyes sad. “I know this team has hang-ups about this place. I know you all think we’re uncaring and cold. But…the well-being of young cursebreakers is the most important thing to us. Not a single caster was left in this room alone. Ever. I was there for every one of them.”