Page 18

CHAPTER 18

We’d made a terrible mistake.

Maybe it was when we were ushered into a warded cargo plane that I began to feel uneasy about our destination. Or maybe as we came in to land, and the big rear door opened onto a cool desert scene at night, stars shining and several armored personnel carriers with their mounted guns pointed in our direction. Maybe then it seemed, you know... bad. Or maybe it was when they snapped cuffs on us anyway—just routine.

But by the time they’d escorted us through giant metal gates, split us up, took my clothes, hosed me down, and threatened to shave my head... At that point, I was certain we were screwed.

I sat in my prison cell, on a chair bolted to the floor, and chewed on my nails. Zee would be hating this. Victor too, though he’d probably been through worse. I’d seen other demons when I was being escorted to my cell, and they all had their wings clamped closed and locked tight. Zee hadn’t done anything wrong. Okay, so he did kill that chef, but he’d been protecting me. He shouldn’t have been shipped to this place. He wasn’t bad.

But this prison was.

As bad as things could get.

The walls were all warded. I couldn’t shift, couldn’t break the door down. Outside, a huge perimeter cage surrounded the building, as though we were hamsters trapped inside. This was the SSD Nevada prison, where they put all the Big Bads they didn’t know what to do with.

If I hadn’t eaten Gideon Cain, he’d have been locked up here.

There was no escaping.

Was this... the end of us?

The door lock clanged and an automated voice told me to stand back. The door swung open, and a guard marched a guy around my age in, wearing the same orange suit. It took a hot minute to recognize him under the scruffy beard and messy hair. “Zander?”

“Oh wow, what are the chances? Hey there, Adam!” He threw his arms around me in a quick hard hug, then parted to get a look at our cell.

The door clanged shut, and the lock snicked.

“Wow, look at this place. Cozy. Bunks, huh? That’s not so bad. There’s even a little window.” He looked up at the tiny barred window, way too high for either of us to reach. Even if we could, it would be warded.

I’d last seen Zander in Whiteacre Falls. He’d been attacked by the loup-garou, and the werewolf pack had ostracized him, preferring to blame him for a murder instead of finding the real killer. We’d helped him out. But seeing him here now didn’t make any sense. “What happened? Why are you here?”

He laughed a bit and sat on the bottom bunk. “That is the weirdest thing. I get a call out of the blue from a bartender—at your hotel, I think. The Sus Hotel, right?”

“Erm, the SOS Hotel, but go on.”

Zander tested the thin mattress’s bounce. “He said you guys were in trouble, and that I had to hightail it to San Francisco.”

“Tom Collins said that?”

“Yeah, I mean, he also spent most of the call uh... explaining how it was up to him to save you all, and that you maybe couldn’t save yourselves if you were trapped in a paper bag with a knife. He swore a lot, and offered me drugs. I was pretty skeptical that he was your friend, honestly.”

“Yeah, no. That sounds like Tom.”

“Well, anyway, I didn’t have much else to do since, you know... everything. And you guys said I should come visit, so I did.”

Okay, that sort of explained how he’d gotten to San Francisco, but not why he was in this prison with me. “But how’d you get here?”

“I dunno, honestly.” He scratched at his messy hair. “So, I showed up at your hotel reception, and there was this guy there. He kinda looked like you, but before I could talk to him, the SSD showed up, arrested me for trespassing, and here I am. And here you are! Wow. What are the chances of that?!”

Pretty slim. “Trespassing?” That didn’t make any sense. “That’s it? You didn’t... attack anyone?”

“What? Me? Pfft. I’d just done my nails and I don’t attack people. That’s not my thing.”

“You didn’t threaten the guy who looks like me?”

“Nah, I didn’t even see him, really. It’s as though the agents were waiting for me, I guess.” He shrugged. “So here I am. Summer camp. I mean, the welcome party was a bit brutal, but I wasn’t not into it, if you know what I mean.” He grinned. “Is there gonna be marshmallows? I love marshmallows.”

“Erm, Zander, this isn’t summer camp.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s a maximum security prison for Lost Ones.”

“Oh.” His face fell, then brightened. “That’s why we’re all wearing orange. Orange is fab.”

“You shouldn’t be here.” Why would Tom Collins tell Zander go to the hotel, only to have the SSD jump him as soon as he arrived?

He flapped a hand. “I’m sure it will all get sorted out. At least it’s warm here, and dry. I needed a change of scenery. Do you mind if I take a nap? That bus ride over was super aggressive.”

“Sure...”

Zander made himself comfortable, and was out like a light and snoring within a few minutes.

Arrested for trespassing in a hotel wasn’t a thing, was it? Unless my brother had spotted him, and knowing we’d met had wanted him gone. And it sounded as though Tom Collins was up to something. But what?