Page 61 of Gray Dawn

“Where is your phone?” Arden scowled at me through the screen on video chat. “We called and called.”

“I didn’t hear it ring.” I patted myself down but didn’t feel it either. “I must have dropped it.”

“I have it.” Dad presented it to me. “It fell out of your pocket.” He grimaced. “It was smoking.”

“That would explain why I missed the call.” I couldn’t power it on. “Your magic fried it?”

“Mine, the Hunk’s, or some combination of the two.”

“Lovely.” I shoved it into my back pocket, returning my attention to Arden. “What’s up?”

“Now that I know you’re alive?” Her brow wrinkled. “Fergal is ready for you.”

“Isiforos.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “The Kellies.”

I hadn’t forgotten them but having my brain lightly broiled had toasted my immediate thoughts.

We had time before the transport arrived to fetch Clay, so I found a nice tree and sat with my back against the trunk while she passed the phone over to Fergal, whose pinched expression didn’t bode well.

Concern bubbling up for Isiforos, I broke the ice. “What did the witch have to say?”

“He confirmed Isiforos was acting under a geas. Isiforos has no memory of his actions. He was shocked when we played the security footage for him and he saw himself perpetrate the crimes.”

“How was he spelled?”

“The tattoo he got in Beverly was a Trojan horse. Based on that particular spell, a short phrase was likely used to activate him. Once he heard it, he would have been receptive to orders. He would have snapped out of it after completing the task he was given.”

Thumping my head against the tree, I called myself ten kinds of fool for it never crossing my mind the tattoo was malicious. Well, in more ways than one. It had led us right into a trap, caging us in Faerie while the compound was brought to its knees, and I had assumed that had fulfilled its purpose.

“Does this mean he was the one who put the director on the phone with Clay?”

An activation phrase meant he could have been deployed multiple times before his actions drew notice. Much like Clay, he would have lost his free will when his master took the reins. He would have followed orders to the letter. Including not remembering what he had done, if that was what they wanted from him.

“He can’t recall the specifics,” he gently reminded me, “but it seems likely.”

“As likely as him being the reason we’re missing a guard? Luca must have had Isiforos create a scapegoat to maintain his place in our inner circle for as long as possible.”

Having witnessed the aftereffects of Clay coming to, learning what he had done under the director’s influence, and then having to make his peace with it, I felt sick on Isiforos’s behalf.

“How do we neutralize it?”

“The witch says the tattoo must be removed, magically, to destroy the compulsion.”

As sacred as tattoos were to Miserae daemons, I regretted the necessity, but we had to stem this tide.

“Do it.” I would bear the weight of the decision and the burden of his anger once he was himself again. “He’s too great of a security risk otherwise.”

“There’s one more thing.”

“There always is.” I wondered if I was too young to retire yet. “What else?”

“Bjorn was released from his cell.”

Understanding crashed into me, reminding me of what Clay had tried to tell us.

A bitter pill stuck in my throat, making it hard to swallow. “Isiforos?”

“I spoke to Agent Merkle, the guard on duty. He received a direct order via email from Isiforos shortly before the attack on the Kellies. Isiforos must have sent it during the chat before the attack.”