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Pixieless and fuming, I paced my bedroom floor and tried to think of a hundred ways I might get back at those hunters.

“Aberrations? Who does he think he’s calling an aberration?” I snarked, unable to sit for more than a few seconds without jumping back up again.

In that one sentence, he’d cemented something in my head. These creatures deserved more than the lot they had in life. They hadn’t asked to exist any more than humans had, but we had to share this world, and they’d wound up with the short end of the stick. They gave their energy for our magical empire, for Pete’s sake, and still that hunter had dared to speak about them like they were crud on his shoes.

When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. Thomas Jefferson’s words inspired fresh anger and determination inside me. I just knew these pixies could help us, if only they were given the chance. Infuriating didn’t even begin to cover this situation. And now, I had to wait for Victoria to come along and bite my head off for breaking her lockdown rules. Two meetings with the head huntswoman, a Purge of pixies, two missing magicals, and I hadn’t even reached a full week at the Institute yet.

Why couldn’t they see that the pixies weren’t the enemy? The only monster I’d ever met who reeked of evil was Leviathan, but the rest… They had their quirks, sure, but they weren’t the under-your-bed, hiding-in-your-closet, bloodthirsty villains they were made out to be. Those who knew them best and longest all understood that: Tobe, Nathan, and me. Genie had even told me once that her mom and fellow hunters used to have ceremonies to thank the creatures for their service. They were grateful, respectful.

“Did you do this, Leviathan? Did you scramble my brain when you gave me this curse?” I all but shouted. “Is this what you wanted me to see? Is this how you wanted me to feel?” I had no other explanation for my no-matter-what instinct to protect the pixies. Was this his attempt at strengthening our bond? Had he left secret messages in my head for me to find along the way so he could prod me around to his way of thinking? Before I could Purge, I’d loved visiting the beasts in the Bestiary, but I hadn’t given much thought to what they did or what they gave. I’d seen them the way everyone else did—as fuel for a greater cause. All that had been turned on its head when I’d held that she-pixie in my hands. No… before that. When the griffin bowed, and then when it squawked sadly, like it didn’t understand why I was trying to capture it.

There’s so much you don’t know. So much you don’t understand. I aimed my furious thoughts at the hunters, and everyone whose minds were so narrow that they couldn’t even contemplate a different perspective. Heck, there was so much I didn’t know and didn’t understand, but I was, at least, open to learning. Truthfully, my brain didn’t feel scrambled at all. It felt clearer than it ever had; I just feared where that clarity had hailed from.

I sat at my desk and held my head in my hands. Just when I thought I was swinging one way, something else pushed me back in the other direction. And I was tired of being jostled from pillar to post, not knowing if my thoughts were my own or if they’d been jammed in there by Leviathan. What else had this curse done to my body without my knowledge? Only he had the answers, and he was a world away.

My head lifted at the sound of the door opening, and Victoria strode through a moment later.

“Persie.” That one word struck terror into my heart. “I didn’t think we’d be having a chat like this again quite so soon.”

I sat up straighter, to be polite. “Neither did I.”

“You flouted my rules. What else did you think would happen?” Her voice sounded strained, her black eyes hard as onyx pebbles.

“I… just wanted to help. I caught five pixies, didn’t I? That’s not flouting, that’s assisting.”

Victoria ran a stressed hand through her hair. “Be that as it may, the situation calls for obedience. I told you to leave it to the experts. I’m not keeping everyone in their rooms for my pleasure, Persie. I don’t give instructions like that without thought.” She walked to the desk and leaned against it. “While you were out hunting, against procedure, five more people went missing. That brings the total to seven. One of those people could’ve been you, Persie. If someone had checked your room and found you weren’t there, that could have caused problems. We might have wasted valuable resources and effort trying to find you when you were fine all along. This isn’t a game, Persie. This is serious, and you have to let the experts handle it.”

Five? My stomach lurched, but my resolve didn’t waver. There was absolutely no way the pixies could have taken seven people. I’d found the creatures squabbling over rotten fruit, for crying out loud. They weren’t bothered about snatching personnel—they just wanted to go about their business. I mean, they were probably oblivious to the fact that the Institute was in a state of mass upheaval.

“Wait… That means those five people got taken during the lockdown.” I squinted, trying to work out the logic. There hadn’t been an announcement about it, which meant Victoria was keeping secrets. I guessed the Institute would be under intense scrutiny if the outside world found out about this, and she’d likely have done anything to avoid its reputation being tarnished. “Why hasn’t anything been said about them?”

Victoria straightened up, if that were even possible given her exemplary posture. “That is the best course of action for now, to avoid mass panic. If people attempt to flee, it will be impossible to know who has been taken and who has simply run away. Should this continue, however, I will be making other arrangements for the safety of the Institute and its residents.”

“So, not to be rude, but it wouldn’t have mattered if I was walking around the Institute or stuck in my room. Whoever is taking people is doing it regardless,” I said coolly. Her excuse balanced, just about. Even if it smarted of dishonesty. People deserved to know if the numbers were increasing, but she was the head of this place. To her mind, its longevity and position of respect was likely as important as people’s lives.

Victoria sighed. “We don’t know if the other abductees were also walking around against protocol, so that’s no certainty.” She pushed off the desk and walked a few paces. “Nevertheless, the Institute will be going into its code red scenario as of now. You will hear the announcement shortly.”

“What’s that?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. What security measures could possibly be higher than the lockdown already in place?

She turned slowly. “It’s regrettable, but pixies will now be considered lethal, and therefore we will use all force necessary to make sure they are stopped. I don’t like to give this kind of order, because I don’t believe in the killing of Purge beasts, but it’s the only choice I have left.”

I leapt from my chair. “You can’t do that! They haven’t done anything wrong. I don’t understand why you’re not looking into human culprits. How many in this place would know exactly where to hide seven people? You’ve seen the pixies with your own eyes, Victoria. They can’t have done this. You’re sentencing innocent creatures to death!”

My protective streak kicked in with a vengeance, and so did my certainty that my creations hadn’t hurt anyone. Seven people was unfathomable. Pixies liked milk and fruit, and a bit of destructive mischief. They weren’t coldhearted kidnappers. But I could see in Victoria’s stony eyes that I wasn’t going to get through to her. She’d already given the order; this was nothing more than a courtesy call to let me know that my Purge beasts had been sentenced.

“You are biased, Persie. You might not be able to see it, but magicals can often forge a connection to their Purge beasts. You aren’t immune to that, and ordinarily there’s no harm in it, but this is different.” Victoria kept her voice steady. “Xanthippe disappeared after you Purged. We know that because she was accounted for during the time you said your Purge occurred, and for a couple of hours after. Come morning, she was gone. That’s the sort of coincidence I can’t ignore. Had there been a longer gap, I might’ve had a different theory. Maybe I’d have agreed that it was a human act, and said human had used your Purge as a diversion. But nobody knew about it until after Xanthippe went missing. So, if it looks like a dog, and barks like a dog, it has to be a dog… Do you understand?”

I scrunched my hands into fists. “Not when the dog is six inches tall and hasn’t got any history to suggest it’s malicious!” I jabbed a raging finger at the door. “You posted hunters in the hallway, but somehow, they weren’t there after I Purged. What if they heard me? What if they saw the pixies and took their shot to kidnap Xanthippe? That’s more logical than blaming a bunch of tiny beasts for seven people vanishing into thin air!”

Victoria’s expression tightened. “The hunters were dismissed because you seemed to be faring better, and I thought you’d prefer not being under constant watch. I hoped the direct line to me would be enough. No one was in your hallway from five o’clock on that evening. They couldn’t have seen you Purge, or what you Purged.”

I fell silent, tears threatening. I had nothing left to convince her. It had been a hopeless endeavor from the get-go. She was hell-bent on making these pixies pay, and, maybe, if I were in her position, I’d think the same thing. And without a better explanation, I didn’t have a leg to stand on. She thought I’d gone soft on my Purges, and she was right. I did have an affection for them, but so what? Santana carried her Purge beast around on her shoulders most of the time, and nobody batted an eyelid. It wasn’t a weakness.

“I think it best that you stay here for the duration.” Victoria broke the tense silence. “I want to trust you, Persie, but your ability is still beyond your control. And you have clearly been compromised, which is nothing to be ashamed of—I’ve been fond of a few of my Purges. However, it does mean your involvement in the pixie hunt ends here. And I mean it this time.”

“Please, Victoria…” I had nothing left to say.

She smiled sadly. “Once this is over, we can continue our work in helping you control your ability. You’ve shown great promise by catching those five pixies tonight, and I do thank you for that, but it isn’t the right time.” She moved away from me. “For now, I need to get seven people back from wherever they were taken. So, please, don’t make me come back here. Follow the rules, for everyone’s sake.”

As she went to the door and opened it, one last idea exploded in my head. “At least talk to my mom about this. Please. She’s dealing with missing magicals, too. It could be related!”

“We are concerned with pixies, not what your mother is investigating.” Victoria looked back. “Indeed, if I know the US and its magical secrecy, you shouldn’t even have told me that.”

She walked out without another word. The door closed behind her with a damning click followed by the subtle thrum of hexes kicking back into action, and tears began to trickle down my cheeks.

O’Halloran had cast me out of my own home, I had dreams of the people I loved putting me in a box, my parents were on the other side of an ocean, I’d been marched out of the engineering lab like a traitor while everyone gossiped and whispered about me, and yet this was the moment where I felt more helpless and alone than I ever had before.

To add insult to injury, the loudspeaker kicked in fifteen minutes later, and Victoria’s warning went out to the Institute, loud and bitterly clear: “We are now on code red lockdown. Hunters, this is now a matter of life and death. Lethal force may be used on the enemy. Everyone else, remain in your rooms until you are otherwise instructed. Do not be alarmed that comms have been blocked in and out of the Institute. It is necessary to avoid interference with hunting devices and will resume function when it is safe to do so. Internal calls can still be made, if you feel isolated and need to speak someone. Any disobedience will result in hexed imprisonment for the duration. We are in this together. Have courage. We will not fail, as long as everyone does their part.”

I’m sorry, pixies. I tried…