Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

ALAN

D arkness descended outside my small cell windows. I'd eaten three meals, each set down just inside the door, then collected later by a pair of guards. The one handling the trays looked young, eighteen or nineteen. He eyed me sideways like I was a tiger that might pounce at any moment. The other was older and bored, but he held a Taser on me with a casual nonchalance I had no intention of challenging.

Neither Poe nor Underhill had shown up all day. Noises from outside suggested more than one new arrival, or maybe departure. I'd taken my meditating chants and earworms down to a lower level, but still did something about every hour. The idea was still good, and it was something to break the monotony. I'd spent a few minutes whispering with Oscar at sunset, but he had nothing new to add except that the amount of activity we were hearing was very different from the past two years. Something was happening.

I dropped onto the bed and pulled the blanket askew, kicking the corner down toward the floor again. Under the covers, I eased the tube of ointment out of my less-than-fresh underwear. Oscar said he wore boxers and a coverall, which were replaced twice weekly. No one had brought me one. Was it because Poe said I wouldn't be here long? Was it just oversight? My clothes might be sweaty, but they were mine, dammit. I hoped they'd keep forgetting.

The minutes dragged by. Another couple of vehicles approached outside the building, engine noises coming to a stop, followed by the slam of doors. Those noises were followed by distant, indecipherable sounds through my cell door. The cars eventually drove away.

More minutes passed. I tried to plan my approach with the tree roots. How fast could I break concrete? How subtle could I be before that point? Would my spell-powered roots work on the warded walls because they were natural material, or fail because of the magic behind them? Could I maybe destabilize the wall from underneath without touching it directly? And once I was out, then what?

I spun the cuff around my wrist, resenting every second of its smothering grip. So tempting to slip it off again, shake that weight off me, let my magic out…

Save the lotion, bozo.

When I finally heard the pop of Sunny's arrival, I had the ChapStick tube clenched in a painful grip, but I hadn't opened it. I sat up, swung my feet off the edge, and began singing Beyoncé. I'm an equal opportunity song-mangler.

"Ouch," Sunny murmured from under the bed. "Don't give up your day job." He tapped my heel with his beak.

I segued into "What's the Buzz?" from Jesus Christ, Superstar. Maybe too pointed, but not being able to talk with Sunny right there was driving me crazy. Pretending I forgot the words and going with "La-la-la" let me hear Sunny better, and hopefully sounded natural.

"I met up with Jason before coming here." Sunny pitched his voice intimately low, but I could make out the gist. "They have an ally, a sorcerer sent along by Silas Thornwood. She can help us with the compound fence, but not this cell. Do you think you can break out of here?"

Do I? I had to believe it. I tapped my toe once.

"Not tonight," Sunny told me. "Tomorrow night, if we give the word?"

That was probably smart. More preparation and planning time. But I felt so antsy, like bugs running across my skin. Probably just from being confined, but still, the subliminal impression of a storm on the horizon made me twitch.

I reminded myself I wasn't stupid enough to make a move before the others were ready. I tapped once.

"Don't do anything till you hear back from me that the plans are in place. We'll only get one shot at this."

I gave up on the musical and decided to torture my watcher, if they even existed, with "Achy, Breaky Heart," belting out the lines.

"I'll tell Jason you're losing your mind in here," Sunny quipped.

I hid a laugh in Billy Ray Cyrus's words but tapped my toe twice. If Jason believed I was losing it, he'd probably come charging in after me.

"Right. That man has more guts than sense." Sunny obviously had the same thought. "I'm guessing your escape plan involves using those trees out there, yes?"

I tapped once.

"Coming through the wall?"

Or the floor. I tapped yes again.

"We're working on the rest of a plan. Are they feeding you and all?"

I tapped yes.

"Good. That's good." Sunny hesitated. "They seem to be bringing in a lot of new prisoners. Five just yesterday while I was keeping watch. Lots of coming and going, and everyone seems tense. I don't think we should wait long."

An emphatic yes to that. Oscar had said the same thing, that the guards seemed nervous and worked up.

"I'm staying outside the building, just in case they decide to move you again. I promise, I'll follow. Jason's running back and forth to the road in stealth mode. He said to tell you it's keeping his ass in shape."

I snorted, realized I only knew the chorus for this ridiculous song, and went back to Beyoncé.

"Will you need more ointment tomorrow?"

If they could do that, I could use what I had left tonight, and move my plans further along. I tapped yes.

"Can do. I'll be back after sunset tomorrow to let you know what the plan is and deliver more slippery. Hell, I'm going to have to put package delivery on my résumé, aren't I? Only for you, boy." He nudged my heel again, and then I heard that little pop.

I sang about the single ladies, tapping my foot in time to the beat in ones and twos. After three rounds of what I could remember, I let my voice trail off. The silence of the small concrete room echoed in my head. My throat was dry as a bone.

Since I wasn't going to sleep, I untangled from the blanket, leaving the ChapStick container momentarily hidden in its folds, and went into the bathroom. Carelessly tugging my sweats and underwear low let me show any perving watcher that there was nothing in my shorts except my dick. I peed, washed with some dampened paper towels, and pulled my clothes back up.

As I bent low to the sink to splash water on my face, I heard a tiny voice. "Are you my sorcerer?"

I choked and snorted water, blinking hard to clear my eyes. On the edge of the metal sink sat a minuscule rodent half the size of my thumb. Beady dark eyes blinked at me above a long, pointed snout, and spindly legs supported a cylindrical, gray-furred body. I whispered, "Shh, enemies," while turning the water on even harder.

"Enemies?"

"Listening," I breathed, splashing some more. That water would auto-shutoff soon. "Hide."

"Where?"

Good question. And I desperately wanted to know more about this little familiar. I squatted and braced one hand on the side of the sink, hiding the little rodent with my right palm, while scooping water onto my face with my left. "Along my arm into my shirt," I said between splashes.

The creature's tiny feet prickled my wrist as they scampered up my arm and inside my shirt to— not the armpit! I managed not to writhe and giggle, but it was a close thing. Holding my arm against my body for stability, I shut off the water and headed back to bed. Once under the covers, I took up a prayer chant, disrespectful though my position was. Between the words, I managed to whisper, "Quietly. Who… are you?"

A tickle at my neck heralded the tiny creature emerging from the top of my shirt. "Roxi. I'm a Voyager."

"Where's… your sorcerer?"

"Who is the Blessed One Your Sorcerer?" they asked.

I realized that a familiar's incredible talent for languages meant the rodent understood Pali as well as English. Mixing the words into the chant had confused her. I switched to meaningless sounds, sliding my voice up and down the scale while repeating my question in between. Odds were, any American listener wouldn't notice the difference.

"I don't know." Their tiny claws prickled my skin. "Isn't it you?"

"I have… a familiar already."

"I was Summoned. I left the Hall and came here. But I can't find my sorcerer."

"How long ago?"

"I don't know. A long time. This form needs a lot of feeding. I have been catching insects in the spaces and trying to find my summoner, but no one smells of magic. No one calls to me. Then, last night, I found you."

"Sorry. Wasn't me."

"You smell good. You smell almost right." Roxi snuffled their long nose under the edge of my T-shirt, the tiniest soft brush along my chest.

"Bracelets." I brought my cuffed wrist close to my chest while nonsense-chanting so Roxi could see it. "Suppress magic. Other sorcerers. Lots."

The familiar's little nose twitched wildly, tickling me. "That smells bad. Take it off."

I plan to. But could I trust this little familiar not to give me away, by accident if not on purpose? They seemed more lost than anything. They'd apparently spotted me last night, yet no one had come for me during the day, so they hadn't told anyone. Still. "Do you? Talk to humans?"

"Not allowed," Roxi murmured, sounding sad. "I haven't talked to anyone in a long, long time. Until you. I like you."

Well, fuck. I couldn't exactly send them on their way. "You can stay. If you keep silent. Bad men watch."

"Oh. Is that why the bad-smell bracelet?"

"Yes. Control us."

Roxi made a noise I'd have called a growl from a larger creature. "This form is too small to bite them, but it is fierce. I will help."

"What's… your Talent?"

"Mimicry. I can recreate any sound I hear. This was a useful survival skill in older times, the ability to mimic a predator. Perhaps I can protect you with it."

I couldn't see how that was useful right now, but welcomed the words of support. "Thanks. Quiet now. Be still."

Roxi settled against my chest and their living touch on my skin was a comfort. I chanted nonsense for another few minutes, then let my sounds die to silence.

Time ticked by. No one came crashing into the cell to rip back the blanket and see who I'd been talking to. Outside, another vehicle's engine noise approached. Good cover for me.

I dug the ChapStick tube out from where I'd stashed it and poured a little into my hand. I tried to leave enough in the tube, in case Sunny didn't manage to bring more. Although when Sunny said he'd do something, you could bet it'd be done. Sometimes overdone.

The small dollop of lotion gave off its wonderful aroma. Roxi purred, a tiny, perhaps involuntary sound. But when I stroked the slickness around my wrist, the amount I'd taken sank in before I got to the back of my hand.

Damn. I had one last fraction in the tube, but once it was gone, I'd be helpless again. Tomorrow night was twenty-four hours away. Anything could happen in that time. What if they hauled me away somewhere? What if I used my freedom now and needed it later? I shivered, the uncapped tube in my hand, unwilling to upend it.

Surely, my preparations last night were enough? I can wait. But I knew that growing the fine rootlets I'd coaxed under the wall into something big enough to break stone would be slow work. Hard work. If our window of escape is small, I need to be ready. More ready.

Pros and cons. I taught my students to write decision lists. What good things could happen? What bad things could happen? Making smart choices. That didn't help when both the good and the bad possibilities were life and death. I trusted Sunny to come, but I didn't trust this place or these people not to upend me during the next day. Use it? Save it? My magic knew what it wanted.

Slowly, my hand shaking, I dumped another glob of lotion on the back of my hand. I left a little. Probably not enough, but not fully emptying the tube kept my nausea from choking me. I have some. I still have some. I capped the end carefully, then began twisting the cuff around my slicked wrist.

The suppressor came off more easily this time, as if the lotion's magic had figured out a system. The moment my hand slipped free, my power surged up, angry and looking for an outlet.

Soon. I wrestled it down. I'm preparing. Soon.

Roxi breathed, "Magic," then settled.

I scooped her off my chest gently and set her far enough away under the blanket that my movements wouldn't crush her. Then I turned my attention to those pine roots threaded through the soil beneath my prison wall, sending runes to guide them. Grow. Thicken. Little by little, I coaxed each one bigger, taking time to spread others out across the compound beyond. I'd be in deep shit if there was a visible ridge in the dirt leading straight to my cell, like a Wile E. Coyote escape tunnel. A little general rise in ground level hopefully would be missed. Bigger, wider, stronger. I expanded my net. The trees accepted my magic, drank it in. They wanted to grow upward, but I held all the growth below the soil. Later, I told them, not sure if I was lying.

I was glad I'd decided to use the lotion tonight. I took time to prepare each root, arrange a trigger set, imagine what would happen when I shoved all my power into them. Please, let it work out that way. Pleasepleaseplease. I realized I was losing my focus and cut off the spell, letting the working runes fade from my Othersight. My breath rasped in my chest. I wasn't sure if that was the effort I'd spent or the visions of disaster crowding at the back of my mind.

For a while, I lay there, letting my power settle. The world was different with my magic free, brighter and clearer, as if, even in the darkened cell, there were colors or sounds or smells that only my power could sense. I slid the cuff back over my hand but didn't reactivate it.

I could fake it. It's not that loose. They wouldn't notice. The wide metal circle slipped around my wrist with its smothering promise waiting. It was that loose. The dead, uncharged metal didn't look as bright as when activated. Risk-benefit.

Gritting my teeth, I set my finger to the locking rune. I could wait till morning. What would it hurt?

Except I'd no doubt find another excuse then, another delay, and I never did hear the guards coming. Before I could chicken out, I touched the rune and closed the cuff. The metal clamped down. The enveloping grayness dropped over me, a clammy, weighted blanket of non-magic. My power churned with fury and then retreated deep inside me to wait.

"Magic's gone," Roxi whispered.

"Shh," I managed through gritted teeth.

"Still smells good."

"Shh."

She came close and climbed from the mattress up my shoulder to my neck. I tugged the blanket higher. The scent of the lotion permeated the safe space under the covers. I should hide that. My unsettled stomach turned into a bonus as I forced a fart, then another. The lovely eucalyptus vanished in earthy odors.

I expected Roxi to complain, but as sleep swept over me, I heard her tiny voice laughing beside my ear. What dreams I could remember, each time I woke and dozed through the night, weren't as dire as I expected. That little thread of laughter carried through them like a filament of pure sunshine.