Chapter 2

"What a hell hole." I take the flask of whiskey from my jacket and sit down on the remains of an upturned tree. The Hollow is so far from what it was a year ago, it's barely recognizable.

At first, we talked about fixing her up. Moving back in. Making her home again.

But it didn't take long for us to get over that idea. The cabin feels like home. This place? It feels like death.

Out in the woods, by the lake, it's like nothing else exists. Yeah, it's small as fuck, and the bathroom is far too crowded. But it's ours. Nothing bad has happened there. Only good things. Sex, and laughter, and all of us curled up together in the bed.

Apart from the nights Tanner's snoring gets too much and he's banished to the couch.

Plus, it's handy for Snow. He's become something of a morning swimmer. Loves coming back with fish. Never shares. The fucker.

"A hell hole indeed." Annalise's voice drifts toward me, and I turn to find her in black jeans, big black boots, and a long black trench coat.

"You wore your spy outfit," I quip, standing up to shake her hand.

Quirking an eyebrow at me, she pulls me in for a hug instead. "I know it's been a while," she says. "But we're past handshakes, aren't we?"

I pat her shoulder. Her frame is small and too angular, and the fact she's the complete opposite of Nova makes me miss our Little Star even more.

"Thanks for agreeing to meet with me," she says, holding out her hand until I realize she's waiting for me to put the whiskey in it.

"I didn't realize saying no was an option." I start to walk toward the house, because standing still is allowing something cold and dark to seep up from the ground into the soles of my feet.

"We lost the scepter," Annalise says. "Thornfield was our last hope."

"I'm aware."

"We need to get it back, Luther." She has laced her fingers together behind her back, and is staring up at the darkening sky around the building. Its facade is cracked and crumbling. The windows are either shattered or completely blown in. I wouldn't be surprised if, at any moment, she collapsed right in front of us.

"I have a fair bit on my plate here, Annalise. Don't have time to run to England to search for your magic stick."

"We don't know if it is in England."

I turn to look at her, trying to assess her features. Which is pointless because she didn't get to where she is at the Bureau by having a shitty poker face.

She inhales slowly, then stops. We're in front of the steps that lead to the kitchen. Memories of Nova hang in the air like mist. I try to shake them off, flick a flame into my palm then extinguish it.

Annalise's eyes catch on the fire and widen a little. She sighs and rolls her tongue around her lips as if she's struggling to find the words she needs.

"Not like you to hold back." I sit down on the bottom step, lean onto my knees and look up at her.

She nods, unlaces her fingers, and combs them through her hair instead. "We've captured a member of the AMA who we believe has intel that could help us find the scepter."

"Congratulations," I reply quickly, immediately thinking of Nico.

"We need to find a way to elicit information from him."

I bark out a laugh and turn my flame into a fireball, reverse-levitating it like a yoyo. "I'm sure you have plenty of potions that can do the job."

"Well, that's the thing." Annalise sits down next to me. Her shoulders droop and – for the first time in a long time – I sense the veneer of her professionalism shifting. "He seems… immune."

"So, go catch another piece of AMA scum who's not," I reply, refusing to be drawn into a conversation about how the fuck he's immune and who the fuck this guy is.

"There isn't time for that, Luther, and we have no other leads." Annalise turns and stares at me until I meet her eyes. "We're having to look at more traditional methods of extraction."

A knot forms in the base of my throat. I swallow, but it refuses to shift.

"We know, Luther…" She rubs her thighs as if she's trying to warm up, even though it's not cold.

"Know what?" I force the words out, but the congealed dread in my stomach tells me exactly what she knows.

"We know what you did to the people who killed your family."

My entire body stiffens. Her words, like a shard of ice, cut through the heat in my veins and leave my shivering. No one knows. Only Mack and Kole.

"We've always known," she breathes. "And now we're calling in our favor."

I stare at my hands. The fireball fizzles out then comes back to life along with a flurry of indignation. "You mean you're blackmailing me." I drop the fireball to the ground and allow it to surge between us. The flames flicker bright white, then blue, then green.

"I'm asking you to use the skills you used then… when you tortured that poor defenceless human, and made her tell you where to find the gang who killed your family."

Memories pummel their ugly fists against the inside of my skull. I refuse to let them in. Not now. Not after all this time. "She was not defenceless. She was one of them."

"You tortured her. Lucinda? Was that her name? You left her looking like a corpse, and yet she was still alive. She survived in the burns unit for three long painful months before her body finally gave up on her. Enough time for you to seek out the others and?—"

"Enough." I stand up. As I speak, the flames reach higher and the heat swells. "If I say no?"

Annalise does not stand, just looks up at me with wide eyes. Is she sorry for what she's doing? If she is, I can't see it in her face. So much for being friends.

"If you say no," she sighs, "there's a jail cell waiting with your name on it."