Forget About Midnight (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #9)(80)

“Please don’t say shit like that.” I shuddered and turned away, unable to meet his eyes. Why did a few precious minutes of freedom from misery have to come at such a massive price?

Falon didn’t toss another nasty remark at me, which made it clear that he was feeling some shame of his own. Well, good. “I’ll go out there and deal with the cameras in the hallway and the guard. Then I’ll let you out.”

Having to trust him to do what he said was harder in light of what we’d just done. He could very well leave me here after using me to get out himself. So when he vanished with the rustle of feathers, I had no choice but to sit tight and wait. The door remained locked from the outside.

Unable to resist, I glanced out the window to see Falon reappear in front of the guard. The poor man never even got a chance to shout before Falon had snapped his neck. Then, as he’d claimed, the fallen angel did return to let me out. He had a set of keys as well as a swipe card. When he opened the heavy iron door, I took note of the many different ways it had been locked.

“Thanks,” I said, shivering when a wandering ghost walked right through me.

“Cameras are frozen, and there’s a few hours before sunrise. We should have enough time to get out.” Falon turned to go, expecting me to follow.

“Wait,” I said, my glance darting down the hall. “I have to see if my sister is here. And I want to let some of these people out.”

Falon rolled his eyes and sighed. “Are you f*cking kidding me? We don’t have time for that shit.”

“Then help me, and it will go a lot faster,” I snapped. The pressure to move fast made me impatient and short tempered.

Falon could have vanished and left me behind. He didn’t have to accompany me out. So when he swore at me but started checking rooms, I mustered some gratitude.

“You can’t break every ward, you know,” he said, peering into the window of a room across the hall. “The only people who can walk through the ward are those without any kind of extrasensory power.”

I nodded and rushed to the room across from mine. I recognized the man inside. Like the last time I saw him, he lay on the bed, drawing. He was able to see potential outcomes of various decisions. The FPA had struck a deal with him. He willingly stayed, and they took care of his family’s expenses, including expensive schooling. Something told me he wouldn’t come with us even if he could.

Moving on, I came to the door with the werewolf I’d sensed earlier. It was a woman. This wolf was tall and dark skinned with a wild main of tight curls that I would have envied if we hadn’t been racing for freedom. In haste I unlocked the door and hauled it open. She turned solid-brown wolf eyes my way, wide open in surprise.

“Interested in a jail break?” I asked. “Come on, we don’t have a lot of time.”

She lunged for the door as if afraid I was joking. Circles lined her eyes.

“Oh my God, I thought I was going to be in there until I died. Thank you.” She flung her arms around me, desperate for the touch of another wolf. Her beast was restless and half mad inside her.

“How long have you been in here?” I asked, checking to see where Falon was. He stood across the hall, holding up a hand for me to join him.

“I don’t even know,” she said with a sob. “I lost track of the days.”

The crescent moon tattoo on her neck revealed her as one of Dayne’s wolves. Did he even know where she was?

“Come on.” I gave her arm an encouraging squeeze before turning to the door Falon stood at. He looked in on a teen boy holding a ball of fire. When he saw us at the window, he flipped us a middle finger and leaned back on his chair so it balanced on two legs.

“You’re not going to be able to get most of these people out,” Falon said. “They may be human, but the wards were made for their abilities. You’re going to have to cut your losses and leave them.”

“All of them?” I asked, my mind racing. The thought of leaving these people behind was unacceptable.

“You don’t have a choice. If you waste anymore time here, you won’t get out either.” Falon reached for my arm, and I jerked back before he could touch me.

I turned away before he could grab for me again. “Help me find Juliet. If she’s not here, we can leave.” To the werewolf hovering at my side, I asked, “What’s your name, sweetie?”

“Izzy,” she said pushing the untamed mane out of her eyes.

“Alexa,” I said, then pointed at the fallen angel moving swiftly from door to door. “That’s Falon.”

Izzy nodded. “I’ve heard your name before. They asked me if I knew you when I first came.”

That didn’t surprise me. Briggs seemed to think every vampire and werewolf in the city knew me. They didn’t. Not yet. I hoped to change that, if only to rally them all together for the greater good, whatever that happened to be.

I continued to peer in windows, seeking either my sister or someone I could free. I found myself looking in at the same little girl I’d seen during my last basement visit. Unlike last time, she was awake and carrying on a conversation with someone I couldn’t see. The animated way she chattered along, her hands gesturing wildly, gave me the creeps.

“Not that one.” Falon appeared behind me, looking in over my shoulder. “Never that one.”