“Dragon marked…” Jo broke the silence. “We were led to believe that you were just in a holding area?” She was agitated, shifting in her seat. Jack tightened his arm around her. “Are you telling me the entire time you were in the main supernatural prison?”
I could understand her dismissing the rumors for the more important fact that her sons had been hanging around with dangerous criminals.
Maximus strode across the room and knelt in front of her, taking both of her hands. “Don’t worry, Mother, we were perfectly fine. We were in the main prison, but for the most part we could stay together and watch each other’s backs.”
“With all the criminals,” I blurted.
“Yes,” Jacob said, from his position against the wall.
Jonathon interrupted. “Back to the dragon marked. What makes you believe that could be true? I’ve been to Vanguard many times, toured the different sections. I’ve never seen anything like that. And there are no children in there. You know we don’t imprison our young.”
Truth.
In America, if a supernatural committed a crime under the age of twenty-two, they were trialed and punished, but did not enter the prison system. Instead they served house detention, rehabilitation, and various spellings, depending on the severity of the crime.
Braxton rested his arms along the back of the couch. “There were these vampire transfers from Europe. They had all of these stories about the breakouts, that those freed were all marked, and that the escapes were orchestrated by two females.”
Girls? For reals? A part of me thought that was kind of awesome. Two females taking on all of those prisons. And if they were freeing the marked, well, I was all for that.
“They were sure there’s dragon marked in Vanguard … somewhere,” Braxton said.
I hadn’t forgotten his words from before. “Why do you want to go back into the prison?” I’d heard nothing in their story to indicate a reason for this insanity.
He took a deep breath. “Okay, I don’t know if this is off topic or part of the same thing, but despite the fact we don’t imprison children, there was a kid in Vanguard. A little boy … his name was Nash.” I could feel my face tightening as confusion flooded my body, and I wasn’t the only one with a scrunched up face. “He used the sewerage system to move around the different areas.”
I exchanged a glance with my father. Really, how was it possible that a child could be in Vanguard? Could there really be dragon marked in there somewhere, hidden away? And if so, how did the boy get free?
Braxton was still speaking, his words picking up in urgency. “He’s six years old. He wouldn’t tell me much about himself or why he was in there. He just said he was small enough to fit places that others couldn’t. It took him a couple of days, but he started to trust me. He told me how to get into the area that he lives, and I promised if I could I’d try to break him out.”
Great, Braxton’s need to be a hero was probably going to get him killed.
Jack sat straighter in his chair. “You think he’s marked? You can’t free the dragon marked.” He usually didn’t pull rank on his sons, but it looked as if he might now. “There is a reason they’re locked away.”
I kind of saw red on that one. “That’s bullshit. A stupid scary story from over a thousand years ago is not a good enough reason to lock away children for their entire lives.”
It was hitting close to home now. I apparently bore this stupid mark. It didn’t make me want to go out and gather an army. So I assumed the rest felt similarly. Although, the murder and imprisonment of dragon marked was not going to make them particularly sympathetic to the supernatural community. As always, people created their own enemies. These extremist actions would probably be the reason the marked rose up against the supernaturals.
“I never saw a mark on him, Dad.” Braxton’s voice was low. “He was just a little boy, he deserves a damned chance to run in the sun and play with kids. Vanguard is not the place for children.”
“So how are we going to get in and free this child? Do you know the way back?” I asked, my eyes locked on Braxton. I knew nothing was going to change his mind now, he had that stubborn look on his face. All that I could do was tag along and make sure he didn’t get himself killed.
Mischa jumped in. “I want to help,” she stuttered. Her nerves were palatable; I could smell her sweat, see it beading her forehead. But she spoke truth, she did want to help. I wondered why. Maybe she had a soft spot for kids. Or was she wondering, like Jonathon and me, if there really were marked in there.
Maximus growled. “Personally I never want to set foot in there again. But I always have Braxton’s back and this is something he needs to do.”
Braxton’s voice went really low. “I won’t leave him behind.”
I’d never noticed Braxton having a particular affinity for children, but I could see that this one boy had made an impression.