Dr. Powell examined her nails—Talia’s babies. The wraiths want Talia’s babies—then brought her gaze up with an innocent little no-idea shrug.
Custo turned his head to the side to hide his revulsion. The woman was a menace, worse than the wraiths, because as a person she should still have a shred of humanity. Talia’s babies were bound to be special, like Talia was, but to prey on infants was beyond obscene. To facilitate their capture was no less reprehensible. At least now the threat to Talia and her unborn children was revealed.
Custo gave the doctor a half smile. “When was the last time you contacted the wraiths?”
Yesterday. Tower location. Had to tell wraiths. But she said, “I have never initiated any kind of contact with the wraiths.”
Custo went very still, a mercury-cold fear creeping up his spine. “And why did you inform them about the tower?”
Dr. Powell set her jaw and folded her arms, locking herself down. Her eyes were full of suspicion.
Right. She hadn’t spoken that last part. He’d just screwed up. Shit.
Custo scrubbed his scalp to get the blood flowing. He needed to think, find a way to recoup. Probably have to double back to other topics and approach from…
An alarm sounded, deafening and painful as it echoed off the concrete.
Custo’s concentration broke. His gaze flew to the observation window, though he couldn’t see through that way. Then he sought Adam’s mind to find out what had happened.
But Adam wasn’t in the observation booth. He was outside of the holding area, thinking hard, Annabella. Gone. Annabella. Gone.
Custo lurched off his chair, pitching himself toward the open door. He scrambled around the corner, and when he hit the main corridor, ran.
How could he have missed Annabella leaving? There’d been no shouts of alarm, no sounds of a fight. Those would’ve attracted his attention. Had she been overpowered? He’d been too distracted by the interrogation, the only thing, the only person, that could have absorbed him to the degree that he might disregard the rest of the world for a moment. One lousy moment.
He passed a soldier and shouted, “Dr. Powell. Hold her,” and kept running.
Each footfall sounded, anna, anna, anna, anna, in time with his laboring heart.
Custo reached ahead to Adam’s mind so he would be prepared to face the situation. Adam was near unintelligible, reminding himself that a man did not hit a woman.
Custo understood why when he entered the great cavern and found Adam arguing with Zoe. The yellow lift was lowering, a unit of armed soldiers responding to the alarm.
“You say the wolf was with her?” Adam asked, voice harsh.
Zoe twirled her hair around a finger. “Yep.”
“But you won’t say where they went?”
“Nope.”
Adam’s voice rose, sharp with anger. “Why? Annabella’s life is in danger.”
“Ya know, I don’t think I like your tone,” Zoe said while she closely examined the ends of her hair.
Custo wanted to strike her, too, but he clenched his hands and forced himself to gentleness. “Please. Annabella is everything to me. Tell me where she went.”
Zoe heaved a sigh. “What time is it?”
Adam answered a precise, “Seven fourteen.”
“I guess that’s close enough,” Zoe said. She looked at Custo, but pointed to a gray door. “She’s in there.”
Of course it was coded. Custo fought frustration while Adam tapped in a number.
The door opened. The light was on, the room packed with crates and miscellaneous storage, but empty of Annabella and the wolf.
In front of him, Kathleen’s paintings were alive, the Shadowlands vibrant, potent in every exposed canvas. The largest one depicted the dark forest, a hollow of undiluted danger throbbing with power. Like Shadow, the trees were shifting, changeable, the place where every uncertain traveler lost his north and disappeared.
At least she was with the wolf and not lost alone in the forest. Bitter, though, to hold on to him for hope of her safety.
Custo turned quickly to Adam. “The wraiths want Talia’s babies, but I wasn’t able to find out why. I do know that Dr. Powell told the wraiths about the tower. You have to warn Luca.”
Adam’s eyes cooled, his jaw flexed, but he gave a short nod. “Go get your girl.”
Custo was already reaching through magic, breaking the surface between the mortal world and the Other. Frightening euphoria swept over his body as his senses grew indistinct, his mind’s ability to reach and read others going dark.
The forest was endless, without trail or boundary.
How would he ever find her?
Chapter Nineteen