“You do what I tell you, and nothing more, and you’ll be fine.”
It was the tone of Liam’s voice that had me looking up, hoping it had been a good idea to follow a man I’d only just met into a supernatural prison that wanted to add me to its rolls.
I nodded. “I’m not afraid of many things, but this place is one of them.” The intimacy of the admission had me looking back at the concrete, at all the things it kept in, and the things it kept out. “Of being locked away because of something I didn’t choose,” I said. “Something that came to me, and not the other way around. I tried to help someone tonight, and that’s threatening to tear my world apart.”
I swallowed, looked into his shockingly blue eyes. “I didn’t run—because you asked me not to. You were straight with me about the Containment agents. I’m going to trust that you’re being straight with me now.”
“And if I’m not?”
“I’ll tell Containment you lied to them about a Sensitive and let them sort it out.”
His eyebrows lifted in appreciation. “That’s a pretty good threat. I consider myself duly warned.”
“Okay,” I said, and fell into step beside him. Because sometimes a girl had to take fate into her own hands.
A Containment agent stood inside the guardhouse, his gun strapped to one side of his belt, a stick on the other. He looked at us mildly.
Liam seemed utterly cool and composed.
“Hawkins,” Liam said.
“Quinn,” Hawkins responded. He was medium height with brown hair and blue eyes. Every bit of him seemed precise: bluntly square jaw, perfectly shorn hair, an immaculately pressed uniform that he filled out with heavy muscle.
Liam pulled a leather wallet from his back pocket. Hawkins scanned his ID with a small wand, and the comp inside his station beeped with approval.
“Who’s she?” he asked.
“Trainee.”
Hawkins looked me over. “She doesn’t look like much of a trainee.”
“You tryin’ to insult me, or her?”
“If the shoe fits,” Hawkins said. “You hear about the wraith attack tonight? Some girl in the Quarter fought them off with a stick.”
I decided it wasn’t a good idea to take credit for that. But Liam didn’t have any qualms.
“She’s the girl,” he said, and tucked the wallet away again.
Hawkins’s eyebrows lifted. “You don’t say.”
“It was me,” I said. “But it was a tree limb. Not a stick.”
Liam looked at me with amusement. It was the first time I’d seen him put on anything close to a smile, and it highlighted dimples in each cheek. They transformed his face, made him seem a lot less disquieting.
“Making sure you get full credit?” he asked.
“I earned it.”
“T’as raison,” Liam murmured.
“He says you’re right,” Hawkins translated with a smile. “I’m thinking you’ve got a handful with this one.”
“Which one of us are you talking to, Hawkins?” Liam asked.
He smiled at Liam. “Weapons?”
Liam pulled up his shirt, showing the gun belted at his lean hip. He removed it, handed it over.
Hawkins nodded, scanned it, placed it in a locked box beneath his console. “You know the drill. You can retrieve it on the way out.”
When Liam nodded, Hawkins brushed fingertips across his control panel, and the security grid disappeared.
“You’re about to leave the city of New Orleans and enter a territory of the United States government,” Hawkins recited. “The U.S. government makes no guarantees regarding your health, welfare, or safety while you are inside Devil’s Isle. Magic is prohibited inside the walls. If you observe magic, report it immediately to the nearest Containment agent. Other than that, have a good night, and be careful in there.” Hawkins leaned back into the gatehouse and pressed a button, and the gate began to slide open.
I followed Liam through the gate, into the area that had once been the Marigny. And just like that, I was inside Devil’s Isle.
I tried to calm my ragged nerves. “Anything you want to prepare me for?”
“You haven’t been in the Marigny since the war?”
I shook my head.
“It looks a lot different now. That can be hard for people who lived here, or have memories of here, so just plan on being surprised. As for Paras, keep your eyes ahead of you. Don’t stare at anyone, don’t talk to anyone. Stay beside me. If someone approaches us, let me handle it.”
The sun had long since set. “It’s late. You think we’ll have issues?”
“Some Paras are nocturnal, and most aren’t too fond of humans. Guards will be posted everywhere, and you don’t want to stare at them, either. And don’t do magic. Like Hawkins said, it’s banned, and there are monitors everywhere.”
“We’re already in Devil’s Isle,” I murmured. “What else could happen?”
He didn’t seem to appreciate my sarcasm. “Gunshot wounds from a guard’s service weapon, or solitary confinement in a jacket.” He glanced down at me. “You’ve seen those before? The ones they capture wraiths in?”