“How did Materiel end up hiring a Sensitive?” Liam asked.
“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” Burke said. “They don’t know. And, speaking of PCC, that’s what we wanted to talk to you about—we understand you talked to Lorene Salas today.”
So they were the “PCC” reps who’d talked to her family.
“We took her daughter in last night,” Liam confirmed.
Burke nodded. “Lorene talked to Lizzie, who told her you were very good with Marla. Very gentle with her.”
“We got lucky,” Liam said, gestured to me. “Claire handled her, and handled her well. You’re Marla’s friends?”
“I was,” Darby said. “I knew she was a Sensitive, and hadn’t seen her in a few days. That’s when I went to visit her mother.”
“What took you there?” Burke asked.
“We found her nest,” Liam said. “We’d gone back to check it out, see if we could find any evidence.”
“Of?” Malachi asked.
“Wraith attacks are increasing,” I said. “Liam’s been tracking them. There have been more, and wraiths seem to be acting more like humans. We’re trying to figure out why.”
Malachi, Darby, and Burke looked at each other, then at us. “That’s quite a coincidence,” Burke said. “We’re missing Sensitives.”
Liam frowned. “What do you mean ‘missing’ them? As in, they’re disappearing from Devil’s Isle?”
“Not quite,” Malachi said, glancing at Darby. “Perhaps we should start at the beginning?”
She nodded. “So, the Veil was discovered forty-seven years ago.”
I didn’t let her go any farther. “Forty-seven years? The feds have known about the Veil for forty-seven years? How were we so unprepared?”
“It was still closed,” she said. “And it’s not like we can see through it. At that time, they weren’t entirely sure what it was, or what was behind it. That’s why Defense created a research team in the first place. When the Veil opened, Defense realized what was happening, what was behind it.”
“That’s when the Paranormal Combatant Command was created,” Burke said, and Darby nodded.
“And the Veil research agency was wrapped into PCC and became PCC Research. War was under way, of course, so Paranormals became the enemy, indivisibly. We didn’t know yet about conscription, or the Court, or Consularis.”
“And Sensitives?” I asked.
“That was more complicated,” Burke said. “Sensitives were too human to be considered true enemies, too Paranormal to be free, and too useful to be ignored. As you know, some were captured, interned. It wasn’t, unfortunately, the first time the feds have interned U.S. citizens, and people were afraid of magic, afraid of war. Unfortunately for them, PCC pretty quickly realized they needed Sensitives to close the Veil.”
I stared at her. “Sensitives closed the Veil?”
“They did,” Burke said.
I looked at Liam. “Did you know about that?”
He shook his head. “Not precisely, but it makes sense you’d have to fight magic with magic.”
“Exactly,” Burke said. “PCC told the Sensitives they’d recruited that they’d have immunity. That’s why so many helped. And because they were willing to ignore the obvious civil rights violations to help the larger goal—human survival. And you know what happened after that. The war ended, and the Magic Act was passed. Anything with magic became verboten. Criminalized. The interned Sensitives weren’t released. And the Sensitives who helped didn’t get immunity. They went into hiding.”
Darby nodded. “We—PCC Research, I mean—tried to get PCC to change its position. We knew about the differences between Paras. We knew Sensitives could manage their magic. We proposed Containment enlist Sensitives and Consularis Paras on a trial basis to track fluctuations in the Veil, help get us prepared in case it split again. But PCC didn’t want to hear that. They wanted us to tow the ‘enemy combatant’ line, and we wouldn’t.” She shrugged. “That’s when I got the ax.”
“For Sensitives, Containment thinks magic management is too risky,” Burke said, and Darby nodded. “They see us as unstable, uncertain. If we don’t control our magic, or not well enough, we turn into wraiths. That makes us dangerous.”
She looked at Malachi and Burke. “And so here we are, trying to fight the good fight.”
“‘We’?” I asked.
“Our allies,” Burke said. “Some Sensitives, some humans and Consularis Paras both outside and inside Devil’s Isle. We call ourselves Delta.” Burke formed a triangle with his thumbs and index fingers. “We’re in the Mississippi Delta, and in math, delta means change. That’s what we’re after—changing Containment’s view of Paranormals and Sensitives. Changing everyone’s view. And right now, finding our missing Sensitives—the ones who helped close the Veil.”