Page 59 of Ira

“Very good,” I replied dryly. “Though I’m no longer a Hunter. I’m sorry we were gone longer than you thought. We had a little delay en route.”

“To your mom’s house?”

“You already know the answer to that.”

Harlow blinked owlishly at me. “I mean, sure. I got the general direction. Are you hungry? There’s some leftover Margherita pizza in the fridge for you. Want me to heat it up?”

I hesitated, not wanting to linger too long, but also needing to talk to her. Having that conversation over food felt a little less intimidating. “Yes, please.”

If nothing else, I’d been living off chips and candy all day, and I was desperate for something with a bit more sustenance. I followed Harlow to the kitchen where she made quick work of reheating a very generous portion of pizza for me, and pouringa glass of apple juice. I took a few moments to freshen up—though I was craving a long hot shower—before taking a seat at the counter.

Verner stayed close, giving my cheek a brief stroke of encouragement when Harlow wasn’t looking.

“So?” she prompted, sliding the plate and glass over to me. “How’d the family reunion go?”

“How do you even know that’s my mom’s house?” I asked curiously. “Do you have access to all their records?”

Maybe it was because Harlow was so young and fun, but I’d obviously underestimated her.

“Yes and no. I mean, they didn’t technicallygiveme access, but I dohaveaccess.” She shrugged, looking pleased with herself. “They took the whole organization offline after Austin’s video, but I’d made copies of everything before then anyway.”

“Without the Council knowing?”

“I’m good at what I do. And they’re bad at it,” Harlow added. “The Council has never been great at keeping up with technology. That’s partly why they brought me on board, but they clearly hate relying on my expertise. Maybe I don’t give off trustworthy vibes.”

“Well, you are a double agent.”

She hummed in agreement. “Very true. Maybe I give off backstabbing vibes.”

I watched her closely as she ate her own pizza, trying to decide if that was the case. CouldItrust Harlow? I doubted that Astrid would have anything to do with her if she wasn’t at least mostly trustworthy, but Harlow was Astrid’s contact, not mine. All I’d done from the moment I’d appeared in her closet was impose on her.

Twisting a little in my seat, I looked at Verner, whose gaze was already trained in my direction. I needed to find my backbone before we headed back to the shadow realm, just in case hewas somehow punished for my choices. I needed to be ready to assert myself, to fight for my decisions, and to fight to protect his reputation.

The ex-Hunter cohort of the shadow realm was made up of a sea of big personalities, and letting myself be swept up in the tide of them was no longer an option.

I wiped my hands on a napkin before pulling the phone out of my pocket and setting it down on the counter between Harlow and me. “There are some photos on here of evidence that is pretty damning to the Council. To Randal Jackman in particular. Evidence that I’ve already given to the feds.”

Harlow choked on her pizza, coughing awkwardly for a moment. “To thefeds? Holy fuck, remind me not to get on your bad side.”

Huh. I decided not to object to that. If I could cultivate a reputation for being a fearsome badass, I would happily embrace it.

“Look, I don’t know if I’m making the right decision here or not. I want to trust you, Harlow. I want to know that this information will get to where it needs to go if the authorities don’t pursue it for whatever reason. And if theydopursue it—well, I need a way of staying updated on that from the shadow realm, because I have absolutely no intention of staying here.”

“Yeah, of course. Look, I’m no fan of the Council either. I told Astrid that the negotiations were a waste of time, and that I’d be here when she was ready for full anarchy. Which… maybe you beat me to it? What exactly did you get involved in?” Harlow asked, wide-eyed.

I gestured at the phone for her to take a look for herself.

Harlow stared hard at the screen as she flicked through the photos at a rapid pace. “Meera… did you even realize what you were holding on to? It’s a few years old, but this… this will raze the Council to the ground. The names on here… Most ofthese people still serve on the Council. There are even names I recognize from other districts. This… this is a whole restructure waiting to happen.”

“Do you think we’re ready for that?” I asked, genuinely meaning it. If Astrid’s words about Randal Jackman had been right, if getting rid of him put us in aworseposition, I’d feel awful. I stood by my choice and I knew I’d done the right thing, but it didn’t mean the potential consequences weren’t terrifying.

Harlow blinked in surprise, dragging her gaze up to mine. “I’ve never really thought about it. The Council has always seemed so infallible. But if anything will bring them down… well, it’s tax evasion, right? They’ll subpoena the devil himself if taxes are involved.”

I raised my glass of apple juice in toast to that.

“You don’t seem very happy though,” Harlow hedged. “You’ve done the hard part. You can celebrate now. Head back to the shadow realm—after you’ve eaten your pizza, of course—and do your victory lap.”

“Let’s see what the others have to say first,” I muttered. “It wasn’t very teamwork-makes-the-dream-work of me to come here on a renegade mission without telling anyone. I suspect they may have some thoughts about that.”

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