They clutch their throats, falling to their knees while roaring with peals of gleeful laughter. Clutching their bellies, then their heads, in extreme, unfettered, mind-melting joy.
The nearest guard falls face-first to the floor, convulsing. Still laughing.
“What the fuck?!” Coda shouts — darkly delighted and talking over the speakers of Kitty’s phone now.
Both of the kids just look at me, wide-eyed and a touch fearful. Not even a hint of amusement in their gazes.
“It’s all right,” I say. My voice isn’t gentle or sweet or all that cool anymore. “You belong to me. I would never, I could never, hurt you.”
Kitty, pointedly not looking at the still-convulsing shifters, skirts the cage. She pauses to pick up my phone but is already reaching for my hand as she straightens.
I take the phone from her, then I take her hand. Her skin is a little cool to the touch, so I rub my thumb across the back of her hand.
She blinks up at me, intently holding my gaze. “Tommy. The cage. And you … Mirth,” she whispers.
Her vision, she means. She’s just seen her vision realized. She smiles.
“Let’s go home,” I say, my tone a little softer.
“Yeah,” Tommy says. His voice is ragged with pain. “We … Kitty and me … our mom … she … we can’t go … home.”
“I’m going to get you out of the cage. I’m going to get you healed. Then you’ll both come to my apartments here in London, and you’re going to eat and sleep. In whatever order feels best. Tomorrow, we will start sorting out all the rest, okay?”
“Okay,” Tommy says gruffly. His gaze flicks to his sister.
Kitty, still gripping my hand, just grins back at him. No doubt still ecstatic at seeing her vision realized.
He huffs, exasperated. In that way that only an older sibling can be exasperated at a younger.
And I smile. I smile at the remembrance of Armin huffing like that at me.
It still hurts. It’s always going to hurt, but it’s not debilitating.
I wind a thick tendril of my essence around my hand, then grasp the latch of the cage.
But before the essence protections sealing the cage dissipate under my touch, the sound of motors rumble awake all around us, above and below.
A section of ceiling directly above us slides open.
The pedestal underneath us jerks into motion.
Kitty stumbles into me.
Tommy shouts.
“Fuck!” Coda cries through Kitty’s phone speakers. “That’s not me!”
I could grab Kitty and jump from the pedestal, abandoning Tommy.
But I don’t.
I wrap my power around myself, around Kitty — who clutches at my hand even harder — and around the cage. I peerupward as the mechanical pedestal carries us into the theater overhead.
We’re propelled through the floor and thrust onto the stage above, the platform fully sealing the hole that appeared overhead. I close my eyes against the bright lights flooding the area. But I can still sense the space open up around us.
A heavy hush falls over the crowd gathered beyond those bright lights. A silence so deep I swear I can hear Kitty’s quick, panicked breaths and Tommy’s heart racing.
I open my eyes, blinking against the lights for a moment. Thankfully the main spots are focused on the display — no doubt in the process of being auctioned off — to my right.
