Page 62 of Forged Absolution (Fates of the Bound 4)

“True, but they never stayed the night. I’ll get you a gun from the armory. You need it more than that snoozer on your hip.”

“If I had more than this snoozer on my hip, and I’d walked in on this kid, then they could have been badly hurt or killed. I’ll take the snoozer any day. I don’t mind putting someone down for eight hours and gifting them a hangover. Your way is a good deal more permanent.”

“Suit yourself. I’ll have my people search the security footage. In the meantime, I’ll put this cabin on every patrol route. If anyone goes near it again, we’ll see them.”

“I appreciate it.”

Connell gave a curt nod and marched from the cabin.

Dixon and Lila snatched up the toilet paper and tossed it into the trash, sorting out the room in less than ten minutes. Once they finished, Dixon fished around in their refrigerator and retrieved a bottle of Gregorie. He lifted it expectantly, but Lila shook her head.

You don’t want any after this morning? I figured you’d bathe in it.

“It’s barely nine o’clock, Dixon. Besides, I’m trying to cut down.”

You and Tristan both. He placed the bottle back in the refrigerator and slouched on the couch, kicking off his boots and resting his feet on the coffee table.

Lila couldn’t blame him. The couch was very plush, like sinking into a pillow.

Instead of succumbing, Lila plopped herself down in front of the computer, tossing her ice pack away in annoyance. She didn’t have time to fiddle with yet another bruise. She deserved what she got for not paying attention. If she hadn’t nearly fallen on her ass, she might have tranqed the jerk and Connell wouldn’t be wasting his time trying to figure out what child had decided to play a prank on the new outsiders.

And if the mole had com

e out to play, then they’d already have the case wrapped up.

Dixon cleared his throat. What are you thinking? Your forehead’s gone all crinkly.

She swiveled back and forth in her desk chair, wondering how to answer. It wasn’t just the child that had annoyed her so much. It was the ongoing problem. It was Reaper. It was La Roux. It was Christina Rubio. It was the entire succession of those who’d tried to take her life lately.

“I’m tired of people using me as a punching bag, Dixon. If I don’t learn how to defend myself, someone is going to kill me. I’m been in too many close scrapes lately. I need to learn how to fight, just like Camille.”

What scrapes? Reaper?

“That’s one instance among many.”

Let me talk to Connell. I’ll find out where the gym is. We’ll work on it together. He gave her shoulder a squeeze and slipped out into the morning.

Lila adjusted the tranq on her hip and drew it a few times in the empty room. Then she turned back to her computer and started digging through the logs again. She might have cut out ninety percent of the illicit data, but she had the last ten percent to work through.

Ten percent of an ocean was still vast.

Dixon returned around noon, pulling her away to the cafeteria. Connell told me about the training classes they hold on the compound. There’s a massive group that works out in the evenings together before dinner. He said we should join. He even offered to help me train you, said it was the least he could do for your assistance. The gym is rather nice, too. Very old school. No heat, though.

“Great.”

Don’t act so spoiled. You’ll warm up fast.

“I’ll remember that the next time you touch a heater.”

The pair followed the long line of people entering the cafeteria. The interior had the same theme as the administration building, with stone walls and a shallow wooden roof. Expansive windows had been cut into the space, with light entering the room at all angles. Purple silk banners draped over the exposed beams, the mark of the oracle on the center flag.

Lila didn’t know what the other symbols on the banners meant.

Neither did Dixon.

The chatty line moved quickly up the center aisle of the dining room. Tables sat in rows around them. Given the number, the cafeteria could have seated at least three hundred oracle children at a time. Pillows rested at the end of every other table, just in case the oracle had a vision at lunch.

Lila toed the polished concrete floor.

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