Spellbound (Otherworld 12)

"Rhys mentioned these people are interested in Jasper," Benicio said as he finally settled into his seat. "Can you tell me what they said, please, Savannah?"

I did. Then I said, "Has anyone looked up this Phalegian Prophecy yet?"

"Everyone has," Benicio said. "We've checked our Cabal records and Adam has checked the council ones. His father has double-checked. We even asked the Boyd Cabal, because they're concerned about this movement and have offered their services. There's no record of it. We suspect this Giles has invented it."

"Even if he hasn't, that only means some other guy invented it a few hundred years ago," Hope said. "Either way, it's meaningless propaganda to promote an agenda. I just wish that agenda didn't involve me or Jasper Haig."

Karl grumbled his agreement.

"We will take care of that," Benicio said. "So their plan seems to be to entice Jasper to their side, by offering him Hope."

"Which means they think they can break him out," I said. "That isn't possible."

"Of course it is." Karl barely unhinged his jaw as he spoke. "There's no such thing as perfect security. That's why I didn't want him being held anywhere. There's no reason to hold him. How many people did he kill? But that's not important, is it? What matters is that Jasper Haig is a scientific anomaly, a new supernatural race that evolved over only a few generations, and you have to study that, even if it means keeping alive the man who murdered two of your own sons."

Karl's gaze locked with Benicio's. "My child hasn't even been born yet, and I'd kill anyone who even tried to harm her, so excuse me if I don't share your sentiments on Jasper Haig."

Benicio didn't flinch. "One could argue that a lifetime of imprisonment is a worse punishment than a merciful death."

"Oh, I never said anything about merciful. The point is that as long as Jasper is in custody, he runs the risk of leaving custody."

"I would never let--"

"You don't have any say in the matter. He can escape, and eventually he will."

"Karl's right," I said. "Jaz isn't just any prisoner. He's a psychopathic criminal mastermind with the ability to alter his appearance to look like anyone."

"Not anyone," Benicio said. "He has to work within the limits of his own physiology, which is why all his guards are significantly taller than he is. And as for 'criminal mastermind'? Clever, yes. Genius, no."

Hope spoke up, her voice soft. "I take it you didn't ask us along to discuss the wisdom of locking up Jasper Haig. You're wondering whether this Giles person has an actual plan, and if he has a plan for freeing Jaz. If so, it's likely he's made contact already. There's only one person Jaz would share that information with."

"Absolutely not." Karl turned on Benicio. "We're in Miami for one reason, and only one reason. Because you've promised that Hope's health is a priority, over any help she could provide. If you've changed your mind, you can pull over right now--"

"I'm only asking Hope to meet with Jasper briefly. We'll have a medical team standing by. We'll equip her with a cordless heart and fetal monitor and pull her out if there's any distress to her or the baby."

"Any distress? How can there not be--?"

Hope cut him off. "If there is a plan to help Jaz escape, I can get him to tell me about it. Then we can stop it. Or we can run off to Europe with the others and wait until he does escape and comes after me."

There wasn't much Karl could say to that, except to lay out exactly what he wanted from Benicio to make the meeting as safe as it could be. Benicio agreed, and asked me to be there, too, in case Jaz said something that I'd recognize from my dealings with the group.

Adam didn't meet us in the secured parking lot. Or inside the offices. I got the hint. I'd screwed up so badly he wanted nothing to do with me. I won't say how much that hurt. I can't.

But I didn't have time to dwell on it. I had to tell them so much--including my encounter with Balaam. My debriefing went on for hours as a Cabal expert prodded my brain until they had every scrap I could remember, then continued poking until Paige said "enough."

Then Paige and Lucas walked me to a small lounge where food was waiting. Lunch, I guess, though I'd lost track of time. As we ate, they put me through another kind of interrogation, this one on my power outage. What did I feel when I cast? What spells had I tried? Had I attempted any rituals?

"We can conduct more thorough tests later," Lucas said as he jotted notes. "We'll determine the exact parameters of the problem. It may be that not all your spells are affected."

"And even if they are, we'll deal with that," Paige said.

"Yes, of course." Lucas snapped his notebook shut and leaned forward. "We know how upset you must be, but your ability to cast spells is only a small part of who you are, Savannah. Remember how rarely you cast spells in your daily life."

"Let me rephrase that," Paige said. "Think of how rarely you need to cast them. Which excludes things like an unlock spell so you don't have to dig out your keys."

I looked at them both, sitting on the couch, trying to assess my mood, not wanting to smother me with reassurances, but wanting to be sure I understood that I'd be fine without my spells. That it wouldn't change anything. Wouldn't change how they felt. If I'd been worried about that, I'd been a fool.

I'd been a fool about a lot of things.