City of Light (Outcast 1)

But Nuri, as an earth witch and seeker, certainly could if I wasn’t very careful in her presence.

“The humans didn’t actually start the war, shifter. Your people did. Humans just made sure they had a reasonable chance of fighting back.”

He snorted again. “So creating unfeeling monsters was a reasonable response, was it?”

“There were monsters on both sides,” I snapped back. “Shifters were hardly saints themselves, even if history has been rewritten to state otherwise.”

He cast me a look that could be described only as contemplative. “It almost sounds as if you were there.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Do I look that old to you?”

“No, but you’re a shifter capable of full-body transformation—who actually knows what you look like?”

“I was wearing my true form when I brought Penny to Chaos—”

“A form I didn’t see as I was unconscious,” he cut in.

“But you saw it later, when you and Nuri questioned me in the cell. As I said, do I actually look that old to you?”

“No. But then, we’ve established the fact you’re not exactly telling us the whole truth. This could be just another of a long line of subversions and half lies.”

“And I’m not the only one doing that, am I?”

“We have told you nothing but the truth.”

“Except for those times when you avoid it. Like when I asked just how connected you are to the government.”

“We aren’t.”

“Liar.”

He half shrugged. “You are free to believe what you wish.”

“And I will, just as you may, shifter.”

“At least we have reached agreement on something,” he muttered, and, from there on in, increased his pace.

I didn’t actually care, because walking at such a fast clip meant I had to concentrate on the path and gave me less time to actually think about the stubborn, angry man in front of me. The trip back to Central was also done in silence, which at least meant I wasn’t running the risk of saying the wrong thing and possibly outing myself.

He stopped at the back of the museum and opened the ATV’s door on my side. I climbed out, then hesitated and met his gaze. “Contact me when you get back from the raid. And good luck.”

“Hopefully we’ll have the raid planned well enough that we won’t need luck.”

I hoped he was right, but a whole lot could happen in the time between now and their raid tomorrow. I stepped away from the ATV as he hit the door-close switch, and watched until it had disappeared through the trees before spinning around and heading for the bunker’s exit.

Dusk was just beginning to drift pink-and-lemon fingers across the sky by the time I arrived. Thankfully, the grate was still in one piece, and no ghosts waited for me, which meant nothing untoward had happened during the day.

I entered the tunnel, deactivating the electro-nets as I approached each one, then resetting them once I’d passed. With that done, I headed for the bunk rooms. I needed to wash the day’s grime from my body, although all I really wanted to do was drop into my bunk and sleep for a good ten hours. It had been a long day today, and an even longer night last night, and I was running close to exhaustion.

The ghosts rallied around me as I exited the nursery sections, and began bombarding me with images of everything they’d done during the day. Mostly they’d spent the time in the museum, following the visitors and gossiping about them, but occasionally they amused themselves by moving items placed in one spot by museum staff to another.

“Are Cat and Bear back yet?” I asked once they calmed down a little.

A wash of negativity ran through my mind, rapidly followed by worry. “They’re okay,” I added quickly. “They’re just on a mission for me. Keep an eye out for them.”

Some of the older youngsters rushed away immediately to return to the main tunnel and keep watch, but most of the littler ones stayed with me, happily filling me in on everything else they’d seen and done during the day.

I was out of the shower and just pulling on a tank top by the time Cat and Bear arrived. Their excitement and happiness stung the air and I couldn’t help smiling. They’d not only enjoyed their assignment, they wanted to do it again tomorrow.