Emerald City Dreamer (39 page)

"
Not now. Let's just get him home."

Ezra curled up in pain and confusion. He regretted everything he'd ever done. Most of all, he regretted leaving the
Wanderers
. They promised that God takes away His protection from people who leave. This was all his fault.

THE DUNGEON HAD FINALLY EARNED its name, now that it held a true flesh-and-blood prisoner. Jina felt afraid as she descended the stairs, holding a bowl of SpaghettiOs and a glass of milk.

Hollis rolled back from the computer and went down the dark hallway into the tiny room with the cell. Inside, the boy was still locked in the cage they'd used in the van eight hours ago. Hollis unlocked the barred door and knelt at the cage.

To Jina's eyes, the creature appeared as a mere boy. He looked weak and broken, his eyes puffy from crying, his sleeves covered in snot. As she remembered his fae form from the mirror, his face took on deep creases. His nose twisted, and his hair became scraggily, as if this faerie had taken a liking to a nightmare, and slipped on its likeness like a Sunday suit.

He could crush rocks with those hands. Or skulls. Jina struggled to keep from dropping the food and running back up the stairs.

"
Disgusting, isn't it?" Hollis asked. Jina wondered which form he saw, the troll or the boy.

"
Why is he still being kept in the little cage?" Jina asked, her anger thinly disguised. "He can barely move in there. Wild animals are treated better than this."

Hollis shrugged, unlocked the cell door, and removed the talisman that covered the padlock on the smaller cage. Then he removed the padlock. "Careful," he cautioned. "It might try to jump at you."

The door swung open. The creature made no attempt to move. He lay listless, staring at the floor, the iron grate pressing into his face.

Jina set the bowl and glass down on the floor and thought about leaving them there. If he was hungry he'd crawl out into the cell on his own. No need to watch him eat.

Pogswoth had said something that bothered her still. This boy had some relationship with Jett. He knew Pogswoth as well, though they didn't exactly seem like friends. She worried for the hundredth time that she'd chosen the wrong side.

"
Hi Ezra. My name is Jina. I'm not going to hurt you."

He made a muffled sound.

"
Want me to take that tape off your mouth?" she asked gently.

Before Ezra could nod, Hollis reached around her and ripped off the duct tape, yanking the rag out with a jerk.

"
Damn it, Hollis," Jina said. "There's no point in being cruel."

"
What do you want from me?" The boy's voice sounded haggard, unused.

She looked into his eyes. Without the mirror, they were just the eyes of a frightened, confused teenager. Her fear melted away. Even if he had any glamour to spend, he wasn't going to use it on her, or even try to escape.

"
We saw what you were doing," Jina said. "You're a danger to the public."

"
I stopped," he said. "The ugly man said it was wrong, so I stopped!"

Hollis kicked his cage. Ezra could have climbed out and tried to strangle Hollis. He could have grabbed Hollis's foot to defend himself. Instead, he merely cringed.

"
Stopped what, troll?" Hollis demanded. "Stopped flaying little girls?"

"
Cut it out, Hollis," Jina said. "This isn't an interrogation." She turned back to Ezra, and asked more gently. "The ugly man? You mean Pogswoth, right? What did you stop doing?"

"
I stopped building that cathedral. I didn't want to, but I did!" Ezra burst into tears.

Building? Was that all?

"
What were you building it out of?" Jina asked.

"
Old rocks, broken concrete. I didn't mean to steal any of those things, I didn't."

Jina wished she had a tissue. She reached out her hand. "Come on now," she coaxed. "There's no reason for you to be in that small iron cage."

"
What do you think you're doing?" Hollis asked.

"
Whatever it is we eventually do to him," Jina replied, "there's no point in being inhumane. The cell will hold him just fine." She took Ezra's hand and helped him slide out. He touched the bars only when he had to, as if they were on fire. There were marks on his skin. Ezra sat down in front of the cage.

With the cage, her, Hollis, and Ezra, there was barely room in the cell. Jina tried to point out to him the milk and SpaghettiOs. He was too busy rubbing his burned hands, so she scotted the dishes in front of him with her foot.

"
I hope you like these things," Jina said. "We didn't see you building any cathedral. We saw you pull down some rocks."

"
That's what I did after Pogswoth told me to stop stealing."

Nothing this kid said made any sense. "He told you to stop stealing rocks?" Jina asked.

"
He didn't care about the stone," Ezra said. "He was upset about the toradh. Some kind of energy. I'm only supposed to take my fair share. Is that why I'm here? I told you, I stopped. I didn't know."

Pogswoth had been victimizing this kid along with everyone else. Now he was a nervous wreck. She'd let this happen.

"
We don't want toradh," Jina said calmly. "We protect people, and we're here because you posed a danger. You were talking about hurting animals and children."

Ezra's eyes grew wide and he looked back and forth between Jina and Hollis. "You two don't look like cops..."

Hollis grunted.

"
We're not," Jina said.

"
Look," Ezra said. "I wasn't going to hurt anyone. I was just thinking out loud, saying crazy things. It doesn't mean I'm
really
... I mean, I could be really crazy. That just means I talk to myself. And sometimes weird things happen. I've never hurt anybody on purpose. I'd never..." He stared at his hands and weakly curled them closed.

Before she'd come down to the Dungeon, she could almost believe Ezra was a wild animal in a cage that needed to be put down or somehow declawed. But now it wasn't so clear.

She believed Ezra. He could still be dangerous one day - he seemed two shots short of an espresso. Yet there had to be some other way.

"
Come on, Hollis," she said. "I'll be back later, Ezra."

"
Wait," he called out as the door creaked closed. "What are you going to do with me?"

Jina shook her head. "I don't know."

Hollis went back to his computer and Jina climbed the steps one by one. Jett would know what to do with him. She had all those strays living at her place. She could take this one in, give him some stability. She would teach him to control his urges, give him some sanity.

Jina made up her mind. She would tell Sandy about Jett. They could give Ezra to Jett as an offering of good will, to show that even though they were hunters, they didn't go around killing every faerie in sight. That might smooth things over.

Then Jett could teach the Ordo more about the fae. Maybe she knew where Pogswoth lived. They could work together to stop him.

And Jina could finally be open with Sandy and not feel like she was carrying around these heavy secrets.

Jina rapped on the door to Sandy's office.

"
Come in," she heard.

At her desk, Sandy stared into at a book the size of her torso. She only glanced up after writing furiously in a notebook on the side.

"
I can free him," Sandy announced.

"
What do you mean, free him? Didn't we just capture him?"

Sandy shook her head. "Not free him from us. Free him from the nykk. You wanted this, Jina. No experiments, no torture, no killing. It works out best this way! We'll have no body, no witnesses, no police investigations. We can
help
him."

"
Is this that humane alternative you hinted at?" Jina asked. Her hopes soared.

"
Yes. It's so simple. He's faeborn, right? He has a faerie spirit living inside his human body. Just like demonic possession, right? Only there's no such thing as demons - that's just the Christian interpretation of faelore. So get this... we could
exorcize
him. Exorcism is an age-old practice that predates Christianity. We cleanse the fae out and bind the spirit from ever inhabiting a human body again.

"
It's win-win. He is freed to live his life, free of the control of the nykk. He's no longer a troll. He can go to high school, live like a normal human being, have a decent life. And
we
can do that for him!"

"
What are the risks?" Jina asked.

"
We could waste a lot of incense, and do a lot of melodramatic chanting. Then we're just back where we started, right?"

Jina mulled the idea over. It seemed a little less problematic than getting Jett involved. She didn't have to worry about Sandy overreacting and trying to kill Jett. And even if Jett was willing to take Ezra in, there were no guarantees she could tame him.

"
Just think Jina. It's a
cure
."

Jina could work with this. This was the sober, collected, rational Sandy. The old Sandy. It seemed the best compromise. And if it didn't work, she could take Ezra to Jett then.

She nodded enthusiastically. "It's a great idea."

"
Good, good!" Sandy said. "I've wanted to try this for years, but all my exorcism books say we need the demon's true name. It seemed impossible to get. Oh, I'm so excited! We're going to need some herbs, pure sea salt, incense, and chalk."

"
I already have some of those things," Jina said. "And I know where to get the rest. We can be ready in a few hours."

Right after she gathered the incense, she would go back to comfort Ezra.

They had a plan, a foolproof plan. This was what she had imagined all along, protecting the innocent, and nobody was going to get hurt.

• • •

SANDY HAD FINALLY CAUGHT a faerie wrapped in human flesh. Just like Haun. Now she wasn't just playing at hunting; she was a
real
hunter.

Jina and Gretel knelt on the parlor floor with chalk in hand drawing concentric circles centering on the giant eye screws Hollis had installed in the middle of the floor. They both concentrated on runes and magical symbols, while Sandy directed the image from above. They'd moved out the plastic table and chairs normally used for the Second Circle meetings, so the spacious room was mostly empty.

"
Finished," Jina said, her voice echoing. She stood and dusted chalk off her fingertips.

Sandy assessed the image. "Everything's perfect," she said. "Just like in the book. We've fasted, the chains are set, the ingredients are prepared, and the moon is waning at exactly half phase." They'd waited all day just for moonrise.

"
We even have a spooky rainstorm," Jina said.

Sandy looked up at the window as water streaked down and gusts of wind splattered mud along the lower pane.

"
It is a nice touch. If we're ready, let's get the troll," she said. "Gretel, close the curtains and light the candles and incense. Jina, come with me. Careful, don't smudge the chalk."

In the basement, Hollis sat at the computer watching clips from The Exorcist. He was overly dramatic, yet she supposed it was fitting.