Chapter 43
43
O kay, so,” Bryant says, tossing one of her knives into the air and catching it repeatedly, “on balance, second cousins aren’t really too close genetically?—I was kind of just lying to make myself feel better. It’s somewhat closer than the Sanctum’s geneticists would prefer, but it’s certainly doable. So, if I play my cards right, I might have a shot with Kenneth Long after all.”
Chester groans, dropping his head into his hands. “Seriously? You’re back on this bullshit so soon?”
“What? It’s my future, Locke! My life! My legacy!”
Roma solemnly places a hand on Bryant’s shoulder, avoiding the knife as Bryant grabs it out of midair. “My friend, I give you my full and unconditional blessing to get hitched to Kenneth Long in my stead. Go forth and score to your heart’s content.”
“See?” Bryant says to Chester, wrapping an arm around Roma’s shoulders and squeezing. “Gutierrez gets it!”
Chester casts his eyes to the sky like he’s praying for patience, and for the first time in a long time, Roma feels an honest smile tug at her lips. Right now, the three of them are hovering in a secluded corner of the training grounds, far enough away from prying eyes and ears that they can speak somewhat freely, and right now??—
Well. Right now, Roma feels more like herself than she has since last week.
It’s almost eerie how quickly life settled back into some semblance of normalcy. A few hours after her meeting with Councilwoman Nasir, Roma grabbed Bryant and dragged her up to her suite to tell her how everything ended, giving her the same story she told Chester the night before.
Letting her know that their mission was over, and that Roma had failed. Bryant insisted that Roma hadn’t failed, not yet, and proceeded to pace around her room like a caged animal for fifteen minutes straight, wracking her brain for any way to salvage the operation?—and Roma’s reputation.
Honestly, the thought of succeeding in her mission made Roma feel like she was going to throw up, but she deeply appreciated Bryant’s support, anyway. Despite the bloodlines hierarchy looming like a wall between them, rigid and impenetrable, Bryant has always been good about trying to use her status to pull Roma and Chester up with her.
That status is something Roma always longed for in the past. Now, though, she’s not so sure if being at the top of the Sanctum’s food chain is really all it’s cracked up to be.
In other news, she and Bryant got sent out on a mission a couple of days ago, one of their few since the mega-rift epidemic began. A spellcaster on the edge of town summoned a demon and was preparing to launch an attack. Frankly, Roma thinks it’s just rude to open yet another rift in the middle of a rift-opening crisis, but she’s never really considered summoners to be polite. She and Bryant dispatched him and brought the demon back to the Sanctum for testing.
For the first time, Roma had nightmares thinking about what the interrogators?—interrogators like Chester?—might be doing to it down in the prison. Taking a deep breath, she forces herself back to the present. “At least I don’t have to worry about it anymore. The thought of sleeping with Long was making me break out in hives, even if it was only for procreational purposes. I’ll probably be just as vaguely unsatisfied with whichever mixed-breed hunter they eventually match me with.” She grimaces. “If they match me with anyone at this rate.”
Chester winces. “Yeah,” he says, his eyes sweeping around the training grounds. They chose this corner specifically because it was quiet, but today, it seems like people are giving them an even wider berth than usual. “A lot of hunters aren’t happy with you right now. Are you?—are you doing okay?”
There’s an honest thread of concern in his voice. Roma’s heart hurts. She remembers that he got knocked around on a regular basis when he first started training down in the prison, his co-workers?—and his interrogation mentor?—taking advantage of his low status as a neophyte hunter to rough him up without consequences.
That was one battle Roma and Bryant didn’t have to fight for him, though?—namely, because Sawyer stormed down to the prison and raised enough hell for all of them combined. Swallowing hard, Roma pushes the memories away. “I’m okay,” she says gently. “Really. They’re more passive-aggressive than anything else. I can handle it. Are you two doing okay? After all, everyone knows you were helping me with the mission.”
Bryant waves a hand dismissively. “I’m fine. No one would dare disrespect a purebred. Locke?”
“Surprisingly okay,” he agrees. “Not that any of the interrogators have time to be nasty to me. The prison is constantly full nowadays, so it’s hard to find a spare minute just to breathe?—or to hang out with you guys.”
Bryant frowns. “They have you doing a lot of twelve-hour shifts, right?”
“Yeah. Mostly auxiliary roles at the moment, but my interrogation rotation is starting again soon.” He hesitates. “It’s strange. I usually like administrative work?—it makes the days go by faster, and there’s a lot less screaming?—but it’s been different lately. The Council has been changing a lot of our policies and procedures. Couple that with the sheer number of prisoners we have, and it’s…” He trails off. “It’s weird down there right now. And most of our demons get transferred to the purebred-only wing pretty quickly, so it almost feels like?—like they’re hiding something.”
The words jolt through Roma. Bryant shoots her a quick glance before focusing back on Chester. “Them’s fighting words, Locke,” she says lightly, but there’s a hard undercurrent to her voice. A warning not to say anything else that could be perceived as disloyal.
A warning that Roma herself would’ve given him a few short months ago, back when she truly believed that the Council wanted what’s best for them. Now, though, she doesn’t just suspect that they’re hiding something?—she knows they are. Hiding their alliance with the Chain, hiding what they did to Chester’s and JJ’s families??—
This could be the perfect opportunity to conduct more research for Operation Thirteen.
Hiding some other things, too. Things that Roma still doesn’t fully understand. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask,” she blurts out. “Have either of you ever heard of Operation Thirteen?”
Under normal circumstances, she never would’ve even voiced the question out loud. Since she only knows the name via spying on Councilwoman Nasir, it’s clear that mixed-breed hunters weren’t meant to hear about it. And even if she did want to discuss it with her friends, she certainly wouldn’t have brought it up in public, where hunters are always listening.
But Roma is tired, damn it. Tired of the secrets. Tired of the lies.
Tired of the goddamn hunters always goddamn listening.
Bryant snorts. “Operation Thirteen? That’s probably the stupidest name I’ve ever??—?”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of that,” Chester says, and Roma and Bryant whip around to stare at him. His eyebrows pull together. “You haven’t?”
“Not until now, no,” Bryant says slowly, squinting back at him.
A chill of unease runs down Roma’s spine. Chester, a neophyte hunter, knows about an operation that Bryant, a purebred with an uncle on the Council, doesn’t know? “What is it, then?”
“I…” Chester lets out a slow breath. “I’m not sure, really. I’ve just heard it mentioned a few times. I know that it’s related to our testing program down in the prison, and I know that they’re preparing for it in the purebred-only wing, but…” He shrugs hopelessly. “That’s all. I’m probably not supposed to know it exists, but other hunters tend to forget I’m there. I hear things.”
The churning in Roma’s stomach gets worse. Operation Thirteen is related to the prison’s testing program, but it’s also related to the Deep? That doesn’t make any sense. How could those two possibly be connected?
And why is it called Operation “Thirteen”?
Bryant looks somewhat miffed that both Roma and Chester know something that she doesn’t. “Where’d you hear about it, Gutierrez?”
“I?—?” Roma swallows hard. “I just, uh, heard Nasir talking on the phone a few weeks ago. After I left her office.”
Chester’s jaw drops. “You eavesdropped on Nasir?”
Frantically, Roma shushes him. “Keep your voice down, Locke!”
“That’s… unusual for you,” Bryant says. She looks torn between impressed and unnerved. “Do you think it’s important?”
Roma grimaces. “Not sure. But Nasir mentioned it had something to do with the Deep, and the Council has me working on that report about the Deep, so?—so I was just curious.”
Chester’s eyebrows furrow. “Do you want me to look into it? I’ve pretty much mastered the art of blending into the background, so??—?”
Alarm spikes through Roma. “Absolutely not, Chester. We’re not putting you in danger like that.”
Besides, Roma isn’t on the verge of defecting anymore. If the Council doesn’t think it’s her concern, then it’s not her concern.
Maybe if she tells herself that often enough, she’ll actually start to believe it again.
Chester looks thrown. “I wouldn’t call it dangerous, Gutierrez. Objectively inadvisable, but not dangerous,” he says, and he squints at her. “Seriously, are you okay? I know that the last few weeks have been rough on you, but…”
Bryant is considering Roma with narrowed eyes. “They got in your head,” she says, and her quiet voice makes Roma’s blood run cold. “Laguerre and the other demons. Didn’t they?”
Chester shoots Bryant a sharp look. “Nehemiah.”
“What? We’re both thinking it, Locke. Ignoring the warning signs is how we lost JJ, remember?” Bryant’s gaze snaps back to Roma. “Well?”
Panic bubbles up Roma’s throat. Did Laguerre and the other demons get in her head? Well, as a matter of fact, they did. They got in her head and her heart and??—
And they washed away all the stains the Sanctum left there. Scraped away the rust and rinsed away the grime.
They made Roma feel whole, feel seen, for what felt like the first time in her entire life.
Especially Ez. But it’s not like Roma can tell her friends any of that. “Um,” she says, and she forces a smile. “Maybe a little. But I?—I promise I’m okay. I don’t have, uh. A love interest and a demon toddler waiting for me on the outside. I just need a few more days to, you know. Process everything.”
Chester’s lips press into a thin line. “Listen, I know that it’s hard not to get emotionally invested,” he says softly, “but you have to remember that it was all an act, okay? It was all fake. They’re not your friends, Roma. They don’t care about you, not really.”
“And it doesn’t help that your entire family name got wrapped up in this stupid assignment,” Bryant adds. “But even though it seems impossible now, Roma, I swear that things will get better. The Council will find a new target for their disapproval, and the other hunters will find a new target for their gossip, and this will all fade away. You’ll be able to stand on your own reputation again, not the one that everyone else chose for you. Okay?”
Chester and Bryant both look so concerned, so sincere. They genuinely want to help Roma, genuinely want to keep her safe, genuinely want her to be okay.
They really, truly believe what they’re saying.
But their words ring hollow in Roma’s ears. She knows that Ez and JJ and Naomi weren’t pretending anything, weren’t faking anything. It wasn’t an act, not for them.
It wasn’t for Roma, either. Even if they all think it was.
And, above all, she’s barely noticed the other hunters’ censure since she failed. Months ago, weeks ago, she would’ve been ready to crumble under that weight, but now, she just feels numb to it.
They’re not the people whose approval she really wants.
But Bryant and Chester can never know that. She attempts another smile. “I know. Thanks, guys. I?—I appreciate you looking out for me.”
Chester smiles back. “Always.”
“Absolutely,” Bryant confirms, clapping a hand on Roma’s shoulder. “Now, we should take advantage of the training grounds to do some actual training. Want to watch me kick Locke’s ass at close combat?”
“Oh, you wish, Nehemiah,” Chester says, grinning back at her.
Roma swallows down the emotions crawling through her stomach as Bryant and Chester fall into place on either side of her, heading towards their usual sparring mat in the far corner. And despite how much she cares about them, despite how close she is to them??—
Right now, she feels further away than ever.