Chapter 36
The door to the cell was thick and white, with one of those rectangular viewing windows. I reached for the latch to look inside, but Cecelia zapped my hand.
“Um, ouch,” I told her. A sign appeared, blocking the window.
Six Rules for Interrogating My Ciguapa:
Do not cross the yellow line. If the line turns red, leave immediately.
No one is allowed to enter alone.
That means you, Simone.
Ask yes/no questions she can answer with a nod or shake. Don’t encourage her to use her voice.
If she sings, hums, or whistles, I will push you all right out.
Be kind. She’s afraid.
There was a pen attached to the sign with a chain and a place for each of us to put our signatures.
“My Ciguapa?” Lauren signed first, ending her name with a little flourish. “Has Cecelia made friends with her?”
“Maybe she’s enthralled.” Ray took the pen and scribbled.
“She’s not.” I pressed my finger to the sign, letting my name write itself. Just for funsies. “Cecelia understands something we don’t. Yet.”
The poster disappeared, and Cecelia let the door swing open. Ray held up a hand, stepping in first like a big, manly man-wolf, even though both Lauren and I were likely better equipped to handle this particular brand of magic. She and I smirked in understanding, then followed.
The space was about the size of the conference room, longer than it was wide, but with plenty of space for Nina to roam about.
The line Cecelia had mentioned in the rules was on the floor, about five feet in front of the entrance.
Another few feet beyond that was what I thought to be a plexiglass barrier that ran the width of the room.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed it was quite a bit thicker and squiggled along the edges, as if made of something living. It reminded me of my bubbles.
Cecelia had created a reasonably comfortable living area for Nina.
In one corner was a partition, with a sink and toilet barely visible.
A sitting chair not unlike those in our Reading Room sat in front of the bathing space, and a small bookshelf beside it was filled with genre fiction. I guess Nina liked to read.
On the opposite side, Cecelia had added a tiny dining tray and chair.
And in the back corner was a twin bed, propped against the wall and made up with soft-looking white sheets and a fluffy blanket.
She’d even decorated. A hot pink circle rug lay underneath the chair.
Nina was huddled against the bed, hugging a matching throw pillow close to her chest.
I hadn’t really thought about how Nina could sleep, with her feet and knees backward. It made sense that lying down was uncomfortable, if not impossible. “You sleep standing up?”
Nina’s head snapped up, her wide eyes meeting mine.
Cecelia was right. Nina was clearly terrified.
Her formerly lush black hair hung in strings around her body.
The simple tank and shorts she wore, her Magnolia Physical Therapy uniform, were clean, but they hung off her waist and sagged at the chest. I had no doubt Cecelia offered food on the regular, so my best guess was that Nina wasn’t eating.
“It’s okay, Nina.” Lauren stepped right up to the yellow line and offered a friendly smile. “We aren’t here to hurt you.”
I joined Lauren, ignoring Ray’s mutter of protest, and took Lauren’s hand. “That’s Ray. He’s our head of security. But he doesn’t bite.”
Ray growled. In response, Nina whimpered and pressed herself closer to the mattress. Though I’d pegged her at Lauren’s and my age, she seemed younger now. Vulnerable.
“You know what? Why don’t we try and make this a more friendly conversation?” I sent Cecelia a mental request for chairs, taking one as they appeared. Lauren took the second. Ray stood behind the third, gripping the back, wolf eyes darting from Nina to me.
I guess he took that security thing really seriously. I should probably be grateful. I nudged Lauren, encouraging her to start, since Nina was her employee.
“Nina, would you like to sit closer?” Lauren gestured toward the chair in her cell. “I promise you none of us are going to attack or hurt you. We just want to understand what you were doing.”
Nina’s eyes never strayed from Ray. Was she responding to his wolf? Would a forest creature recognize another forest creature? I’d been too distraught over the weekend to research the codex. Ray’s nostrils were flaring, though, as if he’d caught the scent of a threat.
Something was definitely off with these two. I reached past Lauren to touch Ray’s hand, ignoring the way it jerked. “Sit down, please. I promise, if she becomes a giant and runs at us, you can wolf out and use the claws. But for now, you’re making her nervous.”
When Ray looked at me, I had to bite back a gasp. His wolf was in control, green eyes flashing. “It’s okay,” I told the wolf. “Down, boy.”
The wolf, not Ray, whined.
“Ray, for heaven’s sake, grow up.” Lauren chided him like a schoolchild. I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
After a tense moment, he shook his head. The wild look in his eyes receded and Ray, with the caution of Bigfoot in a minefield, took his seat. Once he had, Nina, with the same level of care, walked to the chair on her side and sat.
It had been created for her, I realized as she settled into it, built into a distorted S-shape that supported the forward bend of her waist and the backward bend of her legs. Not for the first time, I wondered how on earth I’d missed that when we met.
“Cecelia is taking good care of you.” I gestured at the chair. She looked at her legs, then back up, and nodded. “That’s good. We truly don’t want to hurt you.”
“Now that we’re settled, Nina, can I ask you a question?” Nina turned her gaze to Lauren and nodded again. “Okay. Cecelia probably already explained this, but we’re going to use yes/no questions. You can nod or shake your head. Please don’t speak unless we give you permission.”
Nina tucked her hair behind her ears and nodded.
“Why did you apply for the position as my manager?”
Nina furrowed her brow. I leaned toward Lauren. “Honey, that’s not a yes/no question.”
“Right. This is harder than I realized.” She toyed with her ponytail. “Okay, let me reword that. Did you actually want the position as my manager when you applied?”
Nina nodded, a small flutter coming to her lips.
“Did you want it because of Simone?”
She shook her head.
“So you actually wanted to be my manager?”
Nod.
“Then why—”
She stopped, flustered, and turned to me. “This is impossible.”
“Nina, did you plan to attack me when you arrived?” Nina’s lips full-on trembled. She looked to the floor, her toes scrunching the rug. Then she nodded.
At her answer, my magic flared around me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Ray shifting in his seat, the shimmer of his fur rising along his arms. I took a steadying breath.
If Cupid’s arrow was making his wolf volatile around me, I needed to be careful not to exacerbate an already tense situation.
I was going to have to ask Cupid to work with Ray directly, like he had with Nate and Zeke.
Otherwise, we could never be around each other.
I shook off the feeling that caused, determined to focus on the woman who’d just admitted she purposefully attacked me. I would play nice, for Cecelia, but knowing she’d attacked on purpose? Well, that pissed me right off.
“Nina, look up at me right now.” My magic barked the command at her, forcing her head up. “Do you understand that my magic is more powerful than yours? Particularly here in the Magnolia?”
Nod.
“Good. Then answer my questions immediately.”
She chewed on her lips but nodded.
“Is my power being stronger here why you drew me away from the house?”
Nod.
“And you did it when the coven wasn’t around to protect me, right?”
Nod.
“Did you plan to do it on Friday morning?”
Shake.
“But you were waiting for an opportunity to strike, right?”
Nod.
“I was exhausted Friday. I’d been taking care of Gumbo all night and hadn’t really slept in days,” I said as an aside to Lauren and Ray. “I’ve been wondering why it happened to be that morning.”
I lifted my voice so Nina could hear. “You’ve been lurking, haven’t you?”
She turned frightened eyes to Ray. Then gave a nod.
At her answer, Ray grunted and sprang from his chair. Nina launched backward, but Ray didn’t walk toward the partition. He stomped behind the chairs and slammed his fist into the first wall he reached. Lauren winced at the sound.
He pulled away, blood pouring from his knuckles, and stared at the dent he’d made in the wall. Cecelia pulled me to my feet, urging me forward, her panic rising in me like a shot of adrenaline.
“You have got to calm down.” I latched onto Ray’s hand, sending magic to soothe it.
It was nice, the times I remembered I was a witch and responded like one right away.
Without looking at the wall, I put my other hand to it and repaired the mess.
Cecelia could have done it, but I wanted to console her, too. “Get ahold of your wolf, Ray.”
“I missed it.” His voice was gruff, and Ray jerked his hand from me the moment it was healed.
“You’re welcome,” I muttered.
“I missed it,” he said again. “There was a threat to you on the damn grounds, and I missed it.”
My heart stilled. A threat to you. Not to the Magnolia. To me. Ray was as much wolf in that moment as he was human. Stupid fucking Cupid. I felt guilty enough to keep my mouth shut that he had, in fact, missed two threats to me. Not once had he mentioned seeing Zeke in all his stalking.
I couldn’t resist the urge to touch him.
I stroked his cheek. “You aren’t yourself right now, Ray.
Do you remember me telling you about my patient?
The one who was affecting emotions? I think he’s affecting you, so you’ll have to trust me.
Both of you,” I added, looking deep into the eyes of his wolf. “Trust me. It’ll pass.”
I hoped that was true. Ray was dangerous under the influence. In fact, any magical being hit with an arrow could be even more dangerous than I’d considered. We’d assumed it was shutting emotions down, but Zeke and Ray both felt an amplification as a result of their hits.
I walked back to the line, considering. Nina wasn’t around for Brianne’s birthday party. But what if someone else had been?
“Nina, you wanted the job?”
She nodded.
“Did someone else find out that you wanted the job?” A tear slipped down her cheek. The look she gave me was one of pure helplessness.
“That’s a yes,” Lauren said. She, too, had risen and was standing with me. “Nina, were you coerced into attacking Simone?”
Nina lifted her hands as the tears fell more freely.
Lauren was crying alongside Nina. “She seemed like such a kind person, Simone. I’m not normally a bad judge of character.”
“I don’t think you were this time, either. Look at the way she treated Gumbo. She adores him.” I took her hand. “None of us sensed it. Except maybe Cecelia.”
“Can you tell us who coerced you?” Lauren asked. Nina buried her face in her hands, shaking her head. “Was it Julia?”
Clever Lauren. My mind hadn’t circled around to my cousin yet. I had no reason to think she’d come back, but you never know.
Nina’s shoulders heaved, her head shaking nonstop. Cecelia surged wave after wave of pity into me. If she’d truly been malicious, Cecelia wouldn’t have let her in the house. Gumbo, the mystical pawtector, would have done his job.
She was not an enemy. But someone was, and she couldn’t speak their name.
Ray came to stand beside me. His breath was heavy and shallow. Drops of sweat spattered his hairline. With sheer will, he was keeping his wolf at bay. “If you can’t tell us who coerced you, then can you tell us why?”
Nina, black streaks of mascara running down her cheeks, lifted her eyes to mine. I dipped my head to her. “You can say it.”
Nina rose from the chair, moving in her backwards way to the very edge of the partition. At my feet, the yellow line shimmered, but it did not change to red. Nina swallowed, keeping her eyes on mine. Then she spoke.
“The Hem is fraying.”