Persie Merlin and the Witch Hunters - Bella Forrest Page 0,43
who shifted between monster and human. That didn’t fit the characteristics at all, even in my limited knowledge.
I edged nearer. “It was abandoned when the Institute was built, and everyone has mostly forgotten about it, since it’s so out of the way.”
“The perfect place to keep me captive,” she said quietly, tears filling her eyes. Her frozen façade cracked, as though her experience had finally caught up to her. Her face crumpled and she fell into Genie’s arms, her shoulders shaking with sobs. Genie wrapped her arms around Persie tightly, pulling her close. Not knowing if my comfort would be welcome, I put my hand on Persie’s shoulder and squeezed gently, letting her know I was there if she needed me.
“You’ve been through the ringer, haven’t you?” Genie laughed through her own tears as she stroked Persie’s hair, avoiding the affectionate pixie enveloped in her friend’s locks. “Scream, cry, yell, do whatever you have to. I’m here. We’re both here for you.”
“I feel like… I’m going to… explode.” Persie clung tighter. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how to be of assistance. She sounded desperately sad, and I could find no calming words to offer. So, I just carried on standing there, my hand on her shoulder, letting her best friend do what she did best.
Genie rested her chin on Persie’s head, making soft hushing sounds. “Sometimes, you need to purge all the bad stuff. Not just monsters,” she soothed. “You’re a bottler, and I know that’s part of who you are, but eventually things fizz over. From the Door fiasco up to now, it’s all been building up inside you. All the emotions and fears and worries. Then you get kidnapped by some monster-person, and you survive on your own. You must’ve been so scared, but you came out fighting, Pers. Bravest woman I know.”
Persie sniffed into Genie’s shoulder. “I thought he was going to kill me or torture me. I thought I was going to end up like those missing magicals.”
“You’re here and you’re safe, and whoever this guy is, I’m going to nail his crown jewels to a wall.” Genie glowered at the distant horizon, as though Persie’s abductor might be listening.
“We’ll certainly investigate,” I added. “This won’t go unresolved, I can promise you that. Now, I need to call Victoria and tell her not to send in the troops.” Persie had told me about the missing magicals that her parents were investigating not long after one of our scientists vanished, in case I came across any information that could help, but I wasn’t sure if she was suggesting the two things were related. If she was, then that opened a gateway into a whole new, deeply concerning mystery. After all, one of the missing was an Institute scientist. If that was tied to this, we had a suspicious series of events on our hands.
Persie suddenly reeled back, her eyebrows shooting up in alarm. “I forgot to say, I Purged a Grendel.”
I almost choked on my own gizzard. “Pardon?”
“At least, I think it was a Grendel. I’ve been reading those books you lent to me, Nathan, and… yeah. A Grendel. And he saved my ass!”
As far as date nights went, this was fast becoming the most interesting one I’d ever had.
Thirteen
Persie
With midnight nearing, the evening’s twists and turns had mostly been put to bed. Nathan had managed to slip the pixies away, right under Victoria’s nose, and put them back in the Repository, though I doubted he planned to get any sleep tonight. There was something very wrong with my little critters, and if I knew Nathan, he already had a list of books in mind to search for remedies.
Victoria had insisted on taking me back to the scene of my brief captivity, with a full army of hunters in tow. The fishery was in an even worse state than it had been when I’d left, with planks of wood smashed to pieces, old barrels busted open, and rusted machinery scattered around like metallic corpses. They were the fallen victims of my captor and the Grendel, though there was no sign of either fighter, or any indication of who’d won. I supposed I should’ve been a shaking, quivering mess, returning so soon to the scene of my abduction, but I was too numb and too exhausted by the Purge to be as petrified as I should have been. Perhaps that was a good thing, at least in terms of being able to recount what had happened.