with you, Sebastian.”
“This is your last chance, Barrett. Get Juliana and me out of here now.”
Barrett smirked and walked down the hall with Alise.
“I mean it, Barrett!” Sebastian shouted after him. He banged his fist on the door. “I won’t forget. Even when I’m dead, I won’t forget.”
Barrett laughed without looking. “Destroy me from beyond the grave? You’re amusing, Sebastian.”
They walked out of his sight. Sebastian slammed his head against the door, furious with himself for ever getting tricked by such a man. His hatred for Barrett seethed all the way into his bones, right down into his soul.
Chapter Forty-Two
Tommy’s heart raced as he approached the narrow armorglass window looking into Esmeralda’s cell. She looked up at him from her bunk, her eyes widening slightly in recognition, but otherwise her face remained blank.
“Let me in,” he told the two guards that accompanied him.
“We don’t take orders from you,” one replied, while swiping the access card the opened the door’s electromagnetic lock.
Tommy didn’t have time to fight, so he nudged past the guard and pulled the door open. The guards waited outside as he stepped into the cell. Esmeralda looked him over quietly. She wore an orange jumpsuit so that everybody at the facility would know she was a prisoner.
“Hello,” he said. It seemed a little weak, since he hadn’t seen her in months, but he wasn’t sure what else to say.
“You finally decided to come see me.” Esmeralda spoke softly, looking at the concrete floor and avoiding his eyes. “That took long enough.”
“What do you mean? I thought you just got here.”
“I’ve been here for weeks. Or months. I don’t know, it’s hard to keep track anymore.”
“General Kilpatrick didn’t tell me that.”
“Who could have guessed he was dishonest?” She looked up at him, and her eyes were full of hate, startling him. “Lucky you, you agreed to do what he wanted. If you’d said no, you’d be locked up here like me.”
“The general says it’s because of national security. They don’t want any paranormal types like us running loose.”
“Oh, no, can’t have people running loose,” Esmeralda said.
“I just think we have a chance to use our powers for greater good, like General Kilpatrick says. We should take the chance.”
“Who decides what is good and what is evil?” she asked. “The guy who kidnapped me? Or is it you who decides? Or is it me?”
“Just...the people in charge. The experts.” Tommy didn’t really know how to answer her question.
Esmeralda sighed. “You always believe what people tell you, Tommy. You’re like a fucking clueless, needy child. If you don’t have Ashleigh to lead you around, you find somebody else. You never look at anything with your own eyes or measure them with your own mind. You never make your own choices.”
“You’re still giving me the same shit after all this time?”
“You’re still doing the same shit, so you don’t leave me much choice.”
“I came down here because I was worried about you. They told me you were here, and I insisted on seeing you. I didn’t know you hated me so much, or I wouldn’t have bothered.”
“I don’t hate you, Tommy,” she said. “I just can’t be what you need. And you can’t be what I need.”
“Don’t you care about me at all?”
“Do you love me, Tommy?”
The question surprised him. “Of course.”
“Don’t say ‘of course,’ like it’s obvious. Help me get out of here and away from these people. Help me get back home.”
“I can’t do that,” he said.
“You’re not caged up. They like you here, they let you wander around, you’re so happy to work with them. You’re in a better position to get me out of here than I am. Can’t you talk to them?”
“They won’t listen to me.”
“So you won’t help me.”
“I just don’t think I can get you out. I’ll try. Is there anything else I can do, though? To make things easier for you?”
Esmeralda lay back on her bunk and stared at the ceiling. “If you’re not going to help me, you can leave me alone.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “Esmeralda, I’m sorry. I said I’ll do what I can.”
She didn’t answer him or look back at him again. After a minute, he left the cell, feeling sick and hurt all the way through. Esmeralda had no love left for him, and maybe he deserved it.
* * *
“I found these for you,” Niklaus said. He slid a pair of fashion magazines through the bars of Evelina’s cell, and she took them eagerly.
“No books today?”