“Thank you, Detective,” Angela said. Her gaze shifted back to the three captive warlocks. “You abused your powers to kidnap three innocent girls. Caitlin was lucky enough to get away, but even her escape wasn’t enough to shock any sense into you.”
Matías shot Caitlin a baleful glance, but she stared back at him, unmoving, and after a second or two he looked away. The interaction surprised Alex a little, but he realized Caitlin had grown into her strength the past few days. She wasn’t as easily cowed as Matías probably thought she would be.
“And because you abused your powers,” Connor went on, “you have no right to them any longer. You can see what it feels like, being the prey from now on.” His eyes met Angela’s, and she nodded.
They joined hands then, and the air in the room suddenly felt dense, charged with electricity, like the atmosphere before a thunderstorm. Alex could actually see the hairs on his arms standing up. It was difficult to breathe. The blood seemed to pound in his temples.
Still with the fingers of their near hands entwined, Connor and Angela raised their free hands, palms facing outward. And then it was as if some sort of pale light or energy began to drift out of the three warlocks, knotting itself into a heavy thread that connected with the prima’s and primus’ fingers. They both made a sudden tugging motion.
The crack! that followed was sharp as lightning, and Alex couldn’t help wincing. In that same moment, all three of the captive warlocks let out a trio of unholy shrieks, further assaulting his eardrums. They sank to their knees, moaning, while Angela calmly caught that thread of light and squeezed it in her palm, where it seemed to disappear.
“It is done,” Luz said.
None of the warlocks seemed able to move from where they were crouched on the faded Persian rug that covered the floor. Alex looked on in disbelief. Was it really possible? Had Angela and Connor combined their powers somehow to permanently remove Jorge’s and Tomas’ and Matías’ magic?
Then Angela put a hand to her forehead and winced slightly, as if the effort had taken something out of her as well. “I didn’t think that was actually going to work.”
“But it did,” Luz said. “They are harmless now — well, at least as harmless as men with souls black as theirs can be.” She looked to Oscar and Jack. “They’re all yours now.”
“And we know what to do with them,” Jack said. “I’m just sorry we can’t prosecute them for what they did to Maya, but there’s no evidence we can present in a civilian court.”
Alex watched as his mother’s eyes grew cloudy with unshed tears. “I understand. It’s enough that they’ll face justice for Roslyn’s murder and the kidnappings. They’ll never walk as free men after this.”
It said something for how much the de-magicking — for lack of a better word — had traumatized the three warlocks that none of them said anything or even reacted as Miguel, Oscar, and Jack took them by their arms and hauled them to their feet, then pushed them out of the living room. Alex supposed they were about to get a quick one-way trip to the Tucson police department’s central station.
Even so, he hardly felt happy about it. Yes, they’d been caught and would be going away forever, it looked like, but that wouldn’t bring Roslyn or his grandmother back, wouldn’t fix the glassy, confused expression in Danica’s eyes. So much mayhem, and for what?
He couldn’t help looking across the room at Caitlin. She still sat quietly next to her mother, but her gaze caught his, and she gave him the slightest of nods, as if to say, This isn’t over.
The faintest flicker of hope stirred in his chest. Maybe he would be able to steal a chance to speak with her before her parents spirited her away.
It took some waiting, but while Tricia McAllister was speaking quietly with Alex’s mother and father, and Connor and Angela with Caitlin’s father, Caitlin slipped over to Alex and whispered, “Kitchen.”
So he followed her there, wondering what she was going to say. As it turned out, she didn’t say anything at all at first, but instead took his hands and pulled him toward her so she could kiss him soundly, a kiss that seemed to turn him all to heat and flame, despite the shocking show of power he’d just witnessed.
“I have to go with them,” she said at last, after she pulled away. “And there’s school and everything, but — ”
“But you still want to see me?” he asked, wondering if that was being too blunt.
“Of course I still want to see you.” The way she uttered the words made it sound as if their being together was so natural, she didn’t even know why he was questioning it. “That is, if you want to see me. Maybe I was assuming — ”