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“I need backup in the cave!” she shouted into the bracelet “Now!”

Goddamn it Some kind of communication charm

I lunged at her, but she snatched her arrasp

“Now you really won’t get aith this” She flashed me a triumphant look “The Custodians are on their way to arrest you”

I alhed She was full of shit But she looked so damn confident that I hesitated, then frowned

“How have you been co with the Custodians? They didn’t come with the school And there’s no way to reach anyone on earth”

That wasn’t strictly true, but the only ston had sled in

“That’s what you think,” Sonja said in sing-song She raised her wrist and jangled the bracelet again “This little beauty here? It’s a charmed comm link I can talk to the Custodians anytime, anywhere I want to They’ve been really interested in hearing all about the little conspiracies you’ve been plotting, and about the filthy de the school”

I glared at her “What, you mean the students?”

“No!” Her lip curled, and she squir touched by someone as corrupted by the underworld as him My blood pressure rose as she let out a scoff “I otten that our only purpose is to serve the Custodians and protect humanity The ones who have truly fallen The Custodians were very interested to hear about how ht downstairs because they couldn’t resist the evil atmosphere in this place”

Wrong, wrong, wrong On so

My frown deepened as I resisted the urge to screa instead on filling in the gaping holes in her story None of what she was saying made sense

“Okay—so you can talk to the Custodians But you just called for backup Who’s going to co for them in the underworld?”

I couldn’t believe they had anybody working for them on the inside Dru would’ve told us if he’d known, and I was alh up the chain of command that he would have known But Sonja clearly believed what she was saying, and I wanted the whole story

She sniffed and tossed her red hair back “Of course not They only trust me to be their eyes and ears in the underworld—everyone else is caught up in one conspiracy or another It’s my job to tell them who’s definitely been corrupted, like you, who’s potentially corrupted, like Toland, and everything else that happens”