Tainted: Book Three - Enslaved

38. Traitor

Mira

Hank Bishop waited until his wife had coated Spider Lady in purple power, then crouched down with a face that coulda been forged from steel.

"You sold information about nephilim to Samuel Castle." He wasn't asking.
"Yes," hissed Spider Lady.

"When was the last time?"

"Mid-October."

"Nephilim are still going missing." He frowned and traded a look with Gina. "More every week. How many other spies does Castle employ?"

"I was the only one who provided the lists of outgoing teams and their planned destinations." She shook her head. "If he is still actively harvesting them, I can only assume he has found a new contact at the Sanctuary."

"And the increase?"

"It happened occasionally. Large orders." She talked about selling people as if they were cheeseburgers or cows or something. "Requests for very specific nephilim."

"Why does Castle want nephilim?"

"I never asked. Only the money mattered," Spider Lady said.

"How did you find nephilim to sell to him?"

"I am a warden."

Shocked silence.

"Who are you?" Gina asked.

"Peridot Grisa."

"Dotty Gray?" Hank's eyebrows flew up.

"I've gone by that name."

"You're supposed to be dead." His eyes flashed to Gina, then back at the woman. "Why did you fake your death?"

"The Council was getting too close to figuring out what I was doing."

"Your wards went unprotected for years." Hank's hands tightened into fists. "Why didn't the Council replace you?"

"I only had two at the time, and one was going to be dead soon enough, or so I thought." Spider Lady half-shrugged. "I was amused to learn that Harker survived."

"You knew what the Alchemists were going to do to Kerry, and you sold him anyway?" Gina hissed.

"Of course."

Before Kerry's fist smashed into her jaw, Rome caught him in a full nelson and wrestled him back.

"Do you know why the Council didn't replace you?" Hank continued his interrogation as if nothing had happened.

"My other ward was on her way to the Sanctuary and would have been assigned to an anchored warden." Spider Lady smiled. "How ironic that she's here on Harker's team."

Hank was faster than all the rest of us to put together what she was saying. He swiveled his head and stared at me.

"You—" I swallowed hard. "You were my warden? Wait, what do you mean, I was on my way to the Sanctuary?"

"Your mother had finally agreed to send you there." Spider Lady sniffed. "She was unfit to care for a goldfish, nevermind a child. I tried the usual warden spiel at first, but finally resorted to threats when it became clear that you never meant more than a government check to her."

My face burned with embarrassment for the others to hear that.

"We'll get back to the miserable childhoods that you ensured for Mira and Kerry with your selfishness and greed," Hank growled. "First, why were you disguised as Amanda Greenaway?"

"Castle told me Harker trusts few people, but she was one. I knew I could infiltrate this place if I used her face."

Gigi leaned closer, and I glanced down at her.

"How would Castle know that?" she whispered.

"The traitor among the wardens maybe." I shrugged, not really caring at the moment.

"Oh. Oh! I was taking it for granted that she was the traitor."

"Gigi, think about it. She faked her death years ago. She can't be an active member on the Council anymore."

"But it's not exactly common knowledge that we freed Amanda. It's only been something like three weeks ago." Her face twisted up in a grimace.

"And how did she know to take Amanda's place right after Kerry called her for help?" I frowned and looked at Kerry.

Rome had him corralled in a corner and Jax was practically cocooning him in orange, and I still got the sense that he could bust free at any second.

"Why did you come here?" Hank's question drew my eyes back to Spider Lady. "And why bring Lilas Tyne?"

"Children are easy to fool, and it was well known that Harker saved her life. That they kept in touch. And I came here to find out what Amanda Greenaway told Harker. What did she confide in you? Or did she give you something?"

Kerry let out a subvocal growl that raised the hair on my arms and the back of my neck. It was the kinda thing you heard in the woods right before the Big Bad Wolf gobbled you up.

Dude can be dead scary sometimes.

"That is no concern of yours. Not any longer." Anger or outrage turned Gina's face as red as flame. "You were given a sacred duty. It was your charge to keep children under your protection safe. And you sold them."

Thin lines of power flashed like lightning around her, and even Hank took a step back.

"Now what shall I do with you? If I take you back to the Sanctuary to stand trial, I fear our traitor will either kill you or help you escape. While I would not regret the former, the latter is intolerable." Gina's hair was starting to rise, like Kerry's did when he was worked up. "But I cannot kill you outright, either, as Council law forbids wardens from attacking other wardens."

"I ain't got no problem killing her!" Kerry hollered.

"No one is going to kill her," Hank said, "so both of you calm down. She knows too much that she hasn't told us yet. We need to finish questioning her, but not here."

"What about the Box?" Rome, still blocking Kerry, looked at us over his shoulder. "There are holding cells there, right?"

"Yes." Gina's smile was not a pleasant one. "I'll be right back."

Without another word, she clamped one hand around Peridot Grisa's wrist and the two disappeared in a puff of purple.