Loch paced back and forth in the small office area. He wanted to break something. He wanted to kill something. He just wanted to do something.

  Ever since Harper had come to him with the story. Ever since he and Darren Holmberg had gone outside the school, where Harper led them to where Davis guarded the bound and gagged Mike Turner. Ever since they’d managed to sneak Mike back into the school, throwing him in the currently empty jail cell they’d made on the first level. Ever since he’d sent Kristin to find Ed and Susan.

  He felt anxious. He felt rage. He felt helpless.

  The door to the office opened, Ed leading a frantic Susan and calm Kristin in. Darren walked back out of his office, joining them all in the main area. Loch stopped pacing, looking at the Turners.

  “Loch?” Ed asked, looking uneasy. “What’s going on?”

  “Kristin didn’t tell us why you wanted both of us,” Susan said. She studied Loch, seeing the expression on his face. “Mike. Oh god, something happened to Mike?”

  Susan clutched at Ed, who put an arm around her. Both stared at Loch, waiting.

  “He’s fine,” Loch said.

  “But?” Ed said. “I can hear a but..”

  Loch took a deep breath, looking toward Darren. The guard captain was no help, letting Loch deal with it.

  “Lochlan Brady,” Susan said, voice stern. “Tell me what happened to my son.”

  “He..,” Loch took another breath, shaking his head. He looked at the Turners, eyes filled with worry and fear. “He tried to kill Davis Millman.”

  “What?” Susan said.

  Loch had expected her to start crying, to wail in despair, but instead her eyes were filled with rage.

  “The boy did what?” she said again.

  “Davis? What? How? When?” Ed asked, more confused than anything.

  Loch explained what Harper had told them. About the Nidan and the swarm of attacking raptors, how Mike just appeared and helped them, but then turned on Davis.

  “Where is he now?” Susan asked. “I need to see him.”

  She was still angry.

  “In the jail,” Loch answered. He looked at Ed. “Harper said he was grabbing at his head, rubbing his temples and looked to be in pain.”

  “Like what we had been talking about?” Ed asked.

  Loch nodded. Susan whirled on her husband, stepping back and glaring at him.

  “What do you mean?” She turned to look at Loch. “You two were talking about Mike? When?”

  “A couple weeks ago,” Loch answered. “When I was out fighting Yeti with Mike and his team.”

  “Those people,” Susan practically spat. “I don’t like that Roger or Theodore. The other two are fine and they’re the smart ones, not hanging out with the other two. I wish Mike had been that smart. Ever since he joined that group he’s been different. Angrier.”

  “I noticed that both Mike and Roger were rubbing at their temples a lot,” Loch explained. “Ed and I talked about it, but didn’t think anything of it, just something we wanted to keep an eye on.”

  “I’ve seen some other people doing that,” Kristin interrupted. “Ben’s friend, Simu. He does it a lot. Seems to happen when he gets overly anxious or stressed. I didn’t think too much of it, because we’re all stressed and cope with it in different ways.”

  “Weird,” Darren said. “I noticed one of the guards, Bernie, doing the same. When I asked if he was all right, he snapped at me before walking off. Which isn’t like him. That was maybe a week ago.”

  Stolen story; please report.

  “What does all that have to do with Mike and what he did?” Susan asked, looking around, starting to get a little wild-eyed.

  “I don’t know,” Loch replied. “Maybe nothing.”

  Susan turned her frantic stare back on her husband.

  “You did mention that to me,” she said, thinking. “I had noticed it, along with his attitude change, but it’s not that uncommon a thing and didn’t notice enough to stand out.”

  “I don’t know why it did to me that day,” Loch said. “Maybe because I saw both doing it and it was right after Roger was being extra-Roger.”

  “Where are Harper and Davis?” Susan asked, her hands tightly clasped. “Is that poor boy okay?”

  “He’s healed. Julia took another look at him, making sure his natural regeneration took care of the wound. Harper said it could have been bad if Davis hadn’t heard the attack coming.” Loch sighed, looking at both Turners again. “Harper is sure that Mike was following them and that he somehow made the raptors attack them.”

  “They were at the Nidan Dungeon right?” Ed asked, hands resting on the counter, staring down at the fingers, not looking at anyone. “There tend to be raptors around the Nidan. Mike could have just been in the area. A coincidence,” he finished, but no one thought he believed what he had said.

  “No,” Susan said, voice firm, full of conviction, certainty. “He followed them. I have no doubt.” She sighed, her head hanging low, shoulders slumping. Her voice was filled with grief. “Mike has always been jealous of Davis and Harper. We all know that he’s always liked Harper,” she said, looking up and getting nods from Loch and Ed. “But it got worse since the Connection. Since Harper and Davis started hanging out.” She sighed, and did start to cry. “I knew how bad he was getting about it, but I kept thinking it would just fade. I know I should have said something,” she looked up at Loch.

  “It’s okay,” he said.

  “No it’s not,” Susan growled, a sharp edge in her tone, not directed at Loch but at herself. “He’s my boy. My only child. I only wanted what was best for him. I tried to talk to him, but that was one of the reasons he started distancing himself from us,” she shook her head, more tears coming. “So I stopped. I wanted my boy around. I didn’t want to drive him away and now…”

  Susan broke down. Ed put his arm around her, pulling her close.

  Loch, Kristin and Darren left the office, giving the Turners their time.

  ***

  Loch held the handle to the door, not turning it. He looked at Ed, the man looking older and more tired than Loch had ever seen him. Susan had not come with them. She’d gone back to their room. Ed hadn’t wanted to leave her alone but she had insisted he go with Loch.

  “Are you sure about this?” Loch asked.

  Ed nodded. He stood a little straighter, but the haunted look was still in his eyes. Loch looked past him at Darren, who nodded. Loch turned the handle, he pulled the door open.

  The jail had been built in one of the first floor classrooms. It had once been a science lab, on the exterior wall, which Loch hadn’t liked at first, but they’d redid it when they’d converted it to the cells. The four cells had been built down the middle of the room, a thin corridor between them and the interior wall that separated the jail from the rest of the school, a wider corridor between the cells and the exterior wall. Bars had been inserted at the windows. No one believed they would stop any Adapted, but it would at least make noise and slow anyone trying to escape down.

  The cell doors alternated the hallway they faced, no windows in the cells, just the doors that had a small square cut into the top half. Each cell was only about eight by eight. Tiny, just enough space for a twin mattress on the ground. They had been designed to let a person sleep off their aggression for the night.

  Mike Turner was the only occupant.

  Two guards came to attention as Loch and the others entered the small waiting area at one end of the room. Loch waved them back, the two moving to get out of the way and be less noticeable. Loch led Ed to the first cell, looking inside the window. He sighed, shaking his head and stepped back to open the door.

  Mike Turner looked up, wincing as he saw Loch and his father. He seemed to shrink further into the far corner of the small room.

  “Mike,” Ed started.

  “Dad.”

  “What did you do?”