Page 46 of Petrified

The first person appears at the far end wearing an Essence field jacket. Another follows close behind, then three more spread into the passage with enough purpose that the knot in my stomach tightens before any of them says a word.

Lev goes completely still beside me, and his hand closes harder around my arm as he looks past them toward whoever is coming next.

“What the fuck?” Lev mutters as the Essence team spreads through the chamber. Nobody raises a weapon, but the formation is familiar enough that I know exactly what I'm looking at. They cover the exits, leave deliberate space between themselves, and position around us instead of the gargoyle’s body. This is containment, and whatever relief I had from seeing that bastard dead disappears.

Gerald walks in behind them and takes in the chamber without any visible surprise. His gaze passes over Medusa, the gargoyle on the floor, and the blood running down my shoulder before settling on Lev. Of course it does. “You completed the case.”

Lev gives a short laugh while keeping one hand wrapped around my arm. “You brought half a team into an underground quarry to congratulate us?”

“I came because there is no longer any reason to continue this in the field.” Gerald steps farther into the chamber, and the people behind him adjust just enough to keep their formation around us. “I have what I needed from this case.”

Everything in me goes cold, and Lev’s fingers tighten against my arm. Amand moves closer on his other side while Gerald watches the three of us with none of the hesitation he showed when we confronted him earlier.

Lev’s expression hardens beside me. “We told you the experiment was over.”

“I know.” Gerald glances toward the Essence team holding the exits. “That is why I prepared another option.”

Amand’s attention sharpens. “Prepared when?”

Gerald hesitates just long enough to answer without speaking, and Lev looks past him at the people surrounding us. “Before we finished the case.”

“The site is secure, the three of you will remain together, and the bond will not be disrupted,” Gerald says. “I would still prefer you come voluntarily.”

Lev hooks two fingers through my belt loop and reaches back until Amand takes his other hand. “Then you should have brought fewer people.”

I cover Lev’s hand where it rests against my hip, and Amand closes his fingers around the other one. The contact is deliberate, not something any of us needs Gerald to interpret for us, but his attention still drops to it for a fraction of a second.

That tells me more than everything he has said since he walked into the quarry.

The gargoyle case gave him another result, Rowan’s petrification gave him another result, and every change Lev has made since joining Essence has become another reason Gerald thinks he deserves the next one. Now that Lev has stopped cooperating, Gerald has simply moved the experiment somewhere consent is no longer required.

I keep one hand over Lev’s and look at the people Gerald brought with him. None of them has drawn a weapon because they don't believe they need one yet, and Gerald is standing there talking about secure sites and stability as if we have already agreed to go.

He didn’t come here to bring an employee back to Essence. He came prepared to take all three of us.

Chapter 14

AMAND

The first suppression pulse hits before any of us reaches the corridor. One of the Essence agents drops a flat warding disk against the stone floor while another activates the matching piece near the entrance, and the magic snaps between them hard enough that my Basilisk surges beneath my skin without completing the shift.

Rowan swears beside me when the same pressure catches him, and Lev grips my hand tighter as his camouflage flickers once across his throat. “That better not be what I think it is,” he says, looking from the agents to Gerald.

“It is shift suppression,” I tell him, keeping my voice even while the magic pushes deeper against my own.

Gerald doesn't bother pretending otherwise. “Temporary. Nobody is trying to hurt you.”

Rowan takes one step forward, and three Essence agents adjust with him without drawing weapons. Their hands stay near the equipment at their belts while the ward tightens, which makes the whole thing feel worse than an ordinary fight because they're not here to win one. They are here to keep us exactly where Gerald wants us.

“You brought suppression wards into a fucking quarry,” Rowan says. “You planned this before we even found him.”

Gerald’s attention stays on Lev. “I planned for every likely outcome.”

Lev lets out a short laugh and leans harder into Rowan’s side. “That sentence keeps getting worse.”

The team moves us out together, and Gerald leaves enough room between us that we can keep contact. Lev keeps two fingers hooked through Rowan’s belt loop while holding my hand, and I understand why Gerald allows it the moment we reach the surface.

Two vehicles are waiting beside the quarry road. One is a normal Essence field transport, but the second is reinforced, warded, and built around three seats arranged close enough to keep us together without giving us much room to move.