Some Thing Called Myself (Complete)

XXXIV: Something Complicated

Ch. 34: Something Complicated

The police. But how?

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," Mara said, taking a step back. She glanced at the place where Jano and Commander Carlos stood a moment ago, but they were gone. "What the fuck." There was no trace of them in the open stairs on the edge of the building, no sign of closing doors on the other floors, and not even a wisp of their voices anywhere. Shit. How could two people just vanish into thin air?

She couldn't wait three fucking days to talk to Jano! She looked back at the police officers, and her glare came onto them with the weight of a sledgehammer. If her heart was beating, it would be racing in anger and disgust. Mara studied the two people before her, the muscles tense on her legs and arms, coiled as if ready to attack. In her mouth, Mara's gums hurt, and her lips half-opened to house the elongating, jagged teeth.

Mara wouldn't go down without a fight. She would rip her way out here, and she would start with the girl, soft and delicious and pretty like an angel. That was good. That was right.

That was Hunger.

Mara placed a hand on the sheathed knife at her waist and opened the other, claws ready to attack.

Wait!

Her eyebrow twitched with the thin, cold pain at her left temple. She looked to the side, to the direction the pain had come from, and met Kiki's smiling face. The little girl waved. After a moment of confusion, Mara waved back.

"Uh. Mariana?" said the officer to her right.

She looked at her and tilted her head to the side. Wait. Both of the officers wore jeans and flannel shirts underneath a thin, cheap black vest. There were plastic sheriff stars on their chests, and both of them had freckles and mustaches drawn on their faces.

Her eyes widened. They were working at the party; these were Sentinels, not the police. It wasn't uncommon to find make-believe prisons in Junina Parties, and it made sense to have one in an organization like this one.

Mara swallowed hard and willed her heart to start beating again. Goddess. Not having her head fogged by feelings felt great, but something wasn't right with that. If it wasn't for Kiki, she would have—

"C'mon, Mara. Please don't run. We've been running after people the whole day," said the other Sent. "I'm sure Bernardo will get you out at some point—he's been paying for us to release Godo since we started working."

Mara's eyebrows shot up.

"Joaquim's right," the female Sent added. Right. His name was Joaquim. And she was...Bianca. "It's just for fun, okay? We'll even tell you who paid to have you arrested, so you can get your revenge or something."

"It only costs ten cents," Joaquim added with a wink.

Mara studied them. She needed to talk to Jano if she wanted to find Numa, but volcanoes would spit ice before she waited three days for that. Bernardo could make that happen faster; he would definitely know about the party Jano and Commander Carlos were going to. He would put her in there.

"Right." Mara forced out a smile and stretched her wrists forward. "Let's go, I guess."

Bianca and Joaquim laughed. "C'mon," the latter said, patting her shoulder and leading the way.

The prison was a square cage big enough for five people or a small boitatá located on the opposite side of the patio. The bars were thick, the ceiling tall, and the scorch marks many. Mara hoped that the reddish stains on the floor were rust, not blood.