Release

They’d tried to say as little as possible over the phone. Something like this was best explained in person, not that there’d ever been something like this to explain. Phrases like ‘urgent’ and ‘life or death’ managed to get everyone to agree to show up. Now, they were milling around the squad room, waiting for Logan and filling the vacuum of information with wild and crazy theories, none of which were as insane as the truth.

Alex stood in the break room, leaning her forehead against the cool window pane, while the soft scritch of broom on floor distracted her from the nervous fluttering in her stomach. She rolled her head to one side to peer at Sledge through her curtain of hair as he swept up the broken glass with short, deliberate strokes.

“I hate being useless,” he explained, glancing at her. “The least I can do is sweep the floor.”

“I’m sorry I jumped down your throat,” Alex said, stepping back from the window as her breath fogged the glass. “You have every right to stay out of this.” He crossed the room and emptied the dustpan into the trash before turning to her.

“I’ve been racking my brain, trying to come up with some character-defining moment from my childhood, some event that scarred me forever, but the truth is, I just don’t like magick. It sounds petty and selfish, and I feel like a horrible little troll for refusing to help, but ...” He gave her a helpless look and shook his head. “I can’t.” Alex didn’t respond. If he was waiting for a ‘Gee, it’s okay,’ he was going to be there a while. Like she said, he had the right not to help, and she had the right to be angry about it.

“Detective Logan is here,” Dr. Huang said, stepping into the doorway. Alex nodded and licked her dry lips. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, sure,” she said, “I’ve had dreams like this, except I’m usually naked, and not in a good way.” Huang looked at the floor to hide what could have been a smirk.

“What are you going to tell them?” Sledge asked. Alex shrugged.

“The truth, I guess.”