to her. She swung the pendant to and fro a little in front of Jude’s nose—I guessed deliberately prolonging the tension—before pressing the clear transparent jewel in the center of it and causing the USB drive to reveal itself.
“This contains a folder filled with files that have been encrypted with IBSI technology,” Arwen said. We think , I added in my head. Arwen’s eyes flickered to Jude’s badge. “Since you work in the IT security and maintenance department, opening them should be a cinch. And that is exactly what you’re going to do if you ever want your voice back.”
The hunter’s eyes bulged.
“You have twelve hours to return to this same beach I snatched you from with this thumb drive intact and the files unlocked and readable. Is anything unclear?”
Since he was frozen, as well as speechless, we could only go by the look in his eyes. He certainly didn’t look like he had accepted what Arwen had said. I exchanged a worried glance with her.
I tugged at her sleeve. “Could I have a moment?” I whispered into her ear. She vanished us several feet away from Jude, out of earshot, where we turned our backs on him.
“How exactly are we thinking we’ll pull this off?” I asked. “What if there is a witch working for the IBSI in this Hawaiian branch? She could undo your spell of silence for Jude and then they’ll have the thumb drive.” I instinctively reached out and took the pendant from Arwen. I clutched it. “The contents of this could be valuable, and we weren't able to make a backup. It’s my only lead on Georgina. If Jude managed to figure out some other way to get his voice back, then we could have lost this forever.”
I wondered if it might even be of interest to the hunters. Anything that was of interest to them ought to be held onto.
Arwen shrugged. “Well, do you have any better ideas? It’s pretty clear that these files can’t be opened on a regular computer. He’s going to need to take the drive back to his base and open them up there. We just have to hope that either a) there is no witch easily available to Jude, or b) he’s too afraid to take the risk. If he knows anything about witches, he should be aware that they don’t all have the same level of power. I’m powerful, given my mother’s bloodline, and it’s possible that whatever witch they may have wouldn’t be able to undo my spell anyway.”
We had to hope that Jude would be too chicken to take the risk.
“All right,” I murmured.
We returned to Jude, who now looked pretty desperate.
“Now,” Arwen announced. “We have decided to grant you movement again. So you can go back to your base and get to work.”
Before lifting her spell, Arwen bent down and searched him for any weapon he might have hidden in his clothes. It turned out that he had nothing except a small pad of paper and a pen in his back pocket. He hadn’t even brought his cell phone.
Jude staggered to his feet. Reluctantly, I placed the necklace in his shaking right hand. As he hurried away through the bushes and back out onto the sand, we had no way of knowing whether he would ever return. I had no clue whether I had just kissed that necklace goodbye forever.
All we could do was wait.
Grace
W e returned to The Shade to wait the twelve hours. I ended up staying with Arwen in the Sanctuary. We both camped out on the sofas in her spacious living room and tried to get some sleep, but neither of us got much.
We had set an alarm for when we approached within fifteen minutes of the appointed time. As soon as it went off, we both sprang to our feet.
We collected Arwen’s laptop, since it was nearest to us, and placed it in a bag before she vanished us back to Latimer Beach. We waited among the familiar patch of shrubbery, watching the stretch of sand where Jude was supposed to emerge in just less than fifteen minutes. It being still fairly early in the morning, the beach was mostly empty, except for a few dog walkers.
I kept glancing
“This contains a folder filled with files that have been encrypted with IBSI technology,” Arwen said. We think , I added in my head. Arwen’s eyes flickered to Jude’s badge. “Since you work in the IT security and maintenance department, opening them should be a cinch. And that is exactly what you’re going to do if you ever want your voice back.”
The hunter’s eyes bulged.
“You have twelve hours to return to this same beach I snatched you from with this thumb drive intact and the files unlocked and readable. Is anything unclear?”
Since he was frozen, as well as speechless, we could only go by the look in his eyes. He certainly didn’t look like he had accepted what Arwen had said. I exchanged a worried glance with her.
I tugged at her sleeve. “Could I have a moment?” I whispered into her ear. She vanished us several feet away from Jude, out of earshot, where we turned our backs on him.
“How exactly are we thinking we’ll pull this off?” I asked. “What if there is a witch working for the IBSI in this Hawaiian branch? She could undo your spell of silence for Jude and then they’ll have the thumb drive.” I instinctively reached out and took the pendant from Arwen. I clutched it. “The contents of this could be valuable, and we weren't able to make a backup. It’s my only lead on Georgina. If Jude managed to figure out some other way to get his voice back, then we could have lost this forever.”
I wondered if it might even be of interest to the hunters. Anything that was of interest to them ought to be held onto.
Arwen shrugged. “Well, do you have any better ideas? It’s pretty clear that these files can’t be opened on a regular computer. He’s going to need to take the drive back to his base and open them up there. We just have to hope that either a) there is no witch easily available to Jude, or b) he’s too afraid to take the risk. If he knows anything about witches, he should be aware that they don’t all have the same level of power. I’m powerful, given my mother’s bloodline, and it’s possible that whatever witch they may have wouldn’t be able to undo my spell anyway.”
We had to hope that Jude would be too chicken to take the risk.
“All right,” I murmured.
We returned to Jude, who now looked pretty desperate.
“Now,” Arwen announced. “We have decided to grant you movement again. So you can go back to your base and get to work.”
Before lifting her spell, Arwen bent down and searched him for any weapon he might have hidden in his clothes. It turned out that he had nothing except a small pad of paper and a pen in his back pocket. He hadn’t even brought his cell phone.
Jude staggered to his feet. Reluctantly, I placed the necklace in his shaking right hand. As he hurried away through the bushes and back out onto the sand, we had no way of knowing whether he would ever return. I had no clue whether I had just kissed that necklace goodbye forever.
All we could do was wait.
Grace
W e returned to The Shade to wait the twelve hours. I ended up staying with Arwen in the Sanctuary. We both camped out on the sofas in her spacious living room and tried to get some sleep, but neither of us got much.
We had set an alarm for when we approached within fifteen minutes of the appointed time. As soon as it went off, we both sprang to our feet.
We collected Arwen’s laptop, since it was nearest to us, and placed it in a bag before she vanished us back to Latimer Beach. We waited among the familiar patch of shrubbery, watching the stretch of sand where Jude was supposed to emerge in just less than fifteen minutes. It being still fairly early in the morning, the beach was mostly empty, except for a few dog walkers.
I kept glancing
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