Page 28 of Her Magic Light

“Process. Age?” Locke bit out the word. So if Sylvia was testing my patience, maybe I was testing his.

Well, he deserved it. He dragged me here against my will. I should have slapped him silly and escaped. Maybe scratched out his eyes. I didn’t know, but I shouldn’t have made it all the way to whatever the hell check-in process I was in the middle of.

“Twenty-eight.” I wanted to lie, but lying over something so small would be a hollow victory if they found out and didn’t trust me going forward.

“Uh huh.” Sylvia pushed her glasses up her nose again and leaned closer to her screen. “Question four. What is youractualage?”

“What?” I stood from my chair. “What is that supposed to mean?” I turned to Locke. “I have no idea why I’m here or why I’m answering such stupid questions. Just process me already and let me go home. I want to go home.Home.” I paced away, although not too far in case I crashed into something. Toward the lamp seemed safest. “To Sweetwater.”

I gestured as I continued to rant about being brought here. “Men in suits, sunglasses, some kind of fortress, and the most asinine questions I’ve ever heard.” I spun to face the direction of the desk again. “I mean,really? Do they actually pay you to spout this crap? Like seriously?”

“Meira.” Locke only said my name, but I whirled in his direction.

“No. Just no. I have hadenough.” I flung an arm out like I could send him away, even though he hadn’t moved toward me.

Sylvia’s chair tumbled as she stood abruptly and backed away from her desk.

“What are you doing now?” I shouted. “It’s not like I’m after you.” I ripped my glasses off, so she could see the full force of my fury.

Then everyone started moving.

“Get the lights.” Locke’s voice boomed, and as Sylvia plunged the office into darkness, an alarm began to blare in the room… Outside the room… In my damn head… The sound was everywhere.

Then I hit the floor, hard, a weight on my back.Dammit, Locke!He adjusted his position, and my cheek ground into the cheap, prickly carpet.

“What are you doing to me?” I shrieked. I tried to buck, but Locke was too heavy to shift.

“Easy,” he murmured in my ear.

He dragged my hands above my head, grasping my wrists together so tightly my bones ground each other.

“Let me go.” I bucked again. “I haven’t done anything.”

The first tear I’d cried all day leaked from the corner of my eye. But that would be the only one, so I gritted my teeth against the onslaught of sobs; I wouldn’t allow myself to be weak and cry in front of these people. “I’m twenty-eight,” I shouted. “Twenty-eight. That’s my actual age. Get a copy of my birth certificate if you don’t believe me.”

“Calm down, Meira.” Locke shifted his weight, and then I couldn’t move at all. “You need to calm down and always leave your glasses on.”

“What?” My word was garbled as I tried to move my mouth against the carpet with Locke’s full weight on me now. “What? Why amIthe problem?”

They were behaving like I was some sort of human bomb programmed to detonate at any moment. Fucking hell.

“I just need you calm and your glasses on.” Locke sounded almost unsure of himself now as he continued to hold me to the floor. “Just follow the process.”

“The process includes kidnapping,” I yelled. “I didn’t sign up for this. Whoever—no, whatever—you think I am, you’ve got the wrong person.”

But he didn’t answer, and he didn’t react.

The alarm continued to sound, but suddenly there was a cool hand on my forehead. I flinched at the unexpected contact.

“Let her go,” a soft voice said. “She doesn’t know what’s going on. You’re scaring her.”

Yes. Yes, that was right. Locke was scaring me. “You’re scaring me,” I confirmed. “Please let me go. I’ll put the glasses back on. I’ll answer the damn questions.” I stopped talking abruptly.

Locke had started to relax until I’d saiddamnand then he tensed again, his weight apparent once more.

“I don’t know what you’re doing.” My words emerged on the wake of a sob. “You need to let me go. I think this is illegal. It has to be illegal. Just somebody please tell me what’s going on.” I tried to move again but either Locke was heavier or I was just plain exhausted. Both. Probably both.

I gave up and let my cheek sink farther into the carpet until it pretty much met the hard surface beneath. Seemed even shadowy government agencies didn’t splash out for more than cheap carpet tiles for their offices.

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