The effect of the drug wore off about halfway to wherever they were taking me. Or I fought it off. It had clearly been a date rape drug, but I was pretty sure it had been intended to last longer.

The advantage of not being human, I thought wryly. I might not have many – I certainly wasn’t as strong as Thea – but I could fight off drugs faster than most. I’d remember that coffee shop and I’d file charges against the barrista as soon as I was out of there. But for now, I wanted to be in there.

Do you want to go down that road?

The road of the trickster. And I felt as if I already had at least one foot on it. Thea would, at this point, be kicking their butts. Well, maybe she’d wait until the car stopped.

I waited. I let them pull me out and drag me into a battered rowhouse, half of the windows boarded up. And take me down into the basement.

They didn’t bother to tie me up, just left me there and closed the door. And locked it. I could deal with that. If all else failed, I’d kick out the hinges. But instead, I looked around. A naked, flickering bulb cast the only light. And there was somebody else in here.

Another girl. A brunette, about my age, very fair skin to contrast with her dark hair. She looked up at me.

“Hush.” I moved over to her. “I’m going to get us out of here.”

“How? They only unlock the door to pretty much throw food in here. Or to take me to…play with.”

“I’m smarter than they are.” Which given I’d just been drugged and kidnapped seemed stupid, but I knew it was true. Besides, it sounded good. “I could have got away. I didn’t because I wanted to see who else they had.”

She nodded. “I’ve tried to break the door down. It’s reinforced and it’s real hard to get any force onto it from down here.”

“You know to kick the hinges end, right?”

“Yeah. I’ve watched the right movies.” She laughed weakly. “I’m Terry.”

“Jane. Okay. There’s two of us now. They’ll toss food down here, you said?”

She nodded.

“So…” I looked at the stairs. They had been open, but they’d boarded up one side of them, so I couldn’t hang off them then launch upwards when they opened the door.

Probably exactly so somebody couldn’t do that. Which made a narrow tunnel, and there was no way to approach them without being seen. I looked up. That wasn’t going to work either.

Ignoring Terry for now, I stood up and prowled. There were two window openings, but they were too narrow to squeeze out of. Even a raven couldn’t fit.

And, of course, I was unarmed. This was a fix I’d got myself into, but it was one I could get myself out of.

I knew that for sure.