Hazel twists her necklace in her fingers and leans forward, her free hand gripping her knee in an attempt to stop her legs from jiggling nervously. “What happened to Ronan? Is he okay? And the agent who was shot? Will he be okay?” Her eyes dart between Agent Quinn and Agent Fitzgerald, who sit across from her with stony expressions.

“You’re not really in a position to be asking questions,” says Quinn, eyebrow raised.

She sits back and nods reluctantly. The metal chair scrapes against the floor, punctuated by the buzz of fluorescent lights overhead. Hazel knows it’s cold, but she’s too anxious to feel it. “What do you want to know?”

“Did Ozias kill Amy?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“You,” she says, folding her arms across her chest as if she can squeeze out the emotions rolling around in her heart. Her chest still hurts from the loss of Amy. “Ozias knew you had been asking some questions about me. You barged through her brain, and he couldn’t be certain that you hadn’t seen something about his business. He was mad.”

Quinn’s face is expressionless. If he feels any remorse for compelling Amy, he doesn’t show it. “Did you witness him killing her?”

“No, I wasn’t there. By the time I got home, she was already…gone.”

“We found Amy’s purse at the Lighthouse. Do you know how it got there?”

“Ozias gave it to Roderick to plant at Dominic’s place. Ozias wanted to frame him because he wouldn’t take his business deal.” Dominic had been incredibly persistent in his refusals and with every new “No,” Ozias seemed to get angrier. She had been shocked when Dominic showed up at the house earlier that day, claiming that he was ready to talk business.

“Then why make Amy look like you?”

“He knew the illusion would start to fade eventually. It was his backup plan, for when you realized it wasn’t me.”

“Do you know where her phone is?”

“Yes, it’s at the house. In her room. She stayed there a lot.”

He looks intently at her for a beat, his amber eyes unreadable, before glancing down at the file in front of him. “Produce,” he reads. “Import of various types of fruit. Stone fruit. Which was code for Mischief Seeds?”

Hazel smiles softly. “You’ve been talking to Harvey. Is she here? Can I see her?”

“Later,” says Quinn. “After you clear up some things for us.”

Hazel nods. “You’ve arrested Locke, right?”

Quinn studies her for a brief moment. “Yes, and we’d like to keep it that way. Ozias, unfortunately, escaped. We think he used a stone to help him open a portal. Right after he stabbed Roderick and used Roderick’s gun to shoot a Bureau agent.”

Hazel lets the lie wash over her. She doesn’t confirm it, but she also doesn’t contradict it. When Dominic stabbed Roderick she couldn’t help but think it was for the best, really. Roderick was always too slippery for her tastes, too willing to agree with Ozias or Locke or whoever he decided was stronger at the time. Amy would talk endlessly about Dominic—how virtuous he was, how much he cared about her, how good he was in bed. She would like to think that Dominic truly cared about Amy. Perhaps Dominic came to the house to kill Ozias to avenge Amy but just happened to get Roderick instead. “Ozias will be long gone now, but I can give you a list of some places he might go.”

“We would appreciate that,” he says.

“You made other things for him. For both of them, Locke and Ozias?” says Fitzgerald. She mirrors Hazel’s body language but cocks her head to the side.

Hazel confirms this. “The stones were his favorite, though. They gave the user magic abilities they wouldn’t otherwise be able to wield.”

“Like giving a witch the power to open a portal,” Quinn says, pushing a photo across the table.

Hazel recognizes it as the security camera footage from her disappearance two years ago. A foolish display, she knows. But she had been so angry with Harvest and Ezra. Especially Ezra. She’s sure he picked a fight with her that night just so he had a reason to tell her about the affair. Cutting off all ties was equally foolish and something she regretted almost immediately.

But Locke’s employment offer was persuasive, particularly because it came with the threat of violence.

Also, there was money. Lots of it.

When she met Locke at a random bar a few months before her disappearance, she let his flattery sink beyond her defenses, something she rarely did even with Ezra. He complimented her bracelet, and she told him it was a modified shield charm that she developed for nights she went out without her fiancé. It served a similar purpose to a can of mace and, while she never had cause to use it before, Locke had been so interested, she demonstrated it a few times.

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He was smitten from the get-go, though there was never any hint of impropriety on his part. This only served to lull her into a sense of complacency which was shattered almost as soon as she demonstrated her portal spell.

Cut off from her family, Locke would threaten them whenever it seemed like she was losing interest or loyalty, reminding her that if she went back, she would lose her family in a much more permanent way.

She is thankful for her unmarred skin though. She managed to avoid signing a contract with a few well-placed declarations of love. She played her part so well that she sometimes wondered if she truly did love him.

And yet, as the months passed, her goal shifted until it was simply: save up enough money to get her and Amy out of Valkaria.

But then Ozias approached her with soft kisses and promises of equal partnership. It helped her break away from Locke. Ronan asked her if she was in love with Ozias, and if the question had come to her a month ago, she might have said yes.

“Or maybe it allows a vampire to open a portal into a bank vault,” posits Fitzgerald. “Maybe it gives a werewolf the power to make themselves invisible as they sneak out of said vault?”

“Yes, that,” says Hazel. She was not always privy to the intricate operations that Ozias would plan, but she knows Fitzgerald is talking about a recent string of bank and museum heists, made possible because of the stones.

The cold of the room has finally hit her, and it seems to highlight her exhaustion. She doesn’t have the energy to recount everything that has happened in the two years she’s been gone.

Yet, when Quinn asks about the postcard, Hazel finds herself spilling way more than she anticipated. “I was scared. Ozias could be violent, and I just had enough of it. I didn’t know what else to do. So, I sent a postcard to Harvey, who…well, I knew she would come looking for me. I shouldn’t have brought her into it—I spent two years trying to keep her away from Locke and Ozias.”

It’s as if she gives him what he’s been looking for: a reason to absolve her of her crimes, a justification to let her go. It was self-defense. He threatened her. She was just trying to protect herself and her family. She wonders if he will end the interview there, but instead, he asks, “Can you tell us again why Ozias killed Amy?”

She takes a deep, shaky breath, realizing that he wants something different. Something more than what she told him earlier. Maybe it’s for the investigation—some angle she can’t see from where she’s sitting right now—but she wonders if it’s more for himself. He wants something that will take away his guilt, and absolve him of his crimes. “I think it was a warning,” she says after a beat of silence. “To you and Harvest, but also me. He was reminding me that he could hurt the ones I love if I didn’t do what he wanted.”

Quinn’s amber eyes look at her so intensely that she thinks she can feel his gaze, two spotlights of heat on her cheeks.

It’s Fitzgerald who breaks the silence. “We’ll want a list of everything you made for Locke and Ozias.”

“Of course. Whatever I can do to help.”

----------------------------------------

Harvest anxiously waits outside of the interrogation room. She had been watching the interview on a video link down the hall but came to stand outside the door when it seemed like they were wrapping up their questions.

When Harvest returned from Death, Quinn was on the phone with Angel who seemed unable to string together enough words to form a sentence besides a rushed “Meet me at the hospital.” Harvest nearly fainted from the left-over coldness of Death mixed with the fear that something had happened to Wild—which is when Quinn added gravely that Ronan was there, as well.

She’s fairly certain he broke a few laws rushing them to the hospital.

Wild, thankfully, was relatively unharmed. He was given some painkillers and a dressing for the cut on his chest where the bullet hit the vial in his jacket pocket.

When Harvest left Ronan at the hospital, he was being checked over for a concussion but was otherwise unscathed. After the interview with Hazel, Quinn will drive Ronan and Harvest home, while Hazel will be taken into custody awaiting a potential charge. Quinn assured her that it would probably be a minor charge, with a fine or Bureau conscription attached. Harvest glanced down at his ring and wondered if Quinn was speaking from experience.

When the door finally opens, Harvest catches a glimpse of Hazel, head bent over a piece of paper as she writes a list of magical tools and weapons that she made for Locke and Ozias.

To be honest, it is quite impressive—the things Hazel was able to make—and Harvest is oddly proud of her sister, though it is overshadowed by the tragedy of Amy’s death and the surmounting anxiety at Harvest’s own egregious actions that started this whole mess in the first place.

Quinn leans against the wall and lets his head fall back with a thump.

“Are you okay?” she asks. She leans a shoulder against the wall and watches him as a muscle in his jaw jumps with unsaid thoughts.

“You were right,” he says quietly. Harvest has the distinct feeling that she is seeing something rarely observed: Quinn showing regret. A rare blossom of emotion. An azalea of guilt. “I shouldn’t have compelled her. It was heavy-handed, and it’s what got her killed.”

Harvest hesitates for a second but then places her hand on his arm. He looks at her sharply but doesn’t move away. “Ozias killed Amy, not you. Like you said, it wasn’t an investigation at the time, and you were only there because I pulled you into it. Ozias was manipulative and violent.” She looks down at her wrist, where the rash has already started fading. “Amy can rest peacefully now, even with Ozias on the run, and Hazel can start healing.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s not really about feeling better, is it? It’s all about learning from mistakes and moving on, right?”

He smirks, his regret already withering away. Or maybe he shelves it and forgets where it is. He must have had years of practice doing this. “I’m inclined to agree, little witch.” He looks at the door of the interview room and then back at Harvest. “Do you want to see her?”

She nods.

Quinn knocks on the door once before opening it and stepping to the side to let Harvest into the room. When Hazel looks up at Harvest, her eyebrows are knit together in anxiety. She brings her hand up to twist the charm on her necklace. Harvest almost laughs at the realization that she is doing the same thing. They must look like twins.

“Hey, Hazel,” she says.

“Harvey.” Hazel stands and takes one step toward Harvest before she stops herself. “I’m sorry about all of this.” Her arms drop to her side, and she shakes her head. “I shouldn’t have gotten you involved. I just—”

Hazel doesn’t get the rest of her sentence out because Harvest has already thrown her arms around her, hugging her tight.