Free Fear's Touch: A Darkworld Novella (The Darkworld Series) by Emma L. Adams

happened. I could hardly believe I’d only been here all of ten days and managed to get this neck-deep in shit. Now, we were counting on a total stranger to pull us out of it.
    She paused for a while after we finished.
    “I see,” the woman said, again. “Well, I warn you; I cannot defend you from the Inner Circle if you’ve broken the law.”
    “We haven’t!” I said, hating the way she looked at me. I hadn’t broken any laws, not deliberately. “Besides, I only attacked him on campus because…because I was angry. But it wasn’t me!” The words were coming out of their own accord. Damn, I hated being judged. “The Darkworld. It was like something manipulated me.” My mouth snapped shut, and I wished I could take it all back—anything to escape those merciless silver eyes.
    But the fortune-teller nodded, as though I’d just told her an interesting story or something. “Is that so? It seems someone has angered the Darkworld.”
    “Well, don’t look at us,” said Berenice, glancing at the cathedral. “And isn’t Jude, like, right over there at headquarters? With his bosses? I don’t want to be arrested.”
    “None of you will be arrested,” said the fortune-teller. “I have dealt with his kind before.”
    “His kind?” said Cyrus, frowning.
    “
Venators
who let their ambitions get the better of them. I will deal with him. And then…if you wish,” she added to Berenice, “we will find the cause of the shadow-beasts that have been hunting you.”
    “There’s no cause,” Berenice said, sharply. “Nothing. They just hate me. They won’t leave me alone, never!”
    “On the contrary,” said the fortune-teller, “there is always a cause. When did a shadow-beast first attack you?”
    Berenice shivered. “Soon as I got off the train in Redthorne. None of them had ever—ever—done that before. I mean, I saw them for years, but they never…”
    “If that is the case,” said the fortune-teller, “then I would hazard a guess that running from the first shadow-beast may have marked you as a target. Shadow-creatures prey on the weak.”
    “I’m
not
weak, and I’m no one’s prey!” Berenice stepped right up to the fortune-teller, eyes bright with anger.
    “Then I will give you the opportunity to prove it. Once this business is cleared up, we will take a trip into Redthorne, and I will help you track down the dark space from which the monsters hunting you came.”
    Berenice blinked at her. I could see the fear creeping into her eyes, but she held her head upright and curled her hands into fists as though to stop them trembling.
    “Okay,” she said.
    The fortune-teller turned back to face the cathedral and the graveyard beyond. “Perhaps…perhaps, it would be best if I were not to enter there myself,” she murmured. “They do not trust my word, and they will know you not to be a liar.”
    “Wait…” My mind scrambled to make sense of her words. “You want me to go in alone?”
    “No, I believe that he will come to you. But you should speak to his supervisor alone.”
    My knees felt weak. “Crap,” I said. “I’m really
not
good with authority figures. Besides, he knows I broke the law, well, in his eyes. I can’t deny that.”
    “And he used an illegal restraining spell on you,” said the fortune-teller.
    “Wait, illegal?”
    “Of course, it’s illegal,” said Cyrus. “Only in cases of extreme resistance. Seriously, you’ve got this. We have your back.”
    Still, I didn’t feel overly confident as we waited. I tapped my feet. Where the hell was he? Now, I just wanted it over with, so I could go home.
    Three figures appeared from the side of the cathedral, and my heart stuttered to a halt.
Shit, I take it back.
I glanced back, wondering if I could make a break for it.
    The fortune-teller shook her head, slightly.
    I stayed put, heart jack-hammering away, gaze fixed on the three blue-clad figures approaching us.
    Jude walked in the center, looking unimpressive between