"Not for a while," said Ganner. "We had to double-dose him because I thought he was going to hurt Jax. He'll be out cold for hours."

Jax sat up in alarm. "How can Uncle Finn question him? If you let him talk, he'll command you."

"Don't worry," said Sloane. "We have our methods." She reached out to pat him, but Jax moved his arm out of reach. Sloane was always touching him, and it bugged him. Plus Jax could've sworn her touch made his head hurt worse.

It had to be his imagination. And lack of sleep.

"What about the other boy?" Aunt Ursula asked.

The Ganners had complained they were running out of space for prisoners in the basement, so Thomas, who posed little threat, had been locked into a bathroom in the Dulac penthouse. "He'll wake up sooner than Pendragon," Ganner promised.

"He's dumber than a box of rocks, though," Jax warned them.

"All he needs to know is her location," Aunt Ursula said.

"Which will change, if she suspects we've captured her allies," Sloane said. "Grandmother, we're going to have to rely on Jax to bring her to us."

Jax rubbed his aching head with his hand. "I'm telling you, I can't go to her!"

"Not if you bring Albert with you." Sloane reached into the suede jacket she was wearing and removed her honor blade. "But if I swear that the Ganners will stay here, you can rejoin your liege and convince her to come to us willingly."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

Aunt Ursula smiled. "Tell her we have Pendragon, and we'll kill him if she doesn't cooperate. Does she care for him at all?"

Jax searched his memory, which was strangely murky. Something about a kiss on a pyramid . . . "Yeah, I think she does," he said. "But I don't know if I can lie to her, and besides, one of the Crandalls is a truth teller." A trickle of alarm ran down his spine. "It is a lie, right?" He didn't care about Riley. Riley was a jerk. But Jax was opposed to murder, even for jerks.

"Of course, it's a lie," Sloane said reassuringly. "So tell her we have him, and let her imagine what we might do to him. That's better anyway."

There were no animals in the Central Park Zoo on Grunsday.

Jax almost felt sorry for Evangeline, hiding in a zoo without any animals, because he knew how much she longed to see one. He remembered wanting to bring her a cat-before such ordinary concerns got left behind in an effort to save the world.

Back when he liked her.

It was eerie, passing the empty sea-lion exhibit. The leftover smell of animals still hung about the place. The animals are gone, but their smell is still here. Weird.

"Jax?"

He felt her presence and turned toward her even before she came running out of the bushes and palm trees behind the sea-lion pool. The bond of vassalhood felt like a noose around his neck as she threw her arms around him. Halfheartedly, he gave her a quick hug back, but his eyes were on A.J., who also stepped out of the shrubbery. Jax had always thought A.J. was a big useless lump, but he looked a lot more menacing with a rifle slung over his shoulder.

"Are you all right?" Evangeline unwound her arms from him. "Did they hurt you?"

"Why would they?" Jax said, stepping backward. "They're my family."

"Where's Riley?" A.J. demanded.

His mouth too dry to answer, Jax pointed behind him-toward the Dulac building, which was in the same direction as the Balto statue. Let that serve as an answer, till he figured out how to break the news without A.J. shooting him.

"I was so worried about you." Evangeline's startlingly blue eyes searched his face.

"I don't know why you were worried. They're family," he repeated.

"They kidnapped your friend," A.J. said.

"They didn't kidnap him. He's their guest."

Evangeline frowned. "But they're Dulacs, Jax."

"My grandmother is a Dulac," Jax said. "So that makes me one too. Maybe we're not as bad as you think."

A.J. muttered something about murderers under his breath, but Evangeline spoke over him. "My sister. Is she there? As a guest? Willingly?"

Yes, he wanted to say. His lips wouldn't form the word. As he feared, he couldn't lie to her. "I haven't met her yet, but you can see her today. All you have to do is come back with me."

"What?" exclaimed A.J.

Evangeline nodded, and for a moment Jax felt a thrill of relief, that it was going to be that easy. But then she said, "Why would I do that?" and Jax understood the nod wasn't agreement. It was confirmation of something in her mind.

"So you can be with your sister," Jax said.

"What's the other reason?"

She knew. Jax didn't know how, but she did. His eyes slid uneasily toward A.J. before he answered. "Because they have Riley, and my aunt says if you want to see him again, you have to turn yourself over to her."

A.J. swore loudly, and Evangeline pressed her fingers to her lips. "Jax," she whispered. "What have they done to you?"

26.

"THEY HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING to me," Jax protested, but he was drowned out by A.J.'s yelling.

"I told Riley! I told him not to go!"

Evangeline shook her head tearfully. "He was so sure he'd be able to tell."

"Tell what?" Jax growled.

"Where were the Donovans? Weren't they supposed to be able to sniff it out?" A.J. stared at Jax like he'd sprouted three heads.

"Thomas is with Riley, and they're fine for now." Jax felt a twinge of guilt at that barely true statement. When he'd last seen them, both boys had been stone-cold unconscious.

Evangeline gasped. "They have Thomas too?"

"They'll kill Riley." A.J. groaned. "If they haven't already." He lifted his head and stared off into the distance, as if trying to sense whether the bond to his liege still existed.

"No, they won't." Evangeline grabbed A.J.'s arm. "They want me. If Jax can't deliver me, Riley will be their only other means to get to me."

"Look," Jax said angrily to Evangeline. "Do you care about your sister or not? Because if I had a sister-or a brother-nothing would stop me from going to them. I thought I didn't have any close family left, but turns out I did. Not a brother or sister, but cousins and an uncle and grandparents who wanted me. Riley knew and didn't tell me . . ."

"He didn't know," protested Evangeline.

"He dragged me away from my mother's family and didn't take care of me," Jax said bitterly. "He didn't buy groceries! He left me alone when I had my first Grunsday-never explained anything to me-and I thought it was the zombie apocalypse! He left me again, and I was kidnapped by a bank robber. He left me again, and the Balins got me . . ."

"None of that is true," A.J. snapped.

"It's all true," Evangeline said. "But it's twisted. Jax, he came for you when you were in danger."

"No, he came for you. He sent Miller Owens to torture me."

A.J. lifted his fists. Evangeline stepped between them, and A.J. stopped. "Miller died saving your life!" he growled over her head.

Jax faltered. It was something he didn't like to remember, but it was true, and somehow, it didn't match everything else he remembered about that day. "Stop changing the subject. I want to go back to my family, and if Evangeline cared about hers, we'd be there already."

"They used their magic on you," Evangeline said. "Think, Jax! Aren't there gaps in your memory, things that don't match up? They can't have changed everything so fast." She reached for him, trying to put a hand on his shoulder, but he flinched away.

"Crap. He's not even Jax anymore," A.J. said to Evangeline.

Jax's skin rose in goose bumps. "You can't fool me like you did before. But I'm still me."

"Is it permanent?" Evangeline asked A.J. "Can't we do anything?" Then, in horror: "Can they do this to Riley too?"

A.J. ran both hands through his sloppy blond hair. "It's not safe here. Who knows what Jax told 'em? Riley would want me to get you someplace safe, then come back for him."

"What about Jax?" Evangeline asked, her voice breaking.

"Release me," Jax said. "I don't want to be your vassal anymore. I'm sick of tagging along behind you and Riley like a dog. Let me go." Jax's head hurt so badly, it felt like it was going to split open. Maybe if he rid himself of this terrible bond, the pain would go away. And then he could turn her over to Aunt Ursula.

"You should do it," A.J. said in a low voice. "He might be able to track you, otherwise."

"I can't abandon him," she whispered, as if Jax wasn't right there, listening.

"He's a lost cause," A.J. hissed. "And I hope like heck that Riley isn't, that he's strong enough to fight them, but even if he's not, the most important thing is to keep you away from them. You know that, Evangeline."

Her whole body seemed to crumple in defeat, and she pressed both hands over her eyes. "Kneel," she said to Jax.

He dropped to his knees on the path. She uncovered her eyes and took his face in her hands. "Jaxon Aubrey," she whispered, tears on her cheeks. "Is this really what you want?"

"Ambrose," he corrected. "And yes."

She sniffed. "You swore to me as Aubrey."

"Jax Aubrey!"

Jax pulled out of Evangeline's hands, hearing his name shouted from another direction.

Tegan Donovan marched down the path from the zoo entrance, her hands clenched into fists. "Objects at rest stay at rest," she yelled, breaking into a run, "while objects in motion stay in motion unless acted upon by an external or unbalanced force!"

Then she slugged Jax so hard in the face, she knocked him over.

He rolled in the grass, moaning. "Ow! Ow! Weren't you listening?" He thrashed around and sat up. "Smitty just said you didn't have to hit me!"

But Smitty hadn't just said it. He'd said it two days ago. Dimly, Jax knew that.

Tegan had insisted Jax meet her father's friend Smitty as soon as their bus pulled into New York City-and definitely before he contacted his uncle to arrange a swap for Billy.

So on Tuesday morning, at a fast-food restaurant near the Port Authority bus station, Jax showed his mark to a tall, lanky Transitioner with a bulging Adam's apple, who gave Jax only a flash of his own mark before sinking into a chair at their table. "What can I do for the Donovans this time?" he asked. Jax tried to meet his eyes, but Smitty's irises bounced around like Ping-Pong balls.

Tegan pointed a thumb at Jax. "Our friend is meeting the Dulacs later today. We need a way to make sure he stays himself."

Smitty's zigzagging eyes rested briefly on Jax. "Best way to do that is not meet the Dulacs."

"Let's suppose he can't get out of it."

Jax grunted in exasperation. "How can this guy help?"

Jax's disapproval caught Smitty's attention. His eyes locked on Jax like a guided missile.

"Smitty's a memory manipulator," Tegan said. "Kind of like Riley's friend Miller and the Dulacs."

"Not like the Dulacs," Smitty muttered. "Nothing like them."

Tegan waved down his protest. "His specialty is planting things in your memory that get activated by a trigger," she told Jax. "He's pretty awesome."

Thomas grinned. "There's this woman we used to work with who turned on us. Now, every time she tries to snitch on us to the police, she barks like a dog instead of saying our name! Seriously. She thinks Donovan but says bow wow!"

Tegan addressed Smitty. "I know you can't block the Dulacs. But can you outsmart them? C'mon. There's gotta be something you can do."

Smitty's fingers danced on the table like he was playing piano. "A total reset might work," he said after a few bars. "Erase him back to this morning. But that's a pretty big plant. It'll only work once. No do-overs."

"What's he talking about?" Jax demanded.

"Shush." Tegan punched him in the arm and focused on Smitty. "Yeah, bring him back to this morning. But he'd have to remember what happened in between. Can you do that?"

The piano recital switched to a drum solo. "That's trickier."

"But can you do it?"

"Your dad'll owe me big-time."

"What are we talking about?" Jax rubbed his arm.