Priceless

enough for me to slip the cuffs from back to front and try the door multiple times.
    When the door slid open I launched myself out into the early morning sun, the wind whipping my hair around my face, blurring my vision for a split second. I stumbled to a stop. We were at my house.
    “Inside. Move.”
    Now, thoroughly confused, I did as I was told.
    Stepping lightly, I climbed the steps. The front door was slightly ajar, so I pushed it with my shoulder and peeked in. Sitting in my living room was O’Shea, Milly, and a man in a suit who had to be FBI by his posture alone, but I didn’t recognize him. Older, he had streaks of grey in his light brown hair. Brown eyes that looked as though they might have flecks of green in them were his best feature. His face was jowly, nose offset, and it looked as though he had an overbite. But there was an air of confidence that made me think he was in charge.
    The stranger stood. “Ms. Adamson. My name is Agent Valley.” He motioned at my handcuffs. “Here, let me take those off for you.”
    O’Shea stood. “No, I’ve got it.” He stepped over to me and I tried not to look him in the face, tried not to think about him and Milly in bed together. She always did move fast. He unlocked the cuffs, his fingers lingering for split second on my wrists.
    Ignoring the others, I asked him the only question that really mattered to me. “Did the kids make it out okay?”
    He smiled, really smiled, and I hated how my heart tried to flop about in my chest like a fucking Labrador retriever whose best friend just showed up.
    “India is back with her parents, though I think you need to speak with them still. And Jake is in intensive care, but it looks like he’ll pull through.”
    Relief swept through me. Two kids were back where they belonged. Now I could finally shift gears and deal with the rest of my crazy life.
    “Please have a seat, we have a lot to discuss,” Agent Valley said.
    Frowning, unable to even guess at what was about to happen, I shook my head. “No, I’ll stand.”
    He shrugged. “Fine, fine. You’ve been exonerated of any charges relating to the deaths of the Agents at the mineshaft.”
    “Why? How?”
    Valley shrugged. “We know it was a Harpy. Nothing to do about that but post men to keep people away from the beast.”
    Shock rippled through me; my jaw dropped and I shut it with an audible click. “But . . . what . . . how?”
    “We are a part of the Arcane division of the FBI, Ms. Adamson. We know a great deal about the supernatural and we’re doing our best to manage the interactions between them and humans. It doesn’t always go well.” He barked out a dry, humourless laugh. “As I suppose you already know from your own experiences with the law.”
    “Okay,” I said. “Fine, you know about us. Good for you. What does that have to do with me?”
    Valley nodded to O’Shea. “Liam here has also been exonerated, though he can’t go back to the division he was in. Even though we have a plausible cover story, we can’t convince all the other Agents that the death of one of their own, by one of their own, was acceptable.”
    Both of my eyebrows shot into my hairline and before I could ask, O’Shea explained.
    “The story is that Martins was in on the child-kidnapping ring and that he shot at me first. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that I showed up at a hospital with two of the missing children and the bodies of two others.”
    Valley leaned back in my favorite chair and stretched his legs out in front of him; short as they were, they didn’t even reach the coffee table a mere two feet away. “We’ve pulled Liam into our division. But” —he raised a finger— “he needs a partner. Someone who is savvy to the ways of the supernatural elements of this world, someone who can help him, and in turn help us.”
    I folded my arms across my chest, the tightening of bonds and responsibilities I didn’t want creeping in around me. “And if I don’t agree to this?”
    The senior agent shrugged. “Nothing. This is not blackmail. We need you. You’d be on payroll of course, and would have access to all of our training facilities, weapons and any equipment you’d need.”
    “Could I still go after my own cases?”
    He shook his head. “No, anyone who comes to you would then be put through the system. Of course, you’d still be bringing children, people home.”
    Licking my lips, I looked to Milly. She shrugged ever so slightly. “I need to think