Lasting Fury (Hexing House Book 2) by Jen Rasmussen

is one visitor that improves the more company you have to go with him.” Nana gestured for Thea to follow her inside.
    Thea stopped when she came into the cottage and saw Graves, half-sprawled over the table, head in his arms. The once-elegant fury who’d recruited her had fallen on hard times since he’d been found guilty of treason and lost his wings. He did menial labor now, his tailored suits replaced by rough work clothes. His hair didn’t look especially clean.
    Thea moved closer and got a strong whiff of rum.
    “He drinks a lot, since,” Nana said simply. “Probably asleep.”
    “Am not sleep!” His head snapped up and he glared at his mother with a drunk’s aggressive but unfocused stare.
    Nana sighed. “I get the luck of being the one person in the colony who has to take him in,” she said. “Come on, help me set the table. He won’t give you a hard time.”
    “She zerves a hard time,” Graves said, finally seeing Thea. “Thiz’z your fault.”
    “Graves, you brought what happened to you on yourself, and you know it,” Thea said. But though her words were hard, she felt none of the impatience and anger that had plagued her at the Bowman house. Which made no sense, because Graves deserved her contempt more than just about anyone. He’d lied to her, manipulated her. He’d done horrible things to a lot of people. And the superhex he’d helped develop had done even more horrible things to even more people.
    But looking at what he’d become, all Thea could manage to feel was pity.
    She ignored Graves—easily done, since he dozed off again—and talked to Nana, helping her finish the meal, until they sat down at the table. Then Thea said, “Graves, how have you been?”
    “I’m a glorified gardener with no wings,” Graves said. “How d’you think I’ve been?”
    A glorified gardener . Facilities. The fence.
    Thea remembered what Elon had said about the humans having someone on the inside, helping them plant that dead bat in her residence. There was certainly no love lost between her and Graves. And Graves would be one of the people responsible for maintaining the fence. Finding and fixing weak spots.
    Maybe he’d found some, and deliberately not fixed them.
    “I’m glad you’re here, actually,” Thea said. “You might be able to help me.”
    His catnap while they made dinner seemed to have sobered Graves up ever-so-slightly, and although his words came slowly, they were perfectly clear.
    “Go to hell,” he said.
    “You will not use that kind of language in my house,” Nana warned.
    “Give me a break, will you?” Graves snapped. “You use that kind of language all the time.”
    “I have given you more breaks than you deserve, and you will be polite to my guests,” Nana said. “Now sit up straight and answer her questions.”
    Graves glared at his mother, but he did sit up straighter.
    “You heard about what happened at Hemlock Heights, I assume?” Thea asked.
    Graves scowled at her. “So? I can’t even leave the campus. I haven’t got anything to do with the superhex anymore.”
    “No, but nobody here knows more about Megaira and her research than you do, right?”
    If she’d hoped to flatter him, she’d taken a misstep. Graves’s lip curled at the sound of his niece’s name.
    “I want to know if it’s possible that Hemlock Heights was being used as a kind of, I don’t know, living lab or something,” Thea said. “If there were other experiments going on there, besides that last superhex demonstration.”
    “How should I know what they were doing?” Graves asked. “They cut me loose, remember? Left me here to rot.”
    Well, that explained the snarl. Thea had nearly forgotten. Before he was dewinged, Graves had genuinely expected Megaira to rescue him. But she never showed.
    “But what do you think?” Thea asked. “Does that sound like something she would do?”
    Graves shrugged. “Sure, it’s possible. Why do you ask?”
    “Because some of the residents