“That’s what will stop them.” I gestured toward the birds, to include the statement of their intentions. “I brought what they wanted, and they won’t go back on their word. And, anyway, there’s nothing either of you could do even if they hauled you up there. There are at least fifty grown thunderbirds in there, Marc. We’re on their turf. The best way for all of us to make it out of here alive is to play by their rules.”

“She’s right,” Jace said before Marc could object. “It’ll be worse for everyone if they feel threatened in their own home.”

Marc ignored him. He was busy eyeing me in an intense combination of frustration and fear. “You keep going places where I can’t protect you.”

I blinked at him in surprise. “Yeah. I do. But I keep coming back.” I reached out to run my hand over the delicious, dark stubble on his chin. “This is my job, Marc, and I swear I will do everything I can to get myself and Kaci out of there quickly and unharmed.” I glanced at Jace to include him in what I was about to say. “But listen, even if they don’t send anyone down here with you, they’ll be watching you, and their eyesight is incredible. If you guys start bickering or making trouble, they will come down here and end it, and there’s nothing I can do to stop them. So I need you to promise you’ll just stand here and wait quietly. Everything else that needs to be done or said can be addressed later. Okay?”

“Like we have a choice,” Marc grumbled, while Jace nodded mutely, the fists clenched at his sides the only indication that he was just as unhappy about the situation as Marc was.

“Thank you.” Turning, I held up a one-more-minute finger for the birds, then faced Lance, who looked like he was about to be thrown into a volcano. I had no doubt that if he thought he stood a chance, he’d have already taken off into the woods. “If I take the tape off your mouth, can you keep quiet and listen to me?”

He nodded hesitantly, and I decided it was worth the risk. I was about to hand him over to his death. Surely the least I could do was tell him how he’d gotten there and ask for his cooperation.

I peeled back one corner of the tape over his lips, then carefully pulled it the rest of the way off. Fortunately for Lance—and the stubble that had grown on his chin and cheeks over the past twenty-four hours—removing duct tape doesn’t hurt nearly as badly as pulling off a Band-Aid; I could attest to that personally.

“Okay. First of all, I’m truly sorry about the way this had to go down, but I want you to know that we had no other choice. You pretty much sealed your own fate when you killed Finn. Did you know that was the thunderbird’s name?”