Lost Causes by Mia Marshall

failure with as few witnesses as possible.
    Deborah Rivers was probably the oldest and most powerful water in the world, and she wasn’t my biggest fan. Considering she’d seen me go batshit crazy and immolate a man while in the depths of madness, I couldn’t really blame her.
    Next to her stood Michael Bay, a man I remembered mainly for his unfortunate name and strong desire to run away from trouble rather than toward it. Despite this, he was an old one, and you didn’t get to be his age without gathering a tremendous amount of power. He was nervous, and had likely hoped they never found us, but he could still drown my friends in a heartbeat, even in the middle of the desert.
    They were the only remaining members of a governing body that should have held six members, a single representative from each of the old families. Three members had died. The sixth spot technically belonged to Grams, but she couldn’t fulfill her duties while incarcerated. The slot should go to my great-grandmother or one of my aunts, but there’d been no effort to fill it. It would be a while before another Brook was welcome on the council.
    Deborah appeared wary, but she wasn’t afraid, and that worried me more than anything. They might be two of the strongest waters in the world, but that strength wasn’t a guarantee against our ragtag group of magic, claws, and firearms.
    My friends seemed to have a silent agreement to appear non-threatening. There was no reason to escalate things before we had to. Johnson, Carmichael, and Luke all held guns at their side, but they kept the safeties on. Simon and Mac remained in their human forms. Vivian stood next to Simon, seeking the comfort of her best friend. If it did come to a fight, she had no weapon of her own, and Simon could do little more than claw someone and run away. Miriam stood near them, her hard expression an unsettling contrast against her soft features.
    As for Sera, she knew better than to summon any flames the others could extinguish with a thought. Instead, she tried to destroy them with a glare.
    Deborah and Michael gave the others a cursory glance and saved their close scrutiny for me. I thought they were checking for signs of madness, and I resisted the urge to cross my eyes and have a conversation with myself. That might be considered escalating the situation.
    “No lackeys?” I asked, pointing at the two of them, then gesturing to the nine of us. “Feeling that confident?”
    Deborah took a step toward me, though Michael remained by the car.
    She didn’t look at me like I was a threat. Rather, she studied me with a curled lip, as though I was a bug she very much wanted to squash.
    “I’m aware that you can destroy both of us with ease, Ms. Brook.” The polite address was delivered with a sneer. “However, our deaths would cost you dearly.”
    Fear settled in my chest, a heavy weight, and I struggled to take a full breath. “You may not believe this, but I wasn’t planning on hurting you or anyone else. Not again.” Unbidden, the image of David writhing in a circle of flames rose to greet me.
    I pushed the thought away. The madness might live in me, but I couldn’t afford to live in it.
    Deborah studied me. I doubted she missed a single expression on a face that had always been too transparent for my own good.
    “Regardless of your intent, I believed insurance was necessary.” She held out an unsealed envelope. It was large, the sort used to mail documents that shouldn’t be folded.
    I glanced at the others, seeing my uncertainty reflected in their eyes. I didn’t want to play the game on her terms, but I saw no other option. I took the envelope and upended it, sliding its contents into my hand. It didn’t contain documents. It held photos.
    I flipped through them, then again more slowly, needing time to understand what I was seeing. With each image, my anger rose and the tight rein I kept on my power frayed.
    The first photo was of the Rat Trap, a bar Sera and I