Chapter 9
Not Without You
After spending more than an hour poking around the computer for any information she might be able to use, she at least found a map of the current floor. Willow committed it to memory while waiting for most of the staff to head home. When she felt it was time to move, she slung the bag with all of the gadgets into a position next to her leg. Afraid that someone might stop her from walking around with company property, she stole the long coat off of the hooks on the back of the door and hid the bag as much as possible between the coat and her upper legs. With that, she opened the door and walked confidently back to the locker room for a change of clothing. It was a long shot, but she hoped to find a lab coat or something that would make her look like she belonged on the lower floors. To her surprise, the locker room still had a number of people in it, and some of them were not happy.
“Someone stole my …”
Willow froze as the door stood open in front of her. Turning on her heel, she walked down the hall, speeding up in case anyone noticed she was there. One look at her, and people would certainly recognize their clothing and accessories.
Worried that she might be exposed, Willow went to the staircase – the elevators did not go down to the floors she needed. It was annoying that she couldn’t just sink through the floor, but the young woman knew that she needed to move, not gripe.
As soon as she opened the door to the staircase, a pair of men turned to look at her.
“Oh! I’m so sorry,” she said with a smile. I must have gotten turned around. I’m looking for the ladies’ bathroom.”
One of the men explained the path back. She thanked him, then turned around and acted like she was following his advice.
It looks like I can’t take the stairs on this floor. There has to be some way for people to get to the lower floors from here without the stairs, though.
The only solution she had was to take the elevator down two more floors and see if she could slip through them.
Once in the elevator, she had a new problem. It required a badge to get down, and the one she had didn’t work to go to the lower floors. Cursing, she was about to leave when a large man called from down the hall, “Please hold it!”
Hitting the button, she moved to the side. When the man entered, she recognized him as one of the men who had ended up fighting in the hallway. Her heart rate sped up as he hit one of the buttons, and she pulled the coat closer around her. The man looked at her, “You’ll just have to wait to go home, little girl. I’ve got important work to do.”
“Oh, I don’t …”
He turned his back mostly to her. “Save it. I don’t care about your problems.”
Fortunately, the ride was short, just two floors. He stalked out of the elevator and hurried down the corridor. Stepping out, she watched him disappear.
Then she sank through the floor. Her legs buckled when she hit the next floor, and if anyone had been watching, they would have noticed her. It was another bit of luck that she had appeared in an empty corridor. The wall behind her was solid, so she thought the elevator to the lower levels was further along the floor above her.
Doesn’t matter, Willow.
She stood up and walked into a room nearby. It was empty, giving her a moment of calm.
“Okay, Nolan, now I’m trapped down here, too. Tell me where you are so we can get out of here together.”
The voice was weak as it replied, “Why didn’t you just leave? I’m not in any state to protect you.”
“I’m not worried about me, Nolan. Now where are you?”
“They took me to the sixth floor, thinking you were still on the floor where we used to be. They are hoping to keep us separated.”
“Oh, that’s … do you know where on the sixth floor?”
When he didn’t immediately respond, she thought he might not know. “Near the middle. But it’s a trap.”
“How far from the upper-level elevators are you?”
“There are about twenty-five rooms, dead center. But you can’t come here because they will catch you.”
Feeling confident, Willow began to jog through the rooms, and it didn’t take long until she reached a supply closet with a lot of uniforms. She found one that made her look like a member of the medical staff, and then she changed her outfit. Not wanting to lose the thumb drives, she tucked them into her slightly too-large boots.
There was nothing else to do but find Nolan. She left the room and walked toward the middle of the facility, thankful that the corridors were long instead of winding. It didn’t take long to get to the center. She phased through the wall and into the center room. Getting down on her hands and knees, she pressed her face through the floor and looked into the room.
Nolan was on the middle bed, his eyes closed. No one else was present.
“Nolan,” she whispered.
“You aren’t going to be able to wake me, Willow. They injected something into me so that I can’t leave. Well, not for a bit. I have to work the toxins out of my system first, which will take a while.”
“But … how are you talking to me?”
“My brain is fully functional, just not my body.”
Willow closed her eyes momentarily and wondered how she would get him out of there. He was too heavy to carry, and she didn’t know where the elevator was to return to the higher levels.
He’s on a gurney; just push him out of here.
It was a long shot, but the only thing that came to mind.
“Hey Nolan, do you know where the elevator back to the first staff floor is?”
“I don’t like what you are thinking.”
“Well, I don’t like seeing you lying almost lifeless on the table. It’s …” she stopped as she sensed something different about the room. “What did they inject you with?”
“I’m not sure. It’s not something I’ve encountered before.”
“Do people usually inject you with unknown toxins?”
This got a chuckle, which was at odds with how he looked on the table, his skin shiny and pale. “My parents wanted to make sure we were always safe since we have a lot of money and are somewhat well-known within a few industries.”
“That’s putting it mildly.”
There was humor in his voice when he replied, “It was just a normal experience for me. My parents exposed the three of us to a lot of substances to help build our immunity, and it has been beneficial. But this is something new.”
“I have to ask your parents if they think exposing children to dangerous substances is a good idea.”
“And I question parents who abandon their children.”
“I disappointed them too many times.”
“I wasn’t talking about the Addlers, although they are just as bad.”
Willow looked away, her heart hurting at the thought that two sets of parents gave up on her.
Nolan’s words were gentle as he told her, “It’s not your fault, Willow. Given your extraordinary abilities, I can imagine humans were too scared to deal with it. Until a few years ago, we didn’t realize how horribly your kind were treated.”
He continued talking, but Willow was no longer listening. Something about the situation was bothering her. Standing up, she let herself slowly sink through the floor, the computer bag making the passage a little more difficult at the slower speed. When she reached the floor, Willow kept herself as light as air so the alarms didn’t go off. She placed her hands on his body and closed her eyes.
By that point, Nolan had stopped talking, but as soon as she touched him, he asked, “What are you doing?”
“Those bastards,” she muttered, pulling her hands away from his chest. “Those horrible, miserable oxygen thieves are trying to kill you.”
“What happened? What did you do?”
Willow pinched her nose and drew her hand over her mouth. “Well, I can fix this, but you’ll have to move fast,” she said.
“What are you talking about? I told you I can’t move.”
“I have a computer and a bunch of drives in this bag,” she said, placing it on the bed next to his motionless body. Hopefully, that’s all you need from the floor where we stopped because you will need to get me back to my apartment.”
“You stole a computer?”
“Please listen, this is important. Place me on my bed or the floor near it, then look for the little compartment in the baseboard. There’s a small, um, locket-looking thing. I need you to remove that and place it on my body.”
“Why? What will that do?”
“Hopefully, it will work.”
Nolan’s tone was getting more concerned. “I don’t like what you are planning, Willow.”
“Oh, believe me, I’m not a fan, but unless you can somehow get rid of heavy metals, I don’t think there is much choice.”
“Heavy metals!” The alarm was evident in his voice. “Injecting those kinds of … that’s lethal, even to shifters! What kind of heavy metals?”
“I’m not sure, and I can’t tell because it’s a mixture. Where were you taught how to expel that?”
“No, because people who want to take kids for ransom generally aren’t trying to kill them. At least not when they come after families like mine.”
“I kind of figured.” She looked around for a pen or marker. There were a couple near some files, so she shoved the files in the bag and picked up one of the pens. Willow then wrote her address on his hand. He tried to get her attention during all of it, but she wouldn’t be dissuaded from what she had decided to do.
“Willow, talk to me. What are you planning on doing?”
“There. You have my address. Get me there as quickly as you can. I think you have a few hours, but no more than five. Hopefully, that’s enough time because I don’t even know if we are close to the city.”
“I’m going to get us out of here. Just … wait for me to work this stuff out.”
“You’ve already said you don’t have training for it, and by the time you do, it could have done serious damage. And I know that I can handle it a lot better.”
“What do you mean you can handle it better?”
“Remember Nolan. Look for the locket in the baseboard near my bed. Put it on my chest, over my heart. I doubt that you’ll be able to reach me once it hits my system.”
“Once what hits your system?”
“The heavy metals.” Without saying anything else, she pressed his lips open a little. She leaned over and placed her mouth on his. When their lips touched, Willow began drawing the metals out of his body and into her own. It was slow at first, but after the first fifteen seconds, the metals flowed easily into her body. She tried to direct it close to her heart as much as possible. Her head began to feel fuzzy, and her breathing labored, but the young woman felt the last of it leaving his body and flowing into her own. Once she was done, Willow flopped down on Nolan’s chest, her mind and body struggling to keep the metals within a small place near her heart.