Chapter 7
SEVEN
Elora
All around me it’s loud and chaotic. School bands make their way through the streets playing music as people crowd the sidewalks, screaming and yelling. Venders walk around handing out free ice cream, hot dogs, churros, big pretzels, cotton candy, and more. Banners are strung on all the buildings and balloons decorate all the light poles. Big spotlights are pointed up at the new science building, which stands empty.
It’s a formidable-looking structure, with a big entrance into a gleaming foyer that screams perfection . But other than the foyer, nothing else can be seen within the buildings. The windows reflect back the world all around us rather than what’s within, adding to the sense of secrecy around the building.
But maybe I’m the only one who feels that way about the place.
Sitting on a big plaque in front of the building is the name Walker in big letters, as they had dedicated the building to my mother. It was henceforth to be known as the Walker Building. Underneath her name is a smaller plaque with the names of Veric Perthran, Zave Radyn, and Ermes Railan. The three people who died in the fire along with her.
People had cried when they announced who the building was dedicated to. They’d held their loved ones. But I’d just stared at the building and felt… empty. Something about this place resulted in my mother’s death, and I’m going to find out what it is. Until then, I need to try not to feel too disgusted about them naming the new building after her when she wanted to destroy the other one so badly.
The council members are up on a big stage in front of the steps leading up to the building, and a crowd had formed around them. They’d already given their speeches, talking about how exciting it is to have their first building made entirely out of goldarium, and that it would allow them to make great strides in medicine.
“Isn’t this amazing?” a woman asks, stepping into my field of vision. “Your mom would be so proud.”
I attempt a smile. “Thank you.”
Fireworks explode in the sky overhead, drawing all gazes upward. Callum is suddenly in front of me, looking like an entirely different man. He’s wearing a black button-up shirt and white slacks. His hair has been cut and styled, and his beard is gone.
“We need to talk,” he says.
I want to. I want to see if he’s come up with a solution for our baby, but I can’t right now. Things need to be timed just right if I’m going to get into the building.
“Later,” I say.
He frowns, looking confused, which is when his mom is suddenly at his side. Her short hair is sleek, as always, and she wears her trademark white color, although, for once, she’s wearing a dress that covers her arms and reaches down to her ankles instead of a pantsuit. It’s got lots of harsh lines in a modern style that I don’t like at all.
“How are you enjoying the celebration?” she asks, and her gaze searches mine.
Time to lie. “It’s wonderful.”
“We thought you might like the building being named after your mom.”
“It was a very thoughtful gesture,” I tell her, trying not to grind out the words.
She clasps her hands together, looking between us for a brief moment before she says, “I wanted to let you know that you won’t be having your physical in two days. I decided it might be best to wait until after you return to Neverwood, since that should be your focus.”
I try not to look surprised. “Okay.” I want to say thank you, but I hold it back. A physical wouldn’t be something for us to put much thought into.
Callum, however, looks triumphant. “Great, Mom, thanks.”
She gives a tight-lipped smile. “Of course.”
It’s uncomfortable for a minute while she lingers between us, but then Councilman Vyn calls her name, and she tells us a hurried goodbye before rushing off through the crowd. I take a step away from Callum, wanting to get to that alley, but he takes a step closer to me.
“Elora…”
“I seriously can’t talk now,” I say.
His eyes narrow. “Why?”
I bite my lip.
He lifts a brow and gestures to the alley on the other side of the building, away from the one I need to go to. I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to talk to him right now, but I suspect he’s not going to leave this thing alone until we talk, so I nod.
We go there separately, trying not to look like we’re going to the same place. People stop both of us as we make our way there, and we’re both the picture of the perfect Gold Keepers. When he slips into the shadows, I wait a few minutes before following after him.
When we get there, he pulls me behind a dumpster. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I say, avoiding his gaze.
He doesn’t touch me, but with the intensity of his gaze he might as well have. “Tell me.”
I sigh. “You’re not going to like it.”
“Ferone?” he asks angrily.
I shake my head.
“Then what?”
Letting out a slow breath, I say, “I’m breaking into the science center today. There’s something about this place that’s connected to my mother’s death. This will be my only chance to go in before people start working in it, so I’m going to steal a key card from one of the scientists, meet Veric in the alley on the other side, and explore the building.”
His brows have lifted so high that they’ve disappeared into his hair. “Why Veric?”
“His dad died in this building too, and he suspects the fire wasn’t an accident either. He’s going to help me.”
He’s quiet for so long that I think he might not say anything when he says, “Okay, let’s go. If we’re going to do this, we should do it when it’s crowded and busy, so Security won’t notice us sneaking around. The later it gets, the more the crowd will disperse.”
I stare at him in confusion. “Wait, you want to go with me?”
He smiles at me. “There’s a new rule. We’re a team. Here or Neverwood, it doesn’t matter.”
“Seriously?”
He glances at my stomach like he really wants to touch me, but he doesn’t. “We’re a family.” That’s all he says, but the words sound important. Powerful.
I step away from him, feeling uncertain. He’d treated me like crap. He’d said awful things. I couldn’t just pretend none of that happened, no matter how much I wanted to, but I also needed to pick my battles.
“It’s okay,” he says softly. “I know it’ll take time to fix things between us. Let’s just focus on your goal for tonight.”
We separately slip back into the crowd. I make my way to where the scientists are standing near the stage. These ten men and two women will be in charge of whatever they’ll be doing in this building. I scan all of them, then see one man with his key card clipped to the pocket of his lab coat. The man who’s currently running this science center, so his key should open everything.
Bingo!
Making my way to him, I plaster on my best smile. “Dr. Masters!”
The man is maybe ten years older than me, but he already has a bit of a combover. His glasses are far too large for his face. He’s wearing a checkered shirt and yellow pants beneath his lab coat, and he swings his body toward me as I stride up to him.
Instantly, his cheeks heat. “Elora Walker, to what do I owe the honor?”
I keep that smile pasted on. “I just wanted to say how excited I am for the new science building to open.”
“Oh?” he asks, but there’s something strange in his voice. He looks away from me and at the ground.
Trying not to be thrown off by his strange reaction, I say, “Yes, I just think what you scientists do is so important to the community. I’m not sure what your specialty is exactly, but I’m sure you’ll be in there saving lives and making Paradise Falls all the better.”
His gaze remains locked on the ground. “Yes, of course.” He swallows so hard that it’s visible.
Now or never. I cross the distance between us and pull him into a hug. His whole body stiffens, and I slip my hand into his lab coat pocket, unclip the key card, and shove it into my own pocket. “I just can never thank you enough for what you’re doing for my people.”
I pull away from him, smiling broadly.
He finally looks at me with dark eyes full of confusion. “You’re completely different than I thought you were.”
What a weird thing to say. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
He looks embarrassed, almost guilty too. “It’s a good thing. I guess. Or maybe not. I don’t know.”
I tell him goodbye, trying not to think about the weird interaction. Then, I slowly, subtly make my way through the crowd and toward the alley on the opposite side of the building. It takes time to find that middle ground between responding to people and doing my best to slip unnoticed by as many people as possible. But I finally reach the shadows of the alley.
I creep to the other end, barely able to see through the shadows, and flinch when someone comes up running behind me. I whirl around, and my heartbeat instantly starts to return to normal when I see Callum. I press my finger to my lips, and he nods. We continue forward until we see movement, then both creep a little forward, wondering if it’s Veric.
Instead, we find Serrill and Teth… kissing . Serrill is pressed up against the door that leads into the science building, and Teth has him trapped against it. Suddenly, Serrill’s eyes flash open. He spots us, and then he shoves Teth away. Teth spins around, fists balled, a look of terror on his face, before he sees us.
“It’s okay,” I say, because I don’t know what else to say.
In response, Teth takes off running. Serrill gives me an uncertain look, then runs after Teth. I glance back at Callum, and his mouth is hanging open. It’s so comical I almost want to laugh, but I don’t. Maybe because some part of me suspected that something about their relationship was different than a friendship.
This is a serious thing though. If anyone found out, Teth and Serrill would disappear. Callum knows that. He won’t say a word, even if he is shocked right now. So, I can be grateful at least that we were the two people who caught them.
We creep over to the door leading into the science building and wait in the shadows. Minutes tick by. I start to wonder if we should go in instead of waiting for Veric, but then he seems to meld out of the shadows, appearing in front of me.
I don’t have to tell him to be quiet, because he’s always quiet.
Looking at the keypad with the little red light, I take a breath and press the key card to it. It instantly turns green, and the door pops open. The three of us enter as quietly as humanly possible, then shut the door silently behind us. I gesture with my hands to check all the doors on this floor, and we get started.
The first thing that stands out is the fact that everything is made of goldarium. It’s not that everything looks different, I can actually feel it. I can feel the substance in every surface, the strength behind each thing. It’s bizarre when I think about it, wasting goldarium like this. What could possibly be the benefit of this?
It’s absolutely wasteful. I wonder how many trips our fathers had to take to make this building. How many times they had to risk their lives. It’s disgraceful.
Using the key, we get in one door after another, finding one identical office after another. We search drawers and cabinets, but everything is empty, the occupants not yet moved in. I try starting a computer, but it needs a username and password, so I just shut it down again. Then we head up the stairs to the second floor.
As we come out into it, I can’t help but gasp.
“What the fuck is this?” Callum murmurs.
Veric’s entire body goes rigid beside us.
I take another step in, just staring around. It looks like… a torture chamber. I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s a huge lab with tables with straps on them, and machines next to the tables. All along the back wall are cages made out of pure goldarium that look to be made for huge animals. Needles, scalpels, and horrifying instruments I can’t even name are on the trays.
As I continue to walk through the tables, I see the other side of the lab. There are… huge test tubes on tables, large enough to fit medium-sized pigs in them, filled with blue liquid. Beneath them are controls that seem to change whatever liquid is in the tubes.
“What is this?” I ask both of them.
Veric shakes his head, looking horrified.
Callum’s mouth draws into a hard line. “Is it possible it’s for creatures from Neverwood?”
My stomach drops, and I have to take several deep breaths to keep from hurling. Damn my sensitive stomach! This baby won’t be happy unless I’m constantly puking.
“There’s an armored room over there,” Callum says, pointing to it.
We head over and swipe the badge. To our shock, it opens. There, in front of us, is the largest ball of goldarium I’ve ever seen. It’s enclosed in a crystal chamber. Lights are pointed at it, and as the goldarium springs and moves within the crystal chamber, we all stand in silence.
“Why are the lights going out and the council acting desperate for us to go to Neverwood if they have this goldarium?” I ask, shaking my head.
Callum doesn’t hesitate. “They must be saving it for whatever they’re doing here.”
What are they doing here?
“We should see the third floor,” I say.
We go back in the stairwell and creep up to the third floor. I open the doors, and we all step inside to see… a large nursery. I mean, a huge freaking nursery. There are dozens of bassinets lined up and areas for the babies to play. As we continue through the rooms, we find another large room meant for a whole classroom full of toddlers, and then a room for even older kids.
“I don’t get it,” I say. “One floor for torturing animals. Another for raising kids. What is this place?”
Both men look as confused as I feel.
“We should go,” Callum says.
The thing is, I have more questions than answers. I thought seeing this place would put all the puzzle pieces into place, but instead I just seem to have been thrown a whole box of center pieces. Still, he’s right. We won’t learn anymore just by staring around.
I glance at Veric. “We’ll talk another time?”
He nods his head.
We all head back down the stairs and slip out the side door into the alley. One at a time, we weave back into the crowds of people and go our separate ways. But as I head home, I feel like I’m being haunted by something dark and twisted. Whatever ghost that killed my mother.