Chapter 103
NICO
For the next couple of days, Maddy spent every moment, night and day, next to Gabriella.
She couldn’t pull herself away. She took her food and drinks, extra pillows, and blankets.
Gabriella kept trying to tell her she was fine, but Maddy wouldn’t hear of it.
It was like a mother with a sick child. The roles had been reversed.
Maddy’s parents were also a constant presence at Gabriella’s side.
It seemed like they were doing their best to forget all the lies Gabriella had told in the past. They helped make food for the recovering woman and even went into town for a few things Maddy said that Gabriella needed.
They were some of the only people in the pack lands who could venture into town.
Anti-shifter sentiment had fully permeated Clearidge, and we were not welcome in any stores or businesses.
I was sure Maddy’s parents had a lot they wanted to talk about with her and Gabriella both.
It was good that they were keeping that on the back burner, though.
Gabriella had been through a lot. So had Maddy.
It said a lot about them that they were able to suppress all the questions they had and help their daughter and the woman who’d carried her in her womb.
I was still a little worried about what might happen if Maddy accidentally started calling Gabriella ‘Mom.’ There was no sign of something like that happening, but I could see that she and her birth mother were growing closer as she recovered.
It was probably a silly thing to be worried about, but it was a nagging fear.
I didn’t think I could handle family drama along with everything else going on.
“Nico, can you make some coffee? I’m going to change those sheets on the futon for Gabriella,” Maddy said.
It was the afternoon of the second day since Sinthy had managed to bring Gabriella’s mind and wolf back. “Sure. What does she like in it?”
Maddy gave me a guilty look and shrugged. “No idea. I can ask.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll give her the whole butler treatment. A selection of sweeteners and cream and stuff.”
“You’re the best. Thanks.”
I was in the kitchen watching a pot of coffee brew when my phone chirped that I had a text. It was from Donatello.
Bait has been laid.
I stared at the screen for several seconds.
What the hell did that mean? What bait? A moment later, a second text came through.
This one didn’t have any messages. Instead, it was a link to a website.
My finger hovered over the screen for a second, unsure of what I was about to see.
Finally, hitting the link took me to a social media page.
It was a video, but not of shifters or royals or anything like that.
Instead, it was a beautiful woman who looked somewhat familiar.
It took a second for me to realize who I was looking at.
Her name was Reese Lloyd. She was probably one of the top five most famous actresses in the world.
She was a well-known shifter’s rights activist. I vaguely recalled that she was married to a shifter who worked in the film industry.
I could see the likes and shares for the video growing even as I watched.
I clicked the volume buttons on the side of my phone to hear what she was saying.
“...the government isn’t telling us everything.
This is inhumane and unwarranted. My heart is breaking for those who have been killed and injured in these attacks but locking up an entire population is not the way to go about this.
Have we really forgotten how awful it was when we forced Japanese Americans into concentration camps during World War Two?
This is the same thing. A knee-jerk reaction to an existential fear. ”
She held up a finger to make her next point.
“Also, isn’t it strange that we can’t find any research or viral information on this so-called disease?
They keep saying the shifters will be tested at the collection facilities.
Tested for what? When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, we had reams and reams of reports, we had the virus isolated for study, and we could even find microscopic images of the virus online.
Now? Nothing. We still don’t even know if this is a virus.
How can the entire world, with all the money being pumped into this, not have found anything yet?
If we don’t know what’s causing this, then what the hell are they supposed to be testing for?
This all seems a little strange. I’m not saying there’s a conspiracy, but we do need to ask questions.
Before we lock up millions of women, children, and men, we need to ask questions.
We, the people, demand to know what the government knows.
If they are so concerned with our safety, then they should tell us what they are hiding. ”
“Holy shit,” I muttered.
I did a quick search for Reese Lloyd. Her post was blowing up all over the internet.
It had already been shared thousands of times.
The coffee sat on the counter, going cold, as I scanned through more and more posts of people coming out in support of the shifter cause.
Lots of people were starting to question what was going on.
Many were coming to the same conclusion we’d already known.
Everything seemed a little too strange, and people wanted answers.
“Hey, space case? Did you forget the coffee?” Maddy asked.
I jerked my head up from my phone. “Look at this. I think Donatello started it somehow.”
I showed her the first video and then all the subsequent posts and articles. Maddy’s eyes widened in surprise as she watched it all going down. “This is getting huge. How did he do it?”
Before I could answer her, another text from Donatello came through.
Give it 24 hours. Watch the news tomorrow.
“What does he mean by that?” Maddy asked.
“No clue, but I’m gonna trust him. He hasn’t failed us yet. We’ll just have to wait and see. Let me get that coffee.”
Maddy and I took it down to Gabriella. When we walked in with the tray of coffee, multiple sugars, cream, milk, and vanilla syrup, she shook her head at us.
“Maddy, please. This is too much. I’m fine.
Really. You have to stop treating me like I’m on my deathbed or something.
I appreciate it, but you’re running yourself to death.
Sit down with me.” She patted the futon.
Maddy’s cheeks went red. “Sorry. I was trying to take care of you. I still feel like everything that’s happened is all my fault.”
Maddy still struggled to deal with the fact that everything was not her fault. I wondered if she’d ever stop believing it. It had to be weighing on her.
Gabriella waved her off. “Don’t apologize for caring. But please, stop killing yourself to take care of me.”
One thing had been gnawing at my mind since we’d gotten Gabriella back. A question that I needed answered. The more information we had, the better. Now that she was safe and seemed to be back to herself, I felt like the time was right to ask the question.
I poured her a cup of coffee and sat down with them. “Gabriella? Can you tell us what happened after we opened the vault beneath the castle?”
She sighed and sipped at her drink. “It was bad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so furious in my life.
Viola shed that perfect little posh exterior she maintains.
She was raging around the facility, screaming at me, her staff, and herself.
It was honestly a little frightening. She was yelling that she hoped Edemas was burning in hell where he belonged.
“This was not only after you all escaped but after she checked the camera footage and saw that there was no vial in the vault. She saw you pull out the scroll, but that was all. That set her off like nothing else. Knowing that Edemas had tricked them for centuries. I thought she was going to have a stroke, but we weren’t that lucky. ”
“What happened afterward?” I asked. “After she calmed down.”
Gabriella nodded. “It took some time, but she eventually got her team to extract Maddy’s blood from the mechanism in the vault.
She’d planned to use Edemas’s blood to do something, but without it, she and her scientists decided Maddy’s would be the next best thing.
I only know all this because she loves to hear her own voice and gloat.
She’d come into my cell and tell me all these awful things she had planned.
That bitch wanted me to suffer, knowing I couldn’t do anything to help. ”
“That’s how they figured out the blood could be made into a poison,” Maddy said, making it more of a statement than a question.
“Right. I was… the first shifter she tested it on. You can’t imagine how terrifying it is to not be able to control your body.
My wolf was so frightened and confused. It made it hard for either of us to think or make decisions.
Like there was a fog over our minds.” She shook her head like she was trying to get the thought out of her head.
“I’ve seen some of the footage of the attacks.
Those shifters aren’t in their right minds.
Viola wants the world to think that’s what we’re like whenever we shift.
But it isn’t. The drug doesn’t only force us to change—it also clouds our thoughts and puts us into a panic.
When they injected me, I thought everyone I saw wanted to kill me.
It was horrible. They can’t help themselves.
It’s absolutely awful.” She put a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes.
The videos online and on the news were like watching a horror movie. Viola had more to answer for than simply what she’d done to us personally. Every one of those deaths could be traced back to her and her organization.
“How did you manage to change back, though?” I asked. “As far as we can tell, you’re the only one who has been able to.”