Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
SLOAN
“You’re better than all right,” Sloan heard Edison talking through the door before she entered the room. “You’re in perfect health.”
“I don’t feel like I’m in perfect health.” Aareth’s voice also came through the cellar door. “What’s happening to me?”
“Come on now, it should be obvious to you at this point.”
“Yeah, well, not everyone is as smart as you are, Edison. Explain it to me like I’m a child.”
Sloan wanted to know more about what was going on, but she knew eavesdropping wasn’t the way to go about it. She raised her right hand to knock on the door. At that exact moment, her stomach let out a loud rumble that actually felt like it vibrated through her intestines.
“Someone’s at the door.” Aareth sniffed so loudly, Sloan could hear him on the other side of the barrier. “It’s Sloan. Come in.”
Sloan reached for the cold, iron handle of the door. It met her grip like a firm handshake. When Sloan pushed the door open, she wasn’t sure what she expected to see, but it wasn’t the sight that met her eyes.
The estate’s underground cellar was one massive room filled with weapons of every make and model, from bladed weapons like sabers and axes, to more conventional tools of death like rifles and pistols.
“I know, right?” Edison looked over at Sloan from a table were Aareth sat. “It seems our guest is quite the doomsday prepper.”
Sloan couldn’t believe her eyes, not only at the amount of weapons filling the walls and standing in racks around the room, but also deeper in the massive storehouse. Things like food and water were stocked atop wooden pallets.
“Someone has a hoarding problem.” Sloan finally released her gaze on the room and looked at what Edison and Aareth were doing. “Lucky for us she’s hoarding exactly what we need.”
Aareth nodded along with Sloan’s words.
“Agreed.” Edison moved away from the table to allow Aareth to jump off. “I’m assuming you would also like to hear what’s going on with Aareth and his new … condition.”
“You can call it what is, Edison.” Aareth looked over at Sloan, then back to the inventor. “It’s a curse.”
“Scientifically speaking, there’s no such thing as curses.” Edison raised a finger and lightly tapped Aareth on the nose. “I don’t know why I just did that. I’m sorry, I’m really tired.”
Sloan took a closer look at the two men. While she was sleeping, it was clear they had been hard at work trying to uncover exactly what was going on with Aareth.
Edison was wearing a pair of black slacks with black shoes and a white button-up shirt.
Bags hung under his tired eyes. Aareth didn’t look much better; fatigue was clear on his face.
An improvement had been made on his wardrobe, though.
It seemed somewhere along the way he had managed to find clothes that actually fit his large frame.
He wore boots with dark jeans and a black shirt.
“Hey, where’s Elwood?” Sloan asked, realizing what was wrong with the scene. “I don’t think I’ve seen you two apart. Well, besides when you were in jail and he was scarfing down Kimberly’s cereal.”
“Oh, right.” Elwood slid a box out from underneath one of the tables. A slumbering Elwood was curled up with a blanket, the thumb of his left hand plopped in his puckered lips. “The little guy’s tuckered out. Too much excitement for him. Awww … he’s so cute.”
Sloan had to admit that Edison was right. Despite her insistence that babies and gnomes were just things, Elwood did seem rather cute in his content, peaceful state.
“Uh, so anyway…” Aareth gently slid Elwood and his box back under the table with the toe of his boot. “You were about to tell me what all this testing has given us.”
“Right.” Edison moved to a microscope where a sheath of glass held a drop of Aareth’s blood.
“As far as I can tell, the genetically mutated wolf changed your very DNA. We’re just lucky that he didn’t bite anyone else.
It seems the full moon triggered some kind of reaction in your biology, letting the wolf-creature take over your body.
I don’t want to say that there is no cure, but if the wolf lives inside you and you inside it, then you should be able to control it. ”
“Easier said than done.” Aareth leaned against the table, looking down at his boots.
“When I was in the wolf state, I tried getting out and it wouldn’t let me.
To be completely honest, there were times when I even liked it.
I was stronger and faster than I had ever been.
When I was fighting those New Hope soldiers, a few of them even managed to shoot me.
I don’t think my hide is unbreakable, but those bullets glanced right off. ”
“Maybe it’s nothing to do with science or magic at this point.” Sloan crossed her arms, studying Aareth. “Maybe it’s psychological now.”
“What do you mean?” Aareth looked up with a puzzled expression.
“I mean, if this wolf is part of you now, maybe you need to reconcile with it instead of trying to fight it.”
Aareth rolled his eyes. “You don’t know what it’s like.”
“I might have a better idea than you think.” Sloan shook her head, remembering her dream. “Something’s happening to both of us, and while it’s not exactly the same, it is similar.”
“You’re right.” Aareth scratched his black hair. “I forgot, you’re going through all of these changes, too. I never did thank you for saving me from the queen’s soldiers when I was in that cage.”
“You’re welcome.” Sloan thought back to the night that seemed so long ago. “I’m glad we got out, and I’m glad you were reunited with your wife.”
“My wife,” Aareth said, a sad smile crossing his lips.
“She’ll remember,” Edison put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I’ll take a look into her condition to see if I can decipher what was done to her. Brenda’s still in there.”
“I hope so.” Aareth took a step toward the door. “I’m not going to give up on her. We have to figure out what our plan is now. Maybe some time away from all of this madness will be good for her.”
Sloan had to make sure she had heard Aareth’s words correctly.
Was he planning on going away with Brenda?
Sloan made sure her feelings at his leaving were ones void of any intimacy, and they were.
She had thought he would be with them to see this journey with the queen through to the end.
She never assumed he would up and leave.
“You’re planning on leaving?” Sloan looked up at Aareth as he passed her on the way to the cellar door.
“Yeah, I have no reason to stay now. I’m done.
The mystery of the Burrow Den beast is solved.
We were used like puppets for that psychotic queen, and where I would like nothing more than to take a bite out of her and give her a taste of her own medicine, I have to think about my wife.
” Aareth took a deep breath before he continued.
“Listen, Sloan, I know she made us all feel like fools. It couldn’t have been easy for you, either.
I know how long you were in her army and how close you two were, but you don’t owe her, or anyone else, anything.
Move on with your life. Get out of this town and run somewhere far away, free from all of this insanity. ”
“What about Jack and Abigail and Elizabeth?” Sloan couldn’t believe the words coming out of Aareth’s mouth. “What about Oliver’s sacrifice? What about all of these people in Term? You know the queen will retaliate as soon as she gets word of what happened. She’s hunting you as much as anyone else.”
“I don’t owe any of these people anything,” Aareth growled. “I’m sure Jack and the girls are fine.”
The tension in the room was beginning to build. Sloan knew she should try to diffuse the situation, but she had to speak her mind or else she’d regret it.
“Maybe I should give you two a minute to talk this out.” Edison raised his hands in sign of peace.
“No, we’re fine.” Sloan didn’t look at Edison when she spoke, but instead held Aareth’s gaze. “This won’t take long.”
“You’re not my captain anymore.” Aareth glared at Sloan. “Your no one’s captain. I’m free to live my own life.”
“You mean you’re free to run and hide like you’ve been doing for the last five years.
” Sloan crossed her arms to hide the anger she felt in her trembling fists.
“I know where Edison found you. You were drowning yourself in a bottle of whisky while you were on vacation from all of your mercenary jobs in the Outland.”
“Really.” Edison reached down to pick up a wide-awake Elwood. “I should stay out of this. You two need your privacy?—”
“We’re fine.” Aareth raised a finger to Edison. “What the captain is failing to realize is that we’re not all as high and mighty as she is. We’re not all so eager to spend the rest of our lives fighting a war against an empire that can’t be won.”
“It won’t be won if cowards like you keep running in the opposite direction.” Sloan clenched her fists and rested them by her sides.
“Wow.” Edison visibly gulped. “So let’s just sit down and talk this out. I think you two are going a bit overboard here. We should?—”
“WE’RE FINE!” both Sloan and Aareth shouted.
“You can call me a coward all you want”—Aareth took a step forward, baring his teeth—“but I’m not the one with survivor’s guilt because someone I knew took a bullet. You’re just emotional because the guy who wanted to be your boyfriend died.”
Red crossed Sloan’s vision, heat from the anger raging inside, reaching a boiling point. In one fluid motion, she reached out with her right fist and struck Aareth across the jaw so hard he stumbled backwards into a rack of swords. With a giant clang, he fell into a mass of piled weapons.
“Watch your mouth when you talk about the dead.” Sloan stalked forward, ready to continue the fight. “He died a hero.”
“Well, not all of us are so eager to die as heroes.” Aareth jumped to his feet. His mouth was bleeding, but it didn’t seem to faze him. Without another word, he rushed Sloan, diving through the air, tackling her to the ground.
Sloan hit a table on the way down to the floor, cracking the piece of furniture in half. Splinters flew as the two struck the cement ground. All of the air was forced out of Sloan’s lungs. Ignoring the feeling, she twisted to land on top of Aareth and started to rain down blows.
“Stop, you two!” Edison was yelling from somewhere behind them. “You’re friends. The real enemy is the queen.”
His shouts were lost on Sloan as she lifted a snarling Aareth off the ground by his neck and threw him against a rack of brown rifles on the opposite wall.
Aareth practically bounced off the wall, already running at her again. What followed was a fury of blows as both of them struck one another in the face and torso. Sloan was aware of the bruises sure to be present the next day, but in the moment she didn’t care.
The two warriors locked arms again. This time Aareth twisted her arm behind her back.
Sloan slipped free, grabbed both his shoulders with her hands, placed her feet together in the center of his chest, and kicked out hard.
The impact was so strong, it sent both of the combatants flying in opposite directions.
Aareth slammed against the ground. Sloan crashed against a wall that held an assortment of shields.
“Bebebasdasdasdsa!” Elwood ran to stand between Sloan and Aareth, his arms out to either side of his stocky torso. “Shiggedigydo!”
Sloan touched her temple where blood trickled down. She looked over at Aareth, whose face was still intact despite her best efforts. The blood that came from his mouth was the only real evidence he had taken blows.
“Yeah, what Elwood said.” Aareth wiped his mouth with the back of his left hand and walked out of the room.