Chapter 51
FIFTY-ONE
SLOAN
“This is not just all right.” Edison stood back, staring at the Azra lab that had been provided for him. “This is amazing!”
Sloan and Aareth walked in behind Edison and Elwood. The building they entered sat right next to Azra’s capitol building. Located on the hill, it also commanded an impressive view of crashing waves on the sandy shores. The left side of the room was practically all open windows to highlight the sea.
Inside, the building was made up of an assortment of rooms with so much testing equipment, Sloan was left to wonder what most of the tools actually did. Edison, on the other hand, seemed like a child at a chocolate factory. Elwood seemed just as excited, and chattered away in his gnomish tongue.
“Yes, yes, Elwood, I see it.” Edison went over to pick up what looked like a giant thermometer. “The craftsmanship is exquisite. I’ve never seen one so large.”
“Is that in case we run a fever?” Aareth went over to examine the tool his friend held. “You’d have to open up pretty wide to get that thing in.”
“Oh, no. I mean, it is for taking someone’s temperature, but”—Edison pointed it toward Aareth’s bottom—“it goes in through the other end.”
“Edison…” Aareth’s face went a shade darker. His voice deepened. “I don’t ever want you coming near me with that thing. Even if I’m dying, just let me die. I swear, if you stick that thermometer in my?—”
“Good morning, everyone.” Theo walked through the door, accompanied by Croft and Sasha, his bulky frame magnified by the slenderness of the two women beside him.
“I don’t want to stay long and interrupt the process, but I just wanted to thank both of you for your willingness to help.
I know a lot of thought went into the decision. ”
“As long as we take down the queen.” Aareth folded his arms over his chest. “That’s all I’m worried about.”
“Of course.” Theo waved his arm in Sasha’s direction. “Sasha is on her way back to New Hope. She wanted to ask you something before she left.”
“I wanted to know if you have anything to take back to Jack or Abigail?” Sasha produced pen and paper from the folds of her cloak.
She looked expectantly at Sloan as if she were going to say something profound.
“I could also take back any message you have for the soldiers still in the queen’s army, those who are on our side. ”
“Tell them all to be safe.” Sloan found herself at a loss for something more inspiring to say. “Tell the soldiers to get out of the city as soon as they feel like their position is compromised. Tell Jack and Abigail to train hard and that we’ll see them soon.”
Sasha wrote furiously on her pad.
“Tell them we’re with them.” Aareth scratched at the underside of his jaw. “We might be miles apart, but we’re all fighting the same battle.”
Sasha nodded. She turned to the last members of their party. “Are you all right?”
Everyone turned to see what she was talking about. Edison had the stupidest grin on his face, staring at Sasha with the same look he had given the Azra lab when he had first walked in.
Elwood kicked him hard in the shin.
“What?” Edison snapped out of his trance, blinking his eyes like he was waking up from some kind of trance. “Oh, right, yes. Tell them I think you’re beautiful. What? No. I mean, I’m beautiful. Tell them I think they’re beautiful.”
Sasha raised an eyebrow.
“You’ll have to excuse my friend.” Aareth coughed into his hand, trying to hide a smile. “He’s still learning how to interact with people.”
“If we can move on from the childish antics”—Croft rolled her eyes as she pushed past Theo—“there’s a mountain of work to be done, and we have very little time.”
“Right. We’ll leave you to it, then.” Theo ushered Sasha out the door. His bulky frame followed behind the spy.
“So, where do we start?” Aareth looked around the wide-open room, his eyes gravitating to the giant thermometer.
“We start at the beginning.” Croft wasn’t even looking at them. She had found a notebook and pen on one of the many tables in the room. “Edison, I need to know everything you do about the Vampire Project. Don’t leave out a single detail.”
“I feel like I’ve been defiled and used.” Aareth and Sloan exited the lab building together. The sun was already setting past the ocean’s horizon. “How many times did they poke you?”
“I lost track.” Sloan looked down at her arm where her healing factor had already kicked in and covered the insertion holes from the needle. “I had it easy, though. You’re the one with the impenetrable hide. I don’t know if I could have bitten myself hard enough to draw blood.”
“You would have.” Aareth looked down to the meaty part of his bicep, where a white bandage was taped to his arm. “All for the greater good, right?”
“Let’s hope Edison and Croft can figure something out, and fast,” Aareth said as he and Sloan made their way to the bottom of the hill.
On the way back to their apartment building, they passed rows of white houses with cream roofs, and people walked about, waving or nodding their hellos. Children even laughed and played in the streets.
“Does Croft remind you of anyone?” Aareth looked over to Sloan with a scrunched brow. “I swear I know her from somewhere.”
“Yeah, um … you should probably ask her.” Sloan looked away.
“You know something, don’t you?” Aareth raised a brow, lowering his head to try to catch her gaze. “You can’t even look at me right now.”
“Well, do you want me to lie to you, or do you want me to tell you I do know but that I can’t tell you?” Sloan met his gaze with a stone-cold stare. “It’s not my place. You can ask her tomorrow if you want, when we report for pin cushion duty again.”
“I might be offended, if I didn’t know you’d do the same for me.” Aareth pointed with his chin toward the large apartment building where the refugees from Term were temporarily housed. “It looks like Theo is already making good on his promise.”
Sloan followed Aareth’s gaze to where a group of Azra guards were helping a Term family move from the apartment.
It was nice to see Theo following through on his word and helping to relocate the families of Term to more permanent residences.
The bad taste in her mouth came from wondering if Theo would have done the same if they had refused Croft’s experiments.
There was something off about Theo. What it was, though, escaped Sloan. But she knew she had to figure it out before it was too late.