Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
My sense of smell is the first thing I become aware of as I slowly drift back to consciousness. Undertones of antiseptic, sorcerer, and hellhound are layered around whatever space I’m in.
And there’s a human here.
My hearing comes back online next. The faint murmur of electronics. Far-off shouts. And unsteady breathing… not mine.
I open my eyes and stare at the blank, perfectly nondescript ceiling.
And memory crashes back.
Lily.
My chest seizes, squeezing so tight, I can’t breathe. Oh fuck, Lily. Tears well up and stream from my eyes, streaking down the sides of my face and into my hair. A sob bursts from me, and I suck in a shaky breath, scrunch my eyes closed, and seize control of myself.
There will be time to mourn later. Now, I need to get out of here.
And make sure Tish and the asshole guard face justice.
Forcing myself to breathe evenly, I open my eyes again and turn my head.
There’s definitely someone else in here, but either they’re too involved in their own trauma to notice I’m awake, or they’re giving me time to process.
Considering that my nose is telling me it’s a human, I vote for option number one.
I’m wrong.
My gaze lands on a young man sitting in a swivel chair about ten feet away.
The chair is literally in the middle of the room—there’s no desk or table anywhere near it.
He’s just sitting there, watching me. He looks nervous, though I could have guessed that by the way his breathing hitches and the change in his scent.
“Hello,” I croak. I cough to clear my throat, automatically lifting my hand to cover my mouth, and realize I’m not tied up anymore.
I’m lying on an exam table, but my hands and feet are unbound.
I sit up slowly, head spinning, and carefully move my legs to dangle over the side, and then my attention is recaptured by the human—hah, when did I start thinking of them that way? —carefully edging his chair back.
“Uh… hi,” I try again. I don’t know who he is or why he’s here, but I doubt the CCA would have any human members, so chances are, he’s a captive or a victim of some kind. And he definitely looks wary of me.
“Hi,” he finally says. “Do you… want some water?”
I really do, but I’m hesitant to ingest anything a stranger gives me. Especially here and now.
“I can get it. I need to stretch my legs. Uh, where…?” He points toward a sink on the far side of the room. “Thanks.”
Slowly, I ease from the table to the floor, holding on until I’m sure my legs will hold me. My feet are sore. In fact, all of me is sore. Including my balls. Fuck, what did they do while I was unconscious?
Pushing the thought aside, I make my way carefully across the room to the sink.
There’s a cup dispenser on the wall, and I pull a plastic cup from it—these people clearly don’t care a lot about the environment, which is dumb considering how long-lived they are—and fill it with water.
Sipping slowly, I turn around and lean against the sink, watching the human.
He’s standing next to the chair now, fidgeting nervously.
I finish the water and put the cup down. “I’m Sam,” I begin, and he jumps.
“Noah,” he offers.
Nodding, I wonder what to say next. I can still hear shouting, and I strongly suspect that’s a good sign for me, but I won’t know for sure unless I check it out. Is Noah going to try to stop me? Is he supposed to be a guard of some sort? Shouldn’t a guard have a weapon?
“What are you doing here, Noah?”
He fidgets a bit more, looking away and then back. “I-I can’t get out.”
I blink. What does he— Is there some kind of biosecurity lock on the door? He’s a prisoner too? I look toward the door, but it doesn’t appear to have any kind of lock at all.
He follows my gaze, then shakes his head. “No, I mean the main entrance. There are always guards there, and I can’t work out how to get past them.”
Well, that makes sense. Except… “Who are you, and why are you here at all ?”
He flushes. “I-I… They were doing tests on me and some others. I don’t understand it. I got home from school one day and my parents were packing and these guys were there. They took me, and I woke up here.”
“And they did tests on you.”
He nods. “My doctor is here. They did a lot of tests, then they’d make us run on treadmills and smell stuff and all sorts of weird shit.
Then one day, the lab assistant came to the dorm room and started giving us these injections.
Normally they were really picky about stuff like that—only in the lab, and only when we were strapped to tables—but he just came in and told us to roll up our sleeves and started injecting.
He did my three roommates and was about to do me when someone screamed in the hallway, and he and the guard went to look just as one of my roommates collapsed.
The other two went down like a second later, and I freaked, because that wasn’t normally the way shit happened, so I just collapsed too. ”
Wait. “You faked… unconsciousness?” I’m pretty sure I know where this story is going, but I don’t want to guess wrong and potentially freak him out.
He nods. “That’s what I thought I was doing, but it turns out I was pretending to be dead, because they were dead.” His voice trembles slightly on the last word.
“And the lab assistant didn’t suspect anything? He only injected three, but the fourth magically died as well?”
Noah shrugs. “He was always kind of sloppy. The doctors used to tell him off in the lab all the time.”
I shake my head, because I always thought I was fucking lucky after I ran away from home, but this guy is seriously fucking lucky. “And then what?”
He shudders. “They took us to the incinerator. It was pretty close, but they decided to bring everyone down before they started loading us in, so…” He shudders again, and his expression changes. “I snuck away before they got back.”
“And you’ve just been hiding since?” I can hear how incredulous I sound.
“I can’t get out ,” he says, stamping his foot. “This place is huge and it’s only half-full, so as long as I keep alert and move around every few days, they don’t notice me.”
“They don’t smell you?” Belatedly, I realize he might not understand and have a frantic moment of panic, because I don’t want to be the one to explain it, but he’s shaking his head.
“I’ve heard them say the place still stinks of human, but then they just put it down to the air filtration system.” He looks at me warily. “Are you one of them? Because I don’t know any other human who knew about the smelling thing.”
Fuck. “Uh, I’m not one of them, but I’m not human, either.
Although I was. Well, no, I thought I was.
Although I really was, but… it’s complicated.
What you need to know is that this isn’t a humans vs bad guys situation.
It’s a good guys who aren’t all human vs bad guys thing.
” The shouting is getting louder, loud enough that he can probably hear it.
“Do you know what that’s all about?” I wave toward the sound.
“That’s why I’m here. The lab assistant was supposed to keep you under, but when the security alert went out, the guards evacuated her to the panic room before she could give you the next dose.
They were going to bring you too, but she said she’d gotten the samples and if your friends really wanted you and they managed to get this far, they could have you.
” He meets my gaze, the hazel of his darkening.
“She might change her mind later. The doctors don’t like it when their orders aren’t followed exactly.
But I figured this was the best place for me to be. ”
My heart leapt when he mentioned my “friends.” Finally.
“If I get out of here, you’re coming with me,” I promise.
Aside from it being the right thing to do, he probably has a lot of information we can use, considering he’s been wandering around a secret research facility for, what…
a year? “We need to go find them.” I start toward the door.
Noah snorts. “Are you stupid? The guards are still trying to hold them back. If you get anywhere near there, they’ll just use you as a hostage.”
Uh. Yeah. “Good point.”
“We need to wait until the commotion settles, and then I’ll sneak out and find out which side won. If it’s yours, I’ll come get you so your friends don’t kill me on sight. If it’s not, I’ll come get you and we can hide.”
I grin. It feels weird on my face, given the circumstances. “My side will win.” Percy and the existential magic will make sure of that.
Unless… this is the route the magic wants the world to take?
No. In the past, the magic has always sought to keep humans and the community in balance.
This would destroy that balance, so I have to believe that the magic will be on our side.
After all, our side only exists in this struggle because we’re trying to uphold the mandate set by the magic.
If what we’re doing is counter to what it wants, Percy would no longer be the lucifer.
Noah looks doubtful, but right at that moment, the lights go out.
“Fuck,” I hiss. My eyes adjust quickly, thanks to my shifter senses, and I move toward Noah and grab his arm.
He jumps. “It’s just me,” I say softly. “We need to hide, just in case.” I pull him over to the freestanding workstation.
It’s a shitty place to hide, but it’s also the only thing in the room that might work.
He stumbles along behind me and crouches when I tell him to, huddling up against the side of the cabinets.
I concentrate on breathing, taking in scents and filtering them.
When—if—the door opens, I need to know if it’s friend or foe—and hopefully, if it’s foe, they’ll just peer in, assume the room is empty, and move on.
If it was just me, I wouldn’t bet on it, but Noah seems to have some damn good luck on his side.
In the distance, the noise has died down. Is that related to the darkness? Or does it mean someone’s won?
The lights come back on. Noah starts to stand, but I grab him and pull him back down. The yelling hasn’t started again, so I’m guessing that means the fight’s over, and we don’t know who won. I’m confident, but not stupid.
Well, not always.
We crouch there for what feels like forever, until muscles cramp and the anticipation threatens to kill me. So… maybe ten minutes? And then I hear a sound that makes my heart sing.
“Sam!”
It’s faint, shouted from some distance away and muffled by at least one door, but my name is distinct—as is the voice that yells it.
There’s rhythmic crashing sounds followed by yells of “Clear!” and I realize they’re checking rooms, looking for me… and probably any leftover bad guys.
“Sam!”
I stand, pulling Noah up with me. “Come on,” I announce. “It’s safe now. Just don’t move too suddenly until they know it’s us.” Accidents happen, after all.
“Are you sure?” he asks doubtfully, then jerks to stare at the door.
“Sam!”
They’re close enough now for Noah to hear. “I’m sure.” We cross the room to the door, but I hesitate. I really don’t want to get accidentally hit by a weave or bullet because I startled someone.
“Gideon?” I yell.
All movement outside stops.
“Sam?” Gideon’s tone changes. “Sam!”
“I’m coming out. Don’t shoot me or anything!
” I grasp the doorknob as rhythmic footsteps pound down the corridor, and when we step outside the lab, I see Gideon running toward me, followed by armed enforcers.
I take off in his direction, although as sore as I am, it’s more like a limping stagger than a run.
That doesn’t make it any less sweet when we collide and he snatches me into a hug so hard, I actually squeak.
“Are you okay?” My face is buried in his neck and he’s murmuring directly into my ear. I nod, then make myself pull back just enough to answer.
“Yeah. They, uh, took some samples and knocked me out, but…” I trail off, and tears fill my eyes. “Lily.”
He squeezes his eyes shut and clenches his jaw. “We know. We… We know.” He opens his eyes and lets me go but keeps me close with one arm, raising the other to rub his face. “Percy… He and Lily have known each other for a long time. And the magic gives him some abilities nobody else has.”
Fuck. Poor Percy. “Is he okay?”
Gideon shakes his head and smiles sadly. “Not really. I think he’ll feel a bit better when he sees you, though.”
“Sir?”
Gideon looks over my shoulder, and I turn around in the circle of his arm. One of the enforcers is standing there, Noah firmly in his grip.
“Oh, hey, let him go,” I say immediately.
“He’s human.” I feel like an idiot as soon as the words are out of my mouth, and the look the enforcer gives me tells me he thinks I’m one.
He’s an incubus, and I’m not entirely clear on how they can tell the difference between species, but I know they can.
“I mean, he’s on our side.” I hope. Unless this is a really intricate plan to get a spy into…
what? He’s a human kid. We’re not going to give him high-level access to all our secrets.
Gideon’s arm tightens around me. I’m so fucking glad he’s here. “Who is he?”
“He’s—”
“Able to speak for himself, thank you,” Noah snaps, yanking at the enforcer’s grip. He’ll never get free, but I’m sure it makes him feel better to try. “I’m Noah Cage.”
“This is Gideon Bailey,” I say, trying to smooth things along. “Uh, Gideon, Noah was brought here and tested upon a while back. He’s been trying to get out ever since. It’s actually quite a story, but I think maybe he’s only going to want to tell it once.”
“Yeah, but before that,” Noah cuts in, “did you know about the panic room? Because there should be a lot of people in there right now.”
I twist around to look up at Gideon. His face is grim, and my stomach sinks.
“We found the panic room and cleared it,” he says. “But several of the higher-level researchers escaped down an exit tunnel.”
I don’t even bother to ask, because I know Tish was one of them. “Why didn’t they all escape?”
“There was only one vehicle hidden at the end. Some of the others took their chances in the woods, but we’ll find them. The rest figured they had a better chance if they stayed put.”
“So it’s not over.” I just want to crawl into bed and hide.
“It is for now. Come on. The others will want to see you, and there’s a lot to talk about.”