Chapter 27 #2
“You use something or someone with magic to find other people who have magic?” Levi asked. Since we already knew about the amulet, I figured he was fishing for more information.
“Exactly,” Tammy beamed at him like he was a star pupil.
“But why would they betray their own kind?” I asked, pretending like I didn’t know what had really happened.
“It isn’t a person,” Tammy said. “Our organization is very old. Ancient even. And our founders discovered a rare artifact that reveals magic to us. It glows in a monster’s presence. Different colors signify different types of monsters.”
“So, you know magic is real?” Fin’s voice broke as he asked his question. “You’ve seen magic?”
“The artifact is infallible,” Tammy confirmed eagerly.
“I’ve advocated for taking the artifact into the world to expose the truth.
People need to see the monsters to know how much danger they’re in.
But our leaders say it’s precious and must be protected.
That’s why we hold our meetings here, in a controlled setting.
For now, at least. Change is coming, though. Soon.”
Jesus. All she was missing was the evil cackle at the end of that endearing speech.
And her precious artifact wasn’t as infallible as she thought! It had misidentified Levi. But obviously, she didn’t need to know that. Thank God, though, that she hadn’t brought that thing to Willow Lake. It would have lit up like the goddamn sun.
Fin was squeezing my arm so tightly he was cutting off my circulation. Levi, on my other side, was almost the picture of calm. Only his flared nostrils betrayed him.
Another of the supernatural students was fighting for freedom now, drawing Tammy’s attention from us. None of them had shifted yet, though.
I bit my tongue and prayed that everyone would calm the hell down. As soon as that thought flitted across my mind, one of the women shimmered.
Damn it.
“There it goes,” Tammy said. “Watch now.”
Like a domino effect, once the one student shifted, the two other shifters followed. Now, where there had been three students, there were a bear, a wolf, and… wait, where was the last student?
“A mouse? How is that possible?” Tammy shouted, outraged. “Catch her!”
“Oh God… I can’t not do anything,” Fin mumbled close to my ear. “But please don’t question what happens next, okay? Just get ready to move.”
Something creaked overhead. What the hell was that?
I didn’t want to look away from the fighting on the other side of the room.
The bear had swatted the gun out of the masked asshole’s hand and things were getting chaotic over there.
People were screaming. More guns were being drawn.
My hand itched for my own gun, but would that just draw attention to us?
The creaking turned into groaning.
One of the many pipes crossing the ceiling above us started dripping. A thin crack snaked along the pipe. Uh oh. The crack grew longer and wider. The dripping increased.
More water shot from the crack. More screams. But this time, they were shouts of surprise as people ran to escape the water.
A boom blasted through the concrete room like a gunshot.
Whoosh.
Screw it. I kneeled and grabbed my gun from my ankle holster. It wasn’t until I had my gun in my hand that I realized it wasn’t a gunshot I’d heard. The pipe had exploded, and now water was pouring into the room.
The three supes across the room seized the distraction to take down their captors. I still didn’t know where the mouse shifter had gone. I prayed they weren’t about to be trampled or swept away in the rising water.
All around me, people were moving and running. Everything was happening so fast, I couldn’t keep track of it all. I was most concerned about the young supes, but they seemed to be holding their own.
The wolf growled and snapped his teeth at a hunter who tried to kick him. The bear roared and raised her paw at someone who tried to punch her snout. Her claws raked down her aggressor’s arm. Blood sprayed across the walls.
Then the fire mage lifted their hands. I don’t know what she did, but the lights flickered for a few seconds before everything went dark. Completely, utterly black. Son of a bitch.
Now what ?
Sweat dripped into my eyes. Why did I even have them open? I could see exactly fuck all, which maybe wasn’t the worst thing in the world. If I couldn’t see anything, then the hunters couldn’t either. I held my gun pointing down, but I was ready to use it if I had to.
Jesus, though. I’d never shot anyone. Could I do that?
Fin pressed into my side. Levi took my elbow in his hand. And I knew in that moment that yes, for Levi and Fin, I could absolutely, one hundred percent shoot these assholes.
“Supes, come this way,” Levi spoke low. I doubted anyone could hear him over all the screams and hissing water. And if they did, would they trust a stranger?
People bumped into me. I lifted my gun to whack them with the butt, but they felt… um… hairier than the normal human. These were the shifters. I lowered my gun and adjusted my sweaty grip.
“How do we get out of here?” a man asked furtively. I guessed he must have been the wolf shifter. “I don’t want to get trapped in a dead end. And that fucking hood messed up my nose.”
“Are all the supes here?” I asked, thinking Levi might know. His senses were better than mine, but could anyone see anything in this much darkness?
But it wasn’t Levi who answered.
“Everyone’s here,” the same man answered. “Even Christa’s weird mundane boyfriend.”
“Fuck off, Lucas,” another guy muttered.
“Good. Follow me,” Levi said.
“But…” That was the wolf shifter again.
“Follow me,” Levi repeated. “I can get us out. ”
“Uh… Pow? What’s going on?”
“You said not to question what happens next a minute ago,” I said. “Now you have to do the same thing.”
At least until we were out of here.
Levi tightened his grip on my elbow and pulled me forward. I assumed he was going to the door, but I couldn’t see a thing. Where were the emergency lights?
My footsteps sloshed through the deepening water. When Levi stopped, I heard the squeal of hinges that reminded me of the sound the metal door had made when we’d been brought into the room.
So far, so good.
I expected lights in the corridor. There weren’t any.
Funding was always a problem with universities, right?
Maybe they weren’t keeping up with general maintenance because of budget cuts.
I liked that reason better than the idea that the hunters may have sabotaged the lights to complicate our escape.
“Don’t touch anything. Try to make as little noise as possible,” Levi whispered. His words were barely louder than Fin’s panicked breathing.
Levi walked forward. I got the sense Levi wasn’t even touching the walls with his free hand to check where we were or where there were openings to other tunnels.
Although I still couldn’t see anything, in my imagination, we followed him to safety like an obedient line of little ducklings. I really hoped we all made it out, and that we didn’t lose one down some dark and unexpected drain. But if we did, I’d saved ducklings before. I could do it again .
“Hold on a sec,” one of the women whispered as we rounded the first corner.
“What…?” Levi started to ask, but he cut off his question when there was another whooshing sound, but this time it sounded like a blowtorch.
Light flickered over the tunnel wall. I turned to look behind, but Levi was already pulling me forward again.
And finally, our feet were no longer sloshing through water.
That was a good sign. One that I hoped meant that Levi knew where he was going.
Fin was still clinging to me. And behind us, I thought I heard more squeaky footsteps as wet shoes rubbed over the smooth concrete floor. I hoped those were the supes and not the hunters.
Man, I wished I had my phone with me. Having a flashlight, even if it was only the small pinprick of light from my phone, would be amazing about now. Of course, if we had a light, we’d be easier to find in the dark, so it was probably better this way.
I really hoped the assholes who’d brought us here didn’t have night goggles. University students wouldn’t have access to equipment like that, would they?
Levi slowed.
What was happening? What could he sense that I couldn’t? He squeezed my hand gently as if to reassure me. My whole body felt jittery, like I’d had too much coffee.
We waited. One beat. Two beats.
Then Levi was moving again, and I was right at his heel.
Lights flickered on. We were back to where we’d started the night, the place where Tammy had taken people’s phones and insisted that we wear hoods. No one was waiting for us. I glanced at the group Levi had rescued, because there was no other way to describe what’d just happened.
There were eight of us: Levi, Fin, the four young supes, the one woman’s human boyfriend, and me.
We were all drenched. And the young people, even the ones who hadn’t shifted to their human forms yet, had wild looks in their eyes as they scanned the area for threats.
The fire mage was trembling and crying. The shock of what’d happened was setting in.
“Thank God,” Fin whispered behind me. His hand was clammy in mine. Neither of us let go. “We made it.”
As if summoned by Fin’s words, an older man I didn’t recognize ran down the stairs toward us.
He had gray hair at his temples and wrinkles around his eyes.
I knew the university had mature students, but I doubted this guy was one.
Instinct had me dropping Fin’s hand and shoving him behind me.
As soon as I saw the gun in the older man’s hand, I raised my own.
“Stop right there,” I shouted. “Put your gun down.”
The man sneered and adjusted his grip on his gun. His hand was steady. This man wasn’t scared to use his weapon. “You aren’t going anywhere.”