Chapter 29
CALIX
We moved through the stone tunnel, every step measured, while our ears strained for the slightest sound ahead of us.
Water dripped somewhere deep in the cave system. Pebbles shifted beneath our boots. Every now and then, distant echoes bounced through the tunnels, warped enough that I couldn’t tell if they were voices or just the cave playing tricks on us.
My thoughts wouldn’t stop spinning. Who the fuck was that hooded man? Why take Olivia? And that portal?
My jaw clenched hard.
It had to be tied to the distorted fae magic. Portals weren’t supposed to exist on the human plane anymore. Not real ones. Not stable ones. That kind of magic belonged to the land of Faerie.
Question after question kept piling into my skull, but none of them mattered right now. Not really.
The only thing that mattered was finding Olivia and getting her the fuck out of wherever this place was.
A rhythmic thump echoed faintly through the tunnel ahead, and I threw my arm across Rack’s chest.
“Wait.”
He froze beside me.
“Do you hear that?”
Rack lifted one hand, fingers spreading as air twisted invisibly through the tunnel ahead. His eyes unfocused for a second while he pulled the sound closer, then he nodded.
“Yeah.” His voice dropped lower. “About a hundred feet ahead.”
I activated the map on my watch, but the hologram flickered violently underground. Static tore across the screen while the magical signatures struggled to stabilize without proper signal.
“Come on…” I muttered, squinting at the broken image. The flashes were brief, but I could make out a few shapes.
A large chamber ahead. Several moving dots. Six signatures surrounding something in the center.
My eyes narrowed as I counted. Red. Brown. Green. Blue. Then I saw it. A blinking white dot.
I frowned and rubbed at my eyes before looking again. Still white. My stomach dropped.
“Rack.” He leaned closer toward the map and immediately straightened.
“There’s no way.” His voice sharpened as his brows furrowed. “Why would a human be here?”
“I don’t know. And yet…” I tapped the flickering display hard. “The signature isn’t changing.”
A low growl worked up my throat while my brain started connecting pieces I didn’t want connected. Nova’s scientist. The human she’d killed.
The one with magically enhanced eyes who still registered as biologically human despite everything they had done to him.
If distorted fae magic could alter humans without changing their signature... My blood ran cold. Rich humans would kill for something like that. Enhanced strength. Magic. Immortality. Power without fully becoming a supe.
Suddenly, this entire operation smelled a lot less like random chaos and a lot more like a thought-out plan, a strategy.
I shut the map off hard enough my wrist snapped downward.
“Doesn’t matter.”
Rack’s eyes flicked toward me.
“We get Olivia first.” My voice came out rougher now. “I don’t care who I have to tear apart to do it.”
Something vicious unfurled inside my chest. If they hurt her—No. I grabbed Rack’s arm tightly.
“I’m done sneaking.”
That was all the warning I gave him before I launched us forward at vampire speed. The tunnel blurred around us. Stone walls streaked past while rage narrowed my focus into a brutal singular point.
Olivia. That was it. Nothing else mattered.
The chanting stopped the second we burst into the chamber. Drums cut off abruptly. Every hooded figure turned toward us at once.
The man standing in the center slowly lifted both hands, pulling back his hood.
My entire body locked solid. No. No fucking way. My breath caught, the air turning solid in my throat as my eyes roamed the face in front of me.
I knew that face. I’d seen the reports. Seen the pictures. Seen the body. Nova killed him. I remembered standing over the evidence myself, yet there he stood, smiling at me like death itself had spat him back out.
My fingers curled so hard my nails bit into my palms. They trembled violently enough I had to clench my fists tighter to stop it.
“Who are you?”
The question tore out of me before I could stop it. I refused to believe this was him.
The man threw his head back and laughed loudly enough for the sound to bounce through the cavern walls. “Welcome, Calix Winstale!”
His voice boomed unnaturally through the chamber while the six hooded supes around him pivoted toward me in perfect synchronization.
“Have you come to witness the miracle of life?”
Every word shook with manic excitement. His grin stretched too wide while his eyes gleamed feverishly beneath the cave lights.
“While my master wants you dead…” He dramatically pressed one hand against his chest. “I decided genius deserves appreciation.”
His arm swept outward grandly. “From one inventor to another…” He stepped aside, and my heart stopped.
Olivia lay strapped to a stone slab behind him, wrists tugging uselessly against thick restraints at her sides while her chest rose sharply with panicked breaths.
The second her eyes found me, she jerked harder against the bindings. I automatically took one step forward, and the human lazily lifted one finger.
One of the hooded supes beside him waved a hand through the air, and the illusion before us shattered.
Two massive gatling guns sat hidden near the chamber entrance pointed directly at us. Every barrel shimmered with distorted fae magic. The same hungry sheen of colors rippled against the metal like it was waving at me.
“I wouldn’t move if I were you.” The human smiled wider while lovingly resting a hand against one of the weapons. “These beauties are just dying to fire.”
I spread my arms toward the hooded figures surrounding him.
“And when those guns go off?” I tilted my head toward the fae-infused gatling weapons. “What happens when I dodge those and the bullets hit all your loyal little followers instead?”
Several of the hooded supes shifted uneasily at that. One actually glanced nervously toward the guns, but the human barely reacted. He simply shrugged.
The movement was casual. Dismissive. Like we were discussing spoiled groceries instead of lives.
“They understand sacrifice.” His smile became almost fond while he looked over the gathered figures. “Especially for the greater good.”
“Whose greater good?” I said, moving my hands behind my back, catching Rack’s attention. My fingers twitched subtly toward the guns. Move them when I go.
Rack’s eyes flicked downward once, then back to me. A tiny nod. Thank fuck he understood me without words.
“Everyone’s greater good!” the human exclaimed suddenly, his voice climbing higher with excitement. He spread his arms dramatically toward the cavern.
“Supes want to rule; humans want to rule.” His lip curled. “Everyone at each other's throats for power.” His grin sharpened unnaturally.
“But real power?” He tapped his temple. “Creation.”
He began pacing around Olivia’s stone slab while speaking faster and faster, hands wildly slicing through the air.
“Power over creation. Now, that is true power. Absolute power.”
As he moved, I caught a tiny metallic glint near Olivia’s wrist. A knife. My pulse kicked hard.
Her restraints were definitely enchanted against brute force. Standard mage work for supes. But apparently nobody considered simple mechanical solutions like cutting your way free. Good girl.
I forced my face blank again and kept him talking. “And you have power over creation?”
“No, no, no.” He vigorously shook his head while laughing breathlessly. “Not me.” His expression changed, becoming almost reverent now.
“My master.” He pressed a hand against his chest. “The hand of god.” His eyes practically gleamed with worship. “The keeper of the book.” Now, that caught my attention.
The air in the chamber somehow felt colder while he spoke, whispering like he was telling us the biggest secret in the world. “He’s going to reset this world.”
His voice softened almost dreamily. “No gangs. No hierarchy. No powerful feeding on the weak.” He looked upward like he was seeing paradise itself. “Everyone equal… beneath him.”
Then he laughed, but it was too loud, too bright. The kind of laughter that belonged in padded rooms.
“You see,” he continued while pacing again, “the brother whose face you recognize…” He touched his own cheek with fascination. “He liked biology. Flesh. Mutation.”
His grin stretched wider. “But me?” He bowed theatrically. “I prefer enhancement.” So they were brothers, twin brothers.
His hand slid across the barrel of one of the fae weapons. “Improvement. Much like you Mr. Winstale.”
He patted the gun almost affectionately. “Humans do have value,” he said softly. “Even if supes insist we’re lesser creatures.”
Then his eyes snapped toward me sharply. “But my master?” The devotion in his face bordered on terrifying. “He values only loyalty. Absolute loyalty. No matter what you are or what powers you behold. All are equal in his all-powerful eyes.”
He placed a hand against his chest again and looked at me with something almost resembling pity. “Truly, Calix…” He sighed wistfully. “I admire your work.”
My jaw tightened.
“FangTech machinery.” His eyes lit up wildly. “Your weapons. Your systems.”
He laughed under his breath. “The best on the market. None are as well made and built to last like yours.”
Then irritation flashed across his face. “But your security requirements are so tedious.”
One of the hooded figures moved toward a large cargo crate beside Olivia and tore the tarp away from it. My stomach dropped.
FangTech logos stared back at me from inside the crate, each stamped symbol twisting something ugly in my gut. My jaw locked so hard it ached.
None of this should’ve been possible.
He was right. Buying from FangTech wasn’t easy. I’d built those restrictions myself. Layers of approvals. Tracking systems. Purchase limits. Background checks.