Chapter 35
The hound and I are dressed in uniforms, holding Theo by the arms.
Behind us, the centaur crouches low.
All have guns at the ready.
I am not versed in weaponry, but the gryphon taught me the basic mechanics.
The Jeep pulls to a halt.
We’re at the facility entrance.
I cannot hear the conversation, but within seconds, a man holding an automatic rifle rounds the corner and stares at us.
The way his gaze travels over Theo makes me want to crush his eyes.
Instead, I look ahead and don’t react.
But the hound grins. “Hey man.”
“Who are you?” the guard asks.
“New team. We’ve been moved from Validus Vale. Sucks. At least there we were near civilization. How long have you been out here?”
“Too fucking long.”
“Apply for a transfer,” Maximus suggests. “The perks are great.” He winks. The guard looks confused then shrugs, walking away.
We’re waved through. The Jeep moves slowly, then once again, we pull to a stop.
—Ready, Nymph?—
—Ready—
The dragon appears at the tailgate. “Come on,” he says, voice low. “We’ve an escort.” When he pulls the latch, he winces. He’s injured?
I jump down, then assist Theo.
“This way,” a new guard says. “Take her to a cell, then go to the dispatch office.”
Feniks stands to one side.—Keep alert—
We’re led through the rolling metal doors, and I look at the corridor ahead of us.
The walls are a faded green, peeling in places to reveal cold concrete beneath.
My minotaur already knows we need to go down a level to find the children. I inform my Nymph.
—OK—
A door to my left opens and a small woman steps out. I scan the office. Filing cabinets, a desk, then my attention turns to her.
Mid-thirties, glasses. An air of being an administrator, not a decision maker.
“I’ll take them down,” the woman says. The guard nods and leaves us.
She looks at our group. “You don’t all need to come.”
Nobody responds. After a shrug the woman opens another door to reveal a flight of stairs. This makes my minotaur stir.
Down.
Yes. I can feel the change in atmosphere, and something else…familiarity.
I have been here before.
My boots echo on the metal grating of the stairs, a sound that vibrates straight into my marrow. I remember this sound.
The footsteps.
—Lu?...What’s wrong?—
I tighten my grip on Theo’s arm, playing the part of a guard, but drawing comfort from the contact.
The urge to burn this place to the ground is overwhelming.
We reach the bottom of the flight.
The air here is thick with mold, urine and fear.
The woman with the glasses checks her tablet, then leads us past a row of heavy, reinforced doors. Each has a small viewing port. As we pass, I see a flicker of movement behind one—a small, pale face that quickly vanishes into the shadows.
"Cell 7 at the end," the woman says. Her tone is bored. Bored of imprisoning children.
I watch her take a key card from a lanyard around her neck. A neck I’d like to break. She slides it through the reader, then stands to one side. “You know the drill.”
The cell is a concrete box with a thin mat and a bucket.
I escort our captive into the space. She acts perfectly, her head bowed, her shoulders slumped.
The presence of the hound and gryphon behind me is reassuring.
I do not like this box.
“Hey, back up,” I hear the woman complain.
The next second, she stumbles forward, pushed from behind. I don’t hesitate in taking her head and snapping her neck in an instant.
The gryphon speaks quietly. “Theo, put on her clothes. With the glasses on and your hair up, from a distance you can pass for her.”
She immediately starts stripping as Feniks takes the key card.
“Max, you need to shift. You’ll be the first line of attack, then me and Cosmo with guns. Ludo, you help Theo with the kids.” He hands her the spectacles. “And, pulu, can you let Donovan know what’s happening?”
I can tell by the look on her face when she has her silent conversation with the centaur. “Dono’s out of the Jeep and hidden by the oil tank,” she tells us. “He’ll shift and start shooting arrows as soon as we need him to.”
“Good. Everyone ready? Let’s move.”
Maximus instantly shifts, then runs to the stairs, waiting for the command to attack. Feniks throws me the key card, and I do my part.
Swipe.
Beep.
Next.
Swipe.
Beep.
Next.
I can hear Theo’s voice talking gently but urgently to whoever is in the first cell.
—I’m going to put some Lumina in him…this kid is almost catatonic—
My minotaur growls, pacing the cage of my ribs, desperate for vengeance.
On to the next door.
Swipe. Beep.
Behind me, Theo drags a hollow-cheeked boy with long black hair from the gloom of Cell 6. “You have to help me,” she whispers to him. “Can you help me with the others?”
Even though the kid can’t be more than seven or eight, he straightens his shoulders and nods. “I can do it.” His voice is rough and raw, like mine was before I lost it completely.
Swipe.
Beep.
I reach Cell 4 and as the door opens, my mind stutters. This is the one.
My vision tunnels.
The scratch marks on the door frame were made with my own fingernails years ago.
The minotaur isn't just growling now; he's clawing at the back of my eyes, demanding to be let out to gore every person in a white lab coat.
Inside the cell is a girl, tiny. She’s huddled in the corner, her knees pulled to her chest, thumb in her mouth.
I reach out and softly touch her hair. It’s a shock that she doesn’t flinch.
We’re taking you to safety, little one.
Obviously she can’t hear my thoughts, but for some reason she stands and slips her hand into mine. I reach down and pull her onto my hip, then move to open the final three cells.
“We’re sure there are no others?” Feniks asks.
Theo is holding the administrator's tablet. “I checked the records. There are only these kids.”
In total, we have six children.
They look like ghosts, their skin sallow and their eyes too large for their thin faces.
“I can scent their fear,” Alexis murmurs.
“So fucking heartbreaking.” Theo’s voice cracks.
The little girl on my hip clings to my tactical vest, her tiny fingers tangling in the heavy fabric.
“But they will live, Pulu.”
Only if we get them out of here. My minotaur growls, issuing a warning. We must move. Turn around now.
I don’t question the instinct, but follow it. Yes, there is another way out.
Service elevator.
—Incoming— The thoughts of the hellhound are muffled but understandable —Door opened…hear footsteps…—
—Nymph, we take children to service elevator—
Suddenly, a growling noise erupts, along with a scream that is cut off abruptly.
—Move—
We reach the lift shaft just as the heavy industrial doors slide open. Two guards burst through but don't even have time to raise their rifles. Maximus is a streak of black shadow, hitting the first one mid-chest.
The dragon takes the second with a silenced shot from his pistol.
Before we can enter, the lift doors silently slide shut.
“Vittu!” Feniks jams the key card into the slot, but the reader glows red. No access with this pass.
I hand the baby girl to Theo.
She tucks the child against her side, while still holding the hand of the older boy. My shoulders begin to broaden, the fabric of the stolen uniform straining. I don't go for a full shift but I let the strength of the bull flow into my arms.
Then jam my claws into the door seam and pull. The metal groans, the hydraulic locks snap and then the doors open with a jagged screech.
“Get in, hurry,” Theo says, gathering the children around her, they huddle in the corner. The professor opens the ceiling service hatch and pulls himself up, the dragon follows. I can see him kneeling in the dark, gun poised.
The hound squeezes his massive body inside then Theo presses the button.
—Coming up the service entrance, Dono, be ready—
—I’m so ready, Tee-Tee—
With a jolt, the lift starts moving. I cannot believe getting out of here will be this simple.
As if on cue, alarms begin to wail—a piercing, high-pitched shriek that makes everyone tense.
The lift car shudders to a halt. Between floors.
“Pass them up to me,” Drakeward shouts. “We’re basically at the surface, and can get out through the shaft.”
The hellhound returns to his human form as I boost the first of the children through the elevator service hatch. The dragon and Feniks pull up the children. The tall, long-haired boy is last. He waited to make sure the others were safe first.
I pick him up and our eyes meet.
You did well, little warrior.
I help him and Theo into the shaft. “Now we have to climb, kids, then we’ll be out of here,” I hear her say. “Shit.”
—What’s happening—
—The kids are too traumatized to climb the ladder…Cosmo get up there—
The hellhound and I stand sentry in the stalled elevator car as the dragon climbs the shaft.
—He’s got the cover open, I can see daylight. Alexis, lift a kid up…see if Cos can reach her—
SMASH.
The enemy crashes against the elevator doors.
CRASH.
Once again, then they starts stuttering apart.
My minotaur kicks in and the rest of my body shifts, as does the hound.
When the doors fully open, we charge, bowling down the guards like skittles. I slash and rip with my claws at the same time hearing the snap of hellhound teeth.
Screams.
Sirens.
The heavy thud of tactical boots hits the stairs. Dozens of them.
—Guys…come on…we’re all be out in a moment—
—You first, Bully—
I immediately shift back to human, run to the elevator and heave myself through the hatch. It’s a tight fit and as I drag myself up a bullet hits my thigh. The pain is distant, an annoyance is all.
Rolling onto the top of the lift car, my large frame taking up too much space and I almost crush the gryphon.
More gunshots sound below, but I concentrate on the guns firing above the ground. Where Theo and the children are.
Feniks gets out to the surface, then I pull myself up. Theo and the children ducked down behind an oil tank.
The centaur is their defence, bucking and kicking while firing arrows at the same time.
“Load them up!” he roars, “I’ve got this.”
Picking up the girl from Cell 4, I duck low and limp to the Jeep, then toss her inside.
Hobbling back, I grab three more children and repeat the action. Theo is already in the truck bed, pulling the children down and urging them to lay still.
—Coming up— The hound.
I scramble into the driving seat, revving the engine. The passenger door is ripped open and the hellhound and his cousin tumble in. “Go!”
Out of the corner of my eye I see a dragon take to the sky, then whirl around and shoot streams of fire down onto the panicking guards.
The Jeep’s tires scream as I wheel out of the compound and smash through the gates. We fish-tail wildly, but stay on the road.
The centaur runs beside us, firing arrows behind him.
—Destroy that place!— Theo commands.
—Yes, Theodora—
First comes the light—a blinding, orange-white bloom that turns the snow into steam. Then the sound hits us, a bone-deep WHOMPH that lifts the back of the Jeep off the ground.
I look back. The place that destroyed my voice and my childhood is being swallowed by dragon fire.
The walls collapse into the inferno.
The facility is dying.
The scratch marks on the door of Cell 4 are ash.
—We did it, Lu—
I watch the black smoke rise in the rear view mirror and wonder if we’ve really won, or if the battle is just beginning.