by K Swanson
Discoveries
The Chimera Project | Book 1
K Swanson
DISCOVERIES
* * *
COVEY PUBLISHING, LLC
Published by Covey Publishing, LLC
PO Box 550219, Gastonia, NC 28055-0219
* * *
Copyright © 2019 by K Swanson
* * *
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the writer, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Cover Design Copyright © 2019 Covey Publishing, LLC
Book Design by Covey Publishing, LLC, www.coveypublishing.com
Copy Editing by Covey Publishing, LLC
Printed in the United States of America.
ISBN: 978-1-948185-77-6
First Printing, 2019
Contents
1. Release
2. First Day in a New World
3. Making Friends
4. Lost
5. Introductions
6. Stars
7. Planning
8. Demon Cats
9. Come to the Dark Side… We Have Cookies
10. How to Find the Perfect Gift
11. Swimming with Guys
12. Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite
13. Connections
14. Football Games
15. At the Mall
16. Aftermath
Epilogue
About the Author
Also by K Swanson
Note From The Publisher
MORE COVEY BOOKS
Release
The scraping of my door against the concrete floor woke me from a dead sleep. Bolting upright, I searched the darkness, my eyes straining in the faint light from my doorway. Wait. That wasn’t right. I shut my door. I always shut my door. The only light in my room should be coming from the lamp I always left on.
A man’s voice, muttering to himself, came from the direction of my closet.
“What’s going on? Who are you?” My voice shook, but at least my words came as more than a squeak.
A curse, followed by a loud thump, and then he stood up. Broad shoulders tapered to a narrow waist, and he wore something on his back. When he turned, I saw dark, shaggy hair falling over his forehead, covering one of his eyes. Something he held in his hand resembled a bow. “Let’s go, kid.”
Go? My brain seemed incapable of understanding his words, but when he growled and took a step in my direction, I scrambled back, hitting the wall at the head of the bed. “What do you want with me?”
Other kids in the institute had gone missing, and rumor said they’d been sent to intensive training somewhere else. I had no desire for more intensive training, even if it might help me control my power better. What if they used worse methods of punishment when you didn’t get something right? I shuddered at the thought of something worse than three days spent in a windowless room with nothing to do but sit and think about your transgressions.
“Getting you out of here.” His voice, a low growl, reminded me of Grumpy, the old dog wandering around outside. Technically, he was supposed to be an extra layer of protection to keep us from escaping, but he was too old to be of much use anymore.
“Where are you taking me?”
After sticking his head out the door, he pulled back into the room. My insides quaked, and my throat went dry.
“Rescuing you.” A bag flew across the room before landing in my lap. “That’s all your stuff. Now move your ass.”
He thought because he’d shoved all my stuff in a bag, I would go with him? When hell froze over. I might hate it here, but at least I knew what to expect. How did I know he didn’t plan to kill me as soon as we exited the compound? That’s right. I didn’t. My sense of self-preservation screamed that the possibility of being sent to the pitch black, windowless room downstairs for days on end was better than the unknown with him. The only reason I hadn’t gone invisible yet was because he wasn’t coming any closer. And I’d have to run naked through the halls, which I didn’t want to do, even if no one would see me.
Besides, I had nowhere else to go. The institute was my life, and while I’d been outside the walls a few times, I didn’t know anyone out there. I wasn’t even completely sure how to leave the building. The few times my handlers had taken me away, I’d been blindfolded and thrown over someone’s shoulder.
He lifted his hand to his forehead, and I imagined him rubbing it in exasperation. Was this the first time someone had ever told him no? Good grief. He didn’t appear quite as intimidating when he paced from my door to my closet and back again.
With a growl, he muttered to himself. Something about not bothering to rescue me, and cursing some cat for giving him a conscience. The man might as well have been speaking another language.
“Kat would kill me if I left you here to rot.” When he turned to look at me, his eyes flashed red, practically lighting up the dim room.
What is he?
“But who’s to say she’d have to know…” He resumed his pacing. “Dammit, she’d know.”
“Your eyes…” Then his words sank in. He knew Kat?
Scrambling out of the bed, I stared at him. He knew my one and only friend? I supposed he could mean a different Kat. Or possibly even a real cat. Was the man bordering on insane? A shiver ran down my spine.
Stopping, he stared at me, his eyes still glowing red in the darkness. Seriously, what was up with that? Maybe he was like me. That wasn’t too far outside the realm of possibility, considering where we were. Groaning, he rubbed his forehead again. “Fucking hell. You’re coming with me, kid. I refuse to feel this guilt shit when I finally locate Kat, and she finds out I didn’t break you out of here.”
Break me… “Wait. What?”
Growling, he peeked out the door again. “We’ve misplaced someone. We’re searching these fucking institutes for her, and so far, they’ve been lightly manned. Like the scientists have known we were coming. All tech has been trashed, making it fucking impossible to follow a trail to the next place.”
Was he lying? I didn’t think so. But I also wasn’t defenseless. Picking up the duffle bag he’d thrown at me earlier, I cocked my head at him. “Let’s go.”
Those red eyes narrowed at me. “Just like that? Minutes ago, you were terrified of me. Now you’re going to come with me without a fight?”
The suspicion in his tone made me bite my lip, my gaze sliding from him to keep my composure. Kat had spoken often of her best friends, but I wasn’t sure which one this was. Truthfully, I couldn’t recall any of their names.
“Had you led with knowing Kat, I would have gone willingly when you threw the bag at me.” Stepping out of my room, I nearly stumbled. The institute always locked my door from the outside, so I’d never been in the halls after lights-out. My heart thundered, the prospect of breaking the rules sending a jolt of adrenaline through me. Before I thought twice about it, I asked, “Are you the grumpy one, the… well, you’re obviously not the sweet, gentle one… or the fun-loving-one?”
“What?” He stopped to look at me, the red swirling in his eyes still creeping me out a little.
“Kat spoke frequently of her friends. Which one are you?” I took a breath, then made a guess. “The grumpy one, right? She said there were redeeming qualities, but
I’m not convinced.” Grimacing, I stepped away from him. I hadn’t meant that the way it sounded. When the red in his eyes swirled again, I instinctually ducked. “Please don’t hit me.”
His hand gripped the back of my neck, but he held me gently, propelling me in the direction he wanted to go. Panic flooded me, my heart jumping into my throat. “You can call me Bas, and I don’t hit girls. How long ago was Kat here?”
Even though I didn’t think he could see me, I shrugged, trying to remember. “Two weeks ago?”
It made me uncomfortable to realize I couldn’t pinpoint the exact day she left. Although I had a calendar in my room, it wasn’t as though I kept track of the time. The institute didn’t give us days off, our lives were subject to our handlers’ whims. When they wanted training or experiments done, we did them, regardless of the day or even the time.
On multiple occasions, I’d been pulled from my bed and paraded in front of scientists as they strived to understand my power.
With a quick intake of breath, he whipped back to look at me. Could he see me? It seemed farfetched that anyone could see in this gloom, but I hadn’t forgotten where we were. An ability to see in the dark wasn’t impossible. What if that was what his red eyes meant? Because the only other option I could come up with was he was a demon, and that was even more outlandish, right? Right.
“She was here two weeks ago?” His words brought me back to my surroundings.
“Yes?” Now he was making me question myself. As if I hadn’t been doing that already. Scratching the bridge of my nose, I tried to visualize the calendar hanging above my desk.
“Are you sure?”
“Well, not anymore.” Or ever.
Grumbling, he turned and walked again.
I followed, jogging to keep up. As we passed rows of doors, I realized they were all open. That wasn’t normal.
“Where did everyone go?” I asked
We turned a corner, which led to another stark white corridor lined with even more open doors. Only a couple of the rooms had been in use within the last few days, so it was possible everyone else had been taken to a different facility.
I found it odd that it was so easy to move around out here, though. Shouldn’t there be guards or scientists in the hallways? Then again, maybe they all went home at night. What did I know about the way the institute operated after lights-out? A closed door was at the very end, and a keypad was on the wall next to it.
“The guards have been… detained.”
That was it? Did he tie them up somewhere? Probably.
“You didn’t kill them, did you?” I might not care much for them, but I didn’t want them dead.
When he touched my shoulder to stop me in front of the only closed door in the hall, I cringed. I didn’t like being touched unexpectedly. At least when I saw it coming, I could prepare to be roughly handled, or possibly pinched and slapped. It wasn’t as though my handlers hurt me too badly. They’d have gotten in trouble with their superiors if we were damaged.
“No.”
At the door with the keypad, he tapped a couple of the numbers.
“You didn’t hurt them?”
“Didn’t touch them.” The red light on the keypad turned green, and a faint clicking noise sounded from the door. Seconds later, he pulled it open.
“Then how do you know they’ve been… um… detained?”
When we stepped out of the barely lit building, the soft glow of a street light illuminated him. He was dressed in solid black, a quiver of arrows strapped over his shoulder. He held a black bow with hand-painted orange and yellow flames curling up from the bottom. A pair of sunglasses perched on top of his head, and as soon as we stepped outside, he flicked them down over his eyes.
“Why are you wearing those at night?” My voice wavered slightly. What if he had some sort of vision issue? Come to think of it, maybe that was why his eyes swirled red so frequently. I still wasn’t letting go of my demon theory though.
“My eyes unnerve people.” His voice was nearly drowned out by the sound of a car pulling up to the curb in front of us. He led me toward it, and I really hoped I wouldn’t regret getting in.
“Why do they turn red? Are you a demon?” The questions slipped out before I could stop them, and I slapped a hand over my mouth. Crap, what was wrong with me?
“Fucking shit, I can see why Kat likes you.”
Was that… a compliment? Seriously? Wait. “Why?”
He ran his fingers through his shaggy auburn hair. “Because you have a talent for asking questions without thinking them through.” With a sigh, he opened the back door. “Lacey, meet…” He gestured in my direction, then nudged me into the back seat.
“Haylie,” I replied, sliding in.
The door slammed shut, and Bas went around to the passenger side.
The woman in the driver’s seat glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “Buckle up, hon.”
I did as I was told and then she began driving.
The woman, Lacey, was thin, with a narrow face and pointy chin. Her dark hair was cut in a bob resting on her shoulders.
My gaze jumped to Bas, who rummaged through the glove compartment before pulling out a map and a marker. I leaned forward to get a better look at what he was doing.
“She wasn’t here, but we’re getting closer. What are we going to do with the kid?” He didn’t even glance at me as he asked the question, and I sat back in my seat with a huff.
Lacey’s dark eyes met mine in her mirror. “Do you have a family, Haylie?”
I shook my head. “Not that I know of.”
I’d been living at the institute as long as I could remember, only leaving the large brick building on “field trips,” as my handlers called them. I must have had a mother at one point, but that was one question I’d never had the guts to ask. I didn’t want to know if my mother had chosen to abandon me. Or, given where I’d been living my entire life, what if I was some sort of test tube baby? Yeah. It was better not to ask questions like that.
Bas leaned back in his seat, getting comfortable. I was curious to find out where we were going.
But before she could say anything else, a small cloud of smoke appeared in the seat beside me, and a flash of cold air made me shiver as my eyes widened and I shoved myself against my car door. What the hell was happening?
“What—”
I didn’t get the opportunity to finish my question as someone now occupied the seat next to me. It was like, one second there was nothing but smoke, and the next second, a thin man with mocha skin and dark clothing sat there. The other two didn’t seem surprised at all to see him. Was this a regular occurrence? And was he crazy? He’d just appeared in a moving car!
With a yawn, Bas tilted his chair back a little. “Haylie, Ollie. Ollie, Haylie.”
The dark man, Ollie, nodded in my direction, his entire body tense. “No Kat?”
“No, but we’re getting closer. Haylie at least knows who Kat is. She says Kat was here about two weeks ago.”
Cursing, Ollie sank back against his seat, running his fingers through short, dark hair. “Why the hell was Toby so easy to find?”
I blinked heavily. As much as I wanted to stay awake to learn what I could about Kat and where they were taking me, I was having difficulty keeping my eyes open.
“Because they’re all fucking idiots and haven’t figured out that using his power is what makes him sick. It’s a lot easier to find someone when they think a valuable asset is dying.”
Every time I blinked, my eyes seemed to get heavier, until I was listening to their voices with my eyes closed. My brain had trouble focusing on their words.
“… have… family… Haylie. Few… away.”
“Good.”
* * *
Jolting awake, I scanned my surroundings. It looked as though I was in a bedroom. A few feet away there was a rumpled bed, as if someone had already slept in it, and a quick glance told me I was in a second bed. The room wasn’t much to look at, althoug
h it had more color than my room at the institute.
A low dresser sat a couple feet from the foot of the other bed, with a small TV on top. On the other side of the bed was a round table under the window, with two chairs. Between the beds were a couple of night stands, and I did a double take when I realized someone had left a note on the one next to me.
We’re right outside the door. We leave at six pm, so grab a shower, if there’s time.
A shower? And why were we leaving so late in the evening? How had I slept through being brought in here? For that matter, where the heck was here?
I blinked a few times then climbed out of bed, nearly tripping over my bag. The clock sitting on top of the TV told me I had about ten minutes. Plenty of time for a shower. The room wasn’t big, and it only took me a few seconds to realize there was a bathroom in the alcove nearby.
On the counter near the bathroom was another note letting me know the toiletries sitting there were mine.
Nearly ten minutes later, I was out of the shower and fully dressed. Now, I would get answers.
The only other door out of the bedroom was next to the window. Keeping my bag on my shoulder, I slowly opened the door. True to their note, three people stood in a narrow walkway. Bas leaned against a large car that must have been the one we’d ridden in to get here, because it looked familiar. His reddish-brown hair was damp, so I guessed he’d taken a shower recently. Lacey and Ollie stood with their backs to the building.
Bas’s head came up as he noticed the door open, and he nodded. “Good. We didn’t have to wake you. We’re raiding another institute tonight, and you’ll stay with Lacey.”
That didn’t seem right. I could help. In fact, I’d probably be better at helping than Bas was. Did I even want to help? Ollie and Lacey turned to look at me.