The Caelian Cycle Boxed Set

by Donnielle Tyner

  When my face reflected back on the black monitor, the finality of what I had seen hit me. My knees gave way, and as the pain of hitting the marble floor with my full weight jolted up my legs, I screamed.

  Chapter 24

  Live on Global News

  Battle lines have been drawn today after the graphic deaths of both a Caelian woman and a young norm girl were broadcast during prime time.

  Comments of outrage and support have flooded into our office here at Global News, but whether you support the Koenig family or not, one thing is for certain: there is a new monster to fear.

  Miles Koenig, what will you do next?

  Chapter 25

  I screamed while everyone around me blurred into chaos.

  I screamed while Kian lifted me and carried me to my room.

  I screamed until I tasted blood in my mouth.

  “Why?” My voice was barely a whisper and pain pulsed in my neck as I swallowed.

  “Honey, don’t talk,” Rebecca’s fingers combed my hair. “Lacy went to get you some hot tea. It’ll make your throat feel better.”

  I nodded in reply.

  “There’s no answer to your question Sadie, except that your grandfather is an insane murdering asshole,” Luca spat as he paced my room, his muscles bulging with stress. “Do you know what that serum was, Sadie?”

  I shook my head and reached a hand out to him. He grasped it and fell on his knees before me. Tears streaked his cheeks, echoing the agony etched across his handsome face.

  “That was Nico’s Talent.”

  I gasped, which started a coughing fit when my throat seized. Rebecca patted my back as she sniffled quietly. “No,” I mouthed in horror once I regained my breath.

  “Yes.” Luca hung his head under the weight of his suffering. His brother’s death had just become something more to grieve. Now Nico would forever be known as the Caelian whose Talent spawned the death serum my grandfather created.

  “What exactly was his Talent?” Madison whispered from behind me. “It didn’t look like it was intended to be used offensively.”

  “No. His Talent was a defense mechanism, a type of…”

  “…neurotoxin,” Kian and Luca said at the same time.

  For the first time since he had brought me into the room, I turned my eyes toward Kian. He looked pensive, as if he hadn’t meant speak aloud.

  “How the hell did you know that, man?” Luca voiced what everyone else was thinking.

  Kian turned to look at me, his pleading eyes full of guilt and regret. Oh Shit.

  I gripped Luca’s hands harder as he tried to pull away. He looked at me questioningly, and I placed a hand on his cheek, giving him a soft smile. It was all I could do without my voice. There were so many things I wanted to say to make what he was going to find out sting less.

  It’s not every day that you learn a friend was the cause of the greatest pain in your life.

  “Luca, I…”

  “Shut it, Kian,” Luca growled as his body shook in anger. “Since the first moment I saw you in the underground, something seemed familiar about you, and here you are knowing things about my brother that you shouldn’t. Tell me, friend, how did you know of my brother’s Talent?”

  Luca met my gaze, his jaw clenched and nostrils flared. His eyes revealed a man battling grief and anger and betrayal. He had figured out Kian’s involvement with his brother’s death.

  “My first solo bounty job was to find a certain boy and turn him over to the Koenig family. I was told he was an out of control Caelian and needed medical intervention from GenCorp. Even though the situation made me uncomfortable, I finished the job.”

  Luca’s face pinched in pain before he flew from my grip and in what seemed like slow motion, he clenched his fist and swung it upwards where it connected with Kian’s jaw in a loud crack. “Job?” He growled. “My brother was just a job to you?”

  Kian held his face as blood-tinged saliva dripped down the corner of his lips. “At the time he was a job, but when I learned of his death, it destroyed me. I nearly drank myself to death.”

  Luca swung his fist again, connecting with Kian’s ribs. “Destroyed you? Your actions destroyed my family. My parents never recovered from his death. I’ve never recovered.” Luca choked up as he finished. Rebecca slid off the bed with grace and wrapped her arms around Luca, melting into his back. Luca pitched his head back and screamed at the ceiling.

  “Luca, I regret everything about that night. Nothing I can say will make it right, but the only solace I can take away from this is that you’re here, fighting the Koenigs and avenging your brother because I left those pictures for your parents.”

  Luca lowered his head and locked gazes with Kian. “That was you?”

  “Yes. You bumped into me in the street outside your home after I left the file. I was too ashamed and scared to admit what I had done, but I wanted your family to have some closure.”

  Luca jerked his head in a single nod, but didn’t say anything more.

  Tension hung thick in the air when the door banged open and Lacy waltzed in with a tray, her focus on the contents. “They didn’t have any chamomile, but I got some citrus green tea and—” Lacy looked up and stopped in her tracks. She scanned the room. I followed her gaze, taking in Madison lounging in the chair with lips pursed and tried to see how she saw the room as her gaze stopped on the boys standing rigid across from each other. She saw Kian’s lip dripping blood and his arm holding his chest as he took shallow breaths. Luca’s tear streaked face and clenched fists. Rebecca clutched to his back, her tears soaking through his shirt.

  “What did I miss?” Lacy asked cautiously as she inched toward me.

  No one answered her as she set the tray on my nightstand and poured a cup full of tea and added some honey. Her eyes flicked between each person before she met my gaze. With a frown, I shrugged one shoulder.

  Kian made the first move toward my en suite bathroom and the tension lessened a bit. Lacy shook her head and mouthed “you will explain later,” and I nodded in agreement.

  “How’s your throat?” Lacy asked as I sipped the tea. My eyes filled with tears as the warm liquid burned down my throat. “That bad, huh?”

  I nodded and took another sip. That one felt worse.

  “Let me get my bag and check you out,” Lacy stepped out of the room and the silence prickled. I wanted to say something, anything, but couldn’t. Madison looked pensive in the corner like she was considering the same thing. But what do you say to your friend who found out his brother’s Talent was used to make a deadly serum and someone he trusted led his brother to his death in the same day?

  Lacy walked back in, ignoring Luca and Rebecca embracing in the corner. I wonder why they haven’t left for their room yet.

  “I’m going to feel your neck and then I’ll take a look at your throat,” Lacy stated as she slid on gloves.

  She examined me with precision, and while her steady hands pressed against my neck, I realized she’d become a competent medic while I was gone. Pride waved over me as she shone a light down my throat.

  “I have a spray that’ll lessen the irritation and swelling. It’s a new product the underground came up with. I don’t have very much with me, so I will only give you one dose. That should be enough to allow you to talk and cut your healing time to less than half of what it would be if you healed naturally. Ready?”

  I nodded my head and opened my mouth as she administered the spray. The cool liquid burned for a moment before a cooling numbness followed. Breathing became easier as the swelling went down.

  “Thanks,” I croaked.

  “No problem. Just take it easy.”

  “Yes ma’am.” I swallowed another sip of tea. “You’re an amazing medic.”

  “Thanks.” Lacy blushed.

  “Luca,” my voice broke. “I’m sorry about Nico.”

  He nodded solemnly. “I’m sorry about Mrs. LaMotte.”

  A single tear tracked its way down my cheek as I nodded
in return. “You have every reason to be angry at Kian, and I don’t expect you to drop those feelings anytime soon, but know that Kian has carried his guilt for years and that guilt pushed him to save many others.”

  Luca’s forehead wrinkled in thought. “Tell me something, Sadie.”

  “Anything.”

  “Did you know?”

  “No. Kian told me he did a job that resulted in a boy’s death and that he would tell me the details once he had had a chance to speak with the family, but I never would have guessed it to be Nico. I figured it out right before you did. He just wanted to make things right.”

  “Okay.” His shoulders sagged. “This has been a shitty day.”

  “Agreed,” I answered as Madison grunted in agreement.

  Just as Kian exited the bathroom, Marianne stepped into my room, looking even more pale and sickly.

  “There you are,” she exclaimed as she rushed toward me. I stood to meet her and in an uncharacteristically affectionate move, she cupped my cheek. “Are you okay?”

  “No.”

  “Oh, sugar.” She sighed as she pulled me into a hug. It was the first time I had ever been hugged by someone who shared my DNA, and although her bony arms pinched me as she squeezed, I melted into her hug. Warmth spread through my entire body as I felt an overwhelming sense of home and belonging.

  Marianne pulled away and held me at arm’s length. She looked me over before taking in the rest of the room. She narrowed her eyes on Kian’s swollen lip.

  “Was there a fight?”

  “No,” Kian answered.

  “Hmmm,” Marianne replied as she looked over to Luca and Rebecca on the opposite side of the room and then Madison and Lacy, who kept to themselves as the drama unfolded.

  “I take it you figured out what that serum was made of, Luca,” Marianne stated with sympathy.

  Luca answered her with a nod before cutting his eyes to Kian.

  “Ah. I see,” Marianne stated. “Well. Since everyone is here, we need to talk.”

  Chapter 26

  “Okay,” I answered as a knot formed in my stomach.

  “What I have to say has been classified for many years, but there’s no need to keep it under wraps any longer after today.” She shifted her weight and straightened her blouse before continuing. “As you know, the Moreau family owns many hospitals. We are at the cutting edge of medical advancements, but those are just one facet of our reach. Thirty years ago, we accepted a contract for the CDC after a scandal with its director brought to light some unethical research.”

  “The Moreau family runs the CDC?” Luca asked. “Isn’t that a government agency?”

  “Yes it is.”

  “How will that work if the Registration Act passes?” Madison asked.

  “We’re not sure, but as of right now we are locked into a contract with the government and we have not breached it in any way.”

  “How…” Lacy started, but Marianne cut her off.

  “I have more to say before we are sidetracked with more questions.” She looked at each of us before continuing. “Nineteen years ago, Adrian Koenig reached out to our people at the CDC with information about a possible contagion. Your mother, Lucinda, worked at our CDC offices and took it upon herself to meet with him. Against my wishes, I might add, but she insisted. In hindsight, I’m sure her Talent had shown her what would happen if anyone else met with him. Lucie was always a stubborn child.”

  Her lips quirked in a private smile. “Anyway, Adrian had brought Lucinda proof that Miles was indeed working on a genetically modified virus that would only affect norms. Miles had been unsuccessful for many years until he had a breakthrough. He learned our Talents could theoretically be modified and merged with a virus. Soon after this breakthrough, Lucinda passed and Adrian was murdered.”

  “We spent many years trying to get a mole inside GenCorp, but after Adrian’s betrayal Miles grew suspicious of any outside help that wasn’t vetted by his team beforehand. Eventually, we were able to get a guy in, but he was discovered much too soon. Before we could extract him, Miles had him killed. His last communication said Miles had discovered a boy with a rare Talent that mimicked the same neurotoxic chemicals found in some poisonous animals. The last we had heard, he couldn’t get any of his serums to work without killing Caelians as well because our genetics are too close.”

  “Wow,” I whispered. “That’s insane.”

  “You mean he has been doing this type of stuff for 30 years? And you have known about it?” Luca fumed. His body tensed up before Rebecca’s gentle touch relaxed him.

  “Yes. We’ve known about it. And we have reported everything to the proper authorities, but nothing was done. The Moreaus are not a military organization. We are healers.” Marianne held her head up high.

  “What are you going to do now?” Rebecca asked.

  “I have contacted McCredie and he will be transferring his microbiology team to our laboratories at the CDC.”

  “You wanted Cayden back?” I asked.

  Marianne narrowed her eyes at me for a moment before smiling. “Yes. Although the circumstances required Cayden to move to the underground, we have felt his absence in our labs.”

  “Cayden’s a freaking genius. He’ll figure that serum out and make a cure in no time,” Lacy stated with confidence.

  We all nodded in agreement.

  “Well, now that you all are on the same page, I must be getting back to work.” Marianne nodded and turned to leave.

  The others began talking about everything that had happened, but all I could see was how weak Marianne looked as she walked past the threshold of my room. Concern for my aunt overwhelmed any other sensation and I leapt off my bed, running after her.

  I caught up with her in the hallway. “Marianne,” I rasped before coughing from the strain.

  She turned slowly, her entire body stiff. “Yes, Sadie.”

  “Have you been spending enough time in the sun?”

  “There is a civil war brewing. Your grandfather is doing everything he can to destroy you, and now he’s shown the world exactly what he’s capable of. I have no time to lounge in the sun.”

  I studied my aunt. Lines that weren’t there before were deeply etched on her face, aging her in the three weeks I had stayed with her. “Marianne. You’re all I have left of my mother and the only person I consider true family. I need you. You have to make time to care for yourself, or you will leave me with an insane person as my only living relative. Don’t do that to me.”

  “Are you trying to emotionally manipulate me?”

  “Is it working?” I asked with a smile.

  “Yes.” Her cold hand cupped my cheek again. “I’ll take better care of myself.”

  “Thank you.”

  Marianne leaned forward and brushed a kiss on my cheek. “Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight.”

  As I walked back to my room, the weight of grief threatened to pull me under again. A familiar Talent flared nearby and the urge to see Dr. Sokoloff overwhelmed the desire to help my friends though this wedge.

  Voices raised in my room again and with one last look, I turned and ran in search of the one person who could help me.

  My impromptu session with Dr. Sokoloff dulled the sharp edge of grief, but sorrow still threatened to overwhelm me. Another loss. Another person wrenched from my life.

  Pointless in a war that shouldn’t even be happening.

  Surprisingly, as Dr. Sokoloff healed my mind, there was no rage aimed toward Miles Koenig. At the time, the realization was in passing, but as I walked back to my room, I thought about it.

  I had every reason to hate him, to want him to die, but that desire was no longer there. I still felt like I needed to do something about my grandfather, but avenging all the crimes he had committed with his death didn’t seem like enough. Something stirred in the back of my mind. A knowing that somehow I had the authority and ability to make Miles Koenig suffer in a way that was worse than death.

&nb
sp; I can make it right.

  Justice.

  A shiver crept up my spine. That was intense. Goosebumps tightened my skin as whispers of justice echoed in my mind. The sensation was overwhelming, but the rightness of it felt like a warm blanket. Comfortable and true.

  “Hearing voices. That’s a sign you’re insane, right?” I spoke aloud to no one as I scanned the hallway, my nerves taut.

  Seeing nobody, I approached my door quietly. Scanning the room with my secondary, I didn’t see the note on the floor in front of my door before I stepped on it with a loud crunch.

  I paused mid-step and flared my secondary involuntarily. The action, although unintentional, showed me everyone in their own rooms. I could enter my own without fear of walking in the middle of another argument. All I wanted was a good night’s sleep, then I could fight battles between friends and wage war against injustice.

  The paper crinkled again under my foot, and with a quick look down the hall, I snatched it before shooting into my room like a ninja.

  Once I secured my door, I threw the folded white paper on my bed, eyeing it as I changed into my pajamas. No one I could think of would leave me a paper note. All my friends and contacts knew my communicator ID. They would send me a message through the secure device.

  I pulled my communicator out of my discarded dress pocket and scanned through the messages. There was one from each person, wanting to know where I went and letting me know they were here if I needed them.

  Kian had apparently figured out where I went and told the group. They all agreed to give me some space. I had no messages from anyone else living in the Moreau estate.

  My eyes flicked back to the note. Whatever. It’s just paper.