by C. I. Black
He whimpered.
God, no. Her heart pounded. Please stop. If she just concentrated hard enough.
His black jacket and dark jeans paled and turned grey.
She squeezed her eyes shut, but the power leaked from beneath her lashes. It would not be contained.
Something cracked.
Please, not again. She needed to be stronger, hold on tighter, but she trembled with the effort, her body screaming in agony. She had to be stronger than this. She had to—
No, she had to stay calm, control her emotions. The lily had unpetrified when she’d relaxed, trusted herself and her abilities. Let her powers run their course.
But if she let her powers run their course, she’d kill him. That’s what her powers did.
Except that wasn’t what they’d done with the lily.
And if she was wrong—
She eased her eyes open, keeping her focus on the ground. The toe of Gage’s boot stepped into sight. He crouched beside her, warmth radiating from his body.
“Morgan—”
“I know. Unpetrify him.” She didn’t want to kill Gage or anyone, and she’d never been good with faith before.
“Just relax,” Gage said, his tone soft.
“Easier said than done.” She sucked in a steadying breath. She had to believe and trust. Right now, Stroud was stone. Maybe not fully stone yet, but if she didn’t reverse it, she would kill him. She couldn’t make the situation worse. He was already dead. If only she actually believed that.
“You can do this.”
Please, God.
She drew in another breath. “Yes, I can.” She raised her gaze to Stroud and stopped fighting the fire in her face. If it was going to blast out, it was going to blast out.
Please, let this time be different.
Her powers billowed. She clenched.
No. Calm.
The force from her eyes softened. Just like before, it slid from her eyes, its warmth caressing her cheeks.
Stroud moaned.
A hint of panic rippled through her. She resisted the instinct to clench her teeth and fight it. The answer was calm. It had always been calm. Her emotions controlled her powers, just like Randy’s controlled his.
Stroud’s jacket turned black again. The warmth pouring from her eyes eased to a trickle. Stroud dropped his arm to his side and heaved in a ragged breath.
Morgan sagged back and dropped her gaze to the patio. She hadn’t killed him. She’d finally controlled her powers and hadn’t killed him. Thank goodness.
CHAPTER 12
Morgan ran her thumb over the silver key and the encircled flower engraved on it. The note that had been attached to it had said, “answers,” and the flower had materialized in her blood in her bathroom. The bathroom that had belonged to her biological mother before her.
Now she leaned against her borrowed SUV, soaking in the mid-afternoon sun, at Smart Storage. It was an old warehouse on the outskirts of town that had been converted into a storage facility and was at the address that had appeared in her fogged-up mirror.
It had taken everything she had not to grab Kate the moment Stroud and Randy had been taken into custody and check out the address. But she hadn’t wanted to make Gage suspicious, and she certainly didn’t want him to come along. She had no idea what she’d find. Whatever it was, she hoped it would explain why Gage had lied to her.
Kate and Gage—and probably Rika, too—had spent the rest of the morning dealing with the interdepartmental paperwork for the marshals and the FBI. Morgan had no idea what was going to happen to Stroud or Randy, but it had involved great swaths of paper filled out in triplicate.
For Randy’s sake, she hoped the Kin courts were compassionate. The young man hadn’t known what was going on, and he’d thought he was going crazy, something Morgan could fully relate with.
But before she could ask any questions, Hannah had whisked her to her room, tsking over ruining her hard healing work. Not a great situation, although if Hannah hadn’t stepped in, Morgan was sure she would have had to face Ed.
She didn’t want to contemplate whether he was still her boss. In reality, she already knew. She couldn’t stay with the marshals. She couldn’t risk getting into a fight and petrifying a runner. Her co-workers needed to have clear memories about how a suspect was apprehended. If the glamour affected people differently, variations might start appearing in reports, and that would jeopardize everyone’s jobs.
Kate’s Jeep rounded the corner and parked behind the SUV. She got out and pulled her blond hair back into a ponytail, ready for work. “Ready?”
“Hell, no.” Morgan pushed off from the SUV. “But I can’t pretend this isn’t my life now.” No more pretending. No more fooling herself. Things change. That was just the way it was.
Kate’s expression darkened. “You’re giving Ed your resignation.”
“Am I that obvious?” But they were best friends. Kate knew Morgan’s expressions, and she could figure out the problems Morgan would cause if she stayed with the marshals.
“No, it makes sense. You work this situation from the inside, and I work it from the outside.” Kate shrugged and headed to the warehouse’s narrow front door. Morgan followed. “Ed gave you an ultimatum, but you can’t ignore this new development in your life.”
“Development. It sounds so normal when you say it that way.” Morgan opened the door.
Inside lay a small, dark foyer with a broken and stained linoleum floor. A staircase led up to the second and third stories, and just beyond the foyer, halls stretched left and right and straight ahead.
Kate pulled out her flashlight, and Morgan propped her sunglasses on her head. Half of the overhead fluorescent lights were dark, and the rest flickered, throwing the halls into an eerie twilight.
“The address on the mirror said 753 Moore Ave, 72. Best guess, 72 is the unit number.” But it was still just a guess. “Where do you think 72 is?” Morgan leaned into the hall on the left. Here was hoping the storage facility wasn’t numbered like the hospital had been.
Kate turned to the hall straight ahead. “The units on this side are 51 and 100. I’m thinking this way.”
“Sure. Worst case, we do a hall-by-hall search.”
They headed down the hall lined with identical grey garage doors. Just before the end, by a large loading dock and a rickety-looking freight elevator, sat 72. A black smudge streaked across the door. Halfway up on the left, a latch had been bolted to the door, and a padlock secured it to a ring in the cinder block wall.
Morgan reached for the lock. Sweat slicked her palms. This was it… or was it? She had no idea who’d sent her the key. She assumed it was somehow from her mother, her dead mother. Now that Morgan was here, she wasn’t so sure.
All she knew was that somehow, the key promised answers.
Turning back wasn’t really an option.
“Let’s find some answers.” She slid the key into the lock. It clicked open.
Fire licked across her eyes, and she ignored it. Yep, she was just a little stressed at the moment, and there was still a risk she’d turn someone to stone, even if early this morning she’d proven she could control her powers.
She shoved the garage door up. The fluorescent light above them went out, throwing the unit and hall into darkness.
Kate’s flashlight danced over a corkboard with a picture of Morgan and several pieces of legal-sized white paper on it.
The overhead light flickered back on.
Hundreds of pictures of Morgan stared back, candid shots of Morgan at work, at home, with Kate, over many years. High school graduation. Dates with boyfriends. Dressed up, dressed down, through her apartment window, and in her underwear.
The fire in Morgan’s face billowed. “Well, this is creepy.”
Thanks for reading The Medusa Files, Case 3: Escaped From Stone
I hope you enjoyed it!
For the latest news on upcoming releases, you can sign up for my new release e-mail list at http://w
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Other Books by C. I. Black
THE DRAGON SPIRIT SERIES
Immortal Coil
THE MEDUSA FILES
Case 1: Written in Stone
Case 2: Heart of Stone
Case 3: Escaped From Stone
ABOUT C. I. BLACK
C.I. Black has always lived in a world of imagination. When she’s not daydreaming, she puts her flights of fancy down on paper writing urban fantasy and paranormal romance books.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
Other Books by C. I. Black
About the Author