Conspiracy Unleashed

by L. Danvers

  “It’s, uh, been an emotional day,” Cal said. “So how does this work?”

  “With the help of Aes, Iliana and a team of doctors and scientists, we were able to pinpoint how the Creatians froze the victims, and we have developed a technique to reverse the process. Using a nanorobotics serum we created, we can repair any tissues and organs that may have been damaged during their, um, frozen slumber, so to speak.”

  “Have you done this yet?” Cal asked. “Woken any of the victims up?”

  “I was thinking Quinn could be the first.”

  Commander Ahmadi and Aes called out to Cal, Flynn and Britt when they entered the room. They came up and greeted them, exchanging pleasantries, but the mood took a more serious turn as the capsule holding Quinn’s body was rolled out and taken into an adjoining room. It was a makeshift hospital room. No hospital around had the capacity to hold so many of the victims, let alone care for each of them when they were awakened, so Pierce volunteered the use of his estate for such purposes, and plenty of doctors had volunteered their time to help.

  When the five of them filed into the room, Britt pulled Cal aside.

  “There’s something you should know,” she said. Cal felt her chest tighten again, and she grew warm. “There’s no guarantee that Quinn’s going to be the same. We’re not sure what Caelifera did to the victims. I want you to be prepared for all possibilities.”

  Cal couldn’t find the words to respond. She bit her lip and nodded. Britt rubbed Cal’s arm, then went to Quinn’s capsule and got to work. On Britt’s word, two men in white coats hooked the capsule up to an assortment of wires connected to various monitors. They double-checked themselves, and, once satisfied, the larger of the two men typed something into a keypad next to a holographic projection of the capsule. After a few minutes, he paused and turned to look at Britt. She gave him a nod. The man let out a deep breath and pressed one more button.

  Bright beams of light shot out through the glass casing like the sun itself were bursting out from inside the capsule. Seconds later, the rays dimmed, and the icy-blue contents of the capsule were lit by soft yellow light.

  “This may take a while,” Britt said.

  Hours passed as they stood over the capsule, watching in anticipation. Cal passed the time by pacing. She could see on Commander Ahmadi’s face that her shuffling was driving him nuts, but she appreciated him not saying anything about it.

  “How’s she doing?” Cal asked, her voice trembling.

  “She’s doing fine,” Britt assured her. “It’s part of the process. Everything is going according to plan. There’s no need to worry.”

  Easier said than done, Cal thought. “How much longer before she’s, uh, thawed?” she asked.

  “It’s hard to know. It could take a good while longer.”

  And it did. The afternoon slipped away, and nightfall came. Cal hadn’t had a single bite to eat the entire day. After much convincing by her friends, she agreed to go upstairs to eat and get some sleep. Britt assured her that if there was any change, Cal would be notified straight away.

  She ate one slice of the pepperoni pizza Agent Taylor had ordered for the crew, and even that she struggled to get down. Her insides were in knots. She couldn’t stop worrying about Quinn.

  Cal retired to her room. She didn’t bother crawling under the covers. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to sleep. She stared out the window, and once in a while she’d catch a glimpse of moonlight. When she tired of the view, she rolled over and stared in the direction of the door. After a while, she let out a sigh, turned on her back and fiddled with the necklace Quinn had given her for Christmas. She closed her eyes and prayed for her sister, but she was getting more and more restless.

  She couldn’t take it anymore. She left her bedroom and crept down the hall to Flynn’s room. She gave his door a gentle knock. A heavy-eyed Flynn with hair messier than usual opened it. “Hey,” he said, rubbing his tired eyes and stepping to the side to give Cal enough space to enter.

  “Can I sleep here tonight?”

  “Of course.”

  They climbed into his bed, his right arm draped over her waist. She could tell by the sudden slowing of his breath that he had drifted to sleep. She listened as he inhaled, exhaled and inhaled again. The rhythm of his breathing and the beating of his heart put her right to sleep.

  The next morning she awoke to Flynn tapping her on the shoulder. “Britt called,” he said. “She said to hurry downstairs.”

  With a sudden burst of adrenaline, Cal jumped out of bed. Not feeling patient enough to wait for the elevator, she hurried down the staircase to the lowest level of the estate, where she found Commander Ahmadi, Aes, Britt and the other two doctors huddled over Quinn’s capsule.

  “The thawing is almost complete,” Britt said. “Want to see?”

  Cal inched toward the glass case and peered inside. Cal’s sister’s skin was no longer painted with tones of blue, but had now turned a delicate pink as blood once again pumped through her veins.

  “I believe she’s ready, Dr. Ridley,” one of the men said.

  With that, he entered something into the keypad, and a series of locks around the capsule unlatched. The glass panel raised a couple of inches, and steam seeped out into the room.

  The two men in white coats lifted the glass cover from the capsule and set it to the side. They hooked Quinn up to IVs and monitors. While the doctors checked her, Cal stood by her sister’s side and took her chilled hand.

  Cal’s hand felt like it had been jerked. She looked down, and she saw Quinn’s body twitching. The spasms grew stronger, more powerful. Beeps blared from the monitors. Quinn was convulsing.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “I don’t understand,” Cal said in a panic. “What’s happening to her?”

  “She’s going into shock,” Britt said. She studied the monitor projections while the other doctors tended to Quinn. Cal was overcome with a flood of emotions and sobbed. Without losing her focus, Britt said, “Flynn, I think you should get her out of here.”

  Flynn stood in front of Cal, blocking Quinn from her view. She tried looking past him, but he put his hands on her shoulder and said, “We need to give the doctors space to work.”

  Has he lost his mind? She wasn’t about to abandon Quinn. Her sister’s arms and legs were spasming out of control. Quinn was slipping away from her. Cal planted her hands on her hips. “I’m not leaving her.”

  “She is in good hands,” Commander Ahmadi assured her. His voice was calm and steady. His hands were outstretched, palms down, trying to speak in a way that de-escalated the situation. “We need to leave the room so they can tend to her.”

  “No!”

  The commander gave her a stern look, which she met with a scowl.

  Commander Ahmadi picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Cal flailed and kicked as he carried her outside the room. She balled her hands into fists and pounded against his back, screaming. He put her down, and he and Aes stood in front of the door to keep her from trying to get inside.

  “I already lost her once,” she said, pleading. “I can’t lose her again.”

  “You won’t,” Flynn said in a forced calm voice. “Britt won’t let that happen. You know that. She loves you, Cal. You know she’ll take care of Quinn as if she were her own sister. There’s no one I would trust more with your sister’s life.”

  Cal slid down the wall and slumped to the floor.

  The voices around her muddled together as memories of her sister played out across her mind’s eye like a movie reel, each recollection followed by an earlier one—finding Quinn’s body on Duratus, arguing with Quinn the night before she disappeared, Quinn giving her the locket on Christmas morning, Quinn announcing to the family that she had landed the job at NASA... Quinn helping Cal with her homework in high school... Quinn spitting in the face of Cal’s elementary school bully...

  “Cal,” a familiar voice said over the mental images. “Cal, everything’s fine. Quinn’s
fine.” Cal snapped out of it and saw Flynn crouched in front of her. “Come, see for yourself.”

  He led her inside the room, and she found Quinn resting on the hospital bed.

  “She’s okay?” Cal asked Britt.

  “Her condition has stabilized,” Britt assured her. “Her body’s been through a lot. She’s in a deep sleep, but she’ll come out of it in due time. In the meantime,” Britt said, pulling out a syringe filled with a pink fluid, “this will help repair any significant damage that her being frozen may have caused. We’ve already drawn some blood and will have it sent for testing.”

  “When can we expect her to wake up?” Cal asked.

  “A few more hours. Your sister should be conscious enough to hear you. We can give you some space so you can talk to her. I think it would be good for both of you.”

  “I’d like that.”

  Everyone else left the room. Cal sat in a chair she had pulled up next to the bed and took Quinn’s limp hand. “I owe you an apology,” she said. “I don’t know why we argue so much. Well, that’s not true. I guess if I’m being honest, I’ve always been a bit jealous of you. It’s stupid, I know. I’ve always looked up to you so much, and Mom and Dad have always been so proud of you and what you’ve accomplished. I don’t know. It was a lot to live up to. That doesn’t excuse the way I treated you, though. I take everything out on you, and you don’t deserve it. I wish I could take it back.”

  Quinn’s finger, which was cradled inside Cal’s hands, gave a twitch. Cal took it as a sign that she was listening, so she kept talking. “It kills me that the last time I spoke to you before, er, all this, we were fighting. I feel like God’s given us a second chance here, and I’m going to make the most of it. I promise you. No more fighting. No more competing. You’re my sister, and I love you. I’ll always have your back.”

  Cal talked to Quinn for hours. She filled Quinn in on everything that had happened. When she ran out of things to say, she called her parents and let them speak to her. Sure, they didn’t end on the best of terms the last time they saw each other, but this wasn’t about them and their issues. This was about her sister. Cal assured her parents she would bring Quinn home as fast as possible.

  After the call ended, the beeps on the monitor grew closer together. Quinn’s breathing became deeper, and her eyelashes flickered until she opened her eyes. She scanned the room, her brow furrowed.

  “Don’t worry. Everything is fine, Quinn,” Cal said, squeezing her sister’s hand. “I’m here.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Cal had butterflies while she got ready for her first date with Flynn. Her sister had been released, and Quinn was living at home with their parents. Cal had moved in temporarily to help. She and her parents may not get along, but they were determined to work together to nurse Quinn to health.

  Quinn was showing continued improvement. She was the one who urged Cal to get out the house and do something for herself, and there was no question about where Cal wanted to be. She wanted to be with Flynn.

  She put on her new sequined green dress. It hugged her so tight she had to give it a few yanks to get it up over her hips. She slipped on her favorite black stilettos and reapplied her red lipstick. She ran her fingers through her hair and primped in the mirror until she heard a knock at the door.

  Her heart fluttered as she turned the knob. Flynn stepped out of the hovercab. He smiled so big that he squinted. “Wow.” His voice cracked. “You look stunning.”

  “You don’t look so bad yourself.” She admired his sleek black suit. She wasn’t used to seeing him dressed up, and it was sweet how nervous he was. She noticed the bouquet of wildflowers in his hand. “Are those for me?”

  “Oh, uh, yeah. I hope you like them.”

  “I do.” She hugged him, then pulled back and said, “You brought wildflowers to the hospital, too. How did you know they were my favorite?”

  “You told me. In middle school,” he said. “Remember? Your mom had taken us with her to the flower shop when she was helping plan your Aunt Kimmie’s wedding.”

  “I can’t believe you remember that,” Cal said. She kissed him on the cheek. She took the bouquet from him and arranged the flowers in a vase on the counter.

  He reminded her the hovercab was waiting outside. She grabbed her purse, and they left her apartment and climbed into the backseat. Flynn’s arm was wrapped tight around her hips. She rested her head against his chest and swept the hair out of her eyes. She looked out the window as the hovercab sped off.

  Bright orange and black wings flapped past. She wondered if her eyes had deceived her. She jumped up and pressed her nose against the glass, but it was too late. It was gone. It didn’t matter, though. She knew what she had seen. A monarch butterfly.

  Memories of Grandpa Jack came rushing to her. She thought of the butterfly that had landed on his nose, and she remembered his favorite saying.

  She pulled out the necklace Quinn had given her, which she still wore around her neck, and she admired it.

  “Is everything okay?” Flynn asked.

  “Yeah.” She looked at him, beaming. “It is.”

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  THANK YOU FOR READING!

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  -L. Danvers

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  L. Danvers worked as a news producer until she stepped away from the business to start a family. In 2013, she jotted down an idea for a story that popped into her head, and she’s been working on novels ever since. She writes fast-paced stories that are filled with memorable characters and are appropriate for YA and adult readers alike. She lives in Alabama with her family and golden retrievers.

  PREVIEW OF FATE ABANDONED

  Some bow to fate. Others rise.

  In the ancient kingdom of Vires, Princess Daphne's destiny is all but sealed. As her eighteenth birthday draws near, she is to remain at the castle to select a husband while her twin brother is to venture on a quest to prove his worthiness of the Crown. But soon after he leaves, Daphne gets word of a prophecy that predicts his death. Now, the princess and her maidservant must set out on a quest of their own to save him.

  With threats looming at every turn, they align themselves with a band of outlaws they bribe for protection. Together, they'll risk everything to reach the prince in time. But will it be too late?

  Chapter One

  Deep burgundy splotches covered Princess Daphne’s arm, like a parchment stained with barrel-aged wine. The markings stung, but she didn’t complain. She was proud of them. Being a girl, she wasn’t allowed to compete in the royal tournament. It gave her satisfaction, though, knowing that in some small way she’d aided her brother, Prince Phillip, in his success.

  Lillian scrunched her nose, holding up a dress with quarter sleeves. She shook her head. “This will not do, my princess. You’ll have to wear one of your winter gowns.” With a heavy sigh, the maidservant tossed it aside. She rustled through the many dresses in the antique wardrobe, the doors of which were etched with peonies—the royal flowers of Vires.

  “But I’ll melt.”

  Lillian shrugged. “You should have thought of that. Your father will have both our heads if you show up at the banquet with bruises for all of Vires to see. We’ll just have to cover them.”

  Lillian wrestled the princess into the scarlet dress. The maidservant’s cheeks flushed. Wisps of blonde tresses strayed from the thick braid encircling the crown of her head. Getting the princess into a dr
ess was an event fit for a tournament. She cinched Daphne’s laces so tight the princess could hardly breathe. Then she pulled out a wood-carved chair and had Daphne sit.

  The combined discomfort of the humidity and the dense fabric was already getting to the princess. She fanned herself while she eyed Lillian. Lillian gave a polite nod and crossed the bedchamber to open the towering window. The maidservant’s slate dress billowed in the breeze as she looked out upon the lands of Vires.

  The end-of-summer air breezed into the bedchamber, filling Daphne’s lungs. The winds carried with them the aroma of sweet florals from the garden. They brought with them, too, the stale stench of blood from the morning’s events. Daphne puckered her lips as she looked past Lillian, out upon the lands which her family ruled. Beyond the castle walls were rolling hills, carpeted with grass and wildflowers. She and her brother had spent many summers laughing together as they rolled down those hills. But things were different now. They were no longer children without cares. The twins were nearing their eighteenth birthdays. Past the hills, far in the distance, was the spindle-like canopy of the silver forest. The last rays of the setting sun bounced off the trees, making them sparkle like crystal. In this light, the silver forest didn’t look at all as forbidding as legends suggested.

  Lillian tied Daphne’s chestnut hair into braids. The princess bit her lip all the while. Lillian always pulled so tight. The maidservant placed a ruby-encrusted circlet on Daphne’s head. She sighed with satisfaction, admiring her work, and she rested her hand on the princess’s shoulder.

  It amused Daphne to see Lillian so worked up. She always got like this before banquets. She was a year younger than the princess. When it came to banquets, though, she fretted like the queen would have if she were still alive. Lillian put so much weight in them, in what they represented. And tonight was the most important banquet of the princess’s life thus far. It was the last one before her eighteenth birthday, when her life would change forever. Thinking of it filled the princess with dread.