by Holly Hook
I found one of the ladders that went to the surface, the one that wasn't far from the main underground mall. I had come up this ladder when I first arrived here, running from Xavier to go find Dad. Just climbing it brought the memories back and I struggled not to let emotions overtake me. It wasn't doing much good. At last, I opened the hidden trapdoor (complete with a thin layer of concrete) and peered out into the same dark alley I had risen from so many nights ago. How long was that?
The ATC building towered overhead, glaring down at Cumberland with its red letters. It was Thoreau's office and the headquarters of the ATC itself, along with a few other businesses who had no idea what really happened on the top floors. The night was early, with some faint orange light still in one half of the sky and stars winking in the other half, trying not to be drowned out by the city light.
The portal to Dad was on the top floor of the ATC building.
I still had a tiny bit of demon blood on my sword.
Maybe, just maybe, I could get both Dad and Xavier back.
But I wasn't sure how.
I walked. It was all I could think of to do. Before I left the alley, I checked behind me to see if anyone was coming up the ladder behind. I half-expected Trish to emerge, telling me that I was crazy for going off and doing this on my own, but there was no one. No footfalls crept up the ladder. Of course. Trish still didn't have much respect for me. I wondered if she was angry because I hadn't done my job of stopping this from happening to Xavier in the first place.
I thought of going back and biting him, but Trish would have ordered me to do that if it would help. Besides, there was no cure for Shadow Sickness other than possibly going to the source.
I had to seek out Death, then.
My sword was not glamoured. That was great. I kept it at my side as I walked and ran, staying in the alleys as much as I could. I drew closer to the ATC building. I almost wished Janine was with me, but I knew what would happen if she came along. Thoreau would threaten to hurt her to get to me. It was better that I'd left her and all of them behind.
The building loomed larger and larger as I walked, sometimes ran, staying in the shadows as much as I could. I ran past a couple of guys in hoodies who smelled like weed, and one of them giggled and started to make a comment about my body, but I turned around and glared at them, holding up my sword. The guy stopped and turned away, walking off with his buddy.
“I am not in the mood,” I said, watching them hurry out of the alley.
At last, after I had spent some time calculating my trip through the shadows, the ATC building towered over me with its many stories. I stood across the street from it, not far from where Janine's mother had sat in an ambulance after we'd rescued her from Thoreau's minions. I stood right outside a closed, fancy guitar shop.
There were magical wards around the ATC building. Normals could enter with no problem, but any Abnormal who crossed the wards who wasn't with Thoreau would be detected pretty quickly. Once I went in, it would be a matter of just turning myself in and then figuring out later how to get out of here. If there was a way. Thoreau would keep me until I became what he wanted.
But Xavier wasn't here, and one of the things he wanted me to do was bite him.
I might have something to my advantage.
I took a breath, steeled myself, and walked across the street, sword out and ready to go. A car slowed and I heard the cabbie inside talking about how the police needed to work harder in this town, but there was no mention of my name. I couldn't believe I was doing this.
I stood right outside the ATC building now. The air was electric and tingly. The wards. I watched a businessman—a Normal—walk through the doors without a hitch and meet the receptionist woman at the front. I wondered if that pleasant-looking lady knew what really happened on the upper floors of the ATC or if she was as deluded as Jamal had been. I watched the man walk towards the elevators and I steeled myself one final time. I had to do this now or I would lose my courage.
I opened the ATC doors and walked inside. The electric feeling washed over me. Somewhere on a floor above, an alarm buzzed for a few seconds, a non-magical one that no one would mistake for anything else. Thoreau or one of his Abnormal servants had merged magic with Normal inventions.
The receptionist lady looked up and smiled at me as if I were a Normal girl. I approached, not looking back and knowing that I might be making the worst decision of my life. Her smile dropped away when her gaze went down to my sword. Somewhere, an elevator hummed. The authorities were already coming for me. They had remembered our last attack on this place.
“My name is Alyssa Choy,” I told the lady. “I'm here to turn myself in.”
Chapter Ten
The woman's mouth fell open as if she couldn't believe it. “You're Alyssa Choy?” she asked, studying my features like she was trying to compare me to some photo she'd seen. “Why are you turning yourself in to the ATC?” She was bewildered. I was probably the first Abnormal to march in here and do this.
“Because,” I said. Nothing I told her would be believable. “Because I'm sick of everyone looking at me like I'm some kind of monster?”
The woman eyed the elevators and looked at me again. Yes, she had some clue about what went on here, just like the male receptionist had upstairs when Xavier and I confronted him. A faint adrenaline smell mixed in with the sandwich wrap she'd had for dinner. She didn't seem happy about what went on inside this place, either. Maybe she was just here for a paycheck or she had some horrible student loans to pay off. I felt bad for her. Thoreau was probably her boss.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” the woman asked, looking around the lobby again at the nice chairs and the fake plants that were designed to make this appear as Normal as possible. “I recommend that you leave.”
“I say the same to you,” I said. “Did you know Thoreau's a demon?” It was best to warn as many people as I could.
The woman's bottom lip quivered and more metallic fear pumped through her veins. “I can't leave,” she said. “I'm Bound to him. I have to serve him.”
So she knew.
Behind me, the elevator hummed as it got lower and lower. The security was coming down. Demons could Bind others to them, Normal or not, and make them do their bidding. Well, high-up demons like Thoreau could. I didn't know what happened to people who went against their masters, but I imagined that it wasn't good.
“I'm so sorry,” I said. I spotted her trash can behind her. It was full of breakfast wraps. Lunch combos. Dinner rolls. What kind of hours did Thoreau make her work?
“Please leave,” the woman told me. “If you're really Alyssa Choy, you don't understand what you're doing by coming here. You need to go and you need to do it now!”
She rose from her chair and pointed at the door a moment before the elevator dinged and the doors slid open with a final, metallic sound.
“Security,” a rough man announced as I turned.
The woman sat in her chair and went silent. There were four security guards standing in front of the elevator, all men in the now-familiar black ATC outfits. I smelled metal and the strange scent of bulletproof vests. And tasers. I cringed at the sight of those. The man in the front, a mustached guy who could pass as the world's jerkiest police officer any day, waved to the others as soon as his gaze fell on me.
“Check the perimeter,” he barked. “We do not want an attack like at the airport.”
The three other men fanned out, leaving me standing in the middle of the room with just my sword. Two of them circled behind me, checking the glass doors for any possible werewolves.
“Clear,” a second man said.
“I want to be certain,” the leader said. His name tag read Connors. “We don't want to lose any more good ATC folks to any Abnormal sicknesses.”
I had to take a stab. “I thought we all chose to be what we are? Did Jamal and the others choose to get infected with lycanthropy?”
“Silence,” Connors told me. He and a fourth guy
waited by the elevator. “State your name and drop the sword.”
I gulped. I was putting the world at some risk by doing this and putting myself at risk, but if I lost Xavier...I couldn't bear it. Either way, people were going to get hurt. If I wanted to, I could still get out the front doors so long as I dodged the tasers, but there was only a chance. The woman behind the counter tensed. I could sense her pulse racing, carrying all the adrenaline through her veins. She was terrified.
“My name is Alyssa Choy,” I said. “I'm sure you've heard of me?”
“Call for backup,” Connors ordered. Another one of the men, one by the door, pulled out a walkie-talkie and pressed a button. It crackled to life and he muttered some things about a code orange.
I had a code dedicated to me. That was great.
“I know I'm holding this really sharp sword right now with blood stains all over it, but rest assured, I'm not going to stab anyone,” I continued, struggling to keep my voice level. “I just want to talk to the mayor.”
“Of course you do,” Connors said. “Drop the weapon and get on the ground."
I forced a smile and thought of Xavier, lying there on the guest room bed while his own aunt fussed about what kind of trouble he'd be if he turned. I thought of Trish, practically lying over him, and Liliana, the little sister who would regret calling Xavier an idiot for the rest of her life. None of them would ever be the same again if he turned. Xavier's real family—Elsina and Trish and Liliana—would be shattered.
Like mine.
So I dropped the sword.
“Good,” Connors ordered, his hand on the taser in his belt. “Hands up, please. Get on the ground.”
“I'm here to cooperate,” I said, lifting my arms. I did not lie down.
I could tell Connors believed that as much as he believed the sky was purple. He hardened his glare and actually raised the taser at me.
“Come on,” I said. “I have my hands up and my sword's on the floor, and you're seriously going to--”
The spring shot towards me and I dodged out of the way in time for the business end of the taser to connect to the ground. I smelled faint smoke as it buzzed, injecting its ten thousand volts into the floor. The woman screamed at Connors to stop it already.
They were officially bringing out my killer instincts again. I grabbed my sword and rolled to the side as another taser fired, this one landing just inches from my leg. I was moving faster now that I'd had some sustenance, but I was outnumbered four to one. My sword shined in the light as I swung at Connors, slashing him across his bulletproof vest. It held but fabric sliced open, revealing the vest, so I lifted the sword and brought it down on his shoulder as he tried to retract the taser. The sword met flesh this time and dark blood dampened the sleeve of his ATC shirt, making the air smell of pizza. I shoved Connors back into the elevator as the other men shouted and cursed.
“I was going to cooperate,” I yelled, whirling around. The second elevator hummed as reinforcements came down. I boarded the first one and pulled the now-unarmed Connors up by the back of his jacket. He was bleeding and he also smelled like beer. Drinking on the job. Thoreau needed to hire some better people or maybe Connors drank because of Thoreau.
“Don't attempt anything,” I said, swinging Connors in front of me as a shield. “I'll kill him if any of you move.”
The receptionist stood behind the counter and watched, expressionless. The other three men all had tasers pointed at me, one of which was still deployed and stuck to the floor. Connors's gun lay on the floor, spring still bouncing from the impact. I didn't know if Connors had a regular gun, but it seemed like tasers were standard issue unless these guys were in a swat team.
“There's nowhere to go,” Connors said to me. “You're surrounded. Even if you kill me--”
I pressed the button to the top floor.
“--the rest of the ATC will find you. It won't do you any good.” Connors's blood flooded with metallic terror. He was only now just realizing what a mess he was in.
The elevator door closed and the guys on the other side all shouted at each other to take the stairs. Footfalls thudded as the elevator dinged and began to climb.
I had a hostage. I held the back of his jacket with one hand and he raised both hands in surrender. I was stronger than him, even though I was smaller. His bleeding shoulder was very, very close to me but the beer in his blood smelled disgusting. I wondered if I could get intoxicated by drinking it. It wasn't a risk I'd take.
“Are you going to bite me?” Connors asked.
“If you aren't good, maybe,” I said. “You're lucky you're not burning from the inside out." I now had confirmation that my fire power only worked against some other Abnormals. Normals were immune. Maybe all humans were immune. "Answer my questions honestly. Where is the mayor? I need to speak to him.”
Connors gulped.
“Where?” I asked, leaning closer to the back of his neck.
“In his office,” he said. “I haven't seen him, but I've heard that he's back and up there. I'm not allowed to go up there.”
“He should be dead,” I muttered. We passed another floor. “Did you know that he's not a Normal like most people think?”
“Thoreau isn't an Abnormal,” Connors said. “That wouldn't make sense. He runs the ATC!”
“He's against all of us,” I said. I found myself preaching more and more to these people who refused to listen. “He hates you, too. He's a demon who gathers Abnormals up so he can eliminate his competition or use them as slaves. Now he wants to take over the world and go after Normals, too. I suggest you think about serving him.”
We passed floor after floor. “His office is on the top floor,” Connors said to me. “I told you, I'm not allowed to go up there.”
“Of course you're not,” I said. “Then you'd see his demon portal and who knows what else?”
“A demon portal?” Connors asked.
I kept my grip as tight as ever. Maybe Connors was willing to think outside the box.
“You'll see,” I said. "I think I'm going to give you a lesson."
The elevator stopped at the nineteenth floor, the same floor where Janine's mother had been held prisoner. I pressed the button for the top floor again, but the button flared red as if warning me not to go any further. The elevator refused to move.
“See?” Connors asked. “Thoreau likes his quiet and privacy when he works. No one without a special code is allowed to go up to the top floor.” He pointed to a small number pad on right below the room numbers.
“Really?” I asked. “I've been there. There's another way up.”
The elevator doors opened onto the nineteenth floor and the hallway stretched out in front of us, lined with doors and offices. A plaque told me we'd reached the Chamber of Human Services and that Travis Ketchum was the head. I wanted to tell Connors that Travis Ketchum was a vampire who worked for Thoreau but he was about to be overwhelmed enough. The same male receptionist Xavier and I had met before was at the end of the hall behind a small desk. He looked up, saw me holding Connors in front of me like a prize, and stood up to back against the wall.
“Remember me?” I asked, pushing Connors into the room. Behind me, the second elevator hummed again. The backup must have gotten to the ground floor, then realized that they'd missed me. Now they were coming up behind us. Once they were here, I'd be trapped. I had to move fast. I had maybe a minute at the most.
“Y...yes,” the young man said.
“Then I suggest you let me through,” I said. “Me, and Connors. I want to show him something.”
The young man stepped aside. I heard him reaching into his pocket as I passed and turned the corner he was guarding. He was about to call someone, hands down. He was more prepared this time.
The long hallway curved up ahead. Connors walked in front of me. We came to some closed metal double doors with a sign that read RESTRICTED AREA. That hadn't been there before, either.
This was the prison room where some of Thor
eau's minions--including Travis--had been tormenting some Normals who were sheltering from the apartment fire—including Janine's mother. The last time I burst in, Travis had been feeding on her.
“So, what have you heard is behind these doors?” I asked.
“Dangerous Abnormals,” Connors said. “Prisoners.” He was tensing up again.
“You're right, in a way,” I said. “Now open these doors.”
“I don't have access.” More metallic fear pumped through him, eclipsing the beer.
I tightened my grip on Connors's jacket and kicked the doors as hard as they could. They were steel—they had been replaced since Xavier and I had been here last—but they both buckled and swung in a little. I kicked again, and again...I really wished I had access to Xavier's magic right now. It would help.
But at last, just as the elevator dinged far back, the doors both swung open. Thoreau hadn't made it too difficult for me to come through.
The strange chamber stretched in front of us as I pushed Connors into the room. He remained silent and looked up at the dome ceiling and the marble that made up the space. It was empty right now. None of Thoreau's minions were feeding on anybody or tormenting them with Dark Magic. Marble pillars with carved, evil demon faces in them surrounded us. Faint torches burned, casting horrible shadows on the demon faces. This was a creepy place, all right. I hoped Connors could see everything that I could.
“What is this?” he asked in wonder.
“Thoreau's decorating,” I said. “Now I'm taking you upstairs.”
Footfalls sounded from behind us. Backup was arriving. We didn't have time. I closed the steel doors, locked them with the turn of a handle, and broke into a run, shoving Connors forward and making him come off his feet. He cried out, but I remembered where the stairs were—they were on the other side of the large chamber, set into the marble and hidden until you were right on them.