The Burning Shadow

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “I am being serious!” he insisted, his head swinging around wildly. “They are— We are an organization that was founded—”

  “In the original American colonies? Wait.” Zoe shoved to her feet, her nose wrinkled. “The Sons of Liberty were a secret society that protected the colonists’ rights and were against taxation. You know, the whole ‘No taxation without representation’? The Boston Tea Party?”

  The room was so silent you could hear a cricket belch.

  “God.” She wiped at her cheeks with the backs of her hands. “We learned about them in history class. Unlike some people,” she said, sending me a pointed look, “I paid attention.”

  “She’s right,” Steven said, words spilling out of him in a rush. “The SOL was created to protect the colonists. People think the society was disbanded over the years, but it never was. We were active during the Civil War and during the Luxen invasion. We’ve always known that the aliens have been here, because we have operatives in every level of the government.”

  “Oh really?” Daemon replied dryly.

  “We have members all over the states, and whenever the SOL is needed, whether it be in times of war or strife, we answer the call.” Pride filled Steven’s voice and eyes. “We do so without recognition or record, knowing that we could die on any mission and it would be like we never existed.”

  “Like Batman?” Luc asked.

  Daemon snickered.

  “You don’t believe me? I can prove it. All the members are marked. Pull down the right side of my shirt.” Steven nodded at his words. “You’ll see it.”

  Luc did just that. Gripping the collar of the black shirt, he yanked it aside, revealing what appeared to be a tattoo with a snake coiled atop an American flag. It was all one color, shaded in black.

  My brows lifted.

  “All that proves is you have an ugly-ass tattoo.” Luc let go of the shirt, and Steve slumped back into the wooden chair. “This all sounds like a crock of shit, but I’ve heard stranger things, so I’m listening. Why would the Liberty boys be interested in her?”

  Steven worked on another swallow as his gaze flickered between Luc and Daemon. “You think we’re enemies. We’re not.”

  “We are,” Luc corrected.

  “At least we shouldn’t be,” Steven insisted as frustration rose in his voice. “It’s about to happen, and it’s going to happen fast if we don’t stop it. It’ll be over before anyone knew it even began.”

  Cold air teased the back of my neck. “My mom said something similar.” I glanced at Luc. “Right before … She was saying something just like that.”

  “Sylvia Dasher?” Steven said her name with a curl of disdain. “She was a part of it—part of the Poseidon Project.”

  Dawson groaned as he drifted behind the chair, tipping his head back. “What is it with the Greek names?”

  His brother became very still. “What is the Poseidon Project?”

  “It was the Daedalus’s greatest achievement,” Steven explained, his lips thinning in pain. “And it was their most horrific creation.”

  Stepping back, I rubbed my hands over my hips. “You know about the Daedalus?”

  “Of course we do. We monitored them as best we could.” His gaze darted from Daemon to Luc. “We don’t agree with what they are doing. They’re playing God. You all know exactly what they are.”

  “Are?” Dawson questioned. “The Daedalus is no more.”

  Steven shook his head, and I remembered they didn’t know what we suspected, what we knew. “No, they’re still active, very much so. You thought you took them out,” he said, fixing his panicked stare on Luc. “But you didn’t.”

  “Obviously,” Luc muttered.

  “Wait a second.” Daemon’s hands opened and closed at his sides. “Are you saying that the Daedalus is still active?”

  “We didn’t get a chance to tell you that, because these jackasses interrupted us,” Luc said. “Guys, I know you all want to focus on the Daedalus, and I get it, but let’s deal with one screwed-up thing at a time. So, a little more detail on the Poseidon Project would be great.”

  “Wow.” Daemon snorted. “That’s two things you don’t know about?”

  Luc looked over at Daemon. “I’m literally in the worst possible mood you could ever imagine right now.”

  “So? I’m in a bad mood, too. In case you forgot, your girlfriend just tried to kill me after you tried to kill me,” Daemon pointed out. “And I just learned that the organization responsible for every one of Kat’s nightmares is still functioning.”

  Luc exhaled heavily. “I’m beginning to think I shouldn’t have stopped Evie.”

  “Nice.” Daemon rolled his eyes. “That’s really helping with my mood.”

  “Do I look like I care?”

  “Guys, really?” I threw my hands up in exasperation, and half the room ducked as if they expected to be tossed into the ceiling. “Can you all not do this right now?”

  Neither of them looked like it was something they could control, but they both fell silent.

  I focused on Steven. “Tell us what that is.”

  “The Poseidon Project was their longest program, nothing like what they’d worked on before. Hybrids? Origins?” He shook his head, wincing. “This, if successful, would make every creation that has come before it seem like child’s play.”

  There was no question that Steven knew exactly what the Daedalus had been up to, but he wasn’t telling us anything, really.

  “I’m getting bored,” Luc warned.

  “Records indicate they’d been working on the Poseidon Project since the Luxen first arrived—since the Arum first came here. Yes,” he said when Dawson let out an expletive. “The project was fraught with so much failure we believed what they were attempting to be impossible—not even a concern. It had to be impossible—the blending of Luxen and Arum DNA.”

  “What?” Daemon and Grayson thundered at the same time. It was Daemon who continued. “That’s impossible. Our DNA is not compatible.”

  “Isn’t it?” Steven challenged. “Would it be impossible inside a human vessel?”

  Luc unfolded his arms. “Nothing is impossible.”

  “They succeeded. We didn’t realize until after the war, but they succeeded in ways we never imagined, long before we could’ve ever guessed. The things they’ve created—they’re unstoppable, wielding both Luxen and Arum abilities, more powerful than their strongest Origin.” His gaze flicked to Luc. “They’re not vulnerable to obsidian or the weaponized onyx.”

  That was the stuff that sprayed into the air in an invisible mist. Like the Disabler, it caused the Luxen extreme pain.

  “EMP-modified weapons do not harm them,” he continued, his chest rising and falling heavily. “Once their mutation is complete, only a shot to the head will put them down, but they are fast—faster than a damn bullet. I’ve seen it.”

  “Holy crap,” murmured Zoe, her eyes wide. “You said when their mutation is complete? What does their mutation look like?”

  “Like a horror show. It’s on a cellular level. Their bones break and reform, their blood vessels leak. Fever. Vomiting.” He closed his eyes. “Their entire bodies and minds change. They’re not like the hybrids. They aren’t the same afterward. They are programmed, unstoppable killers.”

  “Sarah.” Zoe turned, thrusting her hand through her hair. “April. Possibly even Coop and…”

  She didn’t need to say it.

  Me.

  “You’ve seen the news? About the outbreaks that the media is blaming the Luxen for?” Steven’s laugh was dry as old bones. “They weren’t sick people. They were humans mutating.”

  “How?” I whispered, and Zoe whipped back around. “How are people mutating? Why?”

  “Some of them were created in the labs. We’re pretty confident it took place at the compound in Frederick,” he said, referencing Fort Detrick, where my mom worked. “They were like the Origins. They created sleepers and called them Trojans, and just li
ke their namesake, they have infiltrated every level of society. But others are … they were normal humans that were mutated.”

  “How?” Daemon demanded. “How could normal humans mutate?”

  “It’s a flu,” he said, throat working on a swallow. “The Daedalus mutated a strain of a common flu to carry this mutation, and they released it. We don’t know when, but that’s why some humans are beginning to mutate.”

  Horror warred with disbelief inside me.

  “This is impossible,” Zoe murmured.

  “It’s not,” Steve insisted. “Weaponized biological agents aren’t anything new, and the Daedalus has had decades to perfect this.”

  “If what you’re saying is true, how come we don’t have thousands of these … mutated humans running around?” I asked.

  “Flu shots. People who got flu shots may still come down with the flu, but it weakens the mutated strain in the virus. They won’t mutate,” he explained, and it felt like the floor moved under me as I thought about how Mom had even mentioned the importance of flu shots. So much so that I often joked that she must be getting kickbacks from the makers. “Those who didn’t get the flu shot, they’re either going to die during the mutation, or they’ll mutate, and those who got the shot are going to have just about the worst flu in their life.”

  Silence filled the room, and I thought of Ryan. With the normal flu, people died if they had undiagnosed health conditions like heart problems or autoimmune diseases. People whose bodies probably couldn’t withstand the mutation.

  “We don’t think they’ve released the virus on a wide scale yet, but there’s no way of being sure. At least not yet,” Steven continued. “But it’s viral. It’ll only be a matter of time.”

  I felt like I needed to sit down.

  “No way.” Dawson breathed. “This is … this is too much to believe.”

  Archer strode forward, coming to stand on the other side of Luc. “I’ve never heard or seen anything like this, not once during my entire time at the Daedalus.”

  “You wouldn’t have.” Steven twisted his neck from side to side. “It was top secret. From what we could gather, only a very few had clearance to the project or to the key that created the mutation.”

  “And what was that called?” Daemon asked. “Bullshit 101?”

  Fear trickled into Steven’s gaze. “It’s not bullshit. None of this is. They had three serums. Some of you know them well. LH-11. Prometheus and Andromeda—Andromeda creates the Trojans.”

  My hands fell to my sides. I tried to speak, but my throat closed off.

  “No,” Luc said, snapping forward. He gripped the man’s shirt, lifting him and the chair off the floor. “You’re lying.”

  “Why would I?” he cried out. “What point would that serve?”

  I stared at Luc, wondering why he didn’t believe this man and then quickly realizing that he didn’t want to.

  “He doesn’t have a reason to lie, Luc.” Archer turned to him. “What he is saying sounds unbelievable, but you and I both know the Daedalus was capable of just about anything.”

  “He’s right,” Steven gritted out through clenched teeth. “We have been tracking down the Trojans, trying to get to them before they activate and take them out afterward, like we did in Kansas City and Boulder. Something is coming—something big. The ones we haven’t been able to capture have all but disappeared. We don’t know why, but we know it’s not to go live out their days on a farm. Whatever reason they were created for, it’s happening now.”

  It seemed like Daemon was the first to figure it out, because he turned slowly, looking directly at me. “And that’s why you’re here?”

  Luc dropped Steven and the chair landed with a thud. “Don’t say it,” he ordered, speaking the words so quietly I barely heard him.

  Steven ignored him. “She’s a Trojan. You saw what she did out there. Have you ever seen anything like that? No, none of you have.”

  I couldn’t speak.

  “If you don’t believe me, I can prove it,” he interrupted, his wide gaze fastening on Daemon. “Try to shoot her.”

  “What?” I exclaimed.

  Archer cocked his head to the side. “I don’t think any of us are going to fall for that one.”

  “You’re not listening to me!” Steven shouted. “If you try to shoot her, it won’t happen, even if she hasn’t been activated. What is inside her will protect her.”

  “You guys were trying to shoot me in the head outside!” I yelled a sentence I never thought I’d have to.

  “From behind,” Steven clarified. “If you can’t see it coming, you can’t stop it.”

  Breathing heavily, I stared at him. “You can’t be telling the truth. I know I did some pretty badass and scary stuff out there, but I can’t magically stop bullets.”

  “I can,” Luc said.

  I looked over at him, brows raised.

  “Do it.” Steven’s gaze swung around the room. “Do it, and you’ll see that I’m not lying.”

  “No one is shooting Evie,” Luc said. “Sorry.”

  “Well,” Daemon said. “If we do it and she stops the bullet, then we know he’s telling the truth.”

  “Did you miss her go all Dark Phoenix out there?” Zoe demanded. “I really don’t think we need to risk shooting her to prove what he’s saying.”

  Luc faced Daemon. “We’re not shooting Evie.”

  “I’m just saying we could just maybe aim for her leg or something,” Daemon suggested quite helpfully. “That wouldn’t kill her if it turns out he’s full of crap, and she’ll probably kill him.”

  My mouth dropped open. “There’s no reason to shoot me. I’m…”

  As everyone around me fell into an argument over whether or not it was okay to shoot me, I thought about Mom, and my heart cracked wide open. What little hope I had left that she hadn’t been a part of what was done to me was gone. She had to have known—

  “You need to take her out,” Steven said, breaking the silence. “You need to do it before it’s too late.”

  Luc slowly turned around, facing everyone in the group. “No one is touching her. Does everyone understand that? Because I used up the last of my generosity not killing this man when he pulled a gun outside. That tank is on empty.”

  No one responded. There were nods, a few long looks exchanged, and then Steven spoke once more.

  “There will come a time when you will regret this.” Steven lifted his chin. “There will come a time when you will wish you’d put her down, and by then, it will be too late.”

  That was the same thing Micah had said to us, and when I looked over at Luc, I knew he was thinking the same thing.

  Micah had known.

  He’d known what I was.

  * * *

  There was no more information Steven could provide, and when I walked out of the house, I wasn’t expecting that Steven was going to live much longer.

  And he didn’t.

  I knew he was gone when Grayson carried out Kent, who’d been wrapped in a blanket. Zoe followed the Luxen, and I closed my eyes, seeing Kent’s face.

  I felt Luc’s presence without hearing him. I felt his warmth. “That shouldn’t have happened to Kent.”

  “No, it shouldn’t have.”

  “I know I didn’t know him as long as you all did, but I liked him.” I opened my eyes, and my lashes were damp. “He was funny, and he was…”

  “Good. Kent was just all around good,” Luc finished for me, and then he took my hand. “Come on.”

  Luc led me off the porch, toward where Grayson and Zoe had walked. They hadn’t gone where the other bodies were laid but behind the cabin, near a stone bench.

  We didn’t talk about what Steven had told us or confirmed. I don’t think any of us were even thinking about it as Zoe lifted her hand and tapped into the Source. Grayson joined her. So did Luc, and by the time there was nothing but ashes left, we were joined by the twins and Archer.

  Kent wasn’t buried in the mist, an
d there were no words spoken and no tombstone to mark his grave. Just a patch of scorched earth and heavy, palpable silence.

  If Kent were here, there probably wouldn’t be silence. He’d crack an inappropriate joke. Probably call me some weird nickname and then have all of us laughing.

  All I could tell myself was that he hadn’t seen it coming. There’d been no pain. He’d taken a breath … and then didn’t, and I had to think that was at least some consolation. He didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t fair and it wasn’t right, because, like what Luc said, Kent was good.

  My tears joined the mist on my cheeks.

  I don’t know how long we all stood there before Daemon spoke. “We need to leave before more come,” he said. “Before it’s too late.”

  39

  There wasn’t time to shower or change, so we piled into two new vehicles that had been parked in the garage. Both were older models, a nondescript Jeep Cherokee and a four-door Taurus.

  Daemon climbed behind the wheel of the sedan, and I got in the back seat with Zoe. Luc was in the passenger seat. Dawson and Grayson joined Archer in the Jeep. It was more than just weird to see Daemon driving. I’d gotten so used to seeing Kent there in a short period of time that it just felt all kinds of wrong.

  He should be here.

  He shouldn’t be dust and ash.

  Pulling the blanket I’d swiped from the bedroom around me, I rested my cheek on the cool window. My jeans were cold and stiff in some places, sticking to my skin in others. I was filthy, but I was alive.

  I kept replaying everything that Steven had told us. There was a super-scary virus out there that could mutate humans into this thing or it could kill them. James had been sneezing the last time we’d seen him. Was he getting sick? Or had he gotten the flu shot?

  I didn’t doubt what Steven had said. That I was the result of the Poseidon Project, something so incredibly dangerous that a centuries-old secret society had hunted me down. That I was a Trojan, mutated by my mother and hidden in society to eventually be awakened to carry out some nefarious deeds.