by Kevin George
BabyDoll hobbled closer to Love, reaching up to grab his hand. She looked at him and smiled. He didn’t know what the smile meant but sensed some sort of meaning behind it, for which he felt an odd sense of relief.
“Damon has always been. . . peculiar, keeping to himself down in the hangar, never showing an iota of care for anyone but himself. . . and for the Board,” Elias said. “His family’s loyalty to the Board is legendary. That does not bode well for us.”
“We’ll have to make him understand we only want to know what’s happening,” another guard said.
“And if he doesn’t want to understand that?” Olly asked.
“Then a change in our leadership may be warranted,” Elias said, gripping his gun tighter than before.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Emma’s sobbing was muffled and weak, but it was the only sound she heard among the overwhelming silence. Her head spun as she fell in and out of dazed consciousness; whenever she struggled to open her eyes, she couldn’t focus on the white ceiling for longer than a few seconds without her eyelids closing again. She couldn’t remember what had happened to her, couldn’t remember where she was. Any time she fought to focus on a single memory, pain and confusion overwhelmed her mind, sending her plummeting back into a deep, dark hole of blackness. . .
Emma had no perception of the passage of time. It felt like she’d been stuck in place for hours, but somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized she hadn’t been out nearly so long. When she tried to move, not only did searing pain attack her side, she also felt several straps fastened tightly across her body. She couldn’t budge, and the more effort she gave to do so, the closer that pain came to pushing her back to unconsciousness. Upon cracking her eyelids again, she sensed the shadow of approaching movement. She stopped squirming and stopped moaning, remaining completely still. Fear caused her chest to tighten.
Whoever strapped me down also caused my pain, she thought, her mind clearing slowly but steadily.
She held her breath and closed her eyes, bracing for whatever torture came next. The shadow fell over her, remaining in place long enough for Emma to risk opening her eyes. The outline of a single person hung above her, interrupting the flickering lights of the room, casting his face in shadow.
“Try to stay calm,” said a soothing—and recognizable—voice. “Staying still will help with the pain.”
Emma’s eyes filled with tears, which helped clear the fogginess of her vision but also distorted everything around her with a watery hue. She blinked the tears away and focused on the face of an older man, the wrinkles around his eyes creased deeply as he stared down at her with what appeared to be genuine concern. In a sudden rush of memories, Emma recalled everything that had happened to her.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
Will frowned. “I didn’t want to, none of it. I’m only following orders so they won’t hurt my children. I know it seems awful what Billy and I have done to you, but trust me, it would’ve been far worse had anyone from the Board tried to drain your marrow. They’re butchers, all of them, not proper scientists.”
“You took what you need. Let me go,” Emma said.
“I. . . wish I could,” Will said, his lips curling down. “We completed the improved Aviary Blast, and Billy is off testing it. We need to make sure it works before we can release you.”
“But the Blast should work. I am the real Jonas, the real Descendant,” Emma said, still unable to believe the meaning of those words.
“I know, I can see it in your eyes,” Will said.
He frowned and looked up, scanning the room though he knew it was empty. Still, he leaned closer to Emma and spoke barely above a whisper.
“My family descends from the Weller line that escaped The Mountain decades ago and traveled to the City Below,” he whispered. “Nigel Weller was the first of our name to reach the city. He pressured his Jonas traveling companion to switch identities to allow him to take power in the city. Nigel took a wife upon arrival and had several children, long before population rules were put into effect.
“My family descends from Nigel’s oldest child, who was brought into a lab section of the City Below that was never fully constructed or connected to the rest of the section you knew as One. We were kept apart from everyone else, my family taught science that was passed down from generation to generation. Our duty was to monitor the volcano and its energy output, to advise the Jonas kings, and later, to reproduce batches of a former version of Blast. My children often spoke of leaving our labs to rejoin city society, but I knew the Jonas king and prince would never allow us to reveal our true identities.”
“Weller,” Emma whispered. The name that had once meant so much to her now sounded so foreign, so evil. She shook the thought away but couldn’t move her head more than an inch. “Please, release me. I can’t deal with that pain again; I don’t want them to kill me.”
Will’s face scrunched in thought, his hand shaking as he reached for the strap against Emma’s chest. She exhaled deeply, hoping to give him more room to free her, but his fingers never reached the buckle before he pulled away.
“I can’t risk my kids,” he said. “But try not to worry. Billy is a smart boy; don’t tell him, but he’s smarter than I ever was. He made the best possible Blast and once the Board sees how well it works, they’ll revere not only my son and me, but also you for the power of your bone marrow.”
“But won’t you need to take more from me?” she asked, grimacing as the throbbing pain intensified in her hip.
Will took a step back and looked away, unable to look her in the eyes. That answered Emma’s question.
“Please, you can’t let them,” she whimpered. When it became clear he wasn’t going to respond, she summoned her remaining strength. “You can’t let them!”
Her head and vision swirled, and her hip exploded in pain, but she wriggled and writhed and groaned with every ounce of strength, only calming once Will returned and placed a hand on her arm.
“We had to rush this time,” Will said. “We won’t the next time. Certain comfort measures weren’t taken that can be in the future.”
Emma shook her head, only moving an inch from one side to the other but doing so with such violence that blackness crept in from the corners of her eyes. She yelled that she wanted to be left alone; she yelled that she wanted to be freed. She yelled until she could no longer summon the breath necessary to make another noise. Tingling warmth washed over her and she felt unconsciousness about to take her away, but she managed to stay awake and in pain, whether she wanted to or not.
Tears filled her eyes again. She glanced up at Will, who stared down at her with the utmost sympathy. Pity, she thought, making Emma feel sick. She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see him.
“You’ll have plenty of time between donations, I assure you,” Will said. “And you’ll have the love and admiration of every person in The Mountain, Board member and human alike.”
Emma sighed. “I hate you.”
“Hard decisions are sometimes needed when it comes to survival,” Will said, his voice suddenly hardening. “We had no idea you’d be here when we arrived, but we even brought a prisoner with us that has another famous name from the past in the hopes he’d somehow be useful to those in charge here.”
Emma no longer wished to acknowledge his presence. She kept her eyes closed, quiet and still, for nearly a minute, listening for the old man’s feet shuffling away. But he remained by her bedside and his words continued to play in her mind. Curiosity battled her anger and pain, eventually causing her to sigh and look up at him.
“A Jonas?” she asked.
Will shook his head. “A Peters.”
Emma’s breath caught in her throat. She tried to sit up, but the straps dug painfully into her flesh.
“Artie?” she asked breathlessly.
Will’s eyes widened. “You know him?” he asked. Emma nodded. “I believe he was taken to the same cell as the rest of my family.
I hope they’re all safe.”
Will mistook Emma’s curiosity for forgiveness and again tried to apologize for their current situation. But Emma no longer replied, her mind swirling with the news of Artie still being alive, wondering how he could’ve ended up—
A loud beep across the room interrupted Emma’s thoughts and Will’s ramblings. She turned her eyes as much as she could as the lab door clicked open. Distant commotion echoed from the hallway, the yelling growing closer and more raucous, though the noise didn’t last long before the door slammed shut.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
The heat inside Chad’s mask stifled him from taking a deep breath. He wanted desperately to remove it but wasn’t certain if any of the guards knew what the real Moretti was supposed to look like.
One person among them would recognize me and know for certain I’m not who I’m pretending to be, Chad thought, turning his head away from the prisoners being escorted by what appeared to be half The Mountain’s guards.
After pressing the button to open the hangar door, Chad had sprinted across the huge room, taken the steps three at a time up the stairwell and rushed down several hallways, searching desperately for the lab where the Descendant might be held. It wasn’t until he’d encountered several guards that he was pointed in the right direction, though he’d no sooner found the right door than the large squadron of guards showed up with two large feathered prisoners, a small feathered girl, a teenage girl not much younger than himself and last, but not least, Prince Oliver. Though Chad couldn’t help focusing on the prince, he was fairly certain one of the feathered prisoners was the same Sky Person who’d saved him from the Nothingness.
The same one who saved Sally. . . and helped kidnap her and steal my vehicle, Chad thought, hope swelling in his chest at the thought of Sally being here. He wanted to pull the Sky Person aside and demand answers about what had happened to Sally but knew that would give away his identity and put him in the same predicament as the other prisoners.
“I told you to step away from that door unless you want trouble,” Elias Kim warned.
Though the guards had so many prisoners, Chad felt all eyes aimed toward him. . . all weapons ready to be aimed toward him. The prisoners stood off to the side, none giving any indication that they intended to make trouble. In fact, Oliver stared at the door with eyes so wide that Chad wondered if the prince knew who was inside.
He’s back to continue torturing her, Chad thought, his hands shaking. It took all his willpower—and his good sense—to look away from the prince and focus on the guard who was apparently in charge. I thought I’m supposed to be in charge.
Chad stood a bit taller and puffed out his chest, the only way he knew to establish dominance. Too late, he realized how foolish he looked. He dropped the gruff tone from his voice before speaking.
“I don’t know if there’s been some sort of miscommunication, but I only want what’s best for the Descendant,” Chad said.
“You’re not here because the Board ordered you to be?” Elias asked.
“I’m here because I want to ensure Emma remains safe from whoever would do her harm,” Chad said, unable to stop from turning his head in the prince’s direction.
“Then are we in agreement that the Board having complete control of the Descendant could end poorly for us all?” Elias asked.
Even if Chad hadn’t agreed, he would’ve been foolish to say otherwise, as he sensed plenty of guards’ weapons turning just slightly toward him.
“Maybe we should move her to another section of Mountain, a more secure location,” Chad said. “Maybe somewhere away from this entire place.”
Nearby, Love squawked in excited agreement, and all three Aviary prisoners fluttered their wings. But Elias raised an eyebrow, as well as his weapon.
“Your father was Moretti, who spent his entire life doing exactly as the Board commanded. You always seemed to share a similar ruthlessness, especially when you ordered the slaughter of the newcomers,” Elias said.
The largest of the Aviaries—the one standing close to Prince Oliver—squawked and flapped wildly. “My people!” she screeched, hovering a few inches off the floor, her misshapen teeth bared and gnashing in Chad’s direction. He considered removing the mask if she attacked, but several guards near her raised their weapons and warned her to settle down. Oddly, it was Oliver who interceded and calmed the monstrous Sky Person.
“We have to focus on the future,” the prince told her. “We have to focus on getting to Emma.”
The thought of Prince Oliver getting his hands on Emma again—especially not knowing what torture he’d made her endure during the months since Chad escaped the city—sent a wave of rage crashing through Chad. He took a step toward the prince, wanting nothing more than to finish the job he’d started so long ago in the Colisseo.
“I should’ve killed you when I had the chance,” he told the prince, whose eyes widened with a mix of fear and surprise. The large Aviary squawked at Chad and wrapped a protective wing around Oliver. When Chad realized the other guards were looking at him with confusion, he pointed to Oliver. “We can’t trust him. . . we can’t trust that intruder. I’ll kill him before ever letting him get to Emma. . . the Descendant.”
Mutters of suspicion spread among the guards, but Chad found as many eyes staring at him as were staring at the prince.
“How could you possibly know that about the prisoner?” Elias asked.
Behind them, the large female Aviary squawked with newfound urgency and this time was joined by Love and the smaller Aviary. The trio couldn’t remain still, their flapping wings and bobbing heads causing a swirl of feathers to hang in the air. But their squawks weren’t the only noise, and the guards’ muttering silenced long enough to hear more squawking, this time coming from farther down the hallway as another group approached.
The Board.
Billy felt numb, from the emptiness he felt in his chest and the pit of his stomach, to the inability for his legs to keep up with the rest of his body. Each time he was shoved from behind—every push joined by shrieking from the Board members—he stumbled and nearly fell. The only thing keeping him upright was the constant threats of returning to the room of prisoners and his sister facing the same bloody fate as his brother. . .
Wild squawking erupted around him, snapping Billy out of his daze. At first, he worried their ire was being aimed toward him. But when he looked down the hallway, he spotted a large group of humans, as well as a few of their feathered prisoners, one of them that looked particularly familiar. Billy froze in fear, having barely escaped his feathered creation the first time. He needed to be pushed to keep moving.
“Who’s watching the highest level for more intruders?” asked Ms. Van Horn.
“Not that freak in the mask,” a Board member pointed out.
“At least that freak seems to have the other guards in line after the death of their other leader,” Ms. Van Horn said. “And they’ve captured Love and the other escaped prisoners.”
“Doesn’t look like they’re captured to me,” another Board member said.
Though the guards had the prisoners surrounded, no weapons were aimed at Love or the other two Aviaries. Upon approach, Billy had a clearer view of the female Aviary than he’d had earlier. She was taller than not just everyone in the guards’ group, but also Ms. Van Horn and every other member of the Board. She was broader in the shoulders with a thicker covering of feathers and sharper facial features than any other Aviary Billy had ever seen. Awed, excited whispers spread among the Board, none of whom pushed Billy once they saw what he was capable of turning them into.
Ms. Van Horn led her followers toward the laboratory door, where Damon Moretti and his squadron waited. Ms. Van Horn stared daggers at Liv, puffing her chest out before turning to the masked guard.
“Congratulations on your promotion, and on capturing Quentin Bowie’s. . . mistake,” Ms. Van Horn said. “I see you’ve protected the Descendant from those that mean to steal her
away and destroy The Mountain’s future.”
Liv squawked and spread her great wings, causing the rest of the Board to recoil and hiss at her. Love, however, remained calm and still, BabyDoll’s hand still gripping his.
“This is how you treat me after everything I’ve done?” he asked the Board.
Ms. Van Horn stared at the little Aviary girl. “It looks like you have plenty of your own secrets you’ve been hiding,” she said before turning to Moretti. “Eliminate the troublemakers but not the little girl. Our scientists might find her useful.”
Ms. Van Horn’s eyes widened when she didn’t see a single guard turn toward the prisoners. Their masked leader remained quiet and still, shielding the door to the lab and Descendant. Elias Kim stepped forward, taking his place beside Moretti.
“We have concerns about the plans for the Descendant,” Elias said. “We’d appreciate an assurance that she faces no immediate danger.”
Several Board members gasped and then squawked, surprised ‘mere humans’ would question their orders. Liv returned their hisses, trying to force her way toward the weaker Aviaries until Oliver stepped in her way. Ms. Van Horn remained stone faced, only a slight narrowing of her eyes giving any indication of how she felt.
“Do you think we would’ve spent so many years searching for the Descendant only to harm her?” she asked.
“It was Love that spent so many years searching for her, and now you’ve ordered us to eliminate him for wanting to protect her,” Elias said.
“He disobeyed,” a Board member snapped, followed by several shrieking echoes of the word ‘disobeyed.’
“Just as you’re all doing now,” Ms. Van Horn added, her eyes turning on nearby guards. She expected them to cower under her glare, but not a single human budged. Ms. Van Horn’s feathers bristled as her lips slowly pulled back over sharpened teeth. “The Board doesn’t need to explain its decisions to any of you. This will be the only verbal warning we give you to move out of our way so we can finally create the destiny meant for us.”