Across The Divide (26 page)

He was sound asleep, his body in the same position I left him the night before. I petted him, his skin still burning.

Hell.
My stomach sank.

The door unlocked, swinging open. I jumped, turning to see Delaney strolling into the room.

“Good morning.” She walked to the side table, setting down her tray of needles and fabric. “I brought you a new set of scrubs. I was told you needed a shower and new clothes before starting out this morning.”

I nodded, walking back over to the bed. 
Play the good soldier, Zoey. One more day
. I hoped this wouldn’t be a phrase I would be saying months from now.

“He doesn’t look well.” I motioned back to the cage. Delaney uncapped the syringe and stabbed it into my neck.

“I will look at him later,” she replied, not sounding at all concerned. She pulled out the needle and placed it back on the tray. “Let’s get you cleaned up, some breakfast. The doctor would like you downstairs in an hour.”

My molars ground together. Today was going to be difficult. That was probably a huge understatement. I stood and followed her down the corridor.

The shower washed away the red stains, but the clean top and pants only provided a new canvas to the abstract art I would be painting in fresh blood today.

At breakfast I stole extra honey, stuffing it into my sports bra. I needed to give Sprig some happiness. I didn’t realize how much I counted on his innocence, humor, and joy to get me through. Without it I felt even more lost and defeated.

Delaney stayed with me till Liam came into the cafeteria to claim me. I followed him out at the same time Kate was coming in. Her eyes locked on mine. She kept her head down, letting her long white hair hide her full face. I couldn’t read anything from her face, but the intensity of her gaze gave me a strange sense of security. Someone else was on my team.

“More testing today?” Kate stared at Liam instead of me.

“No, Rapava has her extracting from a fae instead. Kind of jealous.” Liam smirked.

Kate’s gaze darted to me, then quickly back to Liam. “Really?”

“Yeah. Surprise, surprise, but she’s actually good at something.” Liam tilted his head toward me.

“Zoey was exceptionally well trained.” Kate’s eyes found mine. “Daniel was good. One of the best.” I felt the underlying meaning of her words wash over me.

Liam snorted. “So good he got killed.”

“Do not speak of a fallen Collector that way.” Kate’s mouth pinched together. “You should understand what it feels like to lose a partner.”

Liam took a step back, the truth of her words hitting him.

“Plus, it only adds to the nasty things we’ll say about you when you’re gone.” Kate spun around and walked into the cafeteria, leaving both Liam and my mouths agape.

Holy shit! Did she just say that?

Liam’s lids narrowed. “Crazy, bitch.” He turned and stomped down the hallway.

I wanted to cheer, to clap, but I kept it inside. 
I always liked her.
A sly smile peeked out of my façade. My smile quickly disappeared as Liam led me to the elevator. The doors opened at the bottom. Lexie and Rapava stood at the end of the hall.

A spike of joy at the sight of her rapidly plummeted when I realized why she was there. She was my cautionary tale. A tale where happiness would only ever be a faraway illusion while bits of my soul were ripped from me.

My eyes lifted, needing to see Lexie again. Her face was void of emotions, her eyes unfocused. Liam stood behind her, his hands on her chair, but his smug smile through the window told me those same hands could easily squeeze the breath from her throat.

I carved into Ryker’s chest, going deeper into a cut that had almost healed. “Tell me, fae!”

Saliva dribbled out the side of his mouth, hatred burned in his eyes as he snorted and huffed through the agony.

“FUCK. YOU.”

“Try again.” I pushed the blade deeper. He was slipping from me, I could feel it, with every slice of my blade. His eyes became more and more distant as the blood oozed from his wounds. The killer in him was taking over.

Shards of pain shattered in my soul as my knife deepened. What was I doing to him? How could he ever forgive me? Would he? Or in my quest to save my sister, I’d lose him, both his life and his love?

He grunted in pain, spitting at my face.

My hand shook as I lifted it to my face, wiping it away.

“Are you all right, Zoey? You seem out of sorts today,” Rapava said from across the table.

“I’m sorry if this bothers me,” I snapped at him. “I was a seer, a Collector, not a torturer.”

Rapava straightened up, his gaze moving over me.

“I am sorry you feel that way. I thought you would want to take revenge for what this…thing has done to you. Assaulting you. Demeaning you. Didn’t he emotionally and physically abuse you? Mess with your mind so much you forgot who you were for a while?”

No, that’s you, you bastard,
I screamed in my head.

“And what are
you
doing, Doctor?” Ryker snorted, getting the irony as well. “You think your psychobabble is going to get her to stop pansying around with her baby nicks any more than it’s going to get me to talk?” A gruesome smile crept over his mouth. In this moment, he was the Ryker I knew. Most of the time all I saw was the version of him that wanted to kill me. “Your hard-on for the stone is the only thing you will have in your hand tonight. Jacking off, alone, to another failed attempt.” Ryker sneered with a strange chuckle. “How’s the research going? Find the connection yet? Wonder why all the other subjects keep dying?”

Rapava rolled his jaw.

“Oh, did I hit on a nerve? You stupid fuck. You think you’re so smart,” Ryker mocked. “But you can’t figure it out can you? And you can’t get me to talk. Pisses you off to no end, doesn’t it? 
Doctor
.”

Rapava reached over and yanked the knife out of my hand. His eyes were wild with abhorrence. He jammed the blade into Ryker’s side. A cry tore from my throat as blood spurted like a fountain and splashed my face. Ryker’s roar rattled the room, slamming my heart faster in my chest.

Then Ryker started to laugh. The chilling, hollow guffaw drove into my heart, rippling goosebumps over my skin.

Rapava yanked out the knife with a zealous movement. Ryker’s head fell back, his eyes fluttering shut.

“Wake up! You will tell us where the stone is.” Rapava’s face turned a deep shade of purple, holding the knife to plunge it again. Blood dripped along the blade, running in streaks down his lab coat.

High, pierced screams broke out from the other room, slamming further fear into my system.

Lexie!

My eyes darted to the other room. Lexie stood, her gaze going between Ryker and the bloody knife in Rapava’s hand. Her eyes were wide, clear, and full of horror. She was awake. I could see the girl I raised, her true emotions not hiding behind the drugs in her system.

“Shut up!” Liam tried to push her back onto the chair, but she didn’t seem to notice him, her focus fully on us. Lexie’s legs couldn’t hold against Liam’s strength and buckled, banging her back into the chair, ceasing her shrill shrieks. The sudden silence filled the rooms with an unnerving sensation. Adrenaline, fear, and panic thumped in the air.

I took in a shaky breath.

“Get her out of here,” Rapava yelled at Liam, dropping the blade on the table. He peered at the blood dripping off his lab coat and took in a controlled breath. “I will return.” The doctor stiffly turned, heading out of the inner room. “Pick her up,” Rapava ordered Liam, pointing at Lexie, his usual cool manner dissolving.

Ryker got to him like no other I had seen. Rapava never lost his temper. But Ryker hit the doctor’s weaknesses. Rapava wanted two things, and neither were panning out. He was growing impatient and reckless.

I watched Liam pick up Lexie like a baby, her gaze on Ryker’s form as he carried her to the door. Just as Liam took the corner, her eyes flashed to mine. Awareness and intensity showed in them. Then they disappeared around the corner.

Like a hawk, I tracked Rapava walking out the main exit, the door closing behind him.

I was alone. With Ryker.

I leaned over him, gently touching him. My heart needed to see if he was okay. “Ryker?”

He stirred, his eyes blinking open.

“Ryker, I—”

His wrists were bound, but he was able to grab the bottom of my shirt, yanking me so hard I stumbled into him. He grabbed the collar of my top, bringing my face only an inch from his.

“When I’m free…” His voice was husky as his lips brushed against my earlobe. My lashes fluttered closed. Feeling him close made me forget everything outside of us. The danger only triggered my desire for him. “I am going to fuck you so hard.” His hot breath billowed down my neck, between my breasts. I sucked in a sharp breath. “You want it, huh?” he whispered hoarsely, noticing my reaction. “You will be crying and begging me for more…to go deeper…you will be about to climax…” He nipped at my ear. I felt myself tightening, wanting to feel him inside. “And then…”

“Yes?” I whispered so quietly I barely felt my mouth move.

“I. Will. 
Kill.
You.”

I jerked back. His fingernails scraped my neck as he reached for my throat. Ryker’s face only held disgust, his eyes distant. My feet backpedaled, stepping clear of his grasp.

“Human. You are
dead
,” he barked, his head raising off the table. The restraints labored as he fought against them. He seemed unaware that every move he made only opened the wound on his side more. He grew more feral, saliva spraying from his mouth. But at the same time, he moved like a robot—programmed.

Emotion I kept hidden all day bucked against the walls I constructed, cracking small holes. I turned and walked out of the room, tears edging the rims of my eyes.

“I. WILL. KILL. YOUUUUU!” Ryker bellowed. The determination in his words skated along my spine. I locked my teeth together, not wanting to let my emotions out.

I went through the main door, my body shaking.

The bell of the elevator rang, the doors opening. Liam stepped out, his gaze landing on me. “What are you doing?” Liam came out, walking toward me. “You can’t leave. Dr. Rapava is coming back.”

“I’m done for today.” I stepped around him.

“That’s not up to you.” Liam grabbed for my arm. I swung around with a snarl, halting him in his steps.

“I. Am. Done. For. Today.” I leaned closer to Liam, stressing each word. He seemed to sense my seriousness and let go of my arm.

I whipped back around, walking into the open elevator. He moved alongside me. Without a word he returned me to my room, locking me in for the night.

I proceeded toward Sprig’s cage, needing to see the little guy. The lid of the container squeaked and spilled in fluorescent light when I lifted it, peering in.

My heart sank to my knees. Sprig was still in the corner and appeared like he hadn’t moved an inch. His form was curled in a ball, laboring in and out as he breathed.

“Sprig?” I reached down to touch him. “Buddy?”

The skin underneath his thick fur blistered with heat.

“Sprig?” My throat closed, trying to swallow the dread piercing my lungs like a dartboard. “I brought you honey.” I tugged the packages from my bra. Maybe sugar would help him. I tore into one of the containers, placing it under his nose.

His nostrils flared and twitched, but he didn’t open his eyes. Oh my god. My stomach plummeted like a roller coaster, then rose with nauseated panic.

I squirted the honey on my finger, pressing it to his mouth. Nothing. There wasn’t anything that would keep Sprig from his honey. Zero.

“Buddy, come on.” I lined his lips with the sugary substance, trying to entice him out of his deep slumber. When Lexie first came to us, she wouldn’t eat. I rubbed applesauce along her lips to get her to lick it off and start eating. It had worked.

I hoped it would again. Seconds ticked by and Sprig did not respond to the honey. His breathing only grew more forced.

“No!” The word discharged from my mouth, my panic building to anger. “No, you have to be all right. Get up!” The blast of anger rapidly fizzled, plucking tears from my eyes.

“I can’t take you too... please, Sprig.”

His chest went up, faltering, before he breathed out.

Oh my god. He was dying.

My knees buckled and I slumped to the floor. “I can’t lose you too,” I whispered, the pain in my chest making it difficult to breath. “Please don’t leave me.”

The lights above my head flickered off, plunging me into obscurity. I looked at the dark lights. My chest filled, sweltering with fury. The switching off of the lights turned on my anger.

Fury at Rapava billowed inside me like a hot-air balloon. Rage at this place, at Ryker and Croygen for following me here, Sprig for getting sick, Lexie for going behind my back to contact DMG. Everything. But most of all myself. For letting it all happen. For being a victim again…

No. More.

I grabbed my foot, ripping off my boot with a lurch. My nails shredded as I dug at the insole, ripping it out of my shoe. The rock sat in the heel of my boot, looking innocent and docile.

“You want me?” I growled at it. “Fine. You can have me.”

The rash stupidity of this nibbled at my conscience. A voice told me to stop, that I would only make it worse. But I shoved the thought back, tired of listening and playing the game. I was ready for recklessness. Anything to get us out of here, to stop the loss of all the people I loved.

I tipped the shoe, the stone rolled to the edge.

Zoey, stop!
My gut screamed at me.

No, Zoey, this is what you want
, the stone called.

There was no doubt who won as the gray rock plopped in my hand. The moment it touched my skin, it grabbed hold of me. I felt my head hit the floor.

“Zoey, I knew you’d come back for me. I felt our connection. I like you. You and I will do amazing things together.” The stone’s deep, soothing voice spoke into my head. “Do not doubt yourself. You made the right decision to say yes to me.”

“But I haven’t said yes.”

“Yet,” it responded. “But you will.”

Flashes of images assaulted my brain almost too quickly to decipher. Finally it landed on one.

I stood off in the distance with Ryker, Lexie, Sprig, and Croygen beside me. The DMG building was on fire. The ground exploded and erupted as the surface below was bombed. Experimental animals ran off, escaping the blaze and running free. The prisoned fae fled for higher ground. Happiness filled me as I watched it burn. Every last paper, test tube, needle, piece of lab equipment, and document was destroyed. Rapava sat on his knees in front of it, his head in his hands as he screamed.