“No use in trying, Olga,” he said, stepping up to my side. “Don’t make this harder on yourself than it needs to be. I’ll have to use my ice pick if you don’t cooperate, and believe me, you don’t want that. You saw what it did to Conner’s back, didn’t you?”
My insides twisted as I remembered Conner in his cell, bloody and beaten.
“First things first. We’ll need to do a blood test before I give you any drugs to help our DNA study.”
He pushed up the shirtsleeve on my left arm, then retrieved some gauze and antiseptic spray from his kit. Terror built inside me at the sight of him putting on sterile gloves before he held my arm in place so he could clean the filth off my flesh.
I tried to make small talk while we waited for the spray to dry. “You should really rethink your path in life. I have this boss named Riel, maybe you’ve heard of him? He’s a pretty powerful angel, and he is gonna be very pissed when he finds out about this.”
The demon ripped a sterile needle from its package. “You want to know what I think? I think you’re just a little girl who’s too stupid to realize the honor being done to her.” He stabbed my arm with the needle, harder than necessary, and drew blood into a syringe.
“Stupid is as stupid does,” I said, watching him prepare a second syringe for Grace as he stood between our tables.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He transferred my blood to a bottle and scribbled my name in black marker on the label, then repeated the process for Grace.
Stars swam before my eyes.
I will not pass out, I will not pass out, I will not pass out.
“It means I’m agreeing with you. Even an intelligent person is stupid if she does stupid things.”
He shut his medical kit with a bang. “Perhaps you’d like to stop acting stupid then? Are you ready to tell me what was in that Alpha File, or shall I proceed with the truth serum?”
“You got a pen and paper?” I whispered, still feeling woozy from the blood work.
He picked up the black marker and heaved himself across the room to grab a piece of paper off the counter. “Go ahead.”
“Olga, don’t,” Grace warned, writhing and kicking as much as the straps would allow.
Spots still clouded my vision as I spoke. “It started with a series of letters. E, W, S, C, R, A, Y. You got that so far?”
“Yes.”
“Good. O, U, Y, A, Y. You’ll have to decode the letters to read what it says. Are you familiar with the rules of Pig Latin?”
“No.”
I was buying myself some time, but having a little fun, too. “Okay, in Pig Latin you take the first consonant of each word, then move the letter to the end and suffix an ‘ay’ at the end.”
There was a long silence before the demon stared straight into my eyes and chuckled. “A pity such talent is wasted on always trying to be the hero. But we’ll fix that soon enough.”
I held my breath while he brought the rim of the cup toward my lips. My mouth wanted to scream, but all I could do was press my lips together and thrash. To what avail, I didn’t know, since I was sure he’d just bring another glass if I knocked this one out of his hands. Or worse, get his ice pick.
“You’re only hurting yourself,” he said, grabbing my chin between his fingers. His grip was like a vise. “Come on; drink up like a good little girl for daddy.” He grunted from the effort of trying to hold me still, but then he pressed his fingers together, forcing my lips into a pucker.
I clamped my jaw shut and tried to kick my legs, fighting to free my hands or feet. But then, forced by muscles beyond my control, my lips started to part. Try as I might, I couldn’t struggle against his grip any longer. I wanted to yell, appeal to anyone who might hear me and still have a heart, but that would be the end of me. If the truth serum worked, they’d discover I didn’t know how to read the Alpha File, and then what? Conner and I wouldn’t have any leverage, and what about Nate? That thought blurred into another. If Nate had gone all evil on me and wanted to help the dark side, why hadn’t he told Sam he knew what the file said? I couldn’t make heads or tails of it, and I didn’t have enough time to try to work through the convoluted thought process.
Help me
,
God, Jesus, Riel, Ash, Dr. Judy. Anybody, please help—
My mouth opened. The glass tilted toward my lips. The demon smiled. In my mind, I saw Conner’s smiling face, sweet Conner. His face was what I wanted to take with me during my last moment of being myself, before I changed into some truth-telling robot. And for one brief exhilarating moment, I was rewarded with the memory of racing him down the sand dunes of Grand Haven State Park before jumping into the frothy waters of Lake Michigan.
Then suddenly, the demon’s hand jerked. His beady eyes went wide. I turned my head when he dropped the cup, the sound of it clattering on the concrete. The demon slouched over my body before slipping to the floor.
Carefully, since I still felt dizzy, I turned my head sideways.
“Grace!” I squealed.
She shushed me, and drew the tranquilizer gun from the front pocket of the demon’s apron, her chest heaving. I closed my eyes slowly, then opened them again in disbelief.
“How’d you get out of the restraints?”
“I have no idea.” She holstered the gun in the back of her pants as she walked over to my side and then loosened the restraints. “I was struggling against them with all my might, so afraid for you, and they just came loose.”
“But—” I thought about her unique biological background. “Grace, your father was an archangel. You probably inherited some of his more powerful chromosomes.”
She snorted, then squinted her eyes at me, a twinkle of mischief lighting her face with an inner glow. “Perfect. Let’s use my powers to get us the heck outta here.”
She helped me sit, then I jumped off the table, wincing as another wave of dizziness washed over me. I was bone-weary. My neck ached where Nate had shot me, my arm was sore from the needle, and my ankles were in agony from the shackles.
“Um, do you think extraordinary strength is part of your superpower abilities? Because you might need to carry me.” I only half-joked with her.
“You can’t walk?”
I shrugged.
“Okay then, let’s try this.” She scooped me into her arms. “Grab the tranq gun from my back pocket. You’ll need to play the role of bouncer if we run into anyone out there.”
She didn’t need to tell me twice. I snatched the gun as she raced to the door. Within seconds, we were down the first hallway. My body still felt sore, and I clenched my teeth to keep from crying out as her movements jostled me. Supersonic speed seemed to be another power she accessed quickly now that she knew about the angel blood running through her veins.
“Doing okay?” She must’ve noticed my grimacing. “Aren’t you dead? I thought there was no more pain after death.”
I nodded. “Nate used the tranq gun issued by our spirit guide headquarters, so they must be able to cause pain to us and other spiritual beings.”
Her mouth fell open as she let out a gasp. “Makes sense, I guess. But… no, none of this really makes sense.”
We’d come to the hallway with the row of cells. “Conner!” My voice quivered; half-afraid for the state we might find him in, and half-afraid we’d have to fight Nate to get to him.
Grace slowed and I scanned the small rooms, blowing out a series of short breaths, trying to squelch my panic attack as cell after cell showed no sign of Conner. Equally odd was the lack of guards.
I frowned. “Where did everyone go?”
“They’re in the computer lab,” came a familiar voice from behind us.
Grace swung us around.
“They’re still trying to crack the encrypted Alpha File on their own,” Nate said. “Hopefully that’ll keep them busy until we’re long gone. Come on, I’ll show you the rest of the way out.”
I trained the gun on him. “We’re not going anywhere with you. Hands in the air, traitor!”
He threw his arms up. “Olga and Grace, I owe you a thousand apologies, but I’ll start with one. I’m so, so sorry. I had no choice but to act like I was on their side.”
“Yeah, right. My kiss with Conner made you snap, and now you’re just trying to buy some time. You have until the count of zero to tell me where Conner is, or I swear to God I’ll shoot.”
“You’re not supposed to swear to God,” Nate said, shuffling two steps toward us. “And do you honestly believe you have it in you to shoot me?”
His taunt scorched my ears, fueling my anger “You showed me how, remember? Now, where was I? Oh yeah, the countdown. Three, two, one, zer—”
“No, don’t! I moved his body outside.” Nate’s breaths were labored, heavy, as he waited for my response.
My own breath caught in horror.
His body? He’d already killed him, and now he had to bury him?
An echo of rage bounced across the corridor, and I thought the sound might be an animal before I realized it came from my own lips.
I’ll make him pay dearly for this.
“Show me. Now.”
Nate slowly shuffled in front of us and led the way. I trained the gun on his back the whole time, my finger feeling as trigger-happy as a gangster. We continued to follow him—Grace carrying me easily up the steps—but I felt like I was the one carrying her, as the weight of more guilt settled upon my chest.
I glanced over my shoulder when we approached the exit, making sure we weren’t being pursued. “Grace, I’m sorry for involving you in this fight. I’ve made a ridiculous mess of things since I’ve been dead.”
Grace chuckled. “Oh, come on, some of it was fun. Right, Grace?”
I found it odd that her tone still held humor after all this.
Was she being condescending
? Her demeanor didn’t look patronizing, but that didn’t stop her statement from cutting me like a knife. I guess I deserved any hurtful words she wanted to throw my way though.
Nate kicked the door open with a surprising intensity, a raw look on his face. Everything in me wanted to believe he was good, but if he had turned evil and I let my guard down for even a second, then I would ruin everything again.
We stepped outside to a sterile moonscape, a waiting forest a few hundred feet in the distance, a glowing yellow lake about a mile wide at its entrance. The lake might’ve looked beautiful if it weren’t for the black clouds swirling above the surface, carrying the screams of death. I lifted my face to the sky, searching for light, but there was none. The whole area held the sickly stench of rotting animal carcasses. Grace’s shoes crunched over leaves as we followed Nate around the building. I wanted to ask him what was in the lake, but my mouth felt full of cotton. The wind wailed between us anyway, making hearing difficult while coating my skin with the dampness of terror.
“Hurry up,” Grace ordered him, human pace apparently much too slow for her now.
Nate held up a hand, checking around the corner, making a show of actually caring if the coast was clear. He motioned for us to come, stepping into a clearing and pointing ahead to a clump of trees in desperate need of some rain, their bare branches beating against each other in the violent wind.
“He’s behind those bushes over there.”
My gaze followed the direction of his index finger.
“Put me down, Grace.” I half-closed my eyes, trying to ignore the dizziness making the whole forest in front of me spin when she released me.
I moved past Nate, ignoring him, too, and ignoring the briars catching on my jeans. Hidden beneath a pile of dead leaves, I saw him. Conner. My breath caught at the sight of him. Time seemed to stop, stretching itself out as my feet remained frozen to the ground, my mind returning to the scene of the lightning strike.
Once again, I was too late to save him.
I turned, threw the gun to Grace, and hurriedly brushed the foliage off Conner’s body. Though my head throbbed, and parts of my body still felt numb, my injuries were nothing compared to Conner’s wounds. He wasn’t naked anymore, but only a thin pair of hospital scrub pants covered his lower half. His shirtless form revealed lots of dried blood—way too much blood—crusted to his side, his back, his abdomen, his arms. With closed eyes, his body lay motionless on the cold, hard dirt.
I choked on a sob.
“Conner!” I whispered, hoping he was still alive.
Could someone die twice?
I turned to Nate, horror gripping my chest. “What have you done to him, you monster?” Hands still up in a defensive stance, he spoke in a placating voice. “Olga, I’m sorry. I—”
“Shut up! Both of you!” Grace’s look of fury almost frightened me more than the sight of Conner’s bloody body. “You can sort out your sick little love triangle later. Right now, we need to focus on getting out of here. Olga, take the gun. I’ll get Conner.”
In a flash, Grace moved to Conner’s side, sliding her arms beneath him. His clouded blue eyes fluttered open.
“Conner! Thank God. Can you move at all?”
He attempted to smile. “Of course; I have the moves like Jagger, baby.”
I sighed; relieved his sense of humor wasn’t lost in all the beatings. “Okay, we’re gonna get out of here. We—”
Branches crackled loudly behind us. The two demons from earlier rounded the corner, their angry steps shaking the ground beneath our feet.
“Olga! Take Grace and get help!” Nate yelled. “I’ll guard Conner.” He pulled a small hand grenade from his pocket.
For a split second, I wondered where he would’ve secured such a weapon.
Did he find it in the spirit guide headquarters, or did the demons give to him? And why hadn’t he blown us all to bits if he had that in his pocket the whole time?
I shook my head. “I’m not leaving Conner with y—”
But there was no time to argue. Grace grabbed my hand and slid down the hill behind us. At the bottom, my knee grated against the rough bark of a tree, but the pain was distant compared to my mind playing the ‘what if’ game as I was laid flat on my back. What if the demons got a hold of Conner again? This whole thing about traipsing around the Underworld had been my idea, but now my brain filled with Nate’s words of warning. I pictured him in my mind with his arms crossed, giving me his sexy knowing smirk.
Jerk.
Crap
. Maybe I should just surrender in exchange for Conner’s freedom. And I wouldn’t let Nate get away either. I’d find a way to exact my revenge on him.