Shadowmarked, p.11
ShadowMarked, page 11
“How are we supposed to do that?” Theo asked, nursing a cup of weak tea. His gaze was fixed on me, even as he spoke to Em.
Em shrugged. “Beats me. You’re the ones who said you weren’t useless.”
“We’ll get it done,” I snapped, a little sharper than intended, but I was sick of Em’s shitty attitude and constantly making me feel like we were useless. Though I wasn’t entirely sure how, I’d find a way. I had to.
A light blinked green on the tablet Em had beside her, and she quickly jumped up. “We have an incoming Link from Leanna,” she called to the others seated in various old chairs around the warehouse.
Jayla was the first at her side, Caspian right behind, and Theo and I moved around the table to get a better view. When the rest were gathered, Em pressed a button on the tablet, and a Linked version of Leanna appeared above the table.
“I was beginning to think you were ignoring my call.” Leanna sneered. She wore a black and gold coat and seemed to be standing in a large, ornate foyer. The small view the Linked screen showed behind Leanna displayed a large painting of flowers filling an entire wall from top to bottom, an exquisite gold frame surrounded it. “I have news.”
“Good news, I hope,” Caspian said.
Leanna shrugged. “It’s news,” she said with indifference. “The King of Kuros has not made a decision yet on their assistance in our war. He requires additional… proof on our end.”
I noted the way Leanna’s gaze lingered on Theo a second longer than the rest and how Theo’s shoulders tensed.
“What kind of proof?” Jayla asked.
“He’s hesitant to believe we have any allies, including genetic kids, that will be of any assistance to him and his men. And he’s skeptical as to how we acquired so many Marked kids in the first place. Though I have assured him we were the ones to rescue the Marked kids from the Void, it seems he was led to believe we were responsible somehow for the kids being there in the first place. He thinks we’re the ones who plan to use them for our own gain. So, he requires physical proof with his own eyes.”
“Link us in then,” Jayla said. “We’ll gladly show him he’s wrong.”
Leanna’s gaze again flashed to Theo, for only a second, but long enough I noticed. “I suppose if one of you were to show your marks and explain that we rescued you, not imprisoned you, that may convince him otherwise.”
“I’ll do it,” Theo said quickly.
Leanna gave a slight nod and glanced behind her, whispering something we couldn’t hear over the Linked image.
“Step forward,” Em said, moving to her tablet to Link Theo into the other side. He’d be visible to anyone in the same room as Leanna, but we wouldn’t see anything he did.
“I should go, too,” I suggested.
“No, it’s fine,” Leanna said a bit too quickly. “Theo will do.”
Theo squeezed my hand before letting go and taking another step forward. Em pressed the button to link him in. A bright light flashed from the tablet and covered Theo from head to toe. While he was here in our room, he only saw what was on Leanna’s side.
Theo lifted the sleeve of his shirt to reveal the black marks across his forearm. I watched as his eyes scanned what must have been multiple people standing with the king who we couldn’t see.
Leanna looked back over her shoulder again. “Satisfied?” she asked.
We didn’t hear the reply, but the Linked connection to Theo disappeared.
Turning back to us, Leanna was focused on Theo as she spoke. “I’ll have Logan link us into the others in Eres, just to be thorough, but the king said he’ll make his decision soon.”
“Why can he not give us an answer right now?” Jayla asked.
Leanna turned back to her. “This is a diplomatic matter that you likely wouldn’t understand.” Despite it only being a Linked version of her, Em took a threatening step forward. “To start an outright war with a neighboring city in the midst of an entirely foreign threat isn’t something to be decided on hastily.”
“I understand that,” Jayla said through clenched teeth. “But if he delays any longer, more people will die.”
“I’ll let him know that.” Leanna nodded. “I’ll contact you when we have an answer.” The connection ended before Jayla had a chance to say anything else.
The others began arguing about what the king should or shouldn’t do, but my focus was on Theo. He was still staring at the spot the Linked image had been, and his face had paled.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
Theo flinched at the sound of my voice and blinked away whatever was running through his mind. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Who was there?” I asked.
Theo shook his head. “Just the king and queen and Leanna.”
He stepped past me, moving back around the table and sitting down. He took a sip of his now cold tea, and I noticed his hand tremble.
“What happened? There’s something you’re not telling me,” I pressed.
“It’s nothing.” Theo shook his head, his expression looking more natural every passing second. “I’ve just never seen the king and queen before. It was… intimidating.”
I frowned but took a seat beside him. “Did it look like he might choose to help us?” I asked.
Theo nodded. “Yes,” he said. “I think he’ll help us.” He downed the rest of his tea before stating he needed to wash up. He pressed a long kiss to my forehead, his hand resting on my cheek, and I leaned into it for a moment until he dropped his hand and moved to the stairwell taking him back to our room one level up.
I followed him with my eyes until he disappeared behind the door. Despite what Theo tried to convince me of, I knew he was lying. Everyone had tells. He didn’t look at me when he spoke, and he couldn’t hide his expression after seeing the king even if he tried. But that wasn’t the reason I knew he was lying.
Theo never trusted anyone the first time he met them. He’d been skeptical of Ava when I first introduced them, and Jayla and her team when we’d all met. So why then was Theo already convinced the King would help us? Unless it wasn’t the first time they’d met.
JAYLA
“Didn’t you tell all of us the minute we got here that it was a bad idea to leave the warehouse?” I asked Simon as he led me through an ice-cold water canal under the streets of Cytos.
He’d pulled me aside shortly after Leanna’s message and told me he had something urgent he needed me to see. I hadn’t expected him to take me into the canals, and now my boots were filled with disgusting cold water that would freeze the second we stepped back onto the winter streets. I tried my best not to think of what might be floating around me.
“Quiet,” Simon hushed.
“Do you really think anyone will hear us down here?” I complained, though I kept my voice a touch quieter.
Simon glared. “You haven’t been here for a while, Jayla. Things aren’t what they used to be.”
“What’s happened, Simon?”
“A lot,” Simon said sternly, placing a finger on his lips before moving to push open a grate leading to the street above us.
I followed silently behind him, pulling myself out effortlessly, knowing better than to argue with Simon. We popped out of the canals in front of a vaguely familiar building. We were just outside of the downtown core, though you couldn’t tell without any lights or crowds anywhere to be seen. People were still here, still living in the city, but a curfew had been set up and only establishments approved by Governor Grayson were still operational. Simon moved towards the side door into the building we stood beside, and we slid into an empty foyer leading to a set of stairs. They creaked with every step as we ascended three floors.
The building looked abandoned, as did most of Cytos. Only a single light filtered under the door at the end of the hallway. Simon stopped in front of it and knocked twice. A single knock rapped back before the door opened.
A grey-bearded man wearing what looked to be a jacket three times too big for him greeted us with a sideways smile. “Simon,” the man said.
“Corbin.” Simon squeezed his shoulder as we passed. “How’s he doing today?”
Corbin shrugged. “Been better. Been worse.”
“Well, we won’t be long,” Simon said, moving farther into the small apartment.
The windows were covered with thick, black paper, and the single light was from a broken lamp. There were food containers piled in one corner of a table, and a chair looking as though it’d break the second someone sat down. What might have been a living room housed a bed in the middle, which Corbin plopped himself onto and rested his arms behind his head.
“Take your time,” Corbin mused. “I’ve got nothing but time.”
Simon made his way to a door at the back. He knocked once as a sort of warning before pushing the door open.
It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the brightness of this room, which was clearly a bedroom. The windows were also covered, and with no door to the outside hallway so they didn’t bother keeping the space dim.
“You’re back?” A familiar voice came from the end of the bed. “I thought you were gone for good.”
“And I thought you were the new Governor of Cytos, Holden,” I mused, surprised to see Marc Holden standing before me.
He was not the man I remembered from only a few months ago. A scruffy beard had sprouted and was trying to fill the lower half of his face, but it was failing horribly. He looked older somehow, and like he hadn’t slept in a few days.
“Turns out the job wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.” Holden grimaced.
“How you been, Gov?” Simon took a seat next to Holden.
“Oh you know, having trouble sleeping… but who isn’t these days?” Holden played with a string attached to the slip knee of his pants. “Can’t quite get her out of my head.”
“It’ll get better.” Simon gave him a gentle pat on the back. “But that’s not why we’re here.”
“Didn’t suppose it would be,” Holden said.
“Want to tell me why we’re here?” I tilted my head to Simon. I stayed standing, positioning myself close enough to the door so I’d be the first one out if anything went wrong. Instinctively, my hand rested on the hilt of my gun.
“Holden has some information you need to hear,” Simon said. “And I felt it was better for you to decide what you did with it on your own… and who you shared it with.”
I narrowed my eyes, my jaw clenching and unclenching. “Okay then, share away.”
Simon turned back to Holden. “I need you to explain to Jayla what you’ve been keeping in your vault.”
Holden was already shaking his head, and his hands shook in his lap. “I can’t. I won’t. She’ll find out and she’ll kill me.”
“I’ve told you numerous times she can’t get you here. You’re safe.”
“No one is safe!” Holden screamed, standing and pacing for a moment before pausing in front of Simon. “You already saw what happened, what she did. Why would you make me relive it again?”
It was only then I noticed Holden had a limp. The ripped knee of his jeans hadn’t been ripped by accident; it was like that to allow the mechanical knee to bend properly. The lower half of his leg was metal.
“That was because you were sloppy and greedy. You’ve learned your lesson now, haven’t you, Holden. It makes no difference if you tell Jayla. You’ve already been punished for revealing too much.” Simon’s voice held no sympathy, but his face was gentle and kinder than usual.
“You already know everything. You tell her,” Holden said.
“You know that’s a lie.” Simon shook his head. “You told me part of the story. She needs to hear it all.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s going to end this. Isn’t that what you want?”
Holden’s eyes bounced to mine. He paused for a moment, weighing out the pros and cons in his mind before deciding whatever information he had was worth the risk.
“Fine,” Holden said, sighing and sitting back on the bed next to Simon. “I know how she’s avoiding the virus… how she’s not turned yet.”
“Governor Grayson?”
Holden nodded. “She has the last of the cure, the last vial of the blood of the first Carbon.”
“How is that possible?” I asked. I recalled the information Em’s dad had given us months ago, about a cure stopping the virus just after the war ended more than a hundred and fifty years ago. But I thought the cure was gone.
“They kept one vial with the hopes they could replicate it in case it was ever needed, but they could never reproduce what it did, and to keep trying meant losing what little they had left,” Holden explained. “When they returned—those things—she brought it to me so it’d be safe. I wasn’t told then what it was, but she has a doctor come every day and take one drop to give her. It wasn’t until everything began going to shit here that I realized its significance, and I tried to use it as leverage… but instead I got my leg ripped off by one of those things.”
“Reeks?” I asked.
Holden shivered. “No, the other ones.”
I exchanged a look with Simon whose face was grim.
“What other ones?” I whispered to Simon.
“You’ll see,” he replied, focusing back on Holden.
“Worse than Reeks—because they can be controlled,” Holden said, his voice ominous. “But without the blood, even Grayson couldn’t live forever.”
“So this blood, just one drop, allows her not to get infected?”
Simon nodded. “Temporarily. She takes it daily from what Holden’s seen, so that means she’s not fully immune.”
“And what do you want me to do about it?” I asked, thinking of a few ways I could use this to my advantage, but they all required getting way to close to Grayson—which wasn’t an option.
“Well, you can do what you want, but there are a few Carbons out there not trying to kill you who are susceptible to the virus as is. It might be handy to have that around,” Simon suggested.
“So send him back in.”
I hardly got the words out before Holden yelled, “No! I won’t go back. I can’t.” He pushed off the wall and began pacing again. His hands pulled at his hair and he mumbled, “She can’t get me here. I’m safe. I’m safe.”
“Thanks for that.” Simon glared. “As you can see, Holden isn’t really up for being governor or covert missions right now.”
Corbin walked into the room. “Do you know how long it took me to calm him down this morning?” he scoffed.
“Wasn’t me,” Simon said, pointing at me. I rolled my eyes.
Corbin moved around me and grabbed Holden who flinched and swatted him away. He forced him back to the bed and shooed us out of the room.
“What the hell happened to him?” I asked when we were alone in the main part of the apartment. “You said he’d gone missing.”
“He thought he could best Grayson, show her who’s boss, and threaten to destroy the vial.” Simon shrugged. “Clearly that didn’t work out as planned. They ripped off his leg from the knee down and left him for the rats to finish off.”
I couldn’t help cringing at the thought. The other ones, Holden said. What did that mean? Simon moved towards the table and lone chair of the cramped apartment.
“How’d he end up here?”
“A few of Gustov’s men found him tossed in a gutter near city hall and took pity on him. I brought him here knowing he would be a lot more useful than the others realized.” Simon tested out the chair with his hand and thought better of it, choosing to lean on the table instead. “He’s a bit scarred from the whole experience, as you can see. Corbin’s been keeping a good eye on him, but he can’t sleep without having nightmares, and we all know what happens when you don’t sleep.”
I gave a non-committal shrug before looking away. I’d had little sleep the past few weeks as well… was I bound to end up like Holden?
“That’s not all I wanted to show you.” Simon reached into his pocket and pulled out a portable Link system. They were used for visual messages mostly, not communicating back and forth. “I was given this a while back, and didn’t really know what to do with it. I intended to give it to Reyes, but…” He cleared his throat. “Anyways, I figured you had a right to see it and to choose if you want to share it with your team or not.”
“We share everything,” I said.
Simon held up a hand. “Your choice, like I said.”
“Show me.” I waved my hand towards the Linked system.
Simon turned the system on, and a light flickered to life above it. The image was looking into a room through what I assumed was glass from the slightly wavy image. Simon placed it on the table and pressed the button to play the video.
“Test four,” a voice said. “Bring her in.”
I had to blink three times and lean in to make sure what I was seeing was real. It was the same white-blonde hair and features I’d grown used to, but her eyes were completely black.
“Is that—”
“No.” Simon knew who I thought it was. “That’s her sister.”
I felt my lungs deflate and had to sit down on the creaky chair before my legs gave out. On the image before me was Em—only it wasn’t Em. It was her sister, the Marked version of her.
“When was this taken?” I asked.
“Three years ago,” Simon answered.
“That’s not possible.” I shook my head. I did the math in my head and knew it didn’t add up. Em’s sister died five years ago. It was on the national Linked news. We all saw it.
“I didn’t think so myself, but I’ve got data proving it’s not Em—although you can ask her yourself if you want—that’s her sister. I don’t know how she’s alive but she is.”
“Is there a chance it’s someone else? Another genetic kid they created or something?”
Simon shook his head. “You’ll see.”
