Shadowmarked, p.24
ShadowMarked, page 24
“I really wish you hadn’t involved her,” Allard lamented, closing the door behind us.
It was all over. I wouldn’t get those doors open, and I wouldn’t be able to save Vic. I’d promised I’d help, had ensured I’d find a way, and I’d failed.
“How did you know it was me?”
“Oh please.” Allard waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t insult me by thinking you’re smarter than I am. This idiotic plan reeked of bad decisions and brazen stupidity. I knew immediately that you were a part of it.”
“And now you’re going to kill me?” I kept my chin high, not willing to stand down even in the face of death.
Allard rolled his eyes. “I’m going to clean up your mess.”
My brows furrowed.
“Grayson would have known in an instant that sweet Jane here had helped you guys. Her fingerprints would be all over it, and all you would succeed in doing is getting her family killed along with all those kids. If you want to get out of here, you have to be smarter than Grayson… and you’re not.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Is that your default setting? You don’t understand?” Allard’s voice rose. “No one ever understands—no one gets what this is all about. You were supposed to be smarter, more observant than the rest. I was told you were better than all the others and I trusted that. It seems we were wrong.”
My mouth gaped open. I couldn’t find the right words, but something in what he said struck me as familiar. Do you know why you were picked to graduate last? Because you’re more observant than the rest. Instructor Yarik had said that at my graduation testing, right before they killed her.
“Let me put this in words you might understand. When you ask for help from a lowly nurse with zero experience, you expose yourself to potentially getting caught. What if I hadn’t been alone? What if Grayson was in here, and your plan was foiled before you even had a chance to do anything?” Allard took a step towards me, and I found myself hugging my arms around my body. “You don’t go to the bottom to ask for help, you go to the top. She’d still be alive if you’d just come to me.”
“You’re the one who killed her!”
“And you are the one to blame for that,” Allard spat. My chest clenched, and I found it hard not to look at Jane. Her face was pale and bloodless. “You want those doors open?” he pointed to Jane. “That’s the price you had to pay.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t want her to die.”
“People will die, many more before this is all over. It’s about time you get used to it, my dear.” Allard pressed something into my hand. When I looked down, I found a gun. “Better make it believable. I wouldn’t open those doors for anything less than my own life.”
“I don’t—”
“Shoot me. And you’d better hope I live or this whole plan of yours goes out the door once again.” Allard took a step back. “Aim for the leg, then I couldn’t possibly chase you or run for help.”
I was shaking, confused and unsure what was happening. The gun rose until I had it pointed at his chest.
“You want to kill me?” Allard tilted his head with an amused smile. “I thought you might think that a better plan. But I won’t open those doors until you’ve shot me somewhere less fatal and gotten the hell out of here. So if you’d like to live today, I suggest you hurry.”
I hesitated. “Why?”
Allard let out an exasperated breath. “Always so many damn questions with you.” I kept my hand steady but I waited. This could be a trick. Everything he said could be a lie. He killed Jane. He was a part of all of this, and he had sent us into the Void. “Sometimes, you can play the part so well that even you begin to believe you’re the bad guy… but every once and a while something reminds you otherwise.”
I swallowed.
“Just hurry up!”
Before I had a chance to consider any more of it, I pulled the trigger. Allard stifled a scream as he dropped to one knee. The blood already soaked the white pants he wore, just above his knee.
He grimaced and pulled himself back up to his feet. “Shit, that hurt.”
I felt a tinge of regret before setting my shoulders back and moving towards the door. “You asked me to do it.”
“Yeah, yeah. Get going already. The doors will be opened in two minutes, and the guards will be alerted in four.” Allard waved a hand as he moved to the tablet on the back wall. “Oh, and your little friend is on the third-floor basement. She’ll have guards watching her regardless of what’s going on here, so I suggest you bring some friends of your own.”
I nodded, moving towards the door before I paused and turned back around. “Thank you.”
“Get out of here.” He grimaced, but I saw a genuine smile on his face for the first time.
JAYLA
My entire body exploded with pain. Breathing was difficult, and I was sure I had more than a few bones broken. It was the only thing I could have done for them, for Em and Caspian. I took each blow for them, and I would endure it all so they had a chance to live, a chance to win.
It was the first time in a long while the fear and panic hadn’t taken over. Because for the first time, I knew there was something I could do to protect them. So I took the beating, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Simon had betrayed us. He’d given me up so his son would live, but he’d made sure not to expose anyone else. Whether he assumed I was the most likely one to endure the torture or he truly thought I knew some information Grayson wanted, I didn’t know, but even while the pain caused me to periodically black out, I couldn’t help but smile.
Caspian would be back for me. I knew he would if he had the chance. But not before he got everyone else to safety. That was his duty, and I would expect nothing less from him.
Two guards dragged me into a large medical room. The red flashing lights blinked in and out, but I saw at least a dozen empty beds separated by curtains. The rest of the room was empty.
I struggled to catch my breath, feeling as though my lungs were under water, and everything had the taste of coppery blood.
It was twenty minutes before Dr. Allard stalked in, limping on one leg. When he got closer, I noted the red stain on his pant leg.
“Courtesy of a redheaded friend of yours,” he said, sneering when he caught where my eyes wandered.
I smirked despite the pain. “Good.”
“Go somewhere useful, I need the space,” Allard ordered the two guards, and they marched out of the room. “I must say, you and your friends have to be the most dimwitted bunch of children I’ve ever met.”
“How’d you get shot then?” I struggled to get the words out.
Allard circled around the bed I lay on, watching as my chest rose and fell in unsteady bouts. “A stupid plan by an even dumber girl.”
“She still managed to shoot you.” I shrugged, sending shooting pain up my shoulder and neck.
“Yeah, when I asked her to,” Allard said and my brows creased, but I didn’t ask anything more.
He moved to the cabinet behind him and grabbed a small vial of something pink. He handed it to me. “Drink this.”
“What is it?”
“A numbing agent.”
I stared at it. “I thought Grayson wanted me to feel the pain?”
Allard rolled his eyes. “I assume you know how to act?”
I hesitated, and Allard waited with an impatient glare on his face. Finally, I drank the tonic. Instantly, the pain in my body began to subside. A slight airy feeling swept through my body, and I wasn’t necessarily tired, but relaxed. I felt my lungs expand properly, and my breathing seemed to steady out.
Allard didn’t say another word as he began assessing my broken bones and the open wounds across my face and head. He covered the wounds with a salve; it tingled on my skin. Then he pressed against what I was sure were broken bones, but everything felt so blissfully numb I hardly noticed.
“I can’t heal it all, there needs to be some real pain, but the numbing agent will last the next few hours,” Allard said. “After that, you’re on your own.”
“Why have you been helping us?” I asked.
Allard shrugged. “I guess I’m just as big an idiot as you all are.”
I rolled my eyes. “I highly doubt that.” Allard shrugged again. “We found a rather interesting video from someone claiming there was a doctor who could help us.”
“Did you now,” Allard drawled. “I know of few doctors capable of much more than sewing up wounds.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What about ones who can disable orbs.”
Allard flinched, and for a moment, I feared I had guessed wrong. But then he shrugged. “That’d be a difficult task, and one that would take time.”
I nodded, understanding. “What will she do with me?” I asked.
“She’ll get whatever it is she wants and then kill you.”
“I don’t have what she wants,” I whispered.
“Don’t tell her that. The only reason you’re alive is because you have something she needs. So you better find something to give her, otherwise that’s it.” Allard smirked. “And your friends better hurry up with this plan of theirs. The power will be back up soon, and every one of those kids will be rounded up if they haven’t escaped yet.”
“They’ll find a way,” I said confidently.
Allard was almost at the door when he turned back around. “Why did you guys come back here?” he asked.
“We don’t leave people behind,” I said simply, my voice stronger now the pain had subsided.
“You don’t owe these kids anything,” Allard said. “Why not run and hide like everyone else? Let us clean up the mess.”
“By using innocent children,” I scoffed. “That’s not really cleaning up the mess when you get someone else to do your dirty work.”
“You think we’ve just sat around in our safe little labs the entire time doing nothing, don’t you?”
I didn’t respond.
“You can only see so many people die, friends and colleagues, before you begin to feel indifferent to death. A life is just a life if you don’t remember their face.”
“I find it hard to believe any one of you has sacrificed anything.”
Allard swept back towards me so fast he was at my side in the blink of an eye. I felt his hot breath on my cheek as he glared down on me. “You know nothing of what I have sacrificed.” His hand shook against the side of the bed as he leaned in. “You think you’re the only one capable of giving up something so that others can live. You think you’re the hero because you took that beating so your friends could run? That’s the easy part. I’d willingly trade places with you if I could. Sacrifice your humanity and then tell me who’s had it worse. Kill your friends. Watch your allies die right in front of you. Pledge allegiance to the worst person you could ever imagine… and then tell me how much you’ve sacrificed.”
“If you disagree with all this, why are you still here?” I asked.
“Because I am not a coward and I don’t fail.” He moved in closer, his voice so low I wasn’t sure I heard him. “Watchers don’t give up when things get hard.”
He leaned back and my eyes widened. “You’re a—”
He nodded, once.
“But… how?”
Allard leaned against the wall near the head of my bed, his arms crossed over his chest. “I was only meant to find out what was going on near the Void… but I soon found I was in way over my head. Any messages I tried to send back to headquarters were intercepted and my messengers killed. I learned pretty quickly that there would be no way to escape this place and live. So I stayed, and I’ve done what I could from here.”
“Reyes—” I couldn’t ask my question. Caspian had told me what had happened, how Allard had left tools for him to escape his cuffs and provide Reyes with the death she begged for, so she didn’t unwillingly give away any more secrets.
“She knew what was coming the minute she arrived. I helped where I could, but the best thing I could do was let her die.” Allard looked genuinely sad.
“So why not leave now?” I asked. “There’s a shuttle coming. We’re getting everyone out of here. I’d vouch for you to ensure they don’t kill you on sight.”
Allard shook his head. “I can’t leave, not now.” He was silent for a few moments, staring off at the red light still blinking across from us. “Have you heard the story of the Trojan Horse?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Many believe that the Greeks tricked Troy. That they hid silently in that horse, and no one knew they were there. But what if they had an inside man, someone who knew their plan and convinced the people of Troy to take in the hidden enemy?” Allard turned to me. “I’m that man. I have been secretly letting people inside unseen. I’ve been planting seeds in the minds of the willing. I will destroy this place from the inside out.”
“It will cost you your life,” I said.
“I hope it does,” Allard said. “I have done things that no one could ever forgive. Even I won’t justify them with the belief that I did it for a greater cause, because death for death is never right. But if what I’ve learned, what I know, can make a difference, then I can die in peace.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” I asked.
Allard pushed off the wall, moving to the end of the bed before he said over his shoulder, “Because I’m not the hero, but you can be. The next while is going to be hard… terrible. I wanted you to know you aren’t alone, even when it seems like you are.”
A shattering boom echoed through the entire place. Rocks and dust crumbled from the roof as a crack splintered overhead. The entire mountain seemed to shake for a moment before everything went still again.
Guards rushed into the room. “They’re taking the bloody mountain down!” one screamed. “We’ve been ordered to evacuate.”
“Take her,” Allard ordered, nodding in my direction.
The guard lifted me to my feet, and I stifled a scream despite feeling no pain. I grimaced and let the man drag me across the room to the single door at the end.
When I passed Allard, he gave me a wink, and I gave him a little smile.
GUNNER
I refused to look at him, but I still felt his stares. Simon sat across from me in a small room, which looked more like a hallway. It was long and skinny with a door at either end. We were next to the main entrance where they were getting the train ready. Cold mountain air seeped in through the crack under the doors. They weren’t locked, but a guard stood in front of them, trapping us inside. Simon and I leaned against the wall, silent.
Grayson had left us there as soon as the power went out. The red lights had long since given me a splitting headache, and this confined space was making my chest tight.
“So this is how she treats family?” I scoffed. Simon shrugged. “Feels more like we’re prisoners.”
“That’s because we are prisoners,” Simon said, his tone laced with slight impatience, but I could tell he was holding back.
“What will they do to her?” I asked.
I couldn’t believe he’d given up Jayla, and he just stood by while she was beaten within an inch of her life. That was a lie. I could completely see how he’d done it. He was the worst kind of scum I’d ever encountered, and it didn’t surprise me his blood ran through my veins. I’m just as bad as he is. I had no idea what they’d do with Vic, and now I had no way of getting to her with so many guards surrounding me.
“She’ll be kept alive for as long as she’s useful.”
“Which would be…”
“As long as she wants to stay alive.” Simon shrugged. “That’s up to her, not me or Grayson. She has just as many secrets as anyone else, and she’s smart enough to know how to use them.”
“Is that what you did?” I tilted my head. “Used your secrets strategically so you would get what you want no matter who suffered at your hands?”
Simon clenched his jaw, and I watched as his hands balled into fists before he tucked them in his lap. “I did what I had to. Jayla would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed.”
“I’m not sure that makes it any better.” I shook my head. “Just because she would have done the same doesn’t make it right.”
“What did you expect to happen, boy?” Simon’s voice rose, and he loosened the leash he held on his temper just a little. Good. Easier to hate him when he doesn’t look so pathetic. “Did you think that using yourself as bait so I’d come here would result in some happy reunion where no one got hurt?”
“I didn’t know you were working with them. If I had, I wouldn’t have risked bringing you here. If I’d known, I would have warned them you’d betray them. It’s in your DNA…. in my DNA. I thought they were way smarter than that, but clearly I was wrong. They’re just as stupid as my own mother partnering with you.”
“Don’t you dare talk about her like that,” Simon snarled, leaning forward and pressing his forearms hard into his thighs. “She was the smartest woman I’ve ever met.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I wouldn’t know, now would I? I didn’t get a chance to see her brilliance, only her death.”
His eyes dropped, and I could see his chest cave in on itself as he let out a long breath, leaning his head back against the wall. “I am sorry for that. You have no idea how sorry I am. I didn’t know what I was sending you into. I thought I was keeping you safe.”
“Bullshit,” I screamed, causing Simon to flinch. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t know full well what the DEZ was before you sent me there. Your family is the one controlling it. Governor Grayson, your sister, is the one who sent us into that god’s forsaken forest, and you’re telling me you had no clue. You’re a worse liar than I thought.”
Simon continued to shake his head. “I didn’t know, not when I sent you there.”
“But when you found out, you didn’t try very hard to get me back now, did you?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“When I found out, it was too late, you were already in the Void, and I had no way of knowing you were even still alive.”
I let out a humorless laugh. “Well, isn’t that convenient for you. All your sins are absolved through ignorance.” I looked away, no longer able to look him in the eyes. “I wish I had died out there. Then at least I wouldn’t have to know I was created from the DNA of traitorous scum who sent his own son to the slaughter and betrayed the woman he claimed to love. That’s a much worse reality than the one I’ve lived the last twenty years.”
