Wonderful. Why had Leo paired her with this person? Beatrice didn’t have any love for Halven. Or maybe she just didn’t like Elena.
The hallway went eerily silent, not even the buzzing and clicking of the overhead lights sounding. Elena jogged down the intricate parquet floor to the door Beatrice had entered.
Taking a couple of steps inside the darkened room, she called out, “Beatrice?”
Elena felt along the wall for a switch just as the heavy door slammed shut behind her, turning the room pitch black.
Her head went dizzy without a speck of light. She crouched and placed a hand to the floor, grounding herself. “Beatrice, turn on the lights, or I’m leaving,” she said in a firm voice.
A feminine giggle sounded from above, like laughter on the wind. Or was it inside her head?
Oh, hell no.
Screw this. Elena shifted to her hands and knees and crawled toward the sliver of light a couple of feet away that streamed beneath the door. She slid her palms up the hard wooden surface to reach the knob.
And found nothing.
She traced every inch of the door. No knob, no hinges—she couldn’t even fit her fingers beneath the gap at the bottom. Not that it would have mattered. The door didn’t rattle or budge as she pushed and kicked its surface. It was as though it had been sealed closed. The rasp of her breath was the only sound inside the cool, empty space.
Elena concentrated on the rise and fall of her chest to keep from going into full panic mode. No reason to be afraid, she told herself. It was just a dark room.
A dark empty room with no door. Inside Emain. And Beatrice had vanished.
13
The moment Derek stepped outside the physics building, a sense of panic filled him. His heart sprinted and he searched the windows of the brown building, as if he could see through to the Fae realm. Which was ridiculous. He might be able to merge with walls, but he couldn’t see through them.
He pulled his shoulders back and took a deep breath. Leaving Elena alone with the Fae was better than the alternative of taking her with him to Marlon’s lab. If Marlon was responsible for the Fae virus and he discovered Elena’s involvement, who knew what his mentor would do? A man capable of mass genocide was capable of murdering one innocent girl.
Derek needed the truth about Marlon without putting Elena in harm’s way. Leaving her with the Fae was a necessary risk. Keen was an ass, but the combat training he’d inflicted on them proved him a capable ass. He’d take care of Elena while Derek was away. He’d better.
Derek walked on. Just a couple of hours to check out Marlon’s lab, then he’d be back with her. Not with her with her, but to protect her. Course, that wasn’t what he’d done last night. He’d almost lost his head and kissed her. And for a stupid moment he’d thought she wanted him to.
Elena had always been a distraction, and it had nothing to do with her elemental abilities. He’d only learned about her powers when he followed her into Emain. But he had known who she was before she approached his doorstep.
Derek had scoped out his neighborhood regularly while Blended. It was possible he paid special attention to his beautiful, dark-haired neighbor.
Whatever. Getting involved with her was a bad idea. He couldn’t protect her while she worked on a cure if he was distracted by the idea of kissing her.
He trudged across campus to the building that housed Marlon’s lab, determined to keep his head in the game. Entering the building, he climbed the stairs to the second floor, which was deserted, as usual. Few people frequented this part of campus, composed of private labs and offices for esteemed faculty.
Derek didn’t bother with the key to the lab like a normal person. He tucked his backpack into an alcove and let frustration and anger over everything he’d witnessed these last few days build inside him.
Adrenaline crashed through his ribs, down his arms, his heartbeat thudding in his ears. The adrenaline and rapid tempo of his pulse pushed the transition along faster. He could stop the process by clearing his mind and relaxing, but he let the visceral response to his anger course through him, speeding his ability to Blend.
Bit by bit, down to the molecule, his body changed until it merged with the surrounding air, the structure of his body visible like a shadow when he looked down.
No matter how many times he’d gone out in public—first at night, later during the day—no one saw him once he had Blended.
Derek entered the laboratory by stepping through the door, registering the light zap of contact with a solid surface. Keeping the lights off, he studied the surroundings to make sure no one was there. Satisfied the room was empty, he made himself solid and flipped on the light switches, going back out to grab his bulky backpack and bring it inside.
He knew every inch of Marlon’s lab, save the jars Marlon kept in the corner. Marlon hadn’t gotten around to explaining what they were for before he’d disappeared a few weeks ago. After visiting Emain and seeing similar bottles in the Fae lab, Derek now wondered about their contents.
His first priority, however, was to search the locked cabinet next to Marlon’s desk. A cabinet Marlon kept off-limits, and that Derek suspected held secrets.
Only problem? Derek didn’t have the key.
He could bust through the cabinet and take a look at what was inside, but that wasn’t discreet. Marlon would know someone had gone through his things. He didn’t know how powerful his mentor was, but he didn’t want to risk discovery.
With all the elemental training Leo had put Elena through, which was having a surprisingly positive effect on her abilities, Derek wondered about his own powers. Instead of breaking the cabinet door, he thought he’d try something else—honing his own abilities.
He could get through the cabinet while Blended, but he wouldn’t be able to take anything out without going solid, grabbing the object, then Blending it. And part of him would still be halfway outside the cabinet because he was so large. Which meant he had to Blend part of himself while making part of himself solid. Something he’d never tried before.
He spent several minutes attempting to remain solid while turning his arm invisible. It was about as much fun as patting his head and rubbing his stomach in a circle at the same time, but he finally got it to work. He’d managed to bisect himself so that a part of his body was invisible while the rest remained whole.
Going entirely Blended, Derek slid his arm and head through the cabinet and made his hand solid. He began feeling around, since he couldn’t see anything in the dark.
Most of what he felt were file folders and paper, but soon he came across an item the size of his thumb that was cool to the touch and rectangular in shape. He could Blend items close to his person, like his clothes or the keys in his pocket, so he fit the object inside his palm and Blended it along with his hand, drawing both out.
A thumb drive.
With the lab and hallways deserted, and seemingly safe from anyone barging in, Derek fired up his laptop and plugged in the drive.
His hand shook as he scrolled through the files, opening them one at a time. The drive appeared to be some sort of backup for Marlon. Which made sense. Marlon probably didn’t want this information floating around on a cloud somewhere, because, based on the documents Derek read, what Marlon was doing was dangerous, illegal, and highly unethical.
Not to mention paranormal.
In some ways, Marlon hadn’t lied. He had studied a flu strain for decades. His life’s work. It was his purpose for studying the virus that came into question.
Typically, a single influenza virus dominates during the flu season and doctors provide an immunization for common strains. The problem that occurs is that some people get sick even if they’ve been vaccinated because they catch a different, less active strain of the virus.
The virus Marlon created, which contained elements of every flu strain in existence, was meant to curb the flu vaccine problem. In theory, by providing a vaccination with this supervirus, a person’s body could fight e
very influenza strain.
Marlon had fed his objective to Derek and the funding agencies for years. But the documents on the hard drive proved that this was not what Marlon had intended at all.
Before he disappeared, Marlon had merged a mysterious ingredient labeled F-18 with the supervirus Derek had worked on. F-18 reacted to Fae tissue Marlon had acquired from somewhere, circumventing Fae healing and causing cells to die within minutes. Marlon didn’t call the tissue Fae tissue. He’d labeled it Tirnan, the name of the Fae realm.
Derek slammed his fist onto the desk. He’d been so careful. Changed his life to avoid suspicion by his family, by other students—everyone. And here he was in the heart of a catastrophe, and partially responsible. Elena had said it wasn’t his fault, but he’d trusted Marlon. Had helped Marlon.
F-18 was the ingredient that changed the virus and made it dangerous to Fae. Derek had to find F-18. But Elena should be done with the library soon and he didn’t want her in Emain by herself any longer than necessary. He’d return to Marlon’s lab once he got Elena home safely.
He downloaded the information he’d found on the drive onto his computer as a precaution—he’d already memorized most of it—and returned the drive to the cabinet.
Leaving the building, he hurried back to the physics auditorium, and found Keen in front of the portal door to Emain, zoning out.
What the hell?
The panic Derek had pushed aside when he left the building to go to Marlon’s lab came crashing back. “Where is she?” he yelled at the Fae.
That got Keen’s attention. He glanced around, as if just now realizing where he was.
Without a word, Keen tore through the portal door to Emain, winding quickly through the hallways, while Derek hauled ass beside him.
They passed a few other Fae—some of the first Derek had seen besides the ones he and Elena had been introduced to—and it made Derek realize how dangerous this place could be. These men were giants. All of them as tall and muscular as Keen.
“You’re supposed to be guarding her! Why would you leave her alone in this place?” Derek growled as they sped through the corridors.
“Silence, human, I know where she is.” Keen slowed to a stop in the middle of one of the hallways near a door. A small smile appeared on his face. “She’s attempting to create a crowbar from paper clips.”
Derek glared. “What are you talking about? Find her.”
Keen stepped forward and swung open the door.
Derek stepped inside the darkened room. He reached along the wall for the light switch and flicked it on.
Elena was huddled on the floor, a wad of paper clips in her hands, inches from her face, her eyes closed in concentration.
She squinted up, blinking as if she’d been sitting in the dark for a long time. “Derek?” A wash of relief crossed her face. She stood and lunged at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. She pressed her face to his throat, brushing her lips and nose over his skin, sending a spark of heat to his lower back. “You came.” Her voice was faint, fractured.
The fear he’d felt when he thought something had happened to her, the way she smelled, her soft lips on his skin—he wanted to press her closer and never let her go.
He grabbed her arms and eased her away. “What happened?”
“I called out. No one came. Didn’t have my cell phone…” Her broken voice suggested she’d been yelling for a good long while. “Derek.” Her gaze tangled with his. “Beatrice trapped me in here.”
14
Derek swung open the door to the lab, the wood slamming into the plaster wall. Elena flinched at the sound, her nerves still jumpy after the library. “Your prodigy abandoned Elena,” he said to Leo. “Left her stuck inside that dusty library with no way out.”
Elena entered the lab behind him, along with Keen.
Leo quickly looked up from where he stood over a microscope.
After being locked away for several hours, Elena hadn’t wanted to confront Leo. She’d wanted to get the hell out of Emain and never see this place or these people again. Why would they ask for her help, then lock her away? They weren’t making sense, and she had a bad feeling about it.
Then Keen had started acting strange as they’d hurried to Leo’s lab, as if he was worried, she’d daresay panicked, which wasn’t like him at all. That man never got ruffled. Something truly bad had happened. Worse than her being locked in the library for hours. Keen’s distress convinced her to talk to Leo.
Leo looked at Elena. “Explain.”
“I followed Beatrice to the library to read the book, like you requested. But when I entered, no one was there. The door locked behind me, and when I felt along the door and walls, there was no doorknob or light switches. I called out, but it was as if a sound barrier had been erected. No one heard me. I was stuck in there for hours before Derek and Keen found me.”
Elena didn’t know what was going on, but it was almost as if someone didn’t want her to read the Codex. As if they wanted her to fail.
Leo’s gaze darted to Keen. “Why weren’t you with her?”
Keen’s expression hardened. “I don’t know.”
“I see,” Leo said slowly, his gaze never leaving Keen’s face, as if he was reading it.
“Well, I sure as hell don’t,” Derek said. “Someone want to explain to me what is going on around here?”
“No,” Leo and Keen said in unison. Keen spun on his heel and walked out of the room.
Derek threw up his hands. “Of course not. You force Elena to risk her life making a cure that puts a bull’s-eye on her back for the psycho who created the virus, but you won’t tell her what’s going on?”
Elena had never seen Derek so angry, and that was saying something, because she’d nearly destroyed his lab when she first met him.
“Forget it.” Derek put his hand on her lower back and urged her toward the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Leo demanded.
“She’s not staying here tonight. It’s not safe.”
Elena didn’t want to stay in Emain, and a few minutes ago, she would have readily marched out. But Derek’s indignation on her behalf had doused her anger. What would Leo do if she didn’t cooperate? Would he and Portia make good on the promise to harm her family? What would happen to the diseased Fae?
Elena looked back and caught Leo staring after them from the doorway of the lab, his expression dire.
She grabbed Derek’s wrist. “We can’t leave…” Her voice trailed off at the fierce glance he shot her. He was clearly not in a negotiating mood.
She allowed him to guide her down the hall a few more feet, then she stopped. She pulled him to the side, out of the way of a militant blond guard passing them. Derek stared after the guard with a snarl.
“Believe me, Derek, I’m just as upset as you are by what happened this afternoon.” She shut her eyes, blocking out the memory of being trapped inside the library. She was safe and other things mattered now. “But if something happens to my family, I’ll never forgive myself.” She looked away and took a deep breath. “I lost my father, and I’ve never known my mom. If I back out of my agreement with the Fae, will they hurt the people I have left? What would happen to you? They’re serious, Derek; I see it on their faces. They will harm those we love to get what they want.”
He shook his head as if he didn’t want to hear her. He leaned his forearm against the wall above her shoulder, dropping his gaze to hers. “All I know is, you’re not staying here after what that bitch did to you.”
He was trying to intimidate her into leaving because he was worried—but it was awareness that swept through her when he looked at her like that.
Of his body heat…the masculine size of him inches away.
Elena swallowed and rested her head against the wall, breaking eye contact. “I don’t think Beatrice planned to hurt me. We were alone; she could have easily done so if she’d wanted to. But you’re right. I won’t get any sleep if I stay here. If they
want my help, I’ll need rest.”
“Elena?” A feminine voice sounded from down the hall.
Elena ducked beneath Derek’s arm to see who it was, and to clear her head. She couldn’t think when he looked at her that way.
Deirdre approached. “May I speak to you? Alone?”
“Hell no,” Derek said from behind.
He was being pushy, but he had a good point. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather talk here. It’s been a rough day. We can walk a little ways if you like, though.”
Deirdre’s forehead furrowed, but she nodded.
Elena followed the redheaded Fae down the hall several feet until Deirdre turned and tucked her short hair behind her ears. She clasped her hands at her waist. “I am afraid for you.”
Out of all the Fae she’d encountered, Deirdre was the most compassionate, but still, her words surprised Elena. “I didn’t appreciate Beatrice’s prank, but it’s over and I wasn’t physically harmed. The guy who made the virus could be a danger to me. So far, I don’t think he knows I exist.”
“Beatrice? A prank?” Deirdre shook her head. “I don’t know this game you say Beatrice played. And I am not only referring to the creator of the virus. Elena”—Deirdre grabbed her hand, her slender fingers surprisingly callused—“you don’t know who you are, and that is a danger to you.”
Elena had no idea what Deirdre was talking about. “I’m the daughter of a farmer. And I guess my mother is Fae. What else is there to know?”
“Not only Fae—your mother is a princess.”
The crackling of those stupid overhead fluorescents suddenly became audible, magnifying to deafening levels.
Elena dropped Deirdre’s hand. “What?” Leo had said she possessed powers because she was descended from noble Fae, but she’d assumed the relationship was a distant one.
Deirdre guided Elena farther down the hall, talking as she went. “Tirnan, the place we come from, is divided into three kingdoms: Old Kingdom, New Kingdom, and Sunland.” She pulled Elena toward an alcove and Derek started to follow.
Fates Divided Page 9
