Autumn ran along the length of the corridor, pressing her hands and face against each of the windows, checking the occupant inside, before running onto the next. They were all as she remembered them—women and a young man, all curled up in defensive poses, sitting on the floor with their backs to the windows, or lying on the cots in the fetal position.
There was no sign of Blake or Tala.
“David,” Autumn called. “Can you get the doors open?”
The older man looked to her and nodded.
He started down one end, entering numbers into the keypads, doing whatever he had done with the magnet and hair clip to get the doors open.
A girl inhabited the first room, young, eighteen years old at the most. She cowered at the intrusion, her arms raised over her face. Her skinny body trembled violently.
Mia entered first, moving slowly. “Hey, it’s okay. Don’t be afraid. We’re here to help you.”
At the different voice, the girl peeped out from under her arm.
Mia smiled. “You’re safe now. We’re here to take you home.”
The girl unfurled and sniffed, her lower lip pouting.
Autumn realized she seemed so much younger than she looked; a child trapped in an adult’s body. Her dark hair was cut in a harsh bob with short, uneven bangs. Her skin was so pale, it was almost fluorescent. Autumn imagined she could make out the faint rivers of her veins and capillaries running beneath. The girl was the epitome of vulnerable, her blue eyes wide and terrified, taking in the big men surrounding them.
Mia reached a hand forward. “It’s okay. We’re the good guys. You can come with us.”
Autumn prayed the shifters wouldn’t need to change while the girl was still being coaxed from her cell. If anything was going to terrify the life from her, a group of people turning into animals would send her scurrying back into her corner.
But Mia’s calm nature, gentle, coaxing, almost hypnotic way of speaking, got her out. Mia put an arm around her, and the girl cowered at the contact.
Mia looked to Autumn, and softly said, “Can someone take her out?”
Autumn nodded and motioned to Nadie.
“Nadie will look after you, I promise. You’re never going to have to see these walls again.”
Nadie nodded and hurried her out of the building.
David was already working on the lock of the next door. Another woman was in this cell, an older woman, well, older than the girl anyway, around Autumn’s age.
“Who are you people?” she asked, as the door clicked open, her eyes darting nervously from face to face.
“We’re your friends,” said Mia.
The woman’s eyes flicked to where Thorne lurked behind, the weapon he’d taken still in his hand. With his scarred face, he appeared a fearsome character. “He’s not my friend.”
“He’s helping us now,” said Autumn. “He’s realized he’s done wrong.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’ll never trust him.”
“You don’t have to. Just trust the rest of us.”
“Okay. I guess I don’t have much choice. Will you help the others, too?”
Autumn smiled. “Of course.”
She motioned for one of the other female shifters—she felt the new woman would be more comfortable with another of her own sex considering what she’d already been through—to take her up to ground level.
They moved to the third and final occupied room.
A young man in his mid-twenties unfurled from the cot and got to his feet. He stood up straight in front of the group, lacking the nervous disposition of the two they’d freed. Instead, his expression was one of defiance, as if he was used to being challenged and was preparing himself to take on another one.
David worked his magic and the door swung open.
“We’re here to free—” Mia started, but the words faded on her lips. Her eyes locked on the young man’s face. Her lips parted and she took a sharp intake of breath, and stepped backward.
Autumn turned to her friend. “Mia?”
Mia’s skin was white, her eyes wide and glassy with shock. What had happened? Had the man done something to her? She knew they’d been kept here because they had supernatural abilities, so had he hurt her in some way without them seeing anything?
But Mia didn’t seem to be in pain.
She stared at the young man as though she couldn’t tear her eyes from his face.
Chapter Fourteen
AUTUMN GLANCED BACK to the man. The idea that he’d done anything dropped from her head. The man wore the exact same expression as Mia.
And not only that …
Their faces, despite one being male and the other female, were almost identical– Mia’s more delicate, her nose smaller, but the exact same profile, the shape of their eyes matching, even the curve of their eyebrows.
Autumn’s eyes flicked between them as they stood, staring at each other.
Realization sank in.
Chogan’s voice came from behind her. “This has got to be the freakiest thing I have ever seen. It’s like someone made a male version of Mia.”
“They did,” she said, her voice breathy with excitement and disbelief. “Her parents did, I mean. I think this might be Marcus, Mia’s twin brother.”
“Oh, my God.” Mia took a couple of shaky steps forward. The young man—Marcus—didn’t move. She reached out her fingers, touching his cheek, tracing a line down to his jaw. “Are you real?”
His identical brown eyes were wide. “Are you?”
She pressed her lips together and nodded, tears swimming in her dark eyes. She kept her hand against his jaw, and he reached out and mirrored her action by touching hers.
“I’ve been searching for you for years.”
His voice was deep, but still held the same timbre to it as Mia had in hers. “I started to think it was a dream—you, me, Mom and Dad. It didn’t feel real anymore. This is all I’ve known. This place, these people. They told me none of you existed anymore, that I needed to forget you. I guess, after a while, I did.”
She lowered her hand, and Marcus did the same. Autumn watched on, fascinated. Even though they’d spent the last decade and more apart, observing them was like watching two people so synchronized they would finish each other’s sentences.
Mia put her arms around her brother’s neck, his arms wrapped around her waist. She buried her face in his neck and spoke, muffled. “You don’t need to forget us anymore.”
He held her tight and then moved back so he could see her face again. “Mom, Dad …?”
She smiled and nodded. “They’re fine. Missing you. It almost tore them apart at the time. They’re never going to believe you’re still alive.” She gave a slightly crazed laugh. “I’m not sure I believe it myself.”
“They might be disappointed. I’m not the same child who went missing. I’ve seen things … I’ve done things …”
She stared at him, her eyes shining with happiness, a huge smile splitting her face. “None of that matters now. All that matters is we’ve got you back.”
Chogan interrupted. “I hate to break up the reunion, but why were you kept here in the first place? Don’t they keep people with special … talents … here?”
Marcus nodded. “Yes, I’m telekinetic.”
Mia blinked. “I can’t believe it.”
“But you weren’t able to move some locks and let yourself out?” Chogan asked, one eyebrow lifted.
“They give us drugs to stop our gifts from working. When they want to experiment on us, they either don’t give us that day’s dose, or they give us another injection to reverse the one they’d given us to inhibit our powers.”
Mia turned on Thorne. “You drugged them?”
Thorne lifted his hands and shrugged as if to say, ‘what else was I supposed to do?’
She stormed toward him, fire in her eyes. He was twice her size, but the fury on her face made him take a couple of steps backward. She lifted her small palm and slapped him across the face,
the sound cracking through the corridor.
“You son of a bitch! You must have known you kept people here against their will. He was a child when you took him! A young boy. You ripped him away from his family and forced him to live in a goddamned prison!”
Thorne raised his hands in surrender. “Hey, it was never me who took your brother. I’m not that much older than you. I would have been barely legal myself!”
“Even if you didn’t do the actual kidnapping, you still knew they were keeping people here, experimenting on people.”
“He did,” said Autumn. “So did Vivian Winters. She told me people were kept here from when they were children, that they didn’t know any different.”
“Jesus, that’s sick.” Mia’s face was taut with anger. “God knows how many missing people cases I’ve worked on where the kids I’ve been searching for have been here all along.”
“That wouldn’t have happened,” said Throne. “All these people have extremely rare talents. The few that are here have come from all over the United States.”
“And you think that makes it better?”
“No, I was just telling you a fact.”
Autumn noticed the way Marcus was staring at Thorne. Thorne was an enemy to Marcus, understandably, but right now they needed the other man. She didn’t know how strong Marcus’s powers were, or if he was drugged and unable to use them, but she didn’t want any harm to come to Thorne.
“Marcus,” she said, keeping her voice calm. “There’s a lot you don’t know. The world isn’t the same one you left all those years ago. Recently, the existence of spirit shifters has been revealed to the public.”
“Shifters?” Marcus repeated, and she was relieved to see his focus drift away from Thorne. “Yes, we’ve heard about their existence.”
“You have?”
“The soldiers here have been talking about them recently. In fact, it’s been the only thing they’ve been talking about.”
“We’re here to find a couple of shifters in particular, a brother and sister. They’re Native American. The woman might be in some distress, stuck between the form of a woman and an animal, and the man could easily be unconscious.”
“A brother and sister?” Marcus said, his eyes moving to Mia.
“You know them?” Her heart sped with hope.
But Marcus shook his head. “No, sorry.”
“The man is big, has lots of tattoos?”
He gave a wry smile, clearly wishing he could help. “I’m sorry …”
Mia placed a hand on his arm and shot Autumn a glare. “It’s okay. You’ve been through enough. It’s not your job to help.”
She totally understood Mia’s natural reaction to protect the brother she’d lost for most of her life, though she had to hold herself back from wanting to grab him and shake him and demand he must have seen something.
Instead, she said, “Mia, why don’t you take Marcus back to the convoy? You guys have a lot to catch up on.”
Mia nodded and began to guide her brother back the way they’d come in.
“Oh, but, Mia,” Autumn called. Her friend paused and turned back. “Remember there are the others who have been kept here as well. They will appreciate you being there for them. They’ll have families who have been missing them, too.”
Mia nodded, understanding in her eyes. “Of course.”
Autumn smiled. Mia was always a professional, despite everything. Autumn felt honored to have her as a friend.
They checked the rest of the rooms, but there was no one else. Autumn frowned. Had there been someone in the farthest room when she’d been here? She only ever caught a quick glimpse, and it had been when she’d been beaten, bled, and drugged herself. Her memory was foggy. But she was sure there had been. Or perhaps they’d moved people around?
Either way, Blake and Tala didn’t appear to be here. Where else would they be keeping them? Down in the laboratory facilities on the lower level? It was a possibility, especially if they were experimenting on Tala, as she was the same half-breed as the soldier, Romero, whom Vivian had turned. Maybe they were trying to figure out what had gone wrong so they could work out how to make it right?
“We need to go down to the next level,” she said, aiming her words predominantly at Thorne, Chogan, and Peter, though the others all listened in. “It’s the hub of this place, and of what’s going on in the city. The main woman is Vivian Winters. You’ll know her as soon as you see her—short, spiky blonde hair, hard eyes. She’s the one who looks like she should be working as a dominatrix, and everyone responds to her as such.”
She noticed Thorne shift uncomfortably. Her description had obviously hit a nerve.
Red lights in the corners of the corridor and outside of the rooms began to flash.
“We’ve been noticed,” said Thorne.
“I’m surprised it took so long.”
Chogan snarled. “That’s it. I’m shifting.”
Peter nodded. “Me, too.”
Others agreed.
Autumn suddenly felt exposed and vulnerable as the people around her began their transformations. The confined space was filled with the shrieks and howls of those shifting, combined with the snap and crack of bones breaking.
Movement from the far end of the corridor caught her attention, and the doors of the elevator slid open. “Watch out!” she yelled, as the doors opened to reveal five men in military gear, holding guns.
She hated to see those guns. Even though the shifters were strong and powerful, she’d seen too many shifters, Blake included, hurt by bullets. They weren’t invincible.
Thorne lifted the weapon he’d gotten hold of. For a moment, she wondered which side Thorne would choose—only Vivian’s actions had changed his mind about whose side he was on, and these soldiers had been his men only a few days ago. But he fired a couple of shots, making the men dive for cover. Most of the shifters had changed now, and the corridor suddenly felt very small. Huge, furry bodies filled the space, and several of them bounded forward, ignoring the weapons the soldiers lifted toward them.
Thorne had managed to get closer by hiding behind one of the wolves as they ran toward the armed men. He reached out and grabbed one of the soldiers who had been sheltering in a doorway and pressed the muzzle of his weapon against the other man’s temple. “Drop the gun,” he demanded.
The big wolf growled and snarled at the soldier, and from trembling fingers, the weapon fell to the floor with a clatter.
Autumn stepped forward and swept it from the floor. The gun felt heavy in her hand, and though she was unused to weapons, she had to admit that she felt better with the solid metal in her grip.
A couple of shots were fired, making her drop to the ground, but the shifters—several wolves, including Chogan, and the big cats, together with Tocho as his newly connected white tiger, and Peter in mountain lion form—quickly disarmed them.
Thorne threw the men into the cell where Marcus had been kept. David relocked the door, and one of the soldiers came rushing at the glass pane, his palms slapping against it as he yelled to be let out. Autumn couldn’t help the sense of satisfaction that washed over her as she watched the soldiers experience things from the other side of the door.
“We need to go down another level,” she said. “That’s where the operation is based. Take out as much of their equipment as possible. And if you see Vivian Winters, pin her down if you can. I want to get the last word. But if you can’t and you’re forced to kill her, then do it. If this woman gets away, there’s no telling what she’ll do. She’s as ruthless as they come.”
“Should we split up?” Thorne asked. “Half take the elevator, and the other half the stairs?”
It was a good question, but she considered it for only the briefest of seconds before shaking her head. “If Vivian cuts the power, half of us will be trapped inside the car.” She glanced at the size of the wolves and big cats surrounding her, their bodies heating the space, the fur bumping against her on occasion, brushing against
her arm or leg. “Besides, I don’t think the shifters will fit.”
He gave a curt nod. “Looks like we’ll be taking the stairs.”
Thorne led the way, back into the closet that hid the stairwell, his weapon held out in front of him. Autumn went to follow close behind, but Chogan in wolf form, with his thick russet fur nudged her back. She opened her mouth to protest, but he glared at her with his amber eyes. He hadn’t wanted her to come at all, never mind practically lead the attack.
She fell back and allowed Chogan and Peter to get ahead. She still had Sahale, Tocho, and a number of others at her back. But she felt safer now she had a gun. Her aim wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as these trained men, but at least it was something.
The last time she’d been in this part of the stairwell, she’d been running from Thorne and Vivian, and now here she was, running to Vivian to put an end to her for good.
Thorne paused on the other side of the door. The big wolves and cats stopped behind him. “Be prepared,” he hissed. “They know we’re coming.”
Thorne barged the door with his shoulder and stood back, holding the door open with his back against it, while the shifters bounded past him. Cries of alarm rose up around the big space, and immediately several shots were fired.
Growls and snarls issued as Chogan took down one of the men. Women were down here as well, working on the communications. This didn’t mean they weren’t armed.
Automatically, Autumn searched for Vivian’s blonde head and straight stature, but she didn’t spot her. She could, however, see the screens and all of the carnage happening in the outside world. Chicago’s streets seemed to be under military control. They were bursting into houses, rounding up small gangs who were standing against them, shooting at people in the streets. The population of Chicago, whether human or shifter, were living in fear. This was no way to exist.
Autumn lifted her weapon and pointed it at the first of the big screens. She was a poor aim, but she had a big target. She pulled the trigger, the gun recoiling in her hand, the blast almost deafening her. The screen exploded with a shower of glass and sparks of electricity. Her ears would be ringing for a week. A couple of the women on the floor screamed and dived beneath their desks. Even the men yelled in alarm.
Autumn's War (The Spirit Shifters Book 4) Page 9
