“What do you know about a woman named Eden?” Rilex asked.
Jem felt the nervousness inside him spike.
“I know her well,” he said. “She came to Uoria as a researcher, but she ended up staying with us. She is the mate of the Denynso leader, Pyra. She was pregnant when I left.”
“Pregnant?” Rilex asked.
“Yes. The first baby of the new generation of Denynso.”
There was a pause and the tension in the car seemed to increase. Rilex seemed unnerved by his response, but wasn’t offering anything more about it.
“Do you know about her boss, Ryan?”
“He was the man who she was working for when she came to Uoria. He’s a scientist at the University.”
“Yes,” Rilex said. “But do you know why he specifically sent Eden to Uoria?” he asked.
Jem felt like the man was playing some sort of game and he didn’t like it. He wanted him to just be straightforward and tell him what was happening. At the same moment, though, he felt that even Rilex himself wasn’t entirely sure of what he knew and was using Jem’s responses to try to confirm what he was thinking. He was piecing things together as he spoke and trying to ensure that he didn’t incite Jem needlessly.
“She was the first of the people in the exchange program. She came to research the Denynso and to teach us about the ways of Earth. The goal of the program is to foster relationships between Earth and the Denynso and form lines of communication and alliance.”
“He could have sent any of the people from the department. Why Eden?”
“She says that she was his assistant. She worked with him on all of his projects.”
“And rumor has it that she rejected his thoughts of making their relationship more than just the professional one that they already had.”
Jem felt himself bristle. He remembered Eden talking about the advances that Ryan had made toward her and how they had made her feel. It disgusted him that someone would treat her that way and it felt disrespectful toward her mate that he would acknowledge it.
“Yes,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Did you know that she came to Uoria with more of a purpose than just learning about the Denynso?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Ryan sent her to steal some of Pyra’s blood.”
The revelation was horrifying. It wasn’t something that Pyra or Eden had ever shared with him and the thought of her being sent into that mission made his head spin. To steal a Denynso’s blood was to break the oldest and most revered of Denynso laws.
“If she had tried, she would have been killed.”
“Exactly,” Rilex said. “From what I understand, that was why Ryan chose her. If she could be successful, he would have the most powerful blood in the universe and be able to use it for his experiments. If she wasn’t, she would suffer and he wouldn’t have to deal with the embarrassment and frustration of her rejection anymore.”
“He wanted to kill her just because she wouldn’t go along with his advances?” Jem asked incredulously.
“Partially,” Rilex admitted, “but I don’t think that’s it. I think that he wasn’t forthright about the experiments that he was doing and that she was close to figuring it out. He wanted to eliminate the threat to his work.”
“But she didn’t die and she didn’t bring him Pyra’s blood. She joined the clan,” Jem said.
“Exactly. What happened to the other women from the program?”
“They joined the clan as well,” Jem said. “They bonded with other Denynso. I don’t understand what any of this has to do with the problems that you said that you think are happening on Uoria.”
“I think that Ryan’s experiments are far more dangerous than anyone knew. Sending Eden to Uoria was just one piece of a plan that is in motion, and that’s why people from Uoria are at the University. They were brought there for a reason.”
“Why?” Jem asked.
“I’m not sure, but honestly I don’t think that I want to know. We just need to get there as fast as we can.”
The distance between the bar and the University seemed to stretch further and further with each moment, but finally Jem saw imposing buildings rising on the horizon in the distance. Lights positioned along their edges and along the perimeter of the complex made their silhouettes stand out starkly and Jem wondered which of them was the laboratory. Rilex pulled the car up to a massive gate and reached out to press a small piece of metal onto a screen positioned at the top of a pole at the edge of the road.
“Where did you get that?” Angela asked from beside Jem.
“What was it?” Jem asked.
“An access chip,” Angela said. “Only people authorized to enter the University complex are supposed to have one.”
“I stole it,” Rilex said.
“What?” Angela asked, sounding shocked.
“I didn’t have a choice,” Rilex said. “When I came through the portal, I didn’t have anything and had no idea where I was. I had to create a life that was believable, and part of that meant that I had to steal parts of other people’s lives. When this system was first implemented, I stole a chip so that I would be able to access the University if I thought that it might help me.”
“If one of those chips is necessary to get into the gate to the complex, how did the unauthorized vehicle get in?” Jem asked.
“I don’t know,” Rilex said. “That’s another reason that I have to believe that that vehicle didn’t come from Earth. Either someone on it had an access chip or the vehicle is capable of utilizing the sky corridors like the shuttles, but didn’t have access to the bay and was able to land on the grounds. Like I said, it’s not technology that I’ve ever seen.”
Rilex directed the vehicle along a road that circled around toward the back of the complex. They traveled past countless buildings and Jem found himself getting overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the space and the towering structures that seemed to bear down on him.
“How are we going to find them?” Jem said. “If that shuttle and vehicle are from Uoria, how are we going to find whoever was on them in all these buildings?”
“Ryan only works in the laboratory building,” Rilex explained. “That’s that tall building up ahead. All of the University’s research and experimental laboratories are in that building. He doesn’t have access to the other buildings except for the main administrative building, but there would be little benefit to him there. If he’s doing experiments, no matter what kind they are, he would be doing them in the laboratory building.”
“But wouldn’t that mean that anyone in the building would find them?” Angela asked.
“Not necessarily,” Rilex said. “Just like the access chips control movement in and out of the complex, there are controls in place in the building to keep people in the areas where they are authorized. That would put some level of protection for him. But I don’t think that’s it.”
“What do you mean?” Jacob asked.
“Do you know how long this complex has been here?” Rilex asked.
“The buildings?” Jacob asked. “About a hundred years. It’s the oldest standing University. There’ve been upgrades, but the structures themselves were built about a century ago.”
“Not the buildings,” Rilex said. “The complex.”
“It was here for probably just as long before that. Maybe even longer,” Angela said. “They closed the entire thing in phases, demolished it, and rebuilt.”
“Right,” Rilex said. “Only one portion took much longer to rebuild than the others.”
“The laboratory building,” Jem said.
Rilex stopped the car and reached into the glove compartment. He drew out a screen and input commands until what looked like a set of building plans appeared on it.
“These are the old buildings,” he said. “You can see that they are laid out completely differently than the new University. Their laboratory building was on the complete opposite side of the complex. When they
rebuilt the new laboratory, someone decided to move it, and then put it here.”
He pointed to the screen and Jem looked at the word beside where his finger sat.
“Hospital?” he asked.
Rilex nodded.
“Look at these plans,” he said, changing the screen to a different set. These looked more basic, as if only showing the structure of each of the planned buildings. “What do you notice about the laboratory building?”
Jem looked at the plans, trying to understand what Rilex was trying to get him to see. Suddenly it struck him.
“It’s smaller,” he said.
“Exactly,” Rilex said. “The original plans for the laboratory only had it as ten stories. Look at the current building.”
Jem looked back up at the tall building ahead of them.
“Twelve,” Angela said.
“And the hospital?” Rilex said, switching back to the other plans.
“Two,” Jacob said.
“Right,” Rilex said. “There was a floor of examination rooms and a floor of inpatient rooms. The surgical suites were underground.”
“I’ve been in that building, though,” Jacob said. “The first floor is all offices. The next two are student labs. There isn’t a hospital.”
“So, you’ve been to the third floor?” Rilex asked.
“Yes.”
“Was it as deep as the first two?”
“What do you mean?”
“What was in the back of the building?”
“Staircases.”
“Did they line up to the ones on the first two floors?”
“No,” Jacob said. “It was built with extra space on the upper floors to give the researchers more room in their laboratories and offices.”
“But the bottom floors are the same size from the outside,” Angela said softly as if something was coming together in her mind.
“So, what’s in that space?” Jem asked.
“There are no doors on either of the first two floors that lead into the surplus space. On the modified plans, the area is marked as being solid. The official explanation is that they wanted extra support for the laboratories and to make the building itself more stable.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Angela said.”
Rilex shook his head.
“No, it doesn’t.”
“That’s where they are,” Jem said.
“It’s a start,” Rilex agreed. “We just have to figure out how to get in.”
Chapter Eleven
“Are you sure that you want to come?” Samira asked, looking into the rearview mirror to where her mother sat in the backseat.
Valerie didn’t hesitate before nodding.
“Absolutely,” she said. “You and these people who you brought here rescued me. I’m not going to turn my back on them if I have the chance to do something for them.”
Samira’s heart swelled and she felt tears building in her eyes. Her mother had changed so much in just the brief time since she had walked away from Samira’s stepfather. Valerie suddenly looked alive. Her eyes were bright and clear for the first time in as long as Samira could remember. She no longer held the expression of fear and exhaustion that always seemed etched on her face, and she was finally holding her shoulders straight rather than sagging down like she was trying to make herself as small and unnoticeable as she could be. It made Samira feel proud to see how much Valerie had improved, and gave her a sense of joy that it seemed her mother was finally coming out of the darkness that her husband had put her in and was going to take hold of her own life again. Samira would never be able to express enough gratitude to Ero for what he had done for her. In his first visit to Earth, when he had come for Zuri, he had gone to Valerie’s home and confronted Samira’s stepfather. It was that moment that had begun the change in Valerie’s life.
“Have you been able to contact Gyyx, Leia?” Zuri asked.
Samira saw Leia shake her head. The small woman looked even more fragile than she usually did as she stared out of the car window into the darkness of the night beyond. She hadn’t been able to reach out to her mate since they had escaped the wedding and she had become progressively weaker and quieter. Zuri drew in a breath.
“I haven’t been able to get in touch with Ero, either,” Zuri said.
“What do they mean?” Valerie asked.
“Usually the Denynso can communicate with their mates through their thoughts. It lets them speak to us without having to say something out loud, or communicate when we aren’t together. None of us have been able to connect with our mates, though. They’ve blocked their minds,” Samira said. “They’re preventing communication with us.”
“Why would they do that?” Valerie asked.
“There has to be a reason,” Zuri said. “I know that there have been times when the warriors have blocked their communication during battles or other particularly stressful times. They don’t want us to be able to sense what is going on with them.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Leia said softly. “I’m scared that they are in danger. They’ve been gone for too long. They should have come back by now. We should have gone to them sooner.”
“They told us to stay at the house,” Samira said. “They said it was too dangerous for us to go with them.”
“Why did Elianna go?” Leia asked. “Eden’s there. Zsilvia is there.”
“Zsilvia was there before the Valdicians got to the wedding, which means that is it very likely she was captured. Eden went because it was her child that was taken. There’s nothing that would keep a mother from her child in that situation and she too is a healer. And you know why Elianna is there,” Samira said.
She didn’t want to say it. She didn’t want to put voice to the fear that was threatening to take over her thoughts and control her, distracting her from driving. Each of the women who had lived among the Denynso knew of the unique skill that Elianna had. Her arrival on Uoria had been extremely difficult and she nearly died after an attack, putting her in Ciyrs’s clinic for days. The healer had put everything into healing her and though he was finally successful, she had not come out of the healing unchanged. During the course of the healing Ciyrs had transferred some of his healing capabilities to her, giving her the ability to heal injuries and illnesses, and imbuing her with much of his knowledge of the plants, ointments, and powders that could be used to further heal those who needed it. When Eden and the men had left for the lab to confront Ryan, Elianna went along in anticipation of violence. If any of their group was injured, having three[sb2] healers would improve the chances that they would be able to get them out and back to safety.
“How much further?” Valerie asked.
Samira realized that her mother had never made it to the University to visit her in the entire time she had been studying there. Her stepfather had never permitted her much movement outside of the house and Valerie would never have gotten the opportunity to make the trip out just to see where Samira studied. Though she wished that it was under better circumstances, Samira was happy that Valerie was finally able to see the place that had been so important in her life up until this point. She knew in her heart that she wouldn’t be returning here even after the conflict with Ryan was over. Her life was irrevocably changed by Ty and she would follow him back to Uoria.
“We’re almost there,” Samira told her. “Mom, please think about this. I don’t know what’s going on at the University or what is going to happen. I can’t promise you that you are going to be safe once we get there.”
“I haven’t been safe since you were a little child, Samira,” Valerie said. “I survived your stepfather. I’m not afraid.”
The words stabbed deeply into Samira, though she knew that her mother hadn’t intended them to. She knew that Valerie had suffered extensively under her stepfather’s hands. She had gone through enough on her own. Now Valerie had finally gotten out from under him, but almost as soon as she had taken a breath of freedom, Samira was bringing her back
into the face of unpredictable danger.
A few moments later the car pulled up to the gate at the University. She touched her access chip to the screen and the gates swung open, allowing her access. Looking around cautiously, she drove along the road toward the laboratory building. As they approached, she noticed that there was another car sitting in the small parking lot. Its appearance sent a shiver through her. She knew every vehicle of every person authorized to be inside the laboratory building, and she didn’t recognize that car.
“Who is that?” Zuri asked.
“I don’t know,” Samira said. “Do you recognize it?”
“No,” Zuri said.
They pulled up alongside the car and paused for a moment, each of them looking out of the windows to detect anyone who might still be in the area. Not seeing anyone, Samira climbed out of the car. The other women followed and Samira took her bag from Zuri, dropping it over her shoulder as she stared at the building ahead.
“Are you ready?” she asked, looking to the other women.
They all nodded at her and they started across the wide grassy expanse between the parking lot and the laboratory building. The feeling in the area was eerie. Everything was too still, too quiet. The air seemed to crackle with energy and it was getting harder to breathe with each step.
“How do we get inside?” Valerie asked in a tense whisper.
Samira looked to Zuri for guidance just as she had since she met her. Zuri scanned the area briefly.
“Let’s go to the side entrance,” she said. “It’s less exposed than the front. There’s less of a chance for anyone to see us going inside.”
They picked up their speed as they moved toward the building, each one of them recognizing the urgency to get out of clear view. Samira strained for any sound to come to her over their footsteps, but there was nothing. They finally reached the building and Samira felt a strange sensation wash over her. She had taken this same path countless times before. Any other time she would have felt that she could navigate the grounds and even the building itself with her eyes closed, but now as she got closer to the entrance it felt less and less familiar. It was almost as though she didn’t know where she was or where to go, as if she wasn’t within her own body and was rather watching what she was doing from a distance. She struggled to get back in control of her emotions, to put herself back into the moment and focus on what she needed to do.
The Alien's Return (Uoria Mates IV Book 1) Page 8
