by Megan Morgan
June had to close her eyes again.
“Don’t get feisty,” Muse warned. “They probably won’t like it.”
June flopped back down on the tile. She opened her eyes. Muse still sat slumped, but her eyes were open.
“Assholes,” June snarled. “Taking him down like that. He was already weak. Why’d they have to hit him?”
“Because they knew it would stop you,” Muse said.
A surge of rage helped June struggle into a sitting position. Her vision swam and her stomach lurched. She felt top-heavy. “Where the hell are we?”
“I’m guessing the Institute.” Muse lifted her head. The corner of her mouth twitched. “I’m sorry I failed you at the park.”
“You didn’t fail us. How were you supposed to hold all those guys off?”
“I should have known they were lying in wait. But I was reaching out to Sam, trying to make sure he was all right. I wasn’t paying attention.”
“I think even if you’d known, it wouldn’t have mattered.” June looked around, trying to find a way out, a vent, anything. “Even if we went another way, they would have chased us. They were determined.”
“It’s a very bad thing that I’ve been captured,” Muse said. “Sam is alone now, and vulnerable. And Robbie got away. Sam won’t know what’s coming at him without me there.”
“I’m not too happy they got us, either.”
With uncoordinated, graceless effort, June got to her feet, but once she did she almost didn’t stay upright. Despite the weakness and vertigo, and the pain in her knees from being slammed down on the asphalt, she loped over to the door, the room moving with her. Her movements were like swimming through thick water. She tried the knob and found the door locked.
“I don’t think we’re getting out of here until they take us out,” Muse said.
June dropped her head against the door, clutching the knob with both hands. She wanted a smoke so her head would clear and her thoughts would focus.
She turned around and slumped against the door. One corner of Muse's mouth pushed up, as if the muscles on that side of her face had frozen. Jason rolled onto his back, eyes closed, hands still clasped over his chest.
“So you’re Aaron Jenkins’s daughter?” June figured they had plenty of time for conversation now.
“Yes.” Muse looked up at the camera. “No point trying to hide it now. They clearly know everything already. Sam has been protecting me.”
“I thought you were his bodyguard.”
“I’ve spent my entire life hiding who I am. I’m sure you can understand that.”
“Why have you been hiding?”
“Because of my father, because of who he is. His group might depose him if they knew his daughter was paranormal. My grandfather would have killed me if he knew. My father kept me away from him. Now he has to keep me away from the SNC.” She took a deep, rattling breath. “My name isn’t Muse Sagan. It’s Mary Ellen Jenkins. Sagan was my mother’s maiden name. Muse is—kind of a long story.”
June marveled. This was the most she had ever heard Muse speak. “That sucks. But there’s protection for you, if they find out. Isn’t there? The activists, the organizations—”
“Protection.” Muse thumped her head back against the wall. “Would you like to hear why Sam is harboring me? The more complicated reasons?” Her voice seemed to be getting raspier as she spoke.
“Yes. We don’t have anything else to do.”
“There’s some things I think you should know. Things I told Sam he should tell you. And since—not all of us might make it out of here, I’m going to tell you now.”
June didn't like good-bye speeches.
A tic made one of Muse’s eyelids flutter. “Sam had a brother, named Thomas. Kevin, Cindy’s ex-husband, was Thomas’s best friend. Thomas was murdered by paranormal extremists. Four of them, or so a couple witnesses said. They restrained him, and one of them burnt him alive with pyrokinesis. My father had just taken control of the SNC and he was working out a treaty with Sam. Everyone assumed the killers were rogue Paranormal Alliance members who opposed the union.”
June stared across the room, mouth open, and tried to absorb this story in her already spinning head.
“Neither Sam nor my father knew how to handle the situation,” Muse said. “And Kevin lost his mind. He went to Old Town and hired some militant vampires to track down the killers and punish them. Vampires are smart, you see. They know things. They hear things. Two days later, three of the four murderers turned up bloodless in a drainage ditch near Jackson Park Beach.”
“Wow.” June slipped down the door and sat, legs out in front of her. So here, at last, was the story of Sam’s brother.
“The problem with militant vampires is they don’t care about discretion. They would have given Kevin up for enlisting them, but Sam offered my father a deal. He took me into his protection in exchange for my father paying off the vampires to keep their mouths shut. My father has a lot more money and a lot more to offer than Sam does, or did at the time. As a consequence of all this, Kevin then owed Sam a favor.”
“The Oracle of the Dead,” June said.
“Yes. Kevin’s fear and hatred of the paranormal has grown since then, but he tried to alleviate it by getting into a relationship with Cindy. Big mistake. And Kevin couldn’t handle being involved with someone in the Paranormal Alliance. I think it reminds him too much of Thomas.”
June sagged against the door. “I guess we shouldn’t be so quick to think someone’s a jerk until we know his story.”
“Trust me, you can have a tragic story and still be a jerk.”
June would have laughed, if she were capable of any humor at that moment.
“Sam intended to use Kevin’s favor for himself eventually,” Muse said, “but he’s always believed the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”
“What was he going to use it for?” June wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“To find out where his brother’s fourth killer is. They still haven’t caught them.”
Horror swept over June. “What the hell? Why would he waste it? What am I to him? I’m nothing, nobody. Why would he waste an opportunity like that on me?”
“Because you’re the future.” Muse’s mouth twisted, and the movement looked painful. She even winced. “Sam needs an icon. Someone to use as an example of what the people in this city are doing to us. He wants what happened to his brother to never happen to anyone else ever again. He’s just been waiting for the right person to come along.”
“He wants me to be an icon?”
“He said there would be a price for him helping you. That’s it. He needs a pariah. I wanted it to be me, for so long. I wanted to do it for him, damn my father’s organization, but I can’t. I’m dying.”
“What?”
“My power is killing me. It happens to some of us. It’s destroying my nervous system. It’s happening to Robbie, too. That’s why he’s deaf. He’s losing his vision, too. Probably why he mistook Kevin for you.”
“Holy shit.”
“For a while I was able to control it with medicine. But now.” She huffed. “Suffering makes you pure, they say. In some holy text. Maybe I’ll end up a saint.”
A cold weight settled on June’s chest. “Does this happen to everyone?”
“No. But if it does happen to you, you’ll know.”
June swallowed. “Damn. I’m sorry, Muse.”
Muse tilted her chin up at the camera, eyelids fluttering. “It doesn’t matter what the Institute does to me now. I’m almost gone anyway.”
“Muse.” June tried to sit up straighter. “Don’t flake out on me. I need you.”
“I know. I won’t. Sam wants me to save you, and I will, if it’s the last thing I do.”
Muse dropped her hand on the floor beside her hip and started signaling. Signing. June watched as she repeated four movements. She lifted her pinky finger. Jerke
d her open palm toward herself. Pointed at June. Made her hand in the shape of a gun. June didn’t understand sign language, but she got the gist.
I. Have. Your. Gun. June widened her eyes.
Sounds came from outside the door, footsteps and voices. As quickly as her body would allow, June pushed away from the door. A moment later a click sounded, the knob turned, and the door opened.
Eric Greerson slid into the room, smooth as a snake. He quickly closed the door behind him.
“My little rats in a cage.” His smile was cruel. “How gleeful and blind, you all stumbled into your trap. It’s good to see you all awake and ready for some fun.”
If June had had her gun right then, he would have paid.
“I almost feel like I have no right to be proud of myself,” Eric said. “Since you did all the work. I could only be happier if Sam Haain were rattling around in here with you.” He chuckled as Jason tried to sit up. “Oh, he doesn’t look good at all.”
“You asshole,” June said. “Let us go.”
“Don’t try to use your voice on me, Ms. Coffin. It won’t work, and you’ll just look foolish.”
“How could you do this?” Muse asked. “You’re supposed to be our champion, or some shit.”
“It was easy, actually. My predecessor was a great help. People like your father and Sam Haain believe I was put in place to serve as an ignorant figurehead. It’s highly beneficial to me.”
“Michael Paulson knew what was going on,” Muse said. “He wouldn’t go along with it, would he?” Sam had said Michael Paulson was the first, mysteriously vanished, head of the Institute.
“Oh, he did, at first,” Eric said. “But the more he learned, the more his conscience took over. Then he had a fit of morality and had to be displaced.”
“You mean killed,” Muse said.
“I’m afraid that’s a top secret matter. I could have stepped in here just now and shot every one of you, by the way.” He clapped his hands together. “But I’d rather you bear witness to the reason you’ve been so bedeviled by me and my organization. I know what intelligence Sam has gathered. Why don’t you come see the final proof, the one thing he’s been trying so hard to get his hands on?”
June slid forward. “Screw you. Slam your head in the door you ruthless bastard!” Her power rose unbidden, flowing out with the words. She had never used her ability to inflict harm on another person, and even as she said it, knowing it was deserved, she felt bad for it.
Eric threw his head back and laughed.
“What the hell?” June ground out. Maybe he was wearing fancy earplugs or something.
Eric’s eyes glittered with malevolence. “Get him on his feet.” He jerked his head toward Jason. “Or I’ll get him up myself, and he won’t like it.” He turned and opened the door. “Now. Time’s wasting.”
June, still weak and dizzy, could barely stand on her own, let alone help anyone else stand, but she didn’t want Eric touching her brother. She crawled over to him.
Muse crawled over as well and tried to help her, despite her being as short and weak as June.
“This isn’t going to be good,” Muse whispered.
“You’re telling me,” June muttered.
Somehow, together, they managed to get Jason on his feet. He was like a dead weight across June’s back and she nearly collapsed after moving only the several feet to the door. What awaited them outside the room wasn’t good at all.
Chapter 15
In the hallway, two men holding guns stood on either side of Eric, one a heavily-muscled, stocky black man, the other a tall white man with close-shaved hair. Both were dressed as security guards and wore headphones. They were the same headphones the researchers had worn while doing experiments with Jason and June.
The white man stepped forward, gun trained on June, and pulled out of his shirt pocket a black ball with straps attached. June had seen the gag once already, at the park. She shrank back, making Jason wobble. Her withdrawal didn’t deter the bastard. He stuffed the ball into her mouth and pulled the straps around her head. June snarled behind the gag, but didn’t fight, afraid they’d shoot her to make a point.
“You’re such an asshole,” Muse spat at Eric.
“The other Siren, too.” Eric motioned to Jason. “I know you’re hardly a threat, but let’s make you look like your twin sister, hmm?”
The black man produced a second gag and affixed it on Jason. He didn’t fight, either. He just sagged and allowed them to do it. June wanted to punish them all. She wanted to punish herself.
The guards took off the headphones.
“Cuff them as well,” Eric said.
June raged some more as her hands were secured behind her. The black man cuffed Jason and started leading him, weaving and stumbling, down the hallway.
“Where are you taking us?” Muse demanded, as she and June were goaded after them. “They’re purposely blocking their thoughts so I can’t read anything,” she said to June.
“Don’t be so eager to see the end of this,” Eric said. “If I were you, I’d be hoping for as much time as I’ll allow you.”
They walked down the hallway and passed by a bank of windows. Outside, night had fallen, the skyscrapers of downtown glittering in the distance. The hallway was empty and eerily quiet, the buzz of the overhead lights mingling with their collective footsteps. A clock hanging over a desk said 8:12.
After several minutes of walking, they reached a set of double doors and the guards led them through. They stepped into a narrow green tile room with a row of metal sinks along one wall and another set of double doors on the other side. The place looked like a surgery prep room.
“What’s going on?” Muse asked. “Where are we?” Clearly, once provoked to anger she wasn’t so demure and quiet anymore.
“Are you ready to witness what your beloved’s intelligence-gathering has been leading to?” Eric asked her.
“What are you talking about?” Muse asked.
“Right this way.”
Eric went through the doors first. The guards forced the three of them after him.
The room beyond was bigger and brighter, full of medical equipment, the walls the same green tile as the outer room. The room looked like an operating theatre, but more sinister, like a mad scientist’s laboratory. The assessment probably wasn’t far off. A group of people—four men and two women, all wearing white lab coats—stood in the middle of the room. Someone else stood in the room, too.
“Micha!” Muse gasped.
June stumbled and almost fell.
Micha stood in the midst of the group, wearing the jeans and T-shirt he’d had on earlier, the sweater June and Sam put on him gone. He looked disheveled but alert.
“You should be happy to see him,” Eric said. “He’s the only reason I’m letting you live right now.” He turned to Micha. “Feeling a bit more lively? Withdrawal from that stuff was an unforeseen consequence. If we’d gotten to you sooner we could have given you something to take the edge off.”
“What the hell is going on?” Muse demanded.
June jerked at her cuffs, making wet, seething sounds behind the gag. Saliva dripped down her chin, but she didn’t care how undignified her current state had rendered her. Her jaws hurt. Her head hurt. The pain made her angrier.
Eric stepped up to the group. The brilliant overhead light shone on his hair, turning the silver strands translucent and showing the pink of his scalp. “Mr. Bellevue is going to make history.”
“How could you do this?” Micha sounded perfectly lucid. “How could you betray everyone? All your lies about wanting to protect the community, all that bullshit about making the Institute a safe haven for the paranormal.”
“I do want to protect paranormal people,” Eric said, with affected affront. “They’re no good to me dead. Haain’s crazy disciple has been a thorn in my side for quite some time.”
“Robbie didn’t do anything under Sam’s command,�
�� Muse said.
“Whether he’s Haain’s charge or not, it doesn’t matter. He almost took out my first test subject, and for that I would have been greatly vexed.”
“You’re going to give Micha the serum?” Muse asked. Apparently, she knew everything Sam knew. “Why? He’s not the only one campaigning for paranormal rights. Is this supposed to be his punishment?”
“Punishment?” Eric put a hand to his heart. “This is an honor. But you’re right, there’s nothing particularly special about him.” He gave Micha a patronizing pat on the shoulder. “You were just convenient, Mr. Bellevue. Easy to get to and prep. But you will be special. Very special.”
“What do you mean, prep?” Micha asked.
“You need special enzymes for the serum to work,” Muse said. “There’s an agent you have to take to build them. That’s what we found out. We just couldn’t figure out what the agent was.”
“I haven’t taken anything,” Micha said.
“You have, actually.” Eric tilted his chin up. “You were convenient because of your association with—formerly—top members of this facility.”
Dread stole across Micha’s features. “Oh God. Rose…”
June widened her eyes. A means to their end.
Eric chuckled. “Yes. It was a terrible inconvenience for me, but maybe my men did you a favor when they accidentally shot her.”
“How was she giving it to me?” Micha asked.
“I never asked her. It’s a tasteless, odorless powder, so I’m sure in anything she had access to that you were drinking. Really quite easy.”
“Drinking…” Micha said.
June recalled Micha talking about Rose’s coffee. He didn’t have late-stage abilities. Rose had been feeding him the serum.
“Allow me to offer my condolences on your wife, by the way,” Eric said. “Know that she was not meant to be eradicated. She was a vital and treasured researcher, and I’m sorry to have lost her.”
“What is this prepping agent?” Micha asked. “What’s it supposed to do?”
“It’s a special compound we created.” Eric clasped his hands, sounding pleased Micha had asked. “It creates special receptors in your cells. We’ve found these receptors in almost all classifications of paranormal people, and also, specific hormones that bind with the receptors, unlike anything normal people produce. It’s fascinating science. You can read all about it once you’ve experienced it. Now that we’ve built the receptors, we’ll give you the hormones.”
