Born Bad

by Sarah Noffke

  “Well, words were invented for a reason. It’s irritating that Americans misuse them. Things that are mildly interesting aren’t hilarious. And when the elevator is slow it isn’t obnoxious. It might be inconvenient or annoying. I’m in the business of words and using them correctly. Call things what they are and describe people accurately,” Adelaide said.

  Crossing his arms and leaning back, Connor crossed one foot over the other. “How would you describe me?” he asked and then quickly added, “And don’t include drug addict in the description. I want you to really work at this depiction.”

  Without hesitation Adelaide walked straight into the office, her chest vibrating as she did. Her eyes roamed over the British flag that covered the stainless steel wall at the back. It was flanked by shelves of books. And a minimalist desk sat in the corner, a leather seat behind it and a metal folding chair on the other side.

  Connor, seeming to finally lay his eyes on the space, stood up properly, following Adelaide into the room. “Is this your office?”

  She shook her head, her eyes scanning over the shelves which were stuffed with first-edition books covering every subject imaginable.

  “Oh,” he said simply, his eyes widening.

  “I haven’t been here since he…” She trailed away, her eyes studying the things most people wouldn’t notice, the way the books were lined up straight and organized by subject and alphabetically.

  “Why would Ren’s office still be like this? I thought he took a demotion a few months before his death,” Connor said, also studying the space.

  “He did. Twice, actually. Ren became an agent after twenty years as the head strategist. That didn’t last long, but then he elected Trent for the position when he decided to kill himself. But Trent wouldn’t take the office. He keeps his office inside the strategic department. And Trey won’t get rid of anything in here,” she said.

  “I can see why,” Connor said, his eyes on the metal folding chair.

  “What does that mean?” she said, turning and looking at him directly.

  “The space feels like him, well, how I imagine being in his company would feel. Like for instance, he sat in a cozy leather chair but offered guests a metal folding chair. Seems like he wasn’t encouraging guests to feel real comfortable,” Connor said.

  “Or stay long,” Adelaide said with a laugh. It was strange how well Connor understood her father. He was perceptive too, in a way that most weren’t. Most people didn’t really see the world around them. They weren’t wearing blinders as much as seeing only that which they wanted to. But Connor looked at his environment for clues.

  “You’d make a good agent for the strategic department,” she said, because it was true and also because the silence wasn’t okay. It felt like if it wasn’t filled with words then it would be with uncomfortable stares.

  “You think so?” Connor said.

  “Doesn’t matter what I think. Trent is the one who handpicks agents,” she said with a shrug.

  “Well, maybe once this Olento Research business is over and we have Rox back then I’ll think about it,” Connor said, his face growing serious.

  “Yeah,” Adelaide said, her expression copying his.

  “I’m going through the werewolf integration process later today,” Connor said.

  “That’s a good idea. I want as many of you through the process before we storm into Olento,” Adelaide said, but she was actually glad that Connor would be the second. He needed to be in control of the change. She needed him to be in control of the change.

  “You seem different lately,” Connor said.

  “Every day we are different. Every day we are someone new,” Adelaide said.

  “There you go, holding me to my words. And although true, you seem more confident. More yourself,” Connor.

  “How was I not myself before? Wouldn’t that be impossible?” she asked.

  “You’d think, but you were more of an incarnation of Ren. For some reason now, you seem like a new person. Like the person I always saw underneath that needed to come out,” Connor said.

  “I think you were right. I was keeping Ren alive by trying to be him,” Adelaide said, hoping Connor wasn’t the gloating type. He only stared at her, seeming to wait for her to continue. “Ren visited me when I was stuck on how to teleport.”

  “What? No way,” Connor said.

  “I promise. I’m not making it up. He told me to go and see Trey,” Adelaide said in a rush.

  “Uh-huh,” Connor said, doubt heavy in his voice.

  “Anyway, Trey did help me, although I haven’t had a chance to practice. But when Ren visited me—well, he left me a strange clue—I realized he wasn’t really gone and therefore I was safe to be myself, which is similar to him, but it’s also different. Anyway, it’s not closure, but maybe it’s the beginning of it. Because how do you get over a man who isn’t gone? How do you grieve someone who lives?”

  “That is a conundrum,” Connor said, scratching his hair, which was extra chaotic today, sticking straight up. “But what if he really isn’t dead? What if you misread the clues?”

  “Well, I didn’t, but still, he told me to see Trey and I did,” Adelaide said. Of course no one would believe that she saw clues left by her father. Well, Trey and Pops… and Lucien.

  “And did that help?”

  “I don’t know. He told me that I had to believe I could teleport before it would work and that was the biggest obstacle,” Adelaide.

  “Do you believe you can?” Connor asked.

  “I know it’s possible. I’ve seen my father do it, but me doing it is a whole different story, so I guess I don’t,” Adelaide said.

  “You can’t believe in yourself, but you believe that Ren is visiting you from another realm, like a ghost?” Connor said, shaking his head.

  Adelaide shook her head also, but because he was being a skeptical asshole. “I don’t need you to believe me,” she said, turning and stalking off. She was right too. For once she needed to stop relying on others to give her permission. Adelaide could teleport. She would. And she didn’t care if Connor thought she was a nutter for thinking Ren was visiting her. He could fuck off, although she didn’t really want him to. But still, she didn’t need his approval. Or anyone else’s for once.

  “Hey, Addy,” Connor called at her back, taking a step in her direction. She turned, sharpening her eyes at him. He paused and then two feet in front of him a book slid out of the shelf all on its own. It continued to move until it spilled over the side of the shelf, like pulled by an invisible string.

  “Kris? Was that you?” Connor said, waving his hands in the area where the invisible woman would be standing if she were there. She wasn’t, though, and Adelaide knew that.

  She kneeled and picked up the book. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. She smiled at the book, knowing how her father worked. Handing it to Connor, she said, “Have you read this? It’s a classic ghost story, but you don’t believe in such things, do you?” Adelaide then turned, enjoying the look of awe she’d just witnessed in Connor’s eyes. Thanks, Dad, she said, in her mind, feeling victorious.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “The body needs the mind and the mind needs the body. The two weren’t meant to exist without each other.”

  - Dream Traveler Codex

  The metal box vibrated before the top, above Rox’s head, unsealed. She sucked in the cool, fresh air that spilled into the compartment. Of course the box opens on the top. She’d been banging on the front the whole time. The girl clambered for the exit only to find her body slide forward on the bottom of the box. It was like the entire metal compartment had come apart and was transporting her…into another small space. Fuck! The metal of the bottom of the box slid her into an MRI machine. No! No! No! She couldn’t have an MRI scan. That experience would end her. She’d explode from the stress. Her heart couldn’t take it.

  “You didn’t think that we’d allow you out of the box, even for testing purposes, did you?” she heard t
he voice of Mika Lenna echo through a speaker.

  With fists that should be bruised she banged against the machine, the metal rattling all around her. Making her think she’d go deaf from the experience.

  “Now, that’s not going to work at all,” Mika said as the metal at her back slid back down, away. Rox almost made for the exit of the MRI machine when the lid of box fell back into place, blocking any way for her to get out of the tube. The space around her head was blocked too. Again she was trapped.

  “Let me out of here, you fucking sadistic motherfucker!” Rox screamed, rattling the machine around her.

  “I’ll make you a deal,” Mika said, his voice calm and full of his own brand of fucking narcissism. “If you are very still while we take a few scans then I’ll agree to lock you in a cell instead of the box. The cell will still be small and you won’t be offered any food or water, but you’ll still be out of the tiny box.”

  “How fucking kind of you,” Rox yelled.

  “I am known for my humanitarian acts,” he said.

  “What if I don’t remain still?” Rox said.

  “Then you’ll die in that machine,” Mika said. “The choice is entirely yours.”

  “The Lucidites are going to fuck you up in so many directions. You’ll rot in their prison and then I’ll visit you every fucking day, rubbing your nose in the fact that your long Dream Traveler life will be spent in a cell and with a fucking metal helmet on your psycho head,” Rox said, her throat cracking. She was dehydrated. Her head ached, but it wasn’t worse than the panic that crowded her chest every time she opened her eyes to find blackness and realize she was trapped in a tiny space.

  “My clairvoyants don’t see that as a possibility,” Mika said. “They see me winning.”

  “I didn’t know they saw that,” another voice said, one with a German accent.

  “Shut up,” Mika said, his voice quieter.

  “Fine,” Rox said. “I’ll be still, but I want bamboo sheets on the bed in my cell.”

  “Oh, that’s cute. You think we’re going to give you a bed,” Mika said.

  No, Rox didn’t want to be compliant, but a small cell was better than being locked in this MRI machine, or worse, in the metal box where air was limited. She pressed her hands to her sides as the machine started to fire, one loud noise after another. Aiden had asked to put her through an MRI for studying purposes and she’d refused, not thinking it possible that she could spend any amount of time in the machine, even to help the Lucidites. Now she was locked in this tube and giving Mika information he’d use for his own benefit. Fuck! She needed to get out of here! Not just out of Olento Research, but out of this machine. She’d die here soon. One doesn’t just get over childhood trauma. No, the mind is too strong for that. And every second spent in the small space was robbing Rox of the courage she’d carefully built up all her life. The panic would kill her. This was her end. If she didn’t get out soon then her heart would give out. She’d die from the fear. It would be her undoing. She sucked in a breath and let out a scream just as a strange gas filled the tube.

  “Breathe in the gas. It will give you brain damage, but I’m only using it to make you pass out for safe transporting. I’m a man of my word,” Mika said over the speaker.

  Rox slammed her mouth shut. She didn’t want to breathe in the gas. Not if it could cause damage. And if she could just pretend to pass out that would be the best option. Then she could fight her way out of Olento. But the lack of oxygen won her over and she opened her mouth, sucking in the noxious fumes.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “The elements can be felt in the dreamscape, but they aren’t actually experienced. One cannot receive a sunburn from spending all day in the sun while dream traveling.”

  - Dream Traveler Codex

  “Kris, you have to sneak into Olento Research and fix the surveillance cameras,” Zephyr said, having taken the position at the front of the conference room that Adelaide usually occupied. She sat in the chair closest to him, noting how calm he appeared when she knew he was fighting to keep that look of composure. Rox being taken had shaken everyone, making them all realize how cruel Mika could be. That could have been her or Connor or any of them. And Mika had planned this, planting the net for Rox, probably knowing that she couldn’t be harmed otherwise.

  “No can do,” Kris said, flickering into her visible form. They all knew she was there before because she had announced her presence when entering the room. “I don’t know what duct work Rox meant, but I don’t know how to get into them.”

  “We need a way to fix the cameras, and the infrared will sense you immediately,” Zephyr said, now pacing.

  “I’ll do it,” Adelaide said, drawing out the words like she was being put out by assigning herself to the task. She felt Connor’s gaze swivel to her.

  “How?” Zephyr said. “Using mind control?”

  Adelaide shook her head, her face filled with a look that said, “No, dumbass.”

  “Well, hypnosis?” Zephyr guessed again.

  “None of those strategies would work on Mika and they also can’t be done on a mass of people. Remember, we want to go undetected until the other weres are caught,” Adelaide said.

  “You haven’t mastered that skill yet,” Connor said, leaning over and whispering loudly in Adelaide’s ear. He was a horrible whisperer obviously.

  “Mastered what?” Zephyr said.

  Yes, whisper in a room full of werewolves with super hearing, smart thinking, Connor.

  “Teleporting. And no, I haven’t mastered it, but I will,” Adelaide said. This was what she needed. She needed a reason that was supremely important. She needed to be who everyone depended on for this plan to work. Then she couldn’t fail.

  “What? Is that a skill of yours?” Zephyr said.

  “It will be. Then I’ll teleport into the security room when the guard is on break and fix the cameras,” Adelaide said.

  “What if it doesn’t work?” Zephyr questioned.

  “You know what, Negative Nancy, that’s not how I operate. I’m a woman who acts as if success is inevitable. You should try it because it is always the belief that we can that precedes anything actually happening,” Adelaide said, reciting the words she’d read from her father’s book that morning. She’d actually read his entire book now, or at least no new pages were revealing themselves to her anymore. And maybe one day they would, but she knew the secrets of this world and that was enough. Actually, Adelaide knew the meaning of life now and she smiled presently at the simplicity of it all.

  “Fine, but I’m creating a backup plan just in case,” Zephyr said.

  “And I’m kicking your ass out of the Institute when this is all over. You’ve been stinking it up long enough with your wet dog smell,” Adelaide said.

  “Okay, now have the rest of you completed wolf integration?” Zephyr asked Rio, Clay, and Kaleb, who sat opposite of Adelaide.

  “Yes, we—”

  “Words are cheap, Earth Mover,” Kaleb said, cutting Clay off. Then he snapped his fingers and shifted before everyone’s eyes into his werewolf form. “Have I mentioned how flipping cool it is to be this creature?”

  Rio winked at him, shifting into his werewolf form. His black eyes glowed across the table at Adelaide, but she didn’t tense like she did when Connor shifted the first time, that morning. These werewolves were different now. The way their eyes shone felt human, although the fangs and claws sought to contradict that. But still, Connor had opened his mouth and said the one set of words she needed to hear. “I won’t hurt you. I’m completely in control,” he said, his voice raspy.

  She believed him immediately, but still she extended her hand to him. Knowing what she intended, Connor laid his hand covered in reddish fur in hers. It was strange to touch him in that form, but stranger was the voice that filled her head when they touched. It was the voice of the wolf. “I won’t hurt you. You’re under the protection of my master,” the wolf said clearly in her head.

&n
bsp; “Very good,” Zephyr said now. “Be careful, though, shifting back and forth can be taxing.”

  “Yes, but you did tell us to practice, Silver Streak,” Kaleb said.

  “I did and that’s because I wanted you to be able to do it in the most stressful of situations. It will be crucial for escaping Olento Research,” Zephyr said. “And also, if you become intimately familiar with the shift then you’ll learn how to do something that Connor and I figured out last night.”

  “Oh, this sounds like it got cooler,” Kaleb said, his eyes shining bright.

  “It absolutely did,” Connor said, tossing his head back at Kaleb.

  “Connor had the theory that the werewolf is the middle point for the wolf and the man. It goes from that form to the extreme of man, but then that means there’s another extreme that we missed,” Zephyr said, threading his hands into the hem of his shirt and pulling it over his head to reveal his chest, which even made Adelaide blush at first sight. He was all muscle, cut in all the right places and wearing a tan that made the pale-skinned redhead angry with jealousy.

  “Damn, Rox should really be here right now,” Kris said, turning invisible.

  Zephyr yanked off his belt and kicked off his shoes, not paying attention to Kris’s remark.