“Ivy,” Maxim said, crossing the room quickly so that he could rest on his knees at her side.
“Hi,” she said softly, leaning forward to touch a kiss to his lips.
It felt incredible to be back near him, just to be able to reach forward and touch him. He took her hand before turning and gesturing toward the man.
“I’d like you to meet my father.”
Ivy felt her heart leap and a wash of unexpected emotion come over her. She had carried the hope that Aegeus was alive and dreamed of when the man she loved would be able to see his father again soon. Now he was not only there with them, but he was holding their child, cradling his first grandchild close to his heart as the precious little girl slept. Aegeus released Ellora’s hand and walked toward her. He lowered himself down so that he crouched beside Maxim and Ivy could immediately see the resemblance between her partner and his father.
“Hello, Ivy,” Aegeus said. “It’s wonderful to meet you.”
Ivy smiled and felt a joy-filled laugh bubble up in her throat.
“It is more wonderful to meet you,” she said.
“Your daughter is beautiful,” he told her. “I’m honored that I had the privilege of being able to meet her so soon after her birth.”
Ivy glanced at Maxim and gave a slight nod. There was a question that they wanted to ask Aegeus, a hope that Maxim had expressed to her when they were talking about the baby before she left to return to Uoria. He looked at his father.
“Papa, Ivy and I were hoping that you would do us the honor of naming her.”
Aegeus’s eyes snapped up from the baby’s face and Ivy could see the mix of surprise and sheer joy in them.
“Me?” he asked.
Ivy nodded.
“It would mean so much to us.”
Aegeus looked down at her daughter in his arms, adjusting his hold on her so that her head was rested in one palm as she sat nestled in the other. He lifted her so that he could look into her face.
“When I was on Earth, I didn’t have much chance to interact with anyone or see anything beyond the laboratory where I was imprisoned, especially anything beautiful. One day when I was being transferred between buildings, I saw something so beautiful that I had to ask what it was. I thought that I was going to get punished for speaking to the hybrid who was escorting me, but I had to know. It was unlike anything that I had seen before, but somehow it reminded me of home and made me feel more at peace. Rather than being angry or reporting me to the Valdicians for asking, the hybrid told me what it was that I was seeing. I want to name you, my beautiful granddaughter who will bring peace and salvation to a planet and to the Universe, after that creature that I saw, a creature that came to me in dreams even during my darkest hours. I will name you Dove.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The interior of the factory stood in such stark contrast to what Mordecai was accustomed to in the facilities of the laboratory that it was difficult for him to reconcile that they were run by the same man, though he knew that in a way Ryan didn’t have absolute control over the factory in the way that he did the lab. He knew that the factory was too old for Ryan to have designed it himself and much of the layers of equipment and signs were as old as the building itself, far outdating even the scientist who had created him, but he had done nothing to improve the building during the time that he had had it under his control. Yet, the facility was precise and pristine. Every corridor, every room, every bit of equipment or supplies that filled the space were chosen carefully and designed for absolute control and cleanliness. As opposed to the new being layered on top of the old in the factory, in the facility anything that became even slightly aged our outdated was immediately removed and replaced, keeping the laboratory and all the resources within it at the very cutting edge of features and capabilities.
Mordecai was so accustomed to the precision and perfection of the laboratory that he had difficulty believing that Ryan truly had much to do with this factory and the way that it was run on a daily basis. He couldn’t imagine the conscientious scientist would tolerate the way that this place looked or the pieced-together appearance of the equipment. He wondered if Ryan was only involved in this factory occasionally, leaving the rest of the operation and whatever it was that happened here to the Valdicians, or if he purposely allowed it to look this way to perpetuate the idea that it was closed so that he could keep interference in it to a minimum.
They had hesitated on the factory floor for several minutes after the mysterious figure had walked past them, then moved the rest of the way across it, through to the third floor, and then up onto another floor of the building that resembled the one that they had passed through before getting into the cubicle floor. Like with that floor, the doors that lined either side of the corridors were closed and quiet. As they turned the corner, however, they started hearing strange sounds ahead of them. Mordecai knew that there was someone else there with them. The man who had passed them hadn’t seemed to even know that they were there and he had gone in the opposite direction, telling Mordecai that the sounds that they were hearing were coming from someone else. This caused his muscles to tense as if his body was preparing itself.
The group came in closer together and moved against one wall, exchanging glances.
“Do you hear that?” Mordecai whispered.
The rest of the group nodded and he could see Ilya’s eyes flitting between his face and down the hallway toward the sounds. He could see in her eyes that she had heard those sounds before and might even know what they were. He wanted to ask her about them, but at the same time, he didn’t want to upset her or put her in an awkward position in front of the others. She hadn’t volunteered any information and he didn’t want her to feel as though he were pushing her.
“Those are the sounds that everybody who comes in here hears,” Aubrey whispered. “That’s why they say that this factory is haunted.”
Willow shook her head.
“It’s not haunted,” she said. “Those are living beings.”
Aubrey nodded.
“There’s something here. Something or someone.”
“I can show you,” Ilya suddenly said.
Mordecai was surprised by the interjection. Ilya had been so terrified when they were on the factory floor. He didn’t know what she was thinking or what happened that made her stand there in the center of the floor when the rest of them ran for their hiding place, but he had been able to see the fear in her eyes and felt her scream on his palm when he grabbed her wrist and closed his hand over her mouth to drag her to cover.
“Show us what?” he asked.
Ilya gestured for them to follow her and started down the hallway. They moved slowly at first and then Ilya increased her speed, seeming to move down the corridor faster to prevent herself from stopping. They had gone down another corridor and turned a second corner when she suddenly stopped and held her arm out beside her as if to stop the progress of the others behind her. The group paused, gathering behind her up against the wall again.
“Look,” she whispered, pointing ahead of her.
Mordecai leaned around her and looked up the hall where she was gesturing. His heart sank into his stomach when he saw the unmistakable cloaked forms of several Valdicians walking down the hall in front of them. They stopped in unison, then turned to face a door ahead of them. Each held a bottle of Izalux in front of them, held in folded hands at their waists as they walked in perfectly timed steps toward the room ahead of them. It was ritualistic and haunting, making Mordecai feel even further separated from them and more like he was looking in on them from the outside, barely sharing the same space, though he could see that they were only steps away.
The Valdicians disappeared into the room and the group crept closer to them. They stepped into an alcove in one wall to keep themselves as out of sight as possible and peered around to look into the room. Mordecai saw that the room was solid black, reminding him of what Aubrey had told them those who had come to the factory h
ad described. He tried to identify anything within the space, but all Mordecai could see was the darkness. He thought that the Valdicians might have gone through the room and into an unseen door when a moment later light began to glow inside the blackness. It was faint at first, then grew brighter and brighter as it seemed to reflect off the dark surfaces of the floor, ceiling, and walls.
The light was a strange color. Not quite pearl. Not quite silver. It reminded him of something, but Mordecai couldn’t quite place it, as though it was something that he knew intrinsically rather than a memory. The light shimmered in the room, filling it with enough illumination that he was able to see the outline of the Valdicians inside. There were more of them in there than they had seen walking inside and Mordecai wondered how long they had been waiting for those who brought the Izalux with them. They were gathered in the center of the room now, their faces upturned toward the light as it seemed to congregate in small, dense sections across the ceiling that spread light toward one another until the entire ceiling was illuminated.
The Valdicians stood in a tight circle, shoulders just touching, and swayed slightly back and forth, causing the entire circle to twist like a gear. Mordecai was suddenly aware of a humming sound in the air around him. It felt like it was swelling around him and he couldn’t tell if it was the Valdicians that were making the sound or if there was something else within the factory that was creating the hum.
“Starlight,” Aubrey whispered from behind him and Mordecai turned to look at her sharply.
“What?” he asked.
Jonah was looking at her with an expression that said that he understood what she meant but was startled by it.
“That’s the artificial starlight that Izalux creates,” she explained, speaking directly to Jonah. “That’s the light that I told you I figured out I was making before Ryan took me off the project.” She turned to look back at the room and the light glowing along the ceiling. “So that’s what it’s used for.”
“But what is that?” Jonah asked. “What are they doing with it?”
Mordecai looked back at the room and the light. He felt mesmerized by the beautiful, shimmering illumination. As he stared at it, he felt his mind slipping away. He was drawn toward it, seemingly unable to focus on his thoughts as he looked at it. He took a step toward it and felt Ilya’s hand wrap around his wrist, pulling him back toward her just as he had pulled her out of the center of the floor. The pressure broke him out of the trance that the starlight seemed to put over him and he turned to look at her.
“You can’t look at it for too long,” she told him. “You’ll lose yourself in it.”
“I don’t understand what they’re doing,” Mordecai said.
Ilya shook her head.
“I don’t know. I saw it the last time I was here. Watch. But only for a few seconds and then make yourself look away.”
Mordecai did as she said, looking back toward the room. The Valdicians were still standing in the center of the room, swaying as they looked up at the starlight on the ceiling. The humming was growing louder and Mordecai felt his mind slipping away again. He forced himself to look away, concentrating on the aged wall beside him for a few moments before looking back. When he did he noticed that the glow seemed to have faded. Fighting to maintain control over his thoughts, he continued to watch. The swaying became faster and the Valdicians’ arms rose by their sides until they were reaching up toward the ceiling. Mordecai noticed the light seeming to pull toward their fingertips, dripping down from the ceiling to seep into them. As this happened the light dimmed further and further, gradually disappearing until the room was dark again.
The light fading left a strangely empty, hollow feeling inside of him and Mordecai felt the compulsion to move toward the room, to seek out the light.
“What happened?” Jonah asked. “Where did the light go? What were they using it for?”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Aubrey said. “What purpose could artificial starlight have for them? Especially if it is just going to go away that quickly?”
Her voice had raised above the whisper that they had been maintaining and Mordecai heard a sound in the dark room like someone calling attention to her voice. Aubrey covered her mouth with her hand, but it was too late. They heard footsteps coming toward them and in an instant, they were running down the hallway again. As he ran, Mordecai realized that Ilya was still holding his hand. Her skin was soft against his and the touch made him feel stronger, capable of protecting this woman who needed someone to be there for her in a place where she had once felt at her most vulnerable and alone.
“Split up!” Jonah hissed. “Make your way back down to the basement.”
Without any response, the group followed the command and separated in the dim hallway. Mordecai and Ilya ran back in the direction of the factory floor, bursting through the door without concern for the Valdicians who were chasing them hearing them. The creatures already knew that they were there. This wasn’t a matter of deceiving them, but of simply getting away from them enough that they could get down to the basement to meet up with the rest of the group.
They ran through the factory floor and Mordecai felt Ilya tug on his hand, pulling him into a corner to hide in a small closet tucked tightly behind a piece of equipment that seemed that it hadn’t been used in many years. The space was close, hot, and dark, but Mordecai didn’t want to risk lighting one of the lightsticks that he had in his pocket. Even the small space beneath the door of the closet would allow any glow from within the closet to be visible in someone was close enough, and he didn’t want to risk giving away their position.
He leaned his head back and rested his head against the wall, drawing in breaths to calm the shaking within him. Despite the darkness, he squeezed his eyes closed. This brought him within himself, but the feeling of Ilya’s hand tightening around his brought him back into the moment.
“Are you alright?” he whispered.
Though he couldn’t see her, he could feel the shift of her body close to him as she nodded.
“Yes,” she said. “Are you?”
“Yes. I’m sorry that you’re going through this. You shouldn’t have to see this place again.”
“I don’t have to,” she said. “I chose to. I came here on my own.”
There was defiance in her voice and Mordecai understood what she was feeling. Though she had spent only a few months under Ryan’s control while he had been with him for his entire life, she had lived a life before going into the program. Though she described that life as being somewhat stunted and without much interest, it was still a life that she lived under her own means and her own control. That made the loss of that control and the forced compliance with Ryan’s whim even more difficult. Now she had been released from that control and was determined that no one would take it from her again.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?” she asked, her voice softened now.
“For what I said,” he told her. “For what’s happening now. For us being here. For everything that you went through with Ryan, starting before he brought you into the facility.”
She let out a long sigh and remained silent for several long, tense seconds before she spoke again.
“I was here,” she said.
“What do you mean?” Mordecai asked.
“I was here,” she repeated. “I was hiding in this closet. That’s how I knew that it was here.”
“What happened?” Mordecai asked.
He was slightly horrified at the thought that this was not only the place where she had been when she was captured and brought into the facility but that she had brought him to it so that they could hide from the same threat that had taken her that day.
“I was hiding,” she said. “One of the Valdicians had caught me, but I managed to get away. I was going to run and try to get back out of the factory, but I didn’t. Instead, I ran back up here.”
“Why?” Mordecai asked.
“I don’t know,�
� Ilya said, sounding distant and regretful. “I don’t know what was going through my head…”
****
Six months before…
Ilya screamed as the hand clamped around her wrist and started pulling her out from under the tarp. She fought against it, trying desperately to stay beneath the cover of the tarp even though she didn’t know what she would accomplish by staying there. The huge piece of equipment blocked her and she had nowhere to go. Staying beneath the tarp only worked to block her from view for those moments, both preventing whoever had her from seeing her fully and her from seeing it. Within a few moments, however, it was clear that this creature had far greater strength than she did and she felt herself yanked out from beneath the tarp. The Valdician flung her a few feet so that she hit another piece of equipment nearby with her back and head, dazing her for a few seconds.
“Get up,” the creature demanded, the voice chilling, almost as though it wasn’t really coming from the being itself but from somewhere else.
She refused to move and the Valdician repeated his command.
“No,” she growled, filled with a sense of anger and disgust that she couldn’t contain.
There was just enough light on the factory floor that Ilya was able to look around and see a piece of metal lying on the ground a few feet away. She scurried over to it without getting to her feet and wrapped her hand around it. Without pausing even for a moment to think through her next action, Ilya swung the metal, bashing the Valdician in the back of its knees. The blow caused the figure’s legs to buckle under him and he crashed to the floor. Ilya immediately dropped the piece of metal to the floor and scrambled to her feet, running across the factory floor and to the door. She crashed through the door and ran up the stairs and out onto the next floor before she even realized what she was doing. She should have run in the other direction, moving down through the building so that she could get out rather than winding her way up through it again. Now there was nothing that she could do. She could hear the infuriated bellowing of the Valdician from the floor below and footsteps coming toward the door that led onto this floor.
The Alien's Tensions Page 19
