“Sit down,” he instructed. “Relax.”
“Thank you,” Ilya said.
The feeling of the sun on her skin, even through the glistening-clean window panes, was wonderful. It had been nearly a year since she had been able to be out in the sun and simply savor its warmth and beauty.
Aubrey and the men settled into chairs around her and she could feel them looking at her expectantly. They wanted to know more, and even though she was reluctant to share it, she took a breath and forced herself to say the words that they needed to hear.
“He was one of the assigned mentors during a project that I did when I was studying at the University,” she started. “We had a good rapport then and I was pretty disappointed when the project ended and I wasn’t able to see him every day anymore.”
“How could you be so attracted to him?” Aubrey asked.
“Ryan is far more charming than you give him credit for,” Ilya said. “Besides, there was no way of knowing anything that he was doing. It wasn’t as though he talked about it. He was kind and attentive and flattering. I liked the attention. I hate to even say that now. It makes me feel so incredibly stupid that I fell for it.”
“You don’t need to feel stupid,” Aubrey said.
“Don’t you think that I had heard all of the rumors about Ryan?” she asked. “I had heard everything that people said about him. I was fully informed of the type of man he was, and yet I still let myself be attracted to him like some little puppy. It was like I thought I was somehow special.”
“So, what happened? Were you seeing him from the time that you were in that project?”
Ilya shook her head.
“No,” she said. “After that project, I didn’t see him for another couple of years. Then I started working in the lab and I ran into him again. Of course, I was thrilled to see him and he seemed really happy to see me, too. He told me that he had been thinking about me since we had worked together and that he had been hoping that we would have the opportunity to work together again. That just swept me away even more. He had just been my mentor and yet he talked about it as though we had made some sort of incredible discovery together. I was standing there with this powerful, famous scientist telling me that I impress him and that he wanted to be able to work with me. There was nothing that I could do. I couldn’t resist him.”
“Were you serious?” Aubrey asked. “Is that what happened? Did the Science Head find out about the two of you and threaten him?”
Ilya shook her head.
“No,” she said. “Nothing that dramatic. We were actually quite casual. We saw each other when we had the chance. We would grab dinner or sometimes take a weekend together. I wish I had just left it at that and allowed it to fizzle out naturally, but I just couldn’t. The longer that I spent with him, the less that I could resist him. I fell harder every time that I saw him. Even though I was still hearing the same rumors about him, I wanted to be more serious. I thought that I could change his ways and convince him that I was the one he was supposed to be with. No matter what I heard, I thought that I could be the one who was different. I just had to convince him. I had to show him that I could make him happy. When I told him, though, he didn’t feel the same way.”
“What did he say?”
Ilya sighed.
“Basically, what you would expect him to. That I was great and that he had fun with me, but that he wasn’t interested in anything more than what we had. That should have convinced me. That should have been all that I needed to hear to make me walk away from him and chalk him up as a lesson learned. But, of course, it didn’t. He was so incredibly manipulative. I can see that now. I know now that that is what it was, but I couldn’t then. When I was there, when I was in it, all I felt was what I thought was love. I figured that it might just take him a little bit longer, but that if I felt this strongly, it had to be something more than just a casual attraction. I couldn’t help myself. I had to keep pursuing him. I found out that he had been going to the Orion Corporation factory and I decided that I was going to follow him there. It would change up our routine, force him to hear me out while I explained why he should commit to me.”
“What did you see there?”
Ilya’s mind resisted her efforts to bring the memories forward. She didn’t want to think about them. She didn’t want to have to remember what it was like to live those last few moments of freedom in terror.
“I don’t really know how to explain it. The building itself looked almost like it had already been abandoned. It was old and outdated from the outside. The parking lot was empty except for two cars and the pavement was broken up from all of the plants growing up through it. I recognized Ryan’s car and went inside. I wanted to get a look of what was in there before I went, but the windows were boarded up or painted black, so I couldn’t see anything.”
“What happened when you went inside?”
“I don’t even know how to describe the inside of the building. It was like the factory was in layers. Equipment that looked a century old or more was still there, but newer technology had been patched on top of it over and over to create these strange monster machines. The sound they made was ungodly. I couldn’t even hear myself think. I went by the machinery so fast I didn’t even see what it was doing.”
“Did you see anything other than the machinery?”
“There were rooms,” Ilya said. “I can only guess that they were the storage that the Valdicians were talking about. They were filled with crates marked ‘Orion Corporation, Izalux”. Some of the other rooms were full of what looked like every part that they could possibly need to fix the machinery if it broke down, shipping supplies, and huge cases of what I assume was ingredients for the Izalux.”
“Is that all?”
Ilya shook her head.
“I could hear something deep in the factory. It was voices, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying. I followed them and saw more rooms and another floor of machines. Then I found a room that had been completely blacked out. The ceiling, floor, and windows were all totally black.”
“Just like the women in the lab said the other day,” Jonah pointed out.
Aubrey nodded.
“That room,” she said. “Was there anything in it? Did you see anything other than the blackness?”
“I didn’t really see it,” Ilya said, “but it was like I could feel that there were people there looking at me. I knew that the room wasn’t empty. I got away from it and went down the hallway as fast as I could. When I turned a corner, I saw another room that looked like the black one, but there was light coming out of it.”
“Light?” Aubrey asked.
“Not a lot,” Ilya said. “Not like there was a lamp turned on inside or there were bulbs in the ceiling or anything. Just a small amount of light. Faint. Almost silvery. I didn’t want any of the people in there to see me, so I started back the way that I came. At least that’s what I thought that I was doing. I ended up getting lost and in another wing of the factory. There was no machinery there, but I could hear more voices. These sounded scared, sometimes like they were crying. I couldn’t open any of the doors that I found and there were no windows. The further that I went, the louder the voices got. Then I heard footsteps behind me.”
“Why didn’t you stop?” Jonah asked. “Why didn’t you just find the nearest door out of the building and leave?”
Ilya turned toward him, her lips curved in a rueful smile.
“Because I knew that Ryan was somewhere in there,” she said simply. “Nothing else really mattered to me then. I had to talk to him. I felt like I had no other choice. I knew that if I could just talk to him, if I could just tell him, then he would understand and we could be together.”
“Tell him what?” Aubrey asked. “What was so important that you had to put yourself in danger like that just to talk to this guy?”
Ilya hesitated.
“I just needed to talk to him,” she said firmly, hoping that the tone of her voice
would tell them that she wasn’t interested in going any further down that line of conversation.
“Did you ever find Ryan?” Jonah asked.
Ilya nodded.
“I did,” she said. “I was so relieved. I knew that everything was going to be fine. We would talk and he would see that we were meant to be together. He would get me out of the factory and we would start our life together.”
“What happened?” Gannon asked.
“It was all so fast,” Ilya said. “One moment I was talking to Ryan and the next I was being dragged out of the room by these creatures in long robes. I had no idea what or who they were.”
“Valdicians,” Jonah said quietly.
Ilya nodded.
“They brought me into one of the rooms and that’s all I remember from the factory. The next thing that I was aware of was being in the breeding facility in the lab. He had me hooked up to all kinds of machines and there were other women in the tanks around me. He never explained anything. I had to find out what was happening to me in the few minutes that I had to talk to the other women when we were doing our work.”
“Work?” Aubrey asked.
“We spent a lot of our time in the tanks, but we also had to participate in other elements of the experiments. I think that Ryan got himself in over his head in a way. He had these tremendous visions for all of the amazing hybrids that he would be able to create and what he would be able to accomplish with them, but I don’t think that he considered what it would take to sustain the powerful rapid growth that he achieved. The nursery and the training programs were handled by other hybrids or the men that Ryan chose, but the human women did things like cooking and sewing and cleaning unless our pregnancies showed signs of distress or we were undergoing tests. Interacting with the other women during those jobs was how I found out about everything that he was doing.”
“If he had a personal relationship with you, though, at least he must have treated you better than the other women who were in the breeding program,” Jonah said.
Ilya met his eyes again and let out a long breath.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “No.”
Chapter Thirteen
“What is he doing here?”
Ellora tightened her grip around the spoon in her hand as she gestured toward Malcolm with it. Some of the bright red sauce that she was stirring splattered across the floor and the image made her shudder, but she didn’t relent. Athan stepped forward, subtly putting himself between Ellora and Malcolm.
“Ellora,” he said, holding out his hand as if trying to calm her and bring down the frantic energy that seemed to spark within her with the smallest catalyst since their time in the tunnels. “It’s alright.”
“What do you mean ‘it’s alright’?” she asked angrily. “What is that man doing in my kitchen?”
“He’s here with us,” Athan said, gesturing toward Rain and two of the humans from the settlement who had come along with them. “He’s asked to join us.”
Ellora blinked, feeling as though the words hadn’t really made it all the way into her mind.
“Excuse me?” she asked.
She looked from Athan to Rain and then back to Athan.
“He’s asked to join us,” Athan said.
“He is a member of the Order,” Ellora said, jabbing her spoon in Malcolm’s direction. “He is working for them.”
“He was,” Athan relented. “He was sent to find Rain, me, and the rest of the humans that have agreed to come with us to Penthos. He was supposed to capture us and bring us back to stand before the Panel.”
“And you trusted him?” Ellora asked in exasperation. “He was sent to ensure that you were killed and you brought him into my home? Into the headquarters of the war being fought partially against those he serves?”
“I want to defect,” Malcolm said.
The younger man speaking for himself was a surprise and it struck Ellora silent. She looked at her brother, lowering the spoon only slightly as she waited for him to continue. When he remained silent, she gestured for him to keep going.
“Go on,” she said.
Malcolm took a cautious step out from behind Athan and faced Ellora as if she were the only one who he cared about speaking to.
“I know that I have done things that were wrong and that I have been aligned with an organization that cannot be trusted, but assure you that I do not stand for what they do. I do not want to be a part of anything that they are doing. I’m sorry for all of the pain that I have caused or that I have contributed to, and I want to make amends. If you will permit me, I want to fight alongside you and do anything that I can to make things right.”
Ellora looked back at Athan and shook her head.
“I can’t make this decision,” she said. “This isn’t my choice to make. This situation is about all of us and we need to make decisions like this together. We need to get as many of the group together as possible and talk to them about this. I will go along with whatever decision that they make.”
Athan nodded.
“I think that’s reasonable. We’ll gather in the meeting hall.”
Ellora watched as the small group left her kitchen, Malcolm’s eyes lingering on her as they walked away. There was a distant, painful look in them that made a hint of guilt flicker through her. She didn’t intent to hurt or offend her brother, but she also couldn’t let herself simply trust someone when they had already stood against her. There was too much at stake now, too much danger that they could be facing. When they had all left the house, Ellora turned back to the stove and finished the sauce. She touched the spoon to her tongue to sample it, enjoying the bright, sweet taste of the berries that seemed to burst on her tongue as she swallowed.
Pushing the pot to the back of the stove so that it could start to cool, she went to her bedroom to change clothes before leaving to head for the meeting hall. She didn’t know how many of the group that Athan would be able to gather and she didn’t want to miss any of the discussion. She had been completely honest when she said that she would go along with whatever decision the rest of the group made. Though she carried reservations and nervousness within herself, she knew that it wasn’t just her thoughts and beliefs that mattered. Everyone who had agreed to be a part of this battle were willing to lay down their safety, their comfort, and even their lives to stand up for what they believed, and they deserved the respect of having their voices heard in as much of how it unfolded as possible.
The hall was already starting to fill up by the time that Ellora stepped in. Some were sitting close to the elevated platform on the far end while others milled around in small groups, their hushed voices occasionally rising high enough for her to hear that they were questioning why they were being called to the hall. Some worried that something had happened while others were concerned that the situation had reached a new peak and they were going to leave for Penthos without their training. Still others rejected both ideas, expressing excitement at the thought of starting their training and the skills that they would learn. The different conversations seemed to epitomize the emotions that Ellora was feeling.
Several minutes passed while she sat staring at the empty platform and then Athan, Malcolm, Rain, Rey, and Creia walked out onto it and faced the crowd. Athan lifted his hands up, gesturing for the group to sit. When the crowd had quieted, Athan briefly explained the situation. Ellora noticed that he didn’t mention the Order or what that might mean. Instead, he said only that Malcolm had not been involved in the group thus far but had intelligence of some of their enemies. He told them that Malcolm had come to them against the wishes of those enemies to ask for their mercy and to offer his help. When he finished, Athan looked out over the group, taking the time to account for every person who was looking up at him. He stared into Ellora’s eyes for a longer moment than the rest and she felt as though he were making a particular appeal to her. Though she had emphasized that they were a group and that they should do all things for the benefit and with the
approval of the group, she knew that that was not the way that Athan saw it. She was Aegeus’s wife and Maxim and Kyven’s mother, which meant that she had precedence and importance over those who didn’t have such strong affiliations. Her opinion was more valuable than the rest and it was her approval that he was seeking.
A few of the group stood and announced that they were loyal to the group and that whatever the leaders considered to be best for all of them they would willingly follow. They walked out of the hall to continue the preparations that they were making. Of the group that was left, one of the human men stood.
“I was there when Malcolm stopped us on our way back from the settlement,” he said. “I watched his interaction with Rain, Athan, and Ellora. Though I couldn’t hear what he said, I saw his face and the way that he acted. I believe that he is sincere in his desire to separate himself from his previous affiliations and assist us. I think that we should welcome him.”
There were a few exclamations of agreement through the group and then a human woman stood up.
“I was there, too, and I know how terrified we were when we saw him. How are we to know that he is being honest? How do we know that what he’s saying isn’t just so that we’ll trust him and he’ll be able to learn our secrets? Wouldn’t bringing him into our group and allowing him to be a part of our training be the most dangerous thing that we could do? We are facing enough of a risk. I don’t think that we should make decisions that put us at even greater risk.”
A few mutters through the group told Ellora that there were some who agreed with the woman’s sentiments. The thought made her realize that when she sat quietly with the honest emotions that were within her she was being pulled toward trusting her brother, accepting him into their fold, and allowing him to prove himself. She kept quiet, wanting the give the group the freedom that she had promised. Felix, a Mikana man just a few months older than Maxim, stood.
“I wasn’t there. I don’t know what happened when Malcolm stopped you on the way here. I don’t think that matters. What matters is what I’m seeing and hearing right now. This man is standing in front of us asking for our help. He has obviously gone through things that none of us know about, but it has been enough to convince him that he no longer wants to be a part of them. Malcolm knows the truth. He knows that our rebellion is what is right. I think that we should extend our trust to him.”
The Alien's Clue (Uoria Mates V Book 3) Page 13
