by Brie Tart
“We’ll see at the end of the session.” Ailpien leaned against the gurney Helen laid on, as casual as if he played a game of pool. “Our work here is all to produce another remarkable specimen like how Elaine made your niece. We’ve tried a few others, but they haven’t turned out quite right. Our next theory is if someone submits to the procedure willingly, perhaps they will turn out better. You’d do anything to keep your only family left from suffering unnecessarily, wouldn’t you?”
“I’m sorry, Hellion,” Tommy said, choking on his words. Helen couldn’t tell if it was from pain or emotion. “We’ve gotta outlast them. They’ll get caught, and their bosses’ll kill us quick to clean up. That’s the best we can hope for.”
“Well, if you’re determined to ‘outlast’ me, I might as well show you your sister’s handiwork.” Ailpien steadied his scalpel over Helen’s midriff, where she imagined her fire came from. “You know of the Unseelie already, but did you know their queens start out as human witches? In their lust for power, a rare few manage to find the right concoction of magic to make themselves into imitation fae. Then they transform more humans into other imitation fae to serve them. The last known mortal to successfully do this was Elaine. She was a blubbering dolt at first, but hate sharpened her mind into a fine tool…”
Ailpien pressed his fine tool to Helen’s skin and cut.
It wasn’t long until Helen screamed.
CHAPTER 21
After that session, Morag ran her glowing hand up the Y-incision in Helen’s chest, making it good as new while Helen trembled and stared unseeing at the ceiling. Cailean binded Helen and guided her back to her cell. Rhona picked up Tommy by his neck like a puppy and carried him to the same room. Both of them strapped Helen and Tommy to opposite walls. Forced to face each other and not move anywhere else. Soon they left, closing the door behind them and leaving the uncle and niece alone.
Helen took the heavy silence to catch her breath and steady her frayed nerves. Restraining herself for Tommy’s sake while Ailpien explained each agonizing step exhausted her mind, while the constant whiplash between pounding pain and numb shock strained her body worse than any injury ever could. She knew she was strong, but everyone had their limit, and that had pushed her too close to hers.
Tommy gaped at Helen like he wanted to say something but the words got stuck. Helen had no idea what he’d seen, what thoughts ran under his blank stare. Part of her didn’t care right then as she took in his disheveled state. If the magic straps around her wrists and waist didn’t stop her, she would’ve thrown her arms around him and squeezed him so tight he popped.
“It’s good to see you,” she rasped, her throat still raw.
“Can’t say I feel the same, kiddo,” Tommy said, choking on every word. His cheeks had dried tear-trails down them. His eyelashes clumping together was a sure sign his crying fest would start over. “Lucy’s safe, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Did the Pipsqueak sell you out too?”
“No. Apparently he’s trying to fix this disaster.”
“Fat chance. I was stupid to trust him. As soon as we found this place, he had the nerve to say sorry before he pulled a sword on me. I should’ve never let him into our lives. He was working for them the whole time.” Tommy shook his head as the waterworks started. “I wish I could’ve stopped this. I could’ve done so much different to keep you safe.”
“I’m just happy you’re alive.” Helen swallowed the lump starting in her throat. “I would’ve got caught sooner if you hadn’t slipped me your desk key.”
“You decoded my gibberish?”
“Nah, it all burned up in a fire. Everybody made it out alright, but the agency, the apartment, it’s all rubble.” Helen flexed her fingers, keeping blood circulating. “I followed the business card for the bookstore.”
“Bookstore?”
“The name Yoel ring any bells?”
“Oh, Scribe. Book-crazy rich guy, right? Always had trouble reading him.” Tommy let out a weak laugh as he wiped half his face off on his shoulder. “How much he tell you?”
“Everything and then some. We even found out why they took Mom and why they want me.”
Tommy pinched his eyebrows together. “What do you mean?”
Helen launched into telling everything she knew from the beginning: Ewan’s attack in the alley, the fire after Dylan got home, training with Yoel. Tommy gawked as she relayed Maggie’s story from the cafe, and how Ailpien had waltzed in and put a bounty on Helen’s head. There were a few details she left out about Yoel, like his encounter with Kate the Hellhound and his half-Unseelie heritage—those weren’t her secrets to tell.
“A little after Dylan left, Yoel came over and told me everything he found out about him,” Helen continued, winding down. “We were about to try ending this once and for all, when a Light Elf and his Hidden Folk ambushed us. Yoel took Lucy, and I wound up here.”
“Shit.” Tommy wobbled like following all that made him dizzy. “Either I owe Scribe a fruit basket, or you handed Lucy right into enemy hands.”
“He’s saved my ass a lot. We can trust him.”
“Dylan’s saved me more times than I can count, so much I let him ask you out and have a baby with you. You can’t trust anybody from that world, Hellion. Period.”
“Well, I got no choice now. Anywhere’s better for Lucy than here.”
“Here’s hoping he’ll take care of her instead of selling her to the Seelie or the Unseelie. That little girl’s a prime piece of leverage against Dylan, and he’s got a lot of secrets in his head that’re important to both sides.”
“Lucy’ll be alright.” Helen let that conviction stay rock solid. She couldn’t afford not to, not if she wanted to keep going. “It’s us I’m worried about.”
“Ailpien’s whole deal is wanting to make more of whatever you are, so our best bet is holding out until he gives up and kills us.”
“Or ‘til they get careless and give us an opening.” Helen’s blood simmered as she said it aloud. “We’d have to get rid of the healer, Morag, first. Then I could distract them while you pick them off.”
“With what? We don’t got any weapons or steel.”
“The bed’s steel. Even if we can’t get to that, there’s a scalpel laying there. Cutting off anything’s head kills it, whether it’s iron or not. And we’ve got me.” Helen glared at the door, long and hard. “It’s not like they’re gonna kill us anytime soon. All we need is a moment.”
“I’ve tried, kiddo. They run a tight ship. Too tight.” Tommy’s head hung. “It’s taking everything I’ve got to not give into that deal. Closing my eyes and plugging my ears didn’t help. You’re suffering, and there’s nothing I can do to help but go along with them.”
“Don’t you fucking dare.” As much as Helen hated the thought of being under Ailpien’s scalpel again, Tommy agreeing to replace her was worse. “I’m okay. I’m the only copy they’ve got. They can’t get rid of me. If they kill you, they lose their leverage. I almost killed one of them before they dragged you out. They know they need a way to control me, or else it’s only a matter of time before I break out. You were right. As long as we stay stubborn, we can outlast them. Even if waiting them out means we die, at least we do it on our terms.”
“Could you say that if you were in my spot and Lucy were in yours?”
“I...I don’t know. Just try, please.”
“I’ll do my best, Hellion. That’s all I’ve got.”
“That’s all I’m asking for.” A seed of doubt took root in Helen’s gut. If either of them cracked, they were done for. If they both stayed strong and stuck it out, then they stood a chance. Then when her opportunity came, she’d show them the meaning of Hellfire, and take Tommy home with her where they belonged. She had a shot at getting her family back, and she’d take it however she could, even if it meant getting taken apart and put back together again a million times.
* * *
Helen had gone through the dissectio
n process so many times over the past few days, she started finding tricks to get through it easier. Summoning up her power helped numb the pain and made it easier to bear. At first, all she had to do was go over ways of taking out Ailpien. Then she did some experimenting of her own, trying to call the fire in her belly without making herself angry, and sending it away to conserve her stamina. The sessions became tests of controlling herself, excruciating opportunities to train.
She understood more of Ailpien’s monologues to Tommy while she muted the pounding agony to itchy discomfort. Half of it was pseudo scientific gibberish, specifics about magic and auras, tethers and ties. But the other half had some good news. Elaine Carver had essentially connected her mutated soul to Helen’s, and used that to change Helen’s spirit from human to Unseelie. The process had been interrupted, leaving the product half-finished. While the Unseelie part of Helen was suspended and couldn’t spread, it could still evolve and get stronger now that it was awake. Helen figured it worked like a muscle. The more she worked her powers, the better they should get.
But apparently Ellie had added something extra: an innate instinct to hate and kill fae. Helen had felt that before, like the Unseelie part almost had a mind of its own. If it got too strong, would it overwhelm her?
Helen didn’t have to worry about that just yet. Her newly gained endurance still had limits. There were stretches of time when her energy burned out, leaving her lying there like a gutted fish waiting to die. Seeing Ailpien’s sour face as he set the scalpel aside became a relief. Morag coming into view with those goofy horns became the best part of Helen’s day.
Then they were put back in the cell, strapped to the wall, and left to recover.
“It’s hard to believe Ellie tried making herself into one of them,” Tommy thought aloud. “I knew she came back different and did something to you, I just didn’t know how bad it was.”
“Yeah, it’s weird getting used to.” Helen schooled her breathing as her shuddering died down minute by minute. “One second I’m me, then the next I can’t think straight. It’s like something else takes over, but it just makes everything bigger. I’m already strong and fast, it makes both better. I know how to fight, and it makes that sharper. I wanna hurt somebody, and it guides me to the best killing spots.”
“You killed any people, or just fae?”
“Just fae so far.” Helen gulped. “I hope it stays that way.”
“Knowing which is which can be hard, even if you know the signs.” Tommy let out a thread of a laugh. “Damn kid. I never thought I’d be talking to you about this shit.”
“It’s about time, ain’t it?” Helen wrinkled her nose at him. “I could’ve learned about this stuff a lot sooner. We could’ve found out about what I can do together, instead of me having to find out from one of your contacts. I could’ve helped you.”
“And we’d have ended up in this situation sooner, with some fae dangling you in front of me, torturing you to get me to do something.”
“Or I’d learn how to avoid that stuff, and you’d have somebody you could trust to watch your back. Neither of us would’ve needed to bring Dylan or Yoel in if we could depend on each other.”
“You were eight. I’d just lost Ellie, and you were acting weird, different. There was nothing to tell you yet. By the time I found out, I was scared out of my mind for you. You were in school, getting into fights and crushes, having periods. I was barely handling your puberty. Forget training you how to kill fae with me. I’m only one guy.” Tommy drooped his shoulders and stretched his biceps as far as his restraints would go, the closest either of them could get to shrugging. “Yeah, looking back you’re right. I should’ve told you more. But I was barely scraping by, learning the ropes mission by mission from the ground up. I didn’t have anybody to train me first, or help me with you, I couldn’t risk it. I tried with Dylan, but look at how royally I screwed up with him. I did the best I could with what I had. I can’t go back and change it. I’m not apologizing either.”
“Then make up for it.” Helen’s eyes got wet and sticky. As much as she didn’t want her waterworks going off yet, her tear ducts had other ideas. “Stop with all the doom and gloom shit, and help me get us out. You’ve got experience. I’ve got fucking superpowers. We can do this!”
“I’ve seen some things, but I’ve never been in anything this bad.” Tommy shook his head. “I’m old. I’m half-starved. I’m tired.”
“You’re still one birthday away from fifty, and you’ve been cooped up in a cell for weeks.”
“Either way, I’ll weigh you down.”
“That’s my choice. All my life I’ve followed you and what you told me. When you wanted me to shut up and butt out, I did. Now that I know better, it’s your turn to take orders. You’re staying alive and coming back with me. I don’t care what it takes.”
“Ma’am yes Ma’am,” Tommy said with a slip of a smile. “You’ve gotta admit, if we both had superpowers, that’d make this a hell of a lot easier.”
“Well, Mom’s not here to give you any, and Ailpien wants to brainwash you, so that’s out.”
“I’m stubborn enough for brainwashing not to work, ain’t I?”
“Don’t even think about it. I didn’t ask Mom to change me like this. I’m lucky you were there so she didn’t finish, or else I’d be one of them. It’s got perks, sure, but it comes with a whole heaping side dish of crap too until I learn to use it better.”
“Still, in this business you use any weapon you’ve got. Doesn’t matter if it’s a rock or something magic, you take it and worry about the consequences later.”
“It’s still making a deal with the devil that’s torturing us. It’s gonna backfire, we just don’t know how or when. He doesn’t even know if it’ll work out the way he thinks. It might turn you feral, or kill you.”
“It’s just an idea, kiddo. Don’t worry.”
They spent the rest of the night brainstorming escape plans. With every idea Helen threw out, Tommy found the flaw that shot it down. Helen racked her brain trying to come up with something intricate, something clever, but her instinct wasn’t strategy. She went to sleep with a foreboding feeling in her gut, even though she’d gotten that explanation she’d craved for years from her uncle. Something was wrong, or was going to go wrong, and it all had to do with Uncle Tommy. But she had to trust him, right? They’d waited that long to work together, so she had to put all of herself into it if she wanted it to succeed.
CHAPTER 22
The next day’s session went better than Helen expected. She pushed her Unseelie energy to a personal best: twenty minutes at a time. It gave her enough reprieve to lose herself in her head and picture what she’d rather be doing. Her happy place was on her bike, and Lucy could ride behind her without falling off in her fantasy world. She didn’t have to worry about boyfriends she couldn’t trust, or scared uncles flirting with dangerous deals. They had an open road full of exciting unknowns ahead.
“She’s quieter today.” Alpien’s voice broke Helen’s daze. “And her aura seems different, don’t you think?”
“It’s sustaining itself.” Cailean squinted over Helen’s open chest cavity, just above where her bare ribs poked out. “No, she’s sustaining it.”
“It must have some pain dulling effect.” Ailpien thrust his hand into Helen’s chest and grabbed something.
Pain spiked up from under her bones, making her entire torso tense. She cried out, unable to hold the reaction in. It pierced though the gag.
“Did you really need to do that?” Tommy said from his seat nearby. His commentary had gained back some of the Carver stubbornness Helen knew so well. While she liked that he was sounding more like himself, it showed their hand too much. Soon Ailpien would figure out what he did wasn’t working as well as he wanted.
“Yes. One of the aims of this entire exercise is to test everything.” Ailpien released whatever he’d grabbed, and the squeezing tightness in Helen’s chest died to a throbbing pulse.
> Helen forced her eyes shut as the open air brushing against the linings of her organs hit her all at once. She tried getting back to that open road, just her and her little girl with no worries in the world. Her body racked with shudders and shakes.
“Hmm. The aura was always more sporadic before,” Ailpien mused. “If she’s actively sustaining it, that must mean she’s been practicing and learning some measure of control.”
“Is that a good thing m’lord?” Cailean backed a step away from the table, rubbing his forearm.
“Perhaps not, but it’s fine.” Ailpien shrugged as his gaze raked over Helen’s guts all systematically peeled out of the way. “It means we must make it harder for her to concentrate. Thus far, she’s had to build a tolerance to constant pain stimuli. The simple solution is to vary it so she’s too exhausted to keep her power running.”
Helen’s heart rate picked up, her breathing escalating. Her vision blurred, and her head got light. Morag’s soft praying lurked in the background as threads of her magic wrapped around Helen’s lungs. Her mind cleared once her vital processes settled. Any time Helen felt herself on the verge of collapse, the quietest of Ailpien’s minions intervened like that to build her back. What other patchwork would Morag have to do with what Ailpien had in mind next?
“I have learned just about all I can from this round of examination, though.” Ailpien stroked his chin, humming to himself as he thought. “The next round should see what happens if parts are removed, to see how it affects her. Perhaps we may see how the power sustains her, if it does. There is some healing factor. If we test the limits of that, it may glean interesting results.”
“That does have a risk of pushing her past my abilities, Lord of Far Seeing Owls,” Morag said, her wisp of a voice as airy as her chanting while she fixed Helen up.
“We don’t have to remove anything necessary at first. We can start with extraneous parts like the gallbladder, appendix, tonsils, things humans remove themselves when necessary. Then perhaps we can move to her reproductive parts and see what happens.”
