Page 4 of Remnants
Raegan’s worried gaze seeks mine as the elevator doors close between us. Every fiber of my being screams at me to go to her, to wrap her in my arms and act as her shield and armor.
But if there’s even an ounce of truth in what Gordon said to Aiden and Jack at the butcher shop, if Harvey is somehow involved with GE, then it’s my responsibility to protect the Guild. And to keep Dane and Raegan as far away from them as possible.
The smile plastered on my face is stiff from the effort of it, but I keep it in place until the elevator doors shut. Raegan has enough on her mind with Gordon’s possible death and keeping Dane safe. If there’s anyone she should feel the least amount of worry over, it’s me.
My gift should put her at ease, and yet, she was watching me like she was preparing to dive out of the elevator to get to me.
I throw open the stairwell door and leap down the flights of stairs, bursting through the door once I’ve reached the quarantine floor. The double doors, which are locked by a security code only a handful of members have, are wide open.
A hand is visible behind one of the doors on the floor, its palm upward and unmoving.
The need for violence coils in my chest.
Harvey. What did you do?
Running, I yank the door open the rest of the way to reveal Claudia’s still form on the ground. I drop to my knees and curse at themess of blood on her neck. I carefully draw her eyes to a close. She’d been the one to help the rescues through their trauma, to reverse any brainwashing and ease them back to some sort of normalcy. Claudia had no gift. Just the desire to help people like us with her medical training.
She didn’t deserve to die like this.
She didn’t deserve to die at all.
I grind my teeth, fisting my hands and gazing furiously at the carnage of the room beyond her: overturned and broken tables. Chairs scattered around the room on their sides and backs. Whatever happened here, there’d been a fight. But now, there’s not a single soul in sight after Claudia.
There’s no way they could have fought and disappeared in the time it took me to come downstairs after Harvey arrived. After getting the call from security, he’djustarrived at the entrance, and I’d come down as soon as Raegan and Dane left in the elevator. That was a few minutes at most…hardly enough time to cause this level of damage. How much earlier did it begin? And by who?
A sniffing noise brings my attention to Claudia’s desk. Standing, I stalk around it and find Harvey quivering in a ball and covered in blood. I snap, grabbing him roughly by the shirt and hauling him into the air to slam him into the wall.
“What did you do?!” I snarl viciously. “Where is everyone?”
His face is a mess of tears and snot. Rather than looking at me, his pale blue eyes swing over my shoulder and go round with fear.
Sharp pain stabs between my shoulders in a breath-wrenching surprise attack. Fluid rushes up my throat, and I hack the bloodfrom my lungs. Every instinct in me screams to remove the blade from my back as soon as possible. Pushing through the pain, I throw my elbow back between coughs, dropping Harvey in the hope of striking the spineless attacker behind me.
The knife yanks free before I can land a hit, but that’s all I need. I lean on my knees to finish coughing the fluid out, then gasp for air. The deep wound tingles, then buzzes stronger as my flesh reunites and hardens to scales.
“Fascinating,” a voice muses, sounding pleased.
Shifting to face my attacker while keeping Harvey in my peripheral view, I rise, then freeze when I see who it is.
Charles Whitmore.
Raegan’s father.
The older man smiles, then licks my blood off his knife like a goddamn psycho.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I demand, my voice still rough. “Are you behind all this?”
Charles wipes the rest of the blood from the blade on his pants. “You know,” he starts conversationally, “the more I’m out in the field lately, the more I see the failures of those in my employ.” He inspects the knife like he’s checking his reflection on both sides, smiling all the while. “Gordon, for example. Now, he had great promise. Fantastic control over his gift. He could see the potential in others’ gifts as well. Or so I once believed.”
“Fuck the storytelling bullshit,” I growl.
“Ah, well. You’ll want to hear the rest of this, I think. I know that patience is a learned skill, but thisisabout you in the end.”
I could give two shits what this man has to say about me. The rest of the gifted rescues here are gone. Claudia is dead. Is the rest of the Guild under attack right now? Did Raegan and Dane make it to the room and lock it down? “What did you do to the others? Where are they?”
“Since you all brought me here to your lovely…shelter, I’ve witnessed many amazing gifts. Ones which would greatly benefit GE, if only Gordon hadn’t been so…focusedon a lost cause.”
He tosses the knife aside, then reaches behind his back and pulls out a gun. “Nowyourgift, I like. I only saw it one time, so I’m still trying to understand the mechanics of it. If you get shot in the head, would that kill you? Or would you just lose your memory? Would you mind testing it for me? It’s for science, you see. Nothing personal.”
