Page 226 of Scarlet Wars
Not that the whole degree did me much good anymore.
Though the whiteboard I’d grown so fond of in college, was still my friend.
After giving in to Caden—twice—we were both standing in front of it again, each holding our third cup of coffee like it was life support.
“Why would Collabs experiment on their own species?” I mumbled, uncapping a marker with my teeth. “It doesn’t make sense. And I hate that we know so little about them.”
“We know about the tattoo,” Caden said, far too relaxed for my sanity.
I bit the inside of my cheek before replying. “Not really. It’s an assumption we made. Could have nothing to do with them.”
“Okay,” he said, lifting one hand, conceding. “Then whatdowe know? We know they started working with humans the moment humans started experimenting on magi.”
“Right,” I said, dragging a line across the board. “Which was to figure out what weare.Something the Collabs already know, becausethey are magi.”
He flexed his jaw, quietly thinking, loudly brooding. “Unless…they’re trying to merge both species somehow.”
The marker froze in my hand.
Slowly, I turned to face him. “You think the Collabs want to figure out how to insert translation into humans?”
He dragged a hand over the back of his neck. “Could be, yeah. Would explain why we found human and magi blood at the scene.”
A cold pulse shot through me. I set the marker down with a roughclick.
“Do you know what that sounds like?”
His brow arched, expression unreadably calm. “What?”
I met his stare head-on. “Fucking Julian’s experiments.”
His jaw flexed. “Well, now you mention it… If I hadn’t killed him myself, I’d move him right to the top of our suspect list.”
I gasped, the air snagging halfway to my lungs. “Maybe not Julian.” A beat. “But there is someone else who was also dabbling in such experiments, who is still alive. Someone Stephen’s been trying to track since Switzerland.”
Caden didn’t blink. “Gordon,” he said, the name almost a blade.
I nodded once. “He had the same knowledge Julian did.”
“But Collabs aren’t abducting human babies,” he said, frowning.
“As far as we know.” I bit the inside of my cheek, gaining momentum. “Plus, he might’ve found another way.”
Caden’s gaze rested on me, before he sat back on the edge of the bed.
“All right.” He angled his head. “You think Gordon is working with the Collabs?”
I nodded, everything in me coiling taut. “More than working with them. He might be leading them. And if he is…”
We were both quiet for a second. Caden leaned forward, his tone dropping to a dangerous murmur. “He was alive during the battle of ’59. And Julian said he was a Specialist, right?”
“Yes.”
“So he’d be powerful enough to create a bubble…”
“And a blue portal to send me into the future,” I added.
“Fuck.” He blew out a breath, dragging a hand over his face. “Gordon might very well be the man behind the bubble.”
