The Darkest Night

'No, they didn't. They helped me.'

'I helped you. I made sure you were protected from harm. I gave you a life even your parents would have denied you.'

'Yes, you did help me.' Just not the way she'd needed. He'd helped her because it benefited him. 'Now unlock the cuffs and let me help you.'

A soft sigh escaped him, but ended on a cough. When the fit subsided, he gasped out, 'You should have gone home like I told you. But you defied me and your guards failed to report in. By the time I checked your location, it was too late. Wish I had gotten to you sooner, but couldn't just knock on the door. Had to plan.'

'Checked my location? What plan?'

'The explosion. Distract the creatures to get you back. GPS. In your arm.'

Oh God. They had detonated that bomb because of her. Guilty tears stung her eyes. My fault. They all could have died because of her. 'I don't understand about the GPS.' She could barely get the words past the hard lump in her throat.

'Not birth control like we told you. Chip. We've always been able to track you.'

Her mouth fell open as another hot flood of betrayal washed through her. Betrayal and hurt and fury, all blending with her guilt. How dare they! Never had she felt more violated. She wanted to cry; she wanted to scream. For once in her life, she wanted to kill.

Guess I was bait after all, she thought almost hysterically. However unintentionally, she'd led the hunters straight to Maddox's doorstep.

'We let one of our guys be captured yesterday,' he said, his eyes glazed and far away. 'He led the demons to a club. We left them there when we could have taken them. For you.' He gave a weak smile before hunching over from another round of coughing. When he quieted, she saw that red branched from his eyes like molten rivers of poison.

'Unlock me, Dr. McIntosh. Please. I've aided you all these years. Don't leave me here to die.'

He didn't respond for several seconds. Then, surprising her, he lumbered to his feet. He hobbled to her and knelt behind her. Grip weak, he undid the cuffs. The metal fell to the ground with a thump, and she was free.

She moved from the chair and crouched beside him. He was breathing heavily, struggling for every shallow intake of air. He didn't look like he'd survive the hour. Despite her anger, despite all he'd done, she felt pity rise up inside her. 'Where are the other women?' she asked gently, choosing information over escape.

A pause. A wheezing exhalation. 'Should be on a plane to New York.'

'Where in New York?'

He closed his eyes, seeming to drift.

'McIntosh! Stay awake and talk to me.'

His eyelids flickered open and closed, his body growing more and more pliant. 'They'll be… traded for box. You'll see one day,' he whispered. 'Better place without them.' He opened his eyes again and focused on her. 'Pretty thing. Father would be proud.' His sentences were no longer coherent, just disjointed pieces of thought flowing from his mind in no particular order. His eyes closed again, and this time they stayed closed. 'What's wrong with me?'

'I don't know.' Her voice trembled. 'You need a hospital.'

'Yes.' But he died a heartbeat later, head falling to the side, body going completely limp.

Ashlyn covered her mouth with her hand. McIntosh was dead. He had betrayed her, yes, and a part of her hated him for that. But the little girl inside her still craved his approval.

Trembling, tears again burning her eyes, she pushed to her feet. She didn't take the key from his now-open hand because she didn't need it. She planned to use the same escape route the prisoner had used.

But first… Go on. It'll hurt, but you have to do it. Hand shaky, she picked up the stool McIntosh had been sitting on earlier and slammed it into the metal bars until one of the legs snapped off. She used the jagged edge to scratch desperately at her arm. She winced, nearly cried out. Blood flowed, and she whimpered at the pain. Finally she reached the GPS chip. She dug it out and tossed it on the floor, hiding it in the dirt.

Hurry, Darrow. Hurry. She couldn't risk running into any more of the Institute's employees up top. Most were probably sick, like McIntosh had said, but that didn't mean the ones who were well would let her waltz out. Bringing the prisoner's voice to her mind, she stumbled to the cell's only toilet and twisted the bolts that fastened it to the wall. Some didn't want to budge and she had to force them, nearly breaking her fingers as she did so. When the last fell onto the dirt, she kicked the toilet aside.

A man-made hole stared up at her, a hole someone had dug straight to the outside world. She didn't want to crawl through the tight, black space, but with only one backward glance at McIntosh's prone body, she entered the opening. Total darkness surrounded her.

'Don't panic,' she said, the prisoner's voice echoing hers in her mind. Her exhalations ricocheted from the muddy walls. A rat scampered past her fingers.

She hissed in a breath.

Forever she crawled, her legs burning from exertion. Wouldn't have been so bad, but it was an uphill climb. Chunks of dirt fell on her, even filled her mouth, coated her tongue. Keep going. Just keep going.

She felt like the princess in Maid Maleen just then, fighting her way free. The thought brought her mind back to that strange conversation she'd had with the goddess. Or hallucination. Ashlyn would never again wish to be inside a fairy tale.

A light appeared at the end of the tunnel, small but visible. Relief flooded her, and she quickened her movements. A second later, she found a small opening. Even a child couldn't fit through. 'No. No!' She clawed and clawed and clawed.

After an eternity, she caught a glimpse of moonlit sky.

Arms nearly sagging in relief and fatigue, she pulled herself up onto the cold, hard ground. She stood, her knees knocking. Snowcapped trees towered all around her. She shivered, Maddox's baggy clothes doing little to keep her warm.

A man screamed, a tortured sound.

She stiffened. Maddox. Maddox! Midnight must have arrived. She looked around, spotting the fortress on the horizon, but the scream hadn't come from that direction. When she heard him again, she kicked into gear despite her exhaustion, following the sound. Another scream. A roar.

'I'm coming. I'm coming.'

As she ran, Ashlyn began to cough.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

When Maddox awakened, terror was already gripping him. Ashlyn needed him.

He was… not in the forest, he realized. No, he was in his own bed, his own bedroom, staring up at the vaulted ceiling as he did every morning. But he was not chained.

How? Why?

Sunlight streamed through the window, warming him. He'd failed to find Ashlyn and the time for his death had arrived, preventing him from searching further. Reyes, he thought then. Reyes must have dragged him home.

Maddox bounced out of bed, determined to renew his search. He would find her today, no matter what. We'll destroy the world piece by piece until she's recovered.

There would be no resting until—

A woman's cough stopped him midstep. He had been about to hit the hallway running, but now spun around. Ashlyn lay on his bed. Shock slammed into him with the force of a sword through the gut.

He scrubbed a hand over his face, afraid to believe. Still the vision remained. Relief swamped him, overshadowing the shock, and he ran back to the bed. A wide grin stretched his face as he fell to his knees,