His mouth formed a single word. Wait.
I shook my head. I couldn’t. I wanted to, but —
A scream pierced the quiet room and I jerked toward the doorway my mother had walked through.
Another scream. “Melody!”
Unthinking, I ran. Declan roared behind me, the sound muted through the thick glass panes.
He would find a way inside.
I just hoped it was quick enough to save me from whatever it was my mother had planned.
The scene brought me to a halt. Melody stood before me in a glass cylinder, submerged to her neck in a thick viscous liquid. Her midnight-colored hair hung in limp strands around her face. Her hands were chained to the walls, a series of tubes jutting from her arms. Bruises covered her arms and legs. Her wings pressed tightly to her back in the too-small space.
“Melody?”
Wide eyes met mine and she struggled in the pool of liquid, her movements frantic as the liquid surged higher up her neck. In minutes she’d be completely submerged. She’d drown.
“Aria. Help!” Her frantic shout was muted behind the glass and she thrashed against her bonds.
She tilted her head back, her breathing ragged and her chest heaving. “Get me out of here. Please get me out of here.”
I rushed to her and pressed my hand against the glass before jerking it away. It was like ice. She had to be freezing in there.
I whirled around, searching out my mother and found her just behind me, her hand on a control panel and a smile on her face.
“Carbon tetrachloride,” she said. “A colorless, volatile and very stable chlorinated hydrocarbon.”
I gaped at her.
“I’d wondered what to use and then it came to me. Did you know that Carbon tetrachloride acts as a refrigerant, suppressing the central nervous system? She’s been in it long enough that her liver and kidneys are degenerating despite her natural reiterative abilities. Dropping the temperature has helped her feel the effects.”
She shrugged like it made no difference to her that Melody was suffering. Dying.
“One of her IVs pumps a small dosage of combustible fuel into her veins when I push this button.” She indicated a small red square on the switchboard before her. “When it reacts with the carbon tetrachloride that’s absorbed into her system”—she paused for dramatic effect and I wanted to throttle her—“it’s like fire in the veins.”
Anger clogged my throat, making it hard to get the words out. “Why are you doing this?” My brain raced for a solution, a way to get Melody out.
I needed a way to break the glass.
“You’ve proven time and time again that you need sufficient motivation to see reason. Here it is.”
I ground my molars together. I would kill her for this.
She pressed the button again and Melody screamed but this time the fluid got into her mouth and the scream was cut off by a choking sound that cut through me.
“Stop. Make it stop. You’re going to kill her!”
I smashed my fist against it, but nothing happened. It didn’t even shudder.
Telekinesis surged through me and I wrapped an invisible hand around her throat. “Make it stop or so help me—”
She lifted her chin. “You’ll what? Kill me?” She choked out the words. “Do it. By the time you figure out a way into that tank, it will be too l—” Her words were cut off and her face darkened to a nice shade of red.
I glared daggers at her, watching her eyes bulge and her skin darken.
Her delicate hands rose to her throat, clawing at the invisible bonds.
I could do it. I could kill her right here. Right now. And be done with it. But …
I turned back to Melody. Her head was fully submerged, eyes wide and bubbles of air escaping her mouth.
I released my mother and she collapsed.
“Drain it. Now!” I demanded.
Without a word, she staggered to her feet. Pressed something on the control panel and leaned forward for what I could only assume was an iris scan. Great.
The liquid began to recede, slowly. Way too slow.
Melody thrashed and kicked off from the bottom, trying to get air but her bindings held her in place. “Hurry up. Come on.”
My mother coughed behind me but I ignored her.
When Melody’s mouth finally reached air, she sucked in a breath and started hacking and choking.
“I’m going to get you out of there.”
She nodded, but her shoulders slumped in defeat, her head lolling to one side.
“Get her out.”
My mother rubbed a hand over her throat. Bruises now marked her creaming skin.
“You’re in no position to make any demands,” she chided.
White-hot anger surged through me. She took an involuntary step back.
“Use your abilities against me again and she dies. I’ve also set the tank on a timer. It will fill up in the next fifteen minutes on its own unless I re-enter my code and complete the eye scan when the timer sounds. If you kill me, you won’t get her out before that happens.”
My nostrils flared. Why was she doing this? What could she possibly want from me after everything she’d already put me through?
“Get to the point then. You want something. What is it? What do you want in exchange for her safety and freedom?”
My mother considered me and I fought the urge to fidget or beg. Neither would do me any good. After several long seconds, she seemed to come to some sort of decision.
Two men appeared in the room seemingly from
