The footsteps came closer, then stopped just outside the door. My breath caught somewhere in my throat and refused to budge, and my pulse seemed to beat in my ears, so loud I swear that person outside the door would surely have to hear it.
For several seconds, the stranger didn’t move. He just stood there, breathing steadily. I couldn’t see him through the crack between the door and the jamb, and he didn’t seem to have any particular scent.
Sweat trickled down my spine. I licked my lips, praying he’d move on. But he didn’t, and it was pretty easy to guess why.
He knew we were in here. Knew because he held one of the receivers. It didn’t matter whether it was my signal or Mom’s, because in the end, we were both here and both caught.
“I know you’re in the water, Aila. Come out where I can see you.”
My breath caught at the sound of his voice, and my stomach began twisting itself into knots.
Because it wasn’t just a guard who stood outside our door. It was the man in charge himself.
Marsten.
The one man I’d been hoping to avoid.
The one man I would probably have to kill if I was ever to have any hope of living a peaceful life.
I flexed my fingers, and forced myself to remain still. He obviously wasn’t standing close to the door, otherwise I’d see him. And until he
“Aila, we know it’s your daughter and her latest flame out there causing problems. If we catch her, we’ll kill her. Unless you come out. Unless you stop her.”
I glanced at the dark pool, saw no ripple in the water, nothing to indicate my mother was there or listening. But his words made me frown. Was Marsten picking up my signal, Mom’s, or both?
And if it were both, why would he say it was me out there causing problems?
Was he trying to bluff us? Or biding his time and waiting for reinforcements? After all, how much more could there be out there for Trae’s little diversions to blow up?
Urgency pulsed and suddenly my feet were itching with the need to move, to get out of here, while we still had the chance. But until Marsten moved, until I knew whether he was armed or not, that really wasn’t an option.
Neither was standing here waiting.
I looked around the room. There were various cases around walls, but even if they held something that could be used as a weapon, they were all locked, and therefore useless to me. And the scientists still weren’t foolish enough to leave anything that might provide weaponry laying about.
“Aila, you have to the count of three, then I’ll start firing. And who knows just what—or who—I’ll hit?”
My heart jumped into my throat and seemed to lodge there.
“One.”
There was no movement from the water. I stepped back. I wasn’t sure where I was going or what I intended to do. I just knew I didn’t want to be near that door when Marsten started firing.
“Two.”
The whisper of a safety being clicked off ran across the silence. Sweat trickled down my spine, and I retreated another step.
“Three.”
Water stirred. Soft ripples of movement ran from the far end of the pool, growing ever stronger as they raced toward us, reaching the end and splashing upward.
“If you want me, Marsten, come and get me. I’m through dancing to your particular tune.”
Though her words were defiant, I could hear the weariness in her voice. The pain. She was closer to joining Dad in the forever lands than I’d imagined.
I blinked back tears, and waited for Marsten’s response. It wasn’t long in coming. Lights flooded the room, their brightness making me blink.
“Come out of the water, Aila.”
“You come into the room, and maybe I’ll consider it.” The words rumbled out of the water, causing little ripples to scurry across its surface.
There was one footstep, then another, and the scent of smoke and sweaty male began to sting the air. Obviously, Marsten had been outside when Trae had begun his diversion.
More steps, then suddenly Marsten was in the room, his silver hair glistening in the brightness as he edged sideways, the weapon clenched in his hands and pointed directly at the water.
More ripples ran across the pool, then suddenly my mother appeared, her head breaking the water just enough to let her ruined eye and nose emerge.
Though I wasn’t near the pool, I began to move my fingers, caressing the energy building in the air, calling to the dark water and feeling the eagerness of it slide across my skin—a kiss filled with such fury that the hairs along my arms stood on end.
“Your time here with us has ended, Marsten. Give it up, and walk away, while you still can.”
Amusement flitted briefly across his craggy features. “Aila, we’ve seen the worst you can do, and it doesn’t scare us. Get out of the water, or I will shoot. Remember, you’re just as useful to me dead as alive, so don’t for a moment think that I won’t.”
I didn’t. And I knew my mother wouldn’t have cared either way. But I would not let her die in this place—not through a bullet, and not through her own will.
I stepped forward, into his sight.
The gun in Marsten’s hand didn’t waver. “I was wondering when you’d move, Destiny.”
I continued to move my fingers as I edged forward, trying to get closer to the water. Trying to raise a barrier between my mother and that gun.
“You gain nothing by shooting either of us, Marsten,” I said, as the energy I was collecting began to pull at my hair and my hands, and tiny sparks seemed to dance across the dark, rippling waters. “You have no real idea about what my mother and I can do. And you won’t ever know just what we’re capable of if we’re dead.”
“What I know,” he said, “is that you’ve killed a number of good scientists, and have proved difficult animals to keep.”
“We’re not animals,” I said, glad my voice showed none of the rage and fear that was boiling through me. “We’re still more valuable alive than dead.”
“Actually, you’ve proved the exact opposite time and time again. And you’ve destroyed the viability of this facility.”
“And just how have we managed that?” I continued to move forward, creeping toward the pool’s edge inch by tortuous inch, all the while wishing I could simply run to my mom. Yet that was a chance I couldn’t take. Any sudden movement might cause him to fire that gun. “We may have blown up a lab and burned out a bit of equipment here and there, but that’s about all we’ve managed to do.”
“What you’ve managed to do is destroy the secrecy of this operation. Half of Drumnadrochit probably saw air dragons flying over Loch Ness, and the scientific world will guess we have discovered something and want a piece of it. We needed more time to uncover the secrets hidden in your genes, and that is what you have robbed us of.”
And you’ve robbed us of life, of humanity, and each other, I wanted to snap back, but what was the point? We might hold human shape, but Marsten was never going to see anything more than an interesting puzzle to unravel.
“You haven’t even begun to touch on our secrets, Marsten, and trust me, you need us alive to even begin to understand us.”
“I think I’m the only one who’s qualified to be the judge of that,” he said, and pulled the trigger.
“No!” I screamed, and unleashed the waiting energy. The dark water flew up, swirling around my mother, swiftly becoming a thick whirlpool through which nothing would get through. Not even a bullet.
The bullet hit the wall of water and ricocheted away. Marsten swore, then swung the gun and pulled the trigger again. This time straight at me.
I had no time to call the water and protect myself. The most I could do was throw myself sideways. But I
