I’m not buying it at all, though at the same time, maybe that’s what he thinks really happened. Especially after what I heard Monarch say to Gabrielle in the street about him telling the truth against his own free will.
Aiden assesses Sylas with his brows dipped together. “I thought you changed into an abomination?”
“Apparently, their bite doesn’t change Day Takers like we thought,” Sylas lies. I’m glad he does. “All that happened was that I got sick... Kayla found me hidden inside one of the buildings.”
He looks skeptical as sunlight bathes over him, reminding me what he is. “Well, it’s good to know that you’re both safe… and alive.”
He’s not lying, which isn’t what I expected.
Mathew clears his throat behind us. “I don’t mean to break up this little reunion, but I really need to get to work on the cure if we want to have any hope of deciphering it.”
He doesn’t wait for an answer from any of us; he simply turns and walks across the path towards a two-story brick building that has two more guards by the door.
Sighing, Sylas and I follow him while Aiden stays behind us, making me uneasy and on high alert. I’m not sure what’s going on; if he’s good, bad—what the hell he is at the moment, since he’s always all over the place.
The guards look at us from the corners of their eyes as we walk by, but do not bother us. Mathew leads us inside of the building where we walk down a narrow hallway and into a room at the end, a few guards following at our heels. Everything inside the room is white, and there are glass shelves with bottles of some liquid on them. It reminds me of the room Monarch worked in; the one where I received all of my injections. I tense when I realize this.
There’s a table in the center of the room, shiny and made of metal, which Mathew walks over to. “Can I see the papers?”
I glance at Sylas, wondering what we should do. He wavers, looking at Aiden and then at Mathew, knowing we don’t have much time. I can tell Aiden and this room is making him nervous. Still, he takes the papers out of his pocket and puts them down on the table.
Mathew picks up the stack of papers and thumbs through them. He shakes his head as he begins to place them into separate stacks. As he continues to place the papers into various piles, Aiden looks around the room, seeming bored, while Sylas watches Aiden with a look that says if he makes one move, Sylas will hurt Aiden badly. The problem is, I’m not so sure Sylas is stronger than Aiden anymore.
“There, that should do it,” Mathew says. He quickly picks up the stack of papers and starts reading them over. “I’m going to need a bit of time to go through them.” He has an intense look on his face as he reads whatever’s on them. “You might want to go check on Maci, too, Kayla. She was asking for you.” He sets one of the pieces of papers down. “She’s in the next building over.”
I’m hesitant, yet I head to exit the room, knowing I should go check up on Maci and Greyson. Aiden and Sylas both continue to hover near Mathew, each refusing to leave, then at the same time, they both turn towards me. Sylas follows me out, however Aiden continues to hang back, his eyes focused on the papers that are spread out upon the table. Even though I’m hesitant to leave Mathew with the papers, I’d feel better if Aiden wasn’t around him.
“Aiden, are you coming with us?” I ask in the fakest polite tone I can muster up because there’s no way I’m leaving him here with Mathew.
Aiden glances over at me, eyes cold, but walks after us. Suddenly, I can breathe freer.
That is, until he stops and says, “I’m just going to wait here until Mathew is done... I’m not sure if we can trust him anymore.”
“Or is it because you want the papers?” I ask. “After all that stuff you were saying back at Cell 7, I’m not so sure I can trust you.”
“You can trust me,” he says. I can’t tell if he’s lying or not. “But I have to say that I’m sort of hurt that you don’t seem happy that I made it back here okay.”
“I am,” I lie. “How did you make it back, though? How did you escape the abominations so easily?” I want to say something that will allow me to see if he’s lying, whether he’s really bad or if deep down he’s still good, yet under the control of Monarch.
Aiden gives me a dry smile, like he can see right through my bullshit. “I ran.” He’s telling the truth.
“And you didn’t run into any problems along the way?” I ask.
He shakes his head, seeming confused. “No… well, other than those abominations. It was a pain in the ass to escape them.”
I shake my head, frustrated, because everything he’s saying is true. I move to head to the door, but Sylas doesn’t follow, so I stop and turn back around.
He keeps his eyes on Aiden. “You know what; I think I’ll keep my brother company.”
Aiden shrugs. “Okay, if you want to.”
Sylas casts a glance at me then slides down onto the hallway floor, leaning back against the brick wall, giving me a look that lets me know he’ll keep an eye on things before returning his attention to his brother. “I haven’t seen you since I was captured. We have a lot of catching up to do, don’t you think?”
Aiden nods and then sits down across from him. I reluctantly leave them and hurry out the exit door at the end, wanting to check up on things quickly so I can get back, wanting to be near the papers so I’ll know they’re okay. Two guards standing there with knives in their hands watch me as I hurry past them and out onto the path. I pause as I stare at the few buildings in the area; I can’t tell which one Maci’s supposed to be in.
I glance back at the guards. “Can you tell me where Maci and Greyson are by chance?”
The guards gape at me blankly. “What are you talking about?” The taller, more slender one with brown hair says.
“The little girl that came here with me… she fell off a cliff and was hurt,” I say, unsure if they know what I’m talking about.
A flash of recognition crosses the slender one’s face. “Is that what happened to her?” he sneers. “Or was it something you Day Takers did to her?”
I’m not in the mood for this shit anymore. I take a slow, measured step closer to him with my arms to my sides, my shoulders square. He cowers back against the wall—they both do. “If you know what a Day Taker is, then you know what I can do,” I say in a firm tone. “So shut up and point the way to where I can find Maci and Greyson.”
His finger shakes as he points it to a small stucco building across the path, nestled beside another building and some trees. I turn away and make my way over to the building, resisting the urge to go back and punch him in the face. I can’t help noticing the people I pass by. Most of them are either staring at me or whispering to each other, feelings of hate and fear radiating from them as they quickly jump out of my way, clearing a path for me. I can’t help wondering why I’m trying to save people. They despise and fear anything that is different from them. Then I remember the words Aiden said to me earlier.
If everyone’s the same, then how can someone be considered perfect when there’s no imperfection to compare them to?
What am I doing thinking that way? I shake the thoughts out of my head and walk to the stucco building the guards pointed to, people clearing out of my way until I have open land in front of me. When I reach the door, I can hear voices giggling from inside, which makes me feel just a little bit better.
I open the door and walk inside, immediately startled. Maci is sitting inside with about a dozen other children while, at the front of the small room, is a young woman with blondish hair streaked with blue that matches her pants. She has black boots on and a white button-up shirt. She’s telling some kind of story to the children about something called ponies and a lot of rainbows.