“Is it true?” she asked, keeping her voice down. “That all those women are just like me? Special?” An excitement brewed within Adelaide and it was rising to the surface.
“They’re alike but different,” I offered. “You’ve both been treated with something called Mindonsiphan,” I explained to Adelaide. “However, they were given something else we don’t understand. Isaura did that and we provided an antidote so technically you should be alike but we don’t know if there are any side-effects of what she’s done to them.”
Adelaide gave a confused look. “I don’t understand.”
“Me neither,” I admitted with a laugh. I led her towards the city center and together we sat on the stone edge of the water fountain.
“Why’d you come for me today?” Adelaide asked.
I smiled, wrapping my arms around her again. “I missed you.” I kissed the top of her head. “You’ve grown so much and I’ve been busy but I wanted to see you.”
“I missed you too. A lot.” Adelaide pulled me in for another squeeze. I didn’t mind it. I smiled, patting her back, but my hands froze upon hearing the roar of a drone. Adelaide’s body froze in my arms.
“Come on, quick!” I grabbed her arm and pulled her with me towards the secure stone walls and inside the corridor safe out of sight. I waited for a brief moment seeing the plane circling overhead and knew without a doubt nothing good would come of it. “Go inside!” I told her, pushing her in past the stone doors.
“Not without you!” Adelaide shouted. She stood defiantly just outside the door where she’d be safe.
“Fine.” I pulled her with me into the room, shutting the door behind us. The earth grumbled and quaked as the engines above roared. I closed my eyes counting no longer one but three drones.
“Why are they here?” Adelaide’s voice shuddered with fear.
“I don’t know.” It wasn’t entirely the truth. We’d released three-hundred test subjects that had been held against their will. That didn’t come without a cost. I heard the first bell and then the second and third. It was a warning chime to get off the street and find a safe place to hide. Some buildings held hidden passages but most were secure with the stone surrounding the city.
An eerie sense of quiet bestowed the town. “Stay here,” I instructed. I glanced back to make sure she hadn’t moved as I slipped out the door. The drones no longer flew overhead. The buildings of Spade had been left untouched. If they had planned on bombing us they hadn’t. It felt odd. Joshua had the ability to take them down, he’d done it once before in Shadow. My feet rushed along the corridor careful to stay hidden as I made for higher ground. With each ascent uphill I glanced out the stone pillared windows seeing nothing until I reached the south entrance of the castle. Outside three drones had landed and a man stepped out of each.
“We come here to speak to your leader!” one man shouted, showing us his hands. He was unarmed but that didn’t mean anything. I knew what some men were capable of even without physical weapons.
Walking up towards Henry’s chamber, he exited his room glancing at me. “You can’t go out there!” I was adamant. “It could be a trap!” I didn’t think anyone from Torv could be trusted.
“What if it’s not?” Henry asked. “What if we turn away help?”
“Help doesn’t come in drones.” I didn’t believe it.
Henry eyed me skeptically. “I took you into Spade without hesitation.” He walked past me, heading down the corridor towards the gate.
“Wait!” I shouted and Henry paused, turning around staring at me. “What if Isaura is out there?”
“Wouldn’t she have already attacked us? I’m going with my gut instinct on this,” he answered and turned towards the gate. I couldn’t stop him but I could do everything in my power to protect him. From the open stone window I witnessed two guards pat the three men down. A moment later, Henry stepped outside the gate and spoke with the unarmed men. I was surprised he’d stepped outside, risked his life – even if the guards had been confident the men weren’t armed.
After several minutes, Henry invited them through the gate and inside the castle walls. Together the four of them met in the advisors’ chamber: a meeting room large enough for twelve. Henry invited Joshua, Elsa, Cate, Aidan, and myself along with his advisors as we sat around the long table.
Henry spoke first once everyone had gathered. “It has come to my attention that Isaura has started up another pregnancy initiative within Torv. There is a plot brewing to assassinate her and we are going to supply the militia that will be the ones to do it.”
I glanced at Joshua, never so much as moving my lips. Do you trust them?
I think we have to. They have risked everything to come here and share with us their information, he answered.
“Who will be going?” I asked.
Henry sighed, rubbing his forehead. “I haven’t decided that yet.” He turned towards the men from Torv. “What else can you tell me? We know the women we’ve rescued have all been healed of infertility.”
The older gentleman with slanted eyes and warm golden skin nodded. “We’ve suspected as much. Isaura has the science right but her heart and methods are unpredictable. She’s wild, reckless and putting people into a deep sedation and experimenting on them without their consent. The biggest problem we’ve yet to face is her next step. She wants to show results and then charge people for the ability to conceive. It’s not strictly about wealth for Isaura but fame as well.” He explained, “She’s power hungry and will stop at nothing to achieve what she desires.”
Joshua spoke, his hands together on the table. “What would you have us do?”
Another visitor from Torv stared at Joshua. He looked familiar but I wasn’t sure from where. “We’ve met before, on the original council for the Republic of Cabal.” He reintroduced himself. “I’m Fabian. Our plan is to have you smuggle the women from Floor Seven off the premises and switch them with the women who had previously been part of the project. Isaura is smart, but she’s terrible with remembering one subject from the next. They’re lab rats to her and she wouldn’t be wiser to it.”
“It’s too risky.” How could we trust what they said was true? How would we know that the women wouldn’t die in that lab? I couldn’t trust these men, the same ones who hadn’t helped in finding Joshua when he’d been abducted by Craynor. The same men who hadn’t done anything for me when I’d been taken by Isaura just months ago. It had been my family and friends who had risked their lives for me.
“I won’t lie about the risks,” he affirmed. “It is dangerous but we need someone to take her out. She’s going into the seventh floor next Wednesday to begin the second stage of fertilization. We need the women switched when she goes in. They can be armed for all I care,” he said. “We need Isaura taken out and we need your help to do it.”
Henry considered the suggestion. “ Why can’t you bring in trained soldiers and place them on the seventh floor? What you’re suggesting isn’t just soldiers but the women who already escaped her wrath.”
He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “We only have one shot at this. If we fail Isaura will know we’re not working with her and we won’t be given another opportunity. We’re coming to you because she will recognize the faces but assume they’re from the current group. She won’t suspect anything.”
Henry frowned. “How do you know she won’t remember they’re from the first test group? Can you guarantee that?”
“No.”
I sighed. “It’s risky, but if we can control which room she enters first, perhaps we only have to infiltrate one room.” It was safer than moving an entire floor again. We did it once. I was confident they were better equipped with security on all floors now.