Chapter Eighteen
Magnus didn’t like this. Nothing about the whole plan was a good idea. Taking Jenna and Lara into a situation like this was dangerous. If the Horatius Group was behind the Azilians, the women would be in just as much danger as any of the hybrids. Although the connection with the Group and the Vestals was still unclear, they were always looking for more for their own research purposes.
The hybrids and Vestals reached the door. Nyx rolled her eyes.
“They just can’t stand a party without them,” she said.
Rem grinned. “Well, we are the life of the party.”
They joked with an ease that Magnus just couldn’t fathom. He shook his head.
“Relax,” Nyx said to him. “They’ve all gone to the big building over there.” She motioned to a wide warehouse-looking building about a hundred yards away.
“Everyone?” Magnus asked. It seemed like such an odd move for people who had guarded their compound so well before.
“Must be something big if they want everyone there,” Jenna said.
He had to agree. If they were ever going to find out what was going on, they needed to get moving.
“Stay to the walls,” Rem said. “We’ll use the dark to our advantage and stick together. Even if they are expecting a nosy reporter, they aren’t expecting hybrids, I bet.”
Magnus shot Lara a smile. She slipped her hand into his, and he gave it a gentle squeeze. He might not have been happy she was there, but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t comfort her when she needed it. This was something she had to do, and he’d move the Earth to help her do it if he had to.
They slipped silently toward the buildings. It was luck that everyone was already inside. A group of five was hard to keep as silent as they were used to, especially with the non-hybrids around. Jenna and Lara ran like humans. Just that alone was enough to give them away.
When they finally made it to the big building, Magnus let out a sigh of relief. They moved quietly along the wall, more aware now how close they were to all the people living in the compound. The loud murmur from the inside kept that in the forefront of their minds.
They continued to the back of the building. A fixed ladder was bolted in the wall just above them. A window sat near the top. It was large enough they could slip through. Likely it led to some sort of storage area.
Magnus leaned over to Lara.
“Think you can climb that?” he asked.
She looked up and swallowed but still nodded. He could admire her determination, even though he still thought the whole thing was a bad idea.
As quickly as they could, they made their way up the ladder one at a time. Rem was first up and gave the all clear. Magnus watched from the ground as Nyx, Jenna and Lara took their turns up. When it was his turn, he just hoped they would be able to find an easier path, especially if they were in a hurry.
He climbed in the window and looked around. It was a tight space, but was out of sight and gave them a direct look into the building and the lower floor.
It wasn’t really much and looked like every other warehouse they had ever seen. This one appeared to hold their excess clothing. Nothing but the same ugly robes he’d seen before. Most of the area was currently taken up by what appeared to be the collected Azilians.
Magnus scanned the crowd. A sea of brown robes. No guns. It struck him as strange that they wouldn’t have guards. How were people like that even remotely matched with someone like the men he had met earlier?
Lara reached out and took his hand. He noticed she shook a little as she did.
“He’s here,” she said quietly.
Against the wall, the tattooed man stood with his partner and several other drivers. They stood laughing at the people in their brown robes, likely feeling their superiority.
“Brothers and Sisters.” A robed man stepped out to the edge of the group nearest the men. “Anassa has been called upon by these men.”
He gestured to the men behind him.
“They stand before her to know her light,” the man said and bowed to a smaller person in blue robes.
The tattooed man laughed.
“I don’t know about this light bullshit, but I’d sure like my fucking money,” he said and patted his sidearm.
Magnus shook his head. The Azilians were going to end up dead. They had no idea who they were dealing with.
The small figure, presumably Anassa, moved closer to the men. Her back remained facing Magnus. If she would just move a fraction to the right, he’d be able to at least make out something.
Her voice was small but somehow still seemed to resonate throughout the room as she spoke. He could feel the air being pulled away.
“You will be judged,” the woman said over the laughter of the tattooed man and his friends.
The man who had first spoke brought forward a wooden box and held it out. Anassa pulled the lid back and lifted a blue stone high in the air. The crowd murmured around her.
“What the fuck?” Rem said and he met his eye. “Is that what I think it is?”
They had seen a stone like that once before, around the same time Rem freed their people. A stone of the gods, allegedly. The stone had changed Rem. It had turned him into a hybrid more like Magnus and less like a Luna hybrid.
Now, he was something more, greater really, than either. But it had all started with that store.
They watched as she held the stone out to the men.
“You will be judged,” she said again.
A bright blue light filled the room, nearly blinding them.
“You have been judged. You will be redeemed,” she said.
“Redeemed?” Lara asked.
Magnus shook his head. He’d never heard that before. Everything they’d seen the Group do, regardless of the talk of gods, still seemed to involve a lot of medical procedures and science.
A low whine cut through the room, rattling the windows as it did. The light from the stone intensified, blinding Magnus. He snapped his eyes shut. When he was finally able to open them again, weird shadows flitted across his vision.
“Oh my God,” Jenna said.
Lara placed her face against his chest as his sight came into focus.
A large puddle filled the floor where the men had once been standing. Anassa placed the stone back into the box and walked to a door in the front of building. Just as she was getting ready to leave, she turned. Her hood still blocked most of her face, but he caught a glimpse of glowing blue eyes
His heart kicked up. She was one of them? Couldn’t be. Maybe a Horatius Group plant? But she’d been there long before they had even an idea to move to the place.
“She killed them,” Lara said. She shook her head, still not ready to comprehend all this.
Moving a little too quickly, Lara knocked a board with her foot. It scraped across the floor.
“Someone’s up there!” one person shouted.
“Out,” Rem said and pointed to the window. “Quickly.”
A loud bang across the room echoed through the air. The gathered cultists turned toward the new noise. Three more loud bangs sounded.
“Over here!”
Magnus let out a sigh when most of the crowd was drawn the other direction.
Rem climbed out the window and motioned for Jenna to climb on his back.
“We need to be fast,” he said.
Without thinking twice, she climbed on. Rem let the metal of the ladder slip between his hands as he slid down and landed softly on the ground.
“Go,” Nyx said.
He nodded and climbed onto the ladder. Without even asking, Lara followed him. Her arms secured around him. They slid down, and Magnus landed effortlessly. He grabbed Lara’s hand to pull her to safety, just far enough away to hide.
Nyx climbed out onto the ladder but jumped back in at the last second. A group of men ran past.
They watched the window, hoping that she’d find another way.
Rem spoke first.
“We need to move,” he said.
Magnus stared at him in alarm.
“And Nyx?”
Rem watched the building a bit more, then nodded.
“She’s taken care of,” he said.
Magnus frowned. “How can you—”
“You need to trust me,” he said. “We can’t do anything without the others. Move, now.”
Magnus looked back at the window, just hoping that he was wrong in all this, but there was no sign of the hybrid.
Rem ran past him, Jenna trailing behind.
He might not like the situation, but Rem was right. They needed to move. The women wouldn’t make it against a whole army. Hell, no one would make it against that stone.
They rushed through the compound, trying to follow the path they had taken. Unfortunately, this time people spilled out into the area.
They reached the door, and his heart was torn. If they left now, the chances of getting back in were going to be slim. Nyx couldn’t stand against the entire compound.
He cringed as the door closed behind him. Ducking low once again, they ran for the safety of the woods.