Chapter Four

Ilya could still taste Mordecai's kiss and wanted another. She wanted to lean through the darkness of the closet again and press her lips to his, to forget all that was happening and pretend, if only for a moment, that they were somewhere safe. As she did, though, she heard a crashing sound that brought a gasp to her throat. Mordecai reached forward and pressed his hand across her mouth to quiet her.

"Shhhhh," he murmured in her ear. "Quiet. Stay still."

There was another crash and this time Ilya could tell that it was the sound of doors being kicked open.

"Where are you?" Ryan's voice called down the hallway in a sing-song tone that sent a shiver through her and turned her stomach. "Where are you, Ilya? Come out and talk to me." Another crash. "I just want to see you." Another crash. "I've been thinking, and I was wrong to keep you imprisoned in the facility." Another crash. "You were right." Another crash. "We should be a family."

The next kick was so loud that it seemed Ryan was nearly at the closet where they were hiding. Ilya could feel Mordecai pulling on her, guiding her to her feet. He pointed up and she followed his gesture to a hatch in the ceiling.

"We can climb up there," he whispered.

"Come on, Ilya," Ryan's voice taunted. "I want to see you. I want to see our baby growing in your belly."

Another crash and Ilya shivered.

"I can't," she said. "I can't fit through the hatch. What are we going to do?"

The next crash made the door to the closet shake and she knew that Ryan was only feet away.

"We run," Mordecai said. "That's all we can do. We have to run. I'm going to open the door and you run as fast as you can. I'll hold him back and I'll follow you when I get a chance. Don't worry about me. Just run."

"Aubrey?" Jonah hissed into the inky darkness of the basement. "Aubrey, where are you?"

"Quiet," Aubrey scolded from somewhere close to him. "You don't want anybody to hear us. You need to hide."

"Where are you? We need to get out of here."

"We can't. We have to find out what the Valdicians are using the Izalux for. We can't just leave. We're this close."

"Ryan knows we're here," Jonah said. "We have to leave."

"No."

Jonah heard footsteps and thought that they were moving toward the door to the basement. He knew that she wanted to go back out into the factory, but he had to stop her. He couldn't let Ryan get to her. He started toward the door but felt his heart pound painfully as a dark figure stepped into his path. Jonah started to strike, but the figure stepped back and held up a hand.

"I don't mean you any harm," he said. "I need you to come with me."

"Come with you?" Jonah asked.

"Yes. Hurry."

"I can't. My wife could be hurt."

"Your wife will be in more danger if you don't come with me. I can't explain myself right now, but you need to come. You have to trust me that Aubrey will be safe."

"How am I supposed to trust that?" Jonah asked. "I don't even know who you are."

"My name is Frederick. I…" he hesitated. "I know Nana."

Jonah nodded, and Frederick let out a breath, returning the nod. He started toward the opposite side of the basement and Jonah fell into step behind him.

Aubrey heard a crash and started to run toward it. She could hear Ryan's voice and with every step closer she felt more anger toward him. Everything had happened around her so quickly, forcing her through it at a pace that was dizzying, barely allowing her a moment to breathe much less to think about how it was all affecting her. She had allowed herself to carry through by the intensity of her curiosity and how important it was to Jonah to understand what had happened before he climbed aboard the ship that brought him to Uoria so many years before. Now that she knew more, she was angry. Now that she had been given the opportunity to see more of the reality of Ryan and the disgusting unfolding of his plans, she could feel a fury burning within her that was unlike anything that she had ever experienced. It felt like her blood was boiling, searing through her veins and pushing her to run harder toward his voice.

She reached the hallway where she could hear his voice and held up a lightstick that she had tucked into her pocket.

"Ryan," she shouted. He stopped and whirled around to face her. His eyes widened when he saw her and then she noticed a grisly smile curl his lips. She dropped the lightstick, shoving it back into her pocket to block the light so that he couldn't see her as easily. "Come and get me."

She started running, her feet pounding on the floor as she followed her memory of the steps that she had taken back through the factory. She didn't know where she was going or even what she intended to do. All she could think about was running. His footsteps were getting louder, and Aubrey knew that he was getting closer. He called for the Valdicians and fear rushed through her, forcing her to go faster. As she turned a corner she felt the breath get knocked out of her by an arm grabbing her around the stomach from another hallway. She screamed, but a hand crashed down over her mouth. The arm pulled her back hard and she felt herself crush against a hard chest. A mouth came to her ear and she could feel hot breath on her skin as a voice whispered in her ear.

"Be quiet. I've got you. Just stay right here, stay quiet."

Aubrey nearly collapsed with relief as she realized that it was Jonah who held her. She rested back against him and squeezed her eyes closed, focusing on keeping her breath as even and quiet as she could. Ryan's footsteps got louder and then they were right outside the door. There was a brief moment of hesitation and the fear tightened in Aubrey's stomach again as she worried he might have either somehow detected that she and Jonah were standing there, or that she would make a noise and reveal them. Ryan continued, shouting for more of his Valdicians and for Aubrey. Occasionally he would scream out to Ilya and Aubrey worried more for the heavily pregnant woman.

"Come on," Jonah said. "We need to go. We need to get out of here."

"We can't leave the others."

"Aubrey, we have to leave. Now. The others will find their way."

The force in Jonah's voice caught Aubrey's attention and she knew that she couldn't fight him. She had already resisted his guidance and was nearly caught by Ryan. Nodding, she let Jonah step in front of her and look around to ensure that there was no one else around. Confirming that they were safe with a touch to her arm, he started out of their hiding place and Aubrey started after him. She felt breathless as she followed him through the factory and toward a section that she hadn't yet been in. She could hear movement throughout the building and knew that the Valdicians were coming after them. Not knowing where she was going and trying to navigate the halls in the near-darkness was unnerving and she felt herself getting so close to Jonah as they went that she nearly tripped over his feet.

"Where are we going?" she asked. "I thought that we were going down into the basement to meet with the others."

"We need to get out of the building. They'll find their way."

Aubrey squeezed closer to him and they continued through the hallways. Aubrey resisted the temptation to pull her lightstick out of her pocket. She wanted the illumination, but she didn't want to pull any more attention to them than they already were with the sound of their feet and their gasping breaths. Finally, she saw the outline of a window ahead. She knew that she had gone up and down several flights of steps when running from Ryan but had lost track of exactly where she was in the building, making her unsure of how high they actually were. She felt nervous as Jonah broke away pieces of plywood that had been put up over the window. Aubrey assumed this meant this was one of the windows that had been broken by some of the people who broke into the factory.

It felt strange thinking about people coming here thinking that it was a fun adventure, throwing rocks up at the building thinking that it was nothing but a prank. Even those who came back with harrowing tales of the factory being haunted usually told their tale with at least a hint of a smile on their lips as if even if they did believe that there was something there, the thrill was enough to justify what fear there might have been. Aubrey would never be able to look at the factory that way. She would never be able to see this place as anything less than horrifying.

The sound of the Valdicians was getting louder and Aubrey reached up to help him pull down the last of the wood planks. She glanced through the window and saw that while they weren't extremely high in the building, they were still further up than she felt comfortable with.

"Go on," Jonah said. "You need to get down."

"We're too high," Aubrey protested. "I can't jump."

"You have to," Jonah said. "There's nowhere else to go. You need to jump."

Aubrey knew that she had no choice. She stepped up on the windowsill and closed her eyes before letting herself topple out of the window. She dropped through the air for only a fraction of a second before she felt herself hit something solid. Fear cut through her that she had landed on the ground on her back despite trying to right herself and she remained still, not wanting to feel the pain that she expected would be there in a matter of moments. It took a few beats for her to realize that she was moving and that what she had hit wasn't the ground, but arms.

She opened her eyes and immediately felt the breath catch in her throat. Aubrey was so stunned by the face of the man who was carrying her that she couldn't even move, couldn't bring herself to try to get free of his grasp. He had been carrying her for several seconds, running away from the building, before she realized that she didn't even know if Jonah had made it out of the factory safely. She looked behind them and saw that he was running after them, Ilya and Mordecai close behind. That was enough to snap her thoughts into reality and she wriggled until she felt her feet touch the ground. Without hesitating, knowing that they couldn't afford even a second of lost time, she continued to run. The group came together, tightening to one another as if it could afford them some type of protection. Sirens suddenly sliced through the air and when she glanced behind them again she could see the black cloaked figures of the Valdicians starting to seep out of the factory. They emerged from doors, they slipped from cracked windows, they seemed to rise up from the ground.

Aubrey didn't want to take her eyes off them, but she needed to look ahead. She knew what they were capable of. She knew that in an instant they could have her under their control without even being close enough to touch them. They were only steps away. She felt something tugging on her and realized that she was being pulled backward. She reached out and grasped onto Jonah, then saw Ilya drop to her knees, her fingers digging into the ground as she clawed her way back toward them, fighting with everything in her to resist the pull of the Valdician minds behind her. Aubrey had left the ground and was looking down on the group, screaming for Jonah, when she saw both human men take bows from harnesses that she hadn't even noticed strapped to their backs and withdraw arrows from the same harnesses. In seconds they had shot the arrows and Aubrey watched as what looked like singular missiles split in the air and became several so that the arrows showered down on the Valdicians. She heard a bloodcurdling scream come from several of the creatures that were following them.

As quickly as she had felt herself rising, she felt herself falling and crashed into the ground, landing on top of Ilya. She scrambled up, scared that she had hurt the woman or the baby that she was carrying, and reached down to help her, only then realizing that she wasn't being dragged backward anymore. Both men turned slightly and shot off more arrows, repeating the procedure once more. Each time resulted in more screams and the throng pushed back. Aubrey took Ilya's hand and they continued to run, following the men through the fence and into the woods. She thought that they would run toward the van they had brought, but soon realized that they were running in a different direction. She followed without questioning, knowing that hesitation would only be dangerous. Soon they were at another vehicle, this one more intimidating looking than the van, and they piled into it.

When the doors slammed behind them, Aubrey turned toward Jonah, her eyes tracing the harness that he wore on his back. It was then that she realized that he was wearing different, though similar, clothing than she had seen him in earlier. Her eyes lifted to his face and her heart began to beat faster in her chest as she noticed changes and a long scar long healed along the side of his cheek. He reached for her, his fingertips resting on her palm. He felt the same and Aubrey felt comfort blend with the confusion that she was feeling. Jonah nodded slightly toward the front of the car and Aubrey turned to see the man who had caught her behind the wheel, driving them out of the woods.

"Frederick, this is Aubrey. Aubrey, this is…"

"My father."