Chapter Two

Ilya looked around the grounds of the factory, feeling a chill roll down her spine as she thought of the last time that she had been here. That was one of the worst decisions of her life. It hadn’t been something that she thought extensively about. Rather than planning it and considering what she was going to do when she arrived there, she had been controlled completely by the harsh, raw emotions that she was feeling at the time and let them push her to coming here alone and without anyone knowing where she was going. Not that she really had anyone to tell anyway. As Aubrey had pointed out, she was fairly isolated even when she was at work surrounded by the others in the lab. Even if it had occurred to her to tell one of the women who worked in such close proximity to her, or even to approach one of the men who wouldn’t have even given her the time of day at any point in their months of working together, none of them would have cared that she was planning to go to the factory. They would have thought that it was completely out of place and ridiculous that she had told them, almost as though she were right back in the tortuous halls of middle school being taunted by the girls who had been blessed with the willowy bodies and pretty faces that somehow made them more valuable than her.

But it hadn’t occurred to her. She had no need to tell anyone that she was going or what she was planning on doing because it wasn’t like the other people who ventured out to the abandoned property in a juvenile attempt to prove themselves. Ilya had never really understood the purpose of those trips. It was like a step in a fraternity rush week, a meaningless stunt that somehow proved something about the person who was willing to do it. The fact that the factory had created some of the most mysterious materials that existed, materials that had been developed right on the campus of the University, linked it to the lab and made it so that those who worked there wanted to see it. Each of them thought that they would be the ones to find out what Izalux really was and what it was used for, but none of them ever had. Instead, they had all come back from their missions with stories of the strange and inexplicable things that they had seen and experienced when they were there. The stories seemed to get more elaborate and complex with each visit, and though Ilya had never been privy to the full stories, the conversations that they had when they were away from the lab or the small tables of the break room, she had always wondered if the stories had grown because the people who were telling them were trying to impress the people around them more than the ones before, or because what was happening at the factory was changing and increasing with each unwanted visit.

Her visit to the factory hadn’t been to prove anything. She didn’t want to explore the mysteries of the old building or try to figure out what was happening there. She didn’t even care about the Izalux or why it had been created. All that she cared about was finding Ryan and confronting him. He had entangled himself in her life and in her very sense of being so much that in those first days when she realized that she wasn’t to him what he was to her, it was like she no longer even knew how to function. It was like somehow, he had taken over her ability to do the most basic of life tasks, that him being gone stopped her from being able to breathe or think. Coming to the factory was a desperate attempt to reclaim the life that she thought that he provided for her, the life that she had created within her own mind to compensate for everything that she had never really had. The only thoughts that were going through her mind where the words that she needed to say to him. She knew that they were going to change his mind. He was going to hear them, and everything was going to go back to the way that it should have been.

That didn’t happen.

In the days and weeks following her arrival at the factory, when she realized that that one decision had given up her existence to him and that she might not survive the time that she spent there, Ilya had often tried to imagine what it would have been like to get out. She would close her eyes and pretend that she could simply walk out of the doors and through the gate that held her in. Sometimes it was almost as though she had achieved it, as though her mind was leaving her body in those moments and allowing her to feel that she wasn’t imprisoned by the man she once believed she loved. If she had been told during those times that the day would come when she was not only taken out of the factory, but then released from the horrible laboratory facility where Ryan and his Valdician minions kept her and the other women, she would have sworn to herself that she would never see either building again, that she would remove herself from them as fast and as far as she could and try to pretend that they had never even existed.

Now, though, she was standing on the grounds again, staring up at the factory the way that she had that fateful, regretful day. Beside her she could feel Mordecai standing close to her, his presence seeming to protect her even though he wasn’t touching her. She felt the same flicker in her heart that she had been experiencing for the last several weeks every time that she looked at the man. The feeling was making her incredibly conflicted. It wasn’t just that Mordecai was intensely attractive, the combination of features from the different species that crafted him giving him a face that was strong and handsome, eyes so beautiful Ilya felt that she could completely lose herself in them, and a body that looked chiseled and powerful even beneath his clothes. He was unquestionably gorgeous, but he was also tender and calm. He spoke with intelligence and introspection that was compelling and influential and seemed to move through every step of his day guided by emotion and perspective that wasn’t shared by the others around him, but that was purely and unapologetically his. He was kind and gentle without losing the obvious power and courage that made him a formidable force.

Ilya always felt safe around him, even when he was not interacting directly with her. It was as if just his presence was enough to take away the uncertainty and fear that had defined her since soon after she arrived at the factory. This drew her to him, making her want to be near him. The attraction was undeniable, stronger and clearer than any she remembered feeling, even to Ryan in the earliest days that she had known him. Despite the strength of her attraction, though, Ilya struggled to overcome knowing that this man was created by Ryan. He appeared a few years older than her, which was a startling and uncomfortable thought. He was already in captivity, already being put through the brutal training and torture that had been his entire life by the time that she was born. This had forced her into further unpleasant thoughts about Ryan. She had known from the time that she started dating him that he was older than her, even though she didn’t know the exact age difference. Realizing that he was responsible for the creation of this man, this strong, fully grown, beautiful man in front of her, only underscored the age difference and made her realize the extent of the terrible life that Ryan had already lived well before she had even taken her first breath.

She despised that she had allowed herself to be manipulated and misled so severely. It was obvious that she had been so desperate that she could readily be taken in by someone so much older, but also so vicious, cruel, and controlling. She would never have imagined that she would have aligned herself with someone who was capable of doing the types of things that Ryan did, much less have an extended and intimate relationship with him. Now she had irrefutable proof that the horrific experiments and gruesome activities had been going on the entire time that she had known him, that every time that he had brought her on a date, every time that he had kissed her, every time that they had laid in bed together, these people, including Mordecai, were living a life of pure hell at his hands. The thought made Ilya shudder and she felt her stomach turn. She pressed her hand to the side of her belly and felt the baby move within her.

Like it always did, the movement made her heart squeeze painfully and she felt tears burning the backs of her eyes. She had learned to control the emotion that she felt any time that she thought about the baby growing within her. She hated that reaction. She wished that there was another way that she could think of this new life, but it was only painful, a reminder of more than just her time in the facility.

Ilya felt Mordecai’s shoulder brush against her and realized that the group was starting to walk forward further into the grounds of the factory. She knew that she had to pull herself out of the downward spiral of her thoughts and focus on what was ahead of her. She had been the one to agree to come with them to the factory. In fact, she had insisted on it, demanding that they allow her to accompany them because she was the one of them who had been to the factory. It was her decision to come and she had made that choice so that she could help them to navigate it as safely as possible even though she knew that every step was treacherous. She needed to concentrate on that now, thinking not about herself and what she had gone through, but how she could help to keep the group safer so that they could find whatever it was that they thought they would find and get back to Nana’s house as soon as possible.

They were crossing the overgrown remnants of an old parking lot when a memory from the time that she had spent in the factory flashed through her mind and she reached out to grab Mordecai’s arm.

“Wait,” she said in a hushed whisper. “Not that way.”

“What’s wrong?” Gannon asked.

The rest of the group had paused and turned around to look at her. She gestured toward the cracked pavement ahead of them.

“We can’t walk across that,” she said.

“What do you mean we can’t walk across it?” Aubrey asked.

Ilya looked around and saw a piece of wood a few feet away. She picked it up, noticing the rusted nail through one end that made it seem that this was once a part of some sort of structure and carried it a few steps further into the parking lot. Swinging it in both hands, she tossed the wood ahead of them, then stepped back, tugging Mordecai’s arm again so that he would come with her. It was an instinctive movement and she was immediately glad that she did it. Just as she remembered, a blinding spotlight burst on from somewhere toward the roof of the factory, illuminating the entirety of the parking lot. The group scurried away from it, seeking the protection of the shadows closer to the fence. They crouched behind a pile of discarded wooden pallets and Jonah looked at Ilya with widened eyes.

“What is that?” he hissed.

“A security light,” she said. “I remember it turning on when Ryan was bringing us out of the factory. As soon as we stepped onto that section of the parking lot, it turned on.”

“How long does it stay on?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve only heard a few of the people who have snuck in here talk about it. Most of them ran as soon as they saw it turn on. The other people went back to the fence and moved around the edge until they got around the lot.”

It was another strange feature of the factory. The structure itself looked weathered and dilapidated as if it could fall at any second, but the light was still in place and just as bright and blistering as it had been months before when she was there. This was only further confirmation that there was still something happening in there. Ryan transferring her out wasn’t a sign of the end of the factory. Instead, it was only a continuation. Removing her created more space for whatever function was usually fulfilled within its walls.

“What do we do now?” Willow asked, glancing over the pallets briefly.

“We keep going,” Jonah said. “We stay in the shadows.” He looked at Ilya again. “How did you get inside?”

Ilya looked back to the gap in the fence that they had used to get inside. She thought back to the day that she had come in search of Ryan. After creeping through that gap, she had headed for the front of the factory and she pointed in the opposite direction of where they had been heading.

“I went that way,” she said. “I was trying to get to the front of the factory, but I didn’t get all the way around. There’s a door on the side of the building that I was able to get into.”

Jonah nodded and they all stood, rushing out from behind the pallets and into the dark section further to the side of the building. They kept up their pace as they made their way around the side of the factory. Ilya scanned it, looking for the door. She remembered that it was inset into the wall, down several small cement steps. Finally, she saw it and she gestured toward it, feeling that they should speak as little as possible, particularly while the light was still on. Though they hadn’t seen anyone react to the light, there was no way of knowing who might be inside the factory at that moment and if the light created another alarm or signal when it turned on, calling the attention of those inside. Staying safe meant staying undetected, and every step that they got closer to the factory made that more of a challenge. Finally, they reached the short flight of stairs that led down to the door. She nodded.

“That’s it,” she whispered, barely audible.

Jonah headed down the steps first, followed by Aubrey, Willow, and Gannon. Ilya wanted to be the last to go, feeling like she should usher them forward, but Mordecai wouldn’t allow it. He stepped back from her when she hesitated and gestured toward the stairs. She shook her head, but he stayed firm. Ilya knew that they couldn’t waste any time and relented, stepping down on the first step and feeling Mordecai come up close behind her. When they were all crowded into the small space in front of the door, Jonah looked back at them as if to confirm that they were all ready. He turned back to the door and grasped the handle. The door didn’t budge, and Ilya felt her stomach drop. She didn’t know why she had expected the door to be broken the way that it had when she crept through it. There was no reason that Ryan wouldn’t have noticed the breach and ensured that it was fixed to prevent others from using it to get inside.

“What now?” Aubrey asked.

Mordecai pointed to one side.

“Look,” he said. “Look at that window.”

Ilya followed his gesture and noticed a tall window several feet from the ground.

“We can’t reach that,” Ilya said. “It’s way too high.”

“I can get to it,” Mordecai said. “I’ll go in and come open the door.”

“No,” Ilya said. “It’s too dangerous.”

“You have no idea what’s in there,” Gannon said. “You could get lost.”

“I’m not going to get lost,” Mordecai said. “The window is right above the door. I’ll find it.”

“And what if there’s someone in there waiting for you?” Ilya asked, feeling a frantic sense of fear building in her stomach and starting to crawl up toward her chest at the thought of him going inside by himself.

He turned to her and looked at her with an expression that made her feel as though it was only the two of them there together.

“I will be fine,” he said carefully. “Just wait for me. Stay right here.”

“There has to be another way in,” Gannon said. “We’ll find another way.”

“No,” Mordecai said. “There is a way, right there. There’s no reason to keep looking. We’re wasting time. Going any further would just put us at more risk.”

Knowing that there was nothing that any of them could say that would change his mind or stop him, the group stepped back. Ilya felt his hand briefly run across her back and over her hip as he stepped past her toward the low wall that bordered one side of the steps. In one hop, he got on top of the wall. He briefly glanced over the building before placing his foot on the ledge at the top of the doorframe and using it for leverage to push himself up. For a moment, it seemed that he wouldn’t be able to open the window, but one hard hit with the side of his hand cracked through the aging glass. Ilya winced at the sound, but it didn’t seem to bother Mordecai. He simply pushed aside the pieces, grasped the windowsill, and seconds later disappeared into the darkness of the factory.