So it begins. I’m with Skyla again and all is right with the world, for just an hour or so.
11
Logan
There was a time not so long ago where the sight of Gage Oliver’s head bobbing in blue keeping solution jarred me. Each and every time I came down to Ezrina’s lair, the Wonderground as Lexy dubbed it, which extends miles beneath Paragon proper, it would startle me. But now that time has passed, now that I see what an asshole the new Gage can be, this old piece of him, that looks so painfully like the new version, it brings me comfort.
“Oliver,” Ezrina calls from the counter where a plethora of microscopes sit in a line. “Come.”
I head over and peer into the one she’s pointing at and moan, pretending to understand the red fidgeting cells that appear to be dividing.
“It’s time.” She looks up at me with those bloodshot eyes, her hair dyed a horrid shade of red and wild as a tumbleweed.
“I’ll do it,” Ellis barks it out with a sense of pride as he, Coop and Brody Bishop emerge from the room next door—an entire cavernous space filled with large glass tubes, glass caskets essentially, each one filled with blue keeping solution. There is nothing but stark white walls down here—the floors, the counters, tables, it’s a virtual white-out with the exception of that blue keeping solution. I let Ezrina have a say in designing her new lab and she kept the monochromatic color scheme she had in the Transfer. It’s a beautiful sight really. The pleasant ethereal glow adds an aura of romance. But the romance will end shortly because today is the day the four of us are heading to hell, quite literally, to haul up as many Spectators as we can to fill those tubes.
“Ellis”— I squeeze my eyes shut a moment—“Ezrina is talking about the virus. She wants a human test subject. That’s what we’re getting the Spectators for, remember?”
“No.” Coop shakes his head. “We’re getting the Spectators so that Ezrina can revitalize them, God willing. They never asked to be a party to this.”
Brody grunts, “When they sided with the Barricade, they not only surrendered their good senses, they surrendered their life. They’re prisoners of war, Flanders. We can do whatever we want with them.”
Coop’s eyes go vacant a moment, and I know what he’s thinking. Laken is a prisoner of war, and Wes is doing whatever he wants with her. It’s true in effect. And nobody, not even Coop himself, has the power to do anything about it. Although, he seems to have lost his angst as of late. I would even venture to say he’s got a pep in his step. His eyes are lit up from the inside and his face glows like a man who has hope. And it makes me wonder what he’s cooking up behind the scenes.
I know for a fact Coop is privy to something. He was vague with all that decoding bullshit a few months back. He’s holding back just enough truths for himself, and I have no doubt he is using them to his advantage. And I’m starting to think that advantage has everything to do with Laken.
Laken is as much a part of his DNA as Skyla is mine.
“Brody is right,” I offer. “We can do whatever the hell we want.” I look to Ezrina. “But I don’t want to kill or torture. That’s not us. That’s not what this is about. So if the procedures are painful, anesthetize them. Go to the brink of death if you have to, but not further.”
Ezrina tips her head back. “Understood.” Her crimson-stained eyes travel to Ellis. “But I need a fresh body. The Spectators will get the rough-cut version. I’ll need to refine my technique on someone whole, healthy. You will do nicely.”
Ellis pumps his fist. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
“Shit,” I seethe at the thought of Ellis getting himself killed. “Skyla can’t know about it.”
“Skyla can’t know about what?” a chipper female voice calls out from behind and I cringe.
We turn to find Skyla herself bounding over with a smile and a spring in her step. A pair of tight jeans shows off her svelte figure and a tight white turtleneck hugs her in all the right places. It’s been a month since Gage’s latest greatest tragedy, and I’ve been there for her as much as she’d let me. It’s been hard, though, tough as shit. She’s hardly eaten. She said she didn’t really have an appetite, and I can’t blame her, but this smile she’s wearing is the first genuine one I’ve seen. It makes me wonder if Chloe is lying somewhere in a ditch with her intestines wrapped around her neck the way Skyla promised. A grisly visual but profoundly poetic considering the fact Chloe has been choking us out with her shit for years.
Skyla’s eyes flit to that glass box on the table for a moment—Gage in a cageas we’ve grown to call it.
“What’s happening?” She looks to Ezrina when she says it because I think it’s Ezrina she trusts the most in this circle of testosterone.
“Boys are gathering the Spectators. I’ll begin the transformations and experimentations as soon as possible.” She gives a lazy nod toward Ellis. “The tests must be run on the healthy or the results will be obscure.”
“Ellis, no,” Skyla says it with a pleading tone but doesn’t outright deny him the right. “Think of everything you have to lose.”
“I’m thinking of everything Celestra will have to gain,” Ellis counters. “Have you seen the news? It’s a shit show out there. Wes is still haunting the planet with those creepy lights. Half the planet is convinced there will be a UFO takeover in the very near future. And that half-man, half-wolf they claim to have trapped in South America? It’s a Spectator, Skyla. Wes still has a handful he’s terrorizing the world with.”
Skyla straightens as she takes a deep breath. “Gage is in charge now. Wes isn’t to blame for anything anymore.” She looks to Coop, Brody, and Ellis. “Can the three of you bring back the Spectators on your own? I have another assignment for Logan.”
Brody chuckles. “Is that what you’re calling it these days? An assignment? So clinical.” He clicks his tongue at her, and I can’t help but see Chloe’s face hiding there. Brody was playfully teasing her, but the Chloe in him was outright mocking her.
“It’s nonsexual.” She winces my way. “I’m hoping. Marshall is taking us on a field trip. His verbiage, not mine. I’d wear my running shoes if I were you.”
“Duly noted.”
Our small circle disbands as Ezrina gets back to her microscopes and Ellis and Brody unload a treasure trove of spirit swords that Skyla supplied us with not long ago. They’ll help in disabling the Spectators—by way of coming just shy of killing them, but Ezrina says she needs them just about dead in order to bring them back the way they should be.
