Razor removed his hand, and the pain stopped abruptly. I brought my fingers up to my neck, the skin felt extremely tender to the touch. Thankfully, it wasn’t melted off, even if that’s what it had felt like.
Hayes was next and of course, he stood there stoically like it didn’t hurt at all. The dude was next level.
“Is it gone?” I asked Damien.
“I’ve been researching the removal of those devices for years and I’m ninety-nine percent sure this worked,” Damien smiled in satisfaction.
“What about the other one percent?” I thought this was an important question to ask.
“Your face will look a lot less pretty the next time you see your Nexus.” Damien laughed.
I personally didn’t think it was funny.
“Don’t worry, kid. It isn’t functional anymore. The device is still in your body, but you can remove it after you get home.” Damien patted me on the back.
“Enough with the bullshitting! Let’s get on with it before someone discovers us out here.” Hayes walked over to the door.
Razor followed closely behind and held his hand to the scanner. “This should work. I have authorization to open any building, and just in case this one is the exception, I managed to touch Seamus’s hand during the evening meal.”
“You can retain his powers for this length of time?” My eyes darted all around as I asked the question.
I was anxious to get into the building. Something didn’t feel right, but maybe I was just nervous. The night was quiet, and I didn’t see anything unusual.
“I retain the ability until I use it,” he said, and then there was a click, and the large metal door slid open. We all entered cautiously, but the massive room appeared to be empty. As we walked deeper into the space, we saw row after row of cages—there had to be at least a hundred or more.
“How are we going to convince one of them to help us? They’ve been betrayed by our people and are not likely to believe anything we tell them.” Razor was looking around in horror.
“I haven’t figured that part out,” Damien said, just as horrified as Razor.
We all slowly turned our heads to stare at him.
“What? I got us this far.” He smirked.
“Fuck. Okay, let’s spread out and see if any of the Fellats respond to us.” Hayes started walking down the row to the right of us.
I shrugged my shoulders and headed for the row directly in front. The first cage I peered into had a mother and two cubs curled up together. She bared her teeth at me and growled. I held my hands up in a placating manner and backed away. Even I knew not to mess with an animal that had babies.
The next few cages I came across contained cubs, but no adult Fellat in sight. The babies huddled together, a few whimpering in their sleep.
This was fucked up. After meeting Pantar, I learned how intelligent these creatures were. Their loyalty was incredible and they didn’t deserve to be treated so terribly. I didn’t think they could be forced to bond with a false Nexus, so death probably awaited most of them.
At the very end of the row, there was a cage that looked different from the others. It was completely solid, with only a small window in the door. I peered inside, but all I could see was darkness. Trying to give my eyes time to adjust, I brought my face closer to the window. Two glowing amber eyes appeared just inches from my face, causing me to flinch and almost bust my ass.
“Why do you smell like kin?”
“What?” I looked all around but didn’t see anyone else.
“Why do you smell like kin, boy?”
I turned and looked at the two glowing eyes in astonishment. “Are you communicating with me?”
“Not very bright, are you?”the Fellat growled.
“How am I hearing you right now?” This was crazy. Had I gotten this ability from Grumpy through my Nexi?
“I’m assuming the ability was given to you through your Nexus. What name does your Nexus go by?”The Fellat demanded.
I’d kept this information to myself, but I felt this creature might be convinced to help us if she knew I belonged to a true Faction.
