“For me to keep you close, I must be here.” He taps on my temple.
I don’t want to beg, nor do I believe that begging will affect him. He said he needed more time, and I’m going to use every minute I have to find a way out of this place. If Caden is no longer within my power to save, I need to escape this city and share what I know with the others. They must learn of Hector’s plan—from the monsters in the sewers to how Caden is going to lead Denver’s human army into battle. There is no one who knows how Defenders fight and think better than he.
And if all else fails and I find myself forced to accept Hector’s gift, I’ll end this under my own terms. I will not let him turn me into a shell that exists solely to serve.
I’ll remain myself or nothing at all.
“Aren’t you going to ask me not to give you my gift?”
I shake my head as the tail sways in front of my face. “You’ll do it anyway. I’m just asking for a few more days to digest this.”
“Digest?” He snorts. “I’m not going to remove your limbs, Finn, but I’m also not in a hurry. There are more urgent things I need to take care of.” He withdraws his tail. “Remember, you cango up and down the building if you want to use the gym or the pool, but my guardswilltake you down if you try to leave. Don’t abuse my hospitality.”
“I won’t.”
He pats my knee. “Good boy. We’ll make something special out of you soon enough.”
He exits the apartment, leaving me alone to boil in anger. I go to my room and punch the mattress again and again. I wish to unsee the vacant gaze in Caden’s yellowish eyes and how he brutally murdered Isaac after he surrendered. I couldn’t care less about one less New-Human, but I can’t handle the notion that Caden’s mind—his soul—no longer exists. No living thing should have the power to do that to somebody else.
“Finn.”
I stop punching the mattress and freeze. There’s nobody in the room but me, and the door is closed. I listen closely until I hear it again.
“Finn.”
I jump down from the bed. “Who is this?”
“Open the door.”
It’s coming from the bathroom. I have nothing to use as a weapon, but my gut tells me I’m not in danger. I close my shaky palm on the handle and begin to open the door, breathing in relief at the sight of the faint yellowish glow.
“Hello, Finn.”
I drop to my knees. The small, dark figure inside the yellow substance sounds like a man. “Are you one of the three who came with us from Pueblo?”
“I am. I was asked to find you. We waited until people were occupied at the arena to sneak into the building.”
“Who’s we?”
“River is waiting for you underground.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Where underground?”
“You need to take the elevator to the lowest floor, then take one flight of stairs down to the utility room. Don’t get confused by the door to the emergency stairwell. Can you do that?”
“Yes. How are you going to get there?”
“Through the pipes. Please don’t take long.”
Take long? I run out of the room as if it’s on fire.
*
With every exit from the building well-guarded, Hector doesn’t bother with placing guards between floors. In the two weeks I’ve been here, I've explored every possible floor, searching for a way out. But between the barred windows, the patrolling guards outside, and the hovering drones, it seemed hopeless.
I reach the lowest floor, where no car is currently parked, likely because they use one of the higher floors. I walk toward the staircase sign, but it leads to the emergency stairwell, so I continue searching until I find the other door all the way at the back. The sign says,Authorized Personnel Only. I open the creaking door, relieved to see a faint yellowish glow at the bottom of the narrow staircase. I climb down carefully, praying this isn’t a trap or a cruel hallucination. There is more light coming from the old lamps in the room I step into. Rusty machines and boilers fill the space, and the dust in the air makes my nose itch.
“River?”
