“But I didn’t say anything,” Paul says, confused.
I don’t mind his affirmation and concentrate on the road ahead of me. A door appears after a turn, lighting the atmosphere through the crack next to the handle.
“Finally, some light!” Paul says, getting past me.
He opens the door and stops in the doorway with his hand trembling on the handle. His high-pitched scream makes me push him aside and look inside the room.
When I see what he saw, my legs start moving until I get next to the man I hated so much. The man who mentally and physically tortured me to become his best weapon and make the best devices that he can use to steal a lot of substances and mortal drugs.
And however bad he looks in this moment, I would recognise the structure of his body anywhere.
Cathal is tied up to a chair, half of his head cut open. Inside is only a small part of his brain.
I lift his head and let it down the next second, getting far away from him.
He has his eyes taken out.
Not the ones we found, but the ones in a jar on one of the tables in the room, in a colourful conserving liquid.
I really asked myself why I haven’t heard anything from him.
“What are you up to, Bianca?” I talk to myself, but my words reach Paul.
“Didn’t we settle that he worked for him?” Paul asks, getting past the cadaver and closer to me.
“That’s what I thought. Now I don’t even know what to believe.”
My nerves don’t wanna let me think rationally. I take one of the vials with black liquid and throw it into the wall.
I shudder, and I can feel Paul shivering when the part of the wall stained with that dark goo slowly starts to melt. I inhale and exhale the air that I can barely breathe in this fucking room that looks like a legit lab. Substances everywhere in a double-sided fridge, vials of different sizes with diverse colourful liquids inside. A table full of objects used for surgeries, but some for torture too.
I then realise how well developed the town’s underground network is. How old it can be. How fucked-up is the situation we are in because it isn’t Marshall who did this, but someone with more influence, with more power. It may even date back a few generations.
Marshall was nothing compared with who really controls this industry.
He was the man who was left to do his experiments in peace, from which everybody profited badly. Especially since Bianca got her hand on the formula and created the best version of it.
I hope Anmara and Blake are safe.
With that thought in mind, I take the walkie-talkie from Paul’s pants.
“You won’t believe who we ran into,” I say through it and take my finger off the button, waiting for a response.
“Neither do you,” the lost voice of Anmara answers.
Something’s wrong.
Chapter 27
Clara
ANMARA
I don’t even know how long I’ve stayed in Blake’s arms while we were crying, sitting on the floor. The tears became increasingly rare, draining me of all the energy the breakfast had given me. My cheeks are now dry, leaving a salty layer behind. The memory of long-spilled tears.
The only thing that took me out of the state I was in was Lucas. Even though they, most probably, also found a body, he just asked me the location I was in, saying they’ll get here soon.
“Are you ok?” I ask Blake, sniffling in this shirt.
