As blood rolled across the ceiling and down the walls one drop at a time, soaking into thefear dearg’s traditional cap with a speed that spoke of true hunger, Gallagher glanced around the room, taking note of the computer on a shelf under the desk. When the blood had been consumed, he stood, hat in hand, ready to demolish the technology that had brought pain to so many. Then something else caught his eye.
On Vandekamp’s desk lay a single white envelope withGreenlake Diagnostic and Laboratory Servicesprinted on the top left corner. Handwritten on the envelope were two words that somehow seemed to carry the weight of his entire world.
Marlow, Delilah.
Delilah
I stuck close to the building for as long as I could, then raced across the well-lit garden into the deepest patch of shade I could find—the shadow cast by the minotaur topiary.
I’d made it halfway across the courtyard using that method when a door slammed somewhere across the grounds. Seconds later, I heard a stampede of boots headed my way.
I pressed myself against a bush shaped like a griffin, careful not to drop any of the batons, and let a dozen armed guards jog past me, fifty feet away. Headed for the main building.
Gallagher’s smart. He can handle himself.But I couldn’t help worrying. He wasn’t bulletproof.
When they’d passed out of sight and earshot, I raced as fast as I could across the last half of the courtyard, then ducked through the gate into the employees-only section of the Spectacle.
The dormitory was the nearest building. The entrance was locked, but the collar sensor mounted over it was dark. The stolen employee ID opened the door, and I slipped into the dimly lit rear hall as it fell shut behind me.
I went to the women’s dorm first, but before I could use my key card on the locked door, I heard footsteps approaching from the left.
“Hey!” a familiar voice shouted. I turned to find Bowman aiming his pistol at me. “I should have known you were involved in this.”
I dropped my armload of unactivated batons, which clattered to the floor and rolled in all directions. “If you value your life, you’ll turn around and go home. Right now.”
“What, because the system’s down?” He shrugged, holding a remote control with a dark screen. “They’ll get it restarted in a few minutes—we’ve trained for glitches like this—and until then, all the doors are automatically locked.”
I slid the stolen employee ID beneath the waistband of my pants as subtly as I could. “The system’s not just down. It’s destroyed. We smashed every computer in the control room.” I couldn’t resist a smile when his face paled. “Did you train for that?”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m offering you a chance to live. Every cryptid in this place, hybrid and beast alike, is unrestricted. If you don’t want to be gored by a manticore or eaten by an ogre, you should leave. Now.”
Bowman’s eyes narrowed. He took several steps toward me, his gun aimed at my chest. “Drop the baton!”
Reluctantly, I dropped my weapon a foot away, and it buzzed on the ground. He hadn’t told me to turn it off.
Bowman shifted to a one-handed grip on his pistol and pulled a set of metal cuffs from his waistband. “I’m going to give you these, and you’re going to cuff yourself.” Because he wouldn’t touch me without wearing gloves.
Unfortunately, while I was sure he deserved the worst thefuriaehad to give, she still slept peacefully. I hadn’t actually seen Bowman hurt anyone but me.
I would have to take him down on my own.
He marched slowly closer, holding the cuffs out at arm’s length. When he was close enough, I reached out as if I’d take them. Instead, I shoved his gun hand upward.
The pistol went off, and bits of Styrofoam tile drifted down from the ceiling. I dropped into a squat and grabbed the baton by the rubber grip and swung it at him.
The side of the baton hit his leg as he tried to aim. His muscles spasmed, and the gun went off again.
The bullet whizzed past my head. My ears rang, then the world went silent. I spun to find the bullet lodged in the wall behind me.
Still spasming, Bowman fell to his knees and lost contact with the baton. He blinked, then frowned, as his eyes began to regain focus. So I hit him with the baton again and electrocuted him until he passed out.
Stunned and with my head still ringing, I stood and pulled the ID card from my waistband, then held it under the scanner. The door unlocked with the soft scrape of metal, and I pulled it open to find a crowd of women staring at me.
“Delilah?” Mirela’s lips moved, and I recognized my name on them, but I heard nothing. “What—”
“I can’t hear you, so just listen, okay?”
