“According to the current rate of research, it would takeapproximately one hundred fifty years to map the genome of every known speciesof cryptid. If this Dr. Vandekamp has come up with another way—a faster way—tounderstand and control these beasts, I think we owe it to ourselves and ourchildren to listen to what he has to say.”
—from an NPR interview with Barbara Gray,president of the Mothers Against Cryptid Violence organization, August 8,2012
Delilah
We hid Pagano’s body beneath Claudio’s bed. Anyone who looked would find it, but it wouldn’t be visible at a glance. The towels that mopped up his blood went into the trash, which conveniently covered Gallagher’s handcuffs with legitimate-looking medical waste.
The hardest part of sneaking out of the infirmary was leaving the rest of the patients behind, but we couldn’t stage a full-scale escape until we’d disabled all the collars and taken out as many of the handlers as possible. As far as I could tell, none of the patients’ injuries were life-threatening. Evidently, Vandekamp considered it more financially feasible to exterminate the mortally wounded than to treat the wounds.
With any luck, most would be able to walk away from the Spectacle under their own power—if and when Gallagher and I could free them.
But without a captured carnival to hide us...
“We need a plan,” I whispered as I led him down a back hallway of the infirmary toward the service entrance, where I’d often seen Eryx unloading supplies during lunch delivery. Hopefully at night, it would be empty.
“I have a plan. Kill them all.”
“That’s not what I mean,” I said as we slipped out the back door into the night. “We need a plan for afterward. We have nowhere to go and no way to get there.”
“If we wait for those things to fall into our laps, we’ll die here, Delilah.”
“And if we don’t have a plan, we’ll die out there.” I pulled him to a stop in the shadows behind the building, acutely aware that the next time a handler did a security check in the infirmary, the whole compound would know we were missing. “In the menagerie, you had a plan. You were calm and smart, and you made balanced decisions. We need some of that tonight.”
“In the menagerie, I spent a year strategizing and laying the groundwork. Here, we have minutes. If they find us before we can deactivate the rest of the collars, we will never leave this place alive. And do you know what they’ll do when they find out about the baby?”
“They already know. That’s why they put me in a private cell. That’s why they’re feeding me better and giving me exercise.”
“They...?” He blinked at me in the dark. “What?”
“Tabitha Vandekamp had me artificially inseminated—while I was unconscious—with her husband’s sperm. She’s infertile, and because I’m genetically human, she’s decided that fate sent me here to give them a baby.”
“Why would they let you be paired with me if they want you to have their baby?”
“Vandekamp didn’t know about it. She wasn’t going to tell him until she knew I was pregnant, but by then, he’d already sent me on other engagements.”
His scowl darkened. “Wait, other engagements? Plural?”
“Just one, other than...you. I can’t remember it. Gallagher,I’mthe one who had my memory buried, and I think I did it so you wouldn’t find out about the other...event. Because I knew you’d get yourself killed trying to avenge me.”
“Dying in your service would be an honor.” He sounded almost wistful. “You’re not supposed to choose my well-being over your own.”
“None of that matters now. I had a test a few days ago, to determine the baby’s species. If it’s not human, she’s going to kill it.”
“Meaning...if it’s mine?”
“Yes.” I glanced at my feet on the pavement, barely visible in the dark. Then I made myself look him in the eye. “I know this is weird. I know neither of us asked for this. But...” I didn’t know how to put my conflicted tangle of emotions into words.
“But it’s happening.”
“Yeah. It is.”
“No.” He shook his head firmly. “I apologize. My words were woefully inadequate for what I intended to express. What I mean is that you are the most important thing in the world to me. What you do... I’ve pledged my life to making sure you can do it safely. I will be by your side as long as I have air to breathe and blood to spill, and that’s a stronger vow than any minister or court official has ever presided over. Whether or not the baby is mine, the baby isyours. I will protect him or her with the same vehemence with which I protect you. Which is why I’m getting you—both of you—out of here. Come on.”
He took my arm and tried to guide me deeper into the shadows, but I pulled him back.
I’d been thrown away by every friend I’d ever had, when fate had called me into service, and I’d been so bitter about what life had taken from me that I hadn’t thought to be thankful for what it had given me in return. Twice, I’d been taken in by people who shared no blood with me and owed me nothing. And twice those people—first my parents, then Gallagher—had set aside their own lives to make sure I was cared for.
“Thank you,” I said when he turned to see why I hadn’t moved. “My words are also ‘woefully inadequate,’ but I mean them sincerely.”
