Page 12 of Liberating Water

“Oh, thank god someone said it. I thought I was gonna need the dummy’s book version there for a second,” Parker muttered under his breath.

Mr. Lacy smiled. “Sorry, I forget that I’m not talking to colleagues. The drug by itself is meant to help the brain still retain information while keeping the mood stable. If it was tampered with, it could make the brain more suggestible or even alter emotions—positively or negatively.”

“Okay, let me see if I understand,” I ventured, leaning forward, elbows on my knees. “In an average human, it would help to prevent them from becoming so volatile, but if it was used on someone who might be mentally ill or unstable for another reason, it could amplify those emotions.”

“Yes. When you look at it as a weapon and not as a drug to help someone, it opens up a whole realm of possibilities. Add in the demon venom, and we have people who could have their whole personality rewritten into the perfect soldier that is extremely hard to detect. What really worries me is that even if we have all this information, we don’t know where or why he is building this army now.” Mr. Lacy sighed as he rubbed his forehead.

I stood up and gently placed my hand on his arm. “We will take this one step at a time. You didn’t sleep very well last night, and you were up before the sun today. My guess is that you haven’t taken a break or really eaten anything with the amount you’ve gotten done. Go home. We will be back tomorrow, and we can look at this with fresh eyes. We are here to help in any way we can, starting with the personal.”

Mr. Lacy covered my hand with his and gave me a soft smile. “I think you’re right. A tired brain is a careless brain, and we need to be sharp. Our enemy is sly, so we must be up to the task of searching it out wherever it might be hiding. Come, I’ll walk you out since you will need to leave your security passes here. Last thing we need is for one of those to fall into the wrong hands.”

Taking off our passes, we left them on his desk as he grabbed his suit jacket and briefcase. As we headed out of the office, Hudson stopped me and pulled me into a hug.

“Thank you, Sunshine. He wouldn’t have listened to me if I’d asked,” Hudson said into my hair.

Wrapping my arms around him, I held onto him tightly. “He is your family, Hudson. Therefore he’s family to me, too.”

* * *

As I snuggled into bed,I stared out the glass French doors at the sea alight with the moon’s glow. Even though it had only been a little over a month since Brayden and I bonded, it was hard to sleep by myself. It didn’t help that my brain wanted to go over every detail that Mr. Lacy told us about the demon venom and the serum.

Synergy. The fabled sixth element that was supposed to be the change in the tide. What good was I to anyone if I turned out to destroy the world instead of save it, all because of demon venom? Could I actually be changed into something else? Was the Dark Lord right? Seriously, what could a bunch of kids do against the darkest evil that roamed the world?

In our conversation tonight, we’d just touched the tip of the iceberg of what could happen with the serum, let alone what the serum mixed with demon venom could do. Was it really that easy to infect someone with demon venom and let it run its course? How many people had they turned this way?

In the quiet of the night, alone in this room, I let myself break down. I’d tried so hard not to let what the Dark Lord said get to me, but it’s harder when you have the facts laid out in front of you. These were the top researchers and scientific minds the Elementi had working on this; I couldn’t just dismiss what they found… could I?

I felt my tears roll down my cheeks onto the pillow, trying to keep my sobs quiet. I didn’t know anyone was in my room until I felt the mattress sink under their weight. I lifted my head and found Jay looking down at me, his brow creased with concern. The moment he saw my tears, he lifted the blankets and crawled into the bed, pulling me against his bare chest. Wrapped up in his strong hold, I felt shielded from the world and all the darkness I knew was lurking out there.

My sobs shook my body as I gripped his shoulders, my face buried in his neck. Gently, he combed his fingers through my hair, helping me to calm and soothing my gasping breaths. When I was finally all cried out, he pulled me away from him and wiped the tears off my face with the sheet. He searched my face, and I felt like I was laid bare to him, my emotions raw in this moment. Still silent, he pulled me back to him, kissing my forehead, and tucked me under his chin as he wrapped us both up in the blanket, letting out a heavy sigh that caused me to do the same. Listening to the steady beat of his heart and the even breaths he took, I was finally able to drift off to sleep, knowing I was completely safe.