Under My Skin (22 page)

“Business at the barracks, sir?” one of them asked me.

“Not at this time. I need to meet with someone at the guard post. Did Lieutenant Kelping have any trouble heading off after our meeting this evening?”

He opened the door, satisfied with my response. “None, sir.”

I clasped my hands behind my back and left the estate. As I walked across the grounds, I told myself not to look back. I couldn’t give them the impression that something was up.

Dagon’s estate was surrounded by two sets of fencing. Guard patrols with dogs walked the perimeter, and, during the day, the estate usually buzzed with activity from the staff. Just waltzing off the property was nearly impossible without walking through the two guard posts. Each guard post had at least three to four armed enforcers.

By the time I reached the first of the two guard posts, my stomach didn’t quake as much. Now I just needed to reach Quinn and hope the General had settled in for the night.

Quinn met me before I reached the gate. “You’re out late, sir. Do you need assistance?”

I took a deep breath. “It’s me, Quinn.”

His brow furrowed. “You shouldn’t be out here, miss.”

Since I’d forgotten the signal, I quickly covered my mouth. “Let’s just get on with it.”

He nodded to me with a handsome grin.

One of the older soldiers at the gate asked us if the General wanted something, but I waved him off and told him I had business with Quinn. Once past that point, we walked to the next gate, no more than a hundred feet or so away. Once there, I saw a familiar face. Corporal Bennett appeared in much better shape compared to when I’d last seen him after the attack at the pub. The guards stood at attention when I drew near.

“Good evening, sir,” Corporal Bennett said. “Another evening excursion?”

Quinn took over. “I’ll be escorting the General to a top secret location. We can’t disclose any details since they come directly from the Prime Minister himself. This conversation can’t be repeated, Corporal.”

Corporal Bennett nodded the whole time as Quinn kept speaking. “Of course.”

I kept my face blank the whole time. We left through the double gates without any interference. One of the guards even brought us a car once we walked through the gate. Quinn got behind the wheel, and I settled into the back seat.

As we left, the men appeared apprehensive, especially since I always travelled around with several bodyguards and Cecelia. But what could they do? An order was an order.

After about a mile or so down the road, Quinn pulled the car over. Beyond the windows, I saw nothing but countryside for miles. Beyond that, were the mountains.

Quinn twisted around in the seat and faced me. “There’s something we have to do.”

“And that would be?” I asked.

“Look, Tate, it’s not as if I don’t trust you.” He gestured to my head. “It’s the man who’s up in there I don’t trust.” From the front pocket of his uniform, he pulled out a black scarf and handcuffs. “I hope you don’t mind if I make you wear these.”

I shook my head and tried not to think about what could happen if the General woke up. “I understand.”

He leaned across the seat, far enough for him to wrap the scarf around my head. With an audible click, he locked the cold handcuffs on my wrists. “Once we’re there,” he said, “I’ll expect you to give me some private information I’ve shared with you.”

“No problem.”

With the cloth over my eyes, I tried to relax. Soon enough, I’d face people who’d help me. As to how they’d do it, I didn’t know.

I searched for other things to distract me. The sensation of the car driving down the road. The faint hum of the engine.

I wasn’t sure if I drifted away once or twice, but eventually the car stopped and Quinn helped me out of the car. At first, I thought we’d reached our destination, but he took my arm and led me. We had to be some place outside. A chilly breeze brushed against my face and slid up my nostrils. Then I caught a whiff of a pine forest, early spring blossoms, and damp earth.

“Watch your step.” He tapped one of my legs to make sure I stepped over something.

His large hand gripped mine tightly and made me follow close behind him. Branches cracked as he pushed them out of the way.

We walked for a while before I heard the hum of something large ahead of us. A high-pitched woman’s voice yelled at us, “About time you got here.”

Quinn bit back, “How about you try to leave a level 2 compound? See how fast you hightail it out of there.”

“Whatever. Get your butt in here before the air-network tracks us.” Her voice sounded as if she’d walked away from us.

The humming grew louder as Quinn led me up and into what felt like a transport ship. After he guided me to a seat, I felt the hum flowing through my boots and vibrating against my legs.

“Sit tight,” he said.

I settled into the seat and tried to stay calm. Then I sensed people closing in on me. One of them was close enough for me to hear something faintly clicking near my head. A weapon.

Quinn groaned from my far left. “Back off, guys. She’s not gonna jump us.”

“I don’t care how innocent she looks.” The girl on my right side sounded angry. “She’s infested with one of them.”

“Yeah, but pointing weapons at her isn’t necessary,” Quinn replied. “You scanned her. She’s free from tech, Felicity.”

The direction of the girl’s voice changed as we lifted off. “You should know him better than anyone else here, Quinn. Dagon’s dangerous. If you want to protect her so bad, then...” Her voice and Quinn’s trailed off until I couldn’t hear her anymore.

Time passed. Not sure how long. Then someone shifted in front of me to place cuffs on my ankles. With both my hands and legs bound, they had to feel secure now.

“A compromise,” Quinn whispered in my ear.

I kept my mouth shut and tried not to let the bindings bother me. No matter what I said, I probably couldn’t convince them I was safe. Even I had my own doubts.

People moved around me, but I couldn’t tell what they were doing. So I waited quietly. After some time, Quinn sat down beside me and took my hand. “You, okay?”

“As best as one can be with these things on.”

“You ever been arrested before?”

I gave a short laugh. “What do you think?”

“I think you’ve been such a good girl that being this close to people with las-guns is a shock to you.”

I was so tempted to ask them where we were going or what would happen to me. Did they have some kind of machine to help push out General Dagon? A drug to give me? Or maybe all of this was a ploy to get the General out of the compound so Quinn could get his revenge?

I gripped Quinn’s hand tighter, and he returned the gesture.

With the scarf over my eyes, I lost track of time. But soon enough, I detected our descent. Had an hour passed? I couldn’t be out all night or I might run into problems with Rebecca.

Once we landed, Quinn led me out of the transport ship. “Almost there.”

The air outside of the ship was far colder than the place from where we’d taken off. With my handcuffs on, I couldn’t draw the cloak closer around me. I wasn’t outdoors for long. A few steps outside and then they led me to another car. Far larger and roomier. How many places would they take me?

After the short car ride, we must’ve reached a building of some kind. The chill turned into the warmth of a room, a space that smelled of mold. I was led down a long set of stairs. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep myself from asking anything.

I knew we’d reached our destination when Quinn took off the scarf but not the cuffs. The bright lights forced me to blink and adjust quickly. We stood in the middle of a large room with rows of crates along the concrete wall. There were only two doors in here, one to my left and another to my right. They surrounded me on all sides with guards.

A woman with a wry smile and hazel-colored eyes approached me from across the room. With such beautiful dark brown hair, her heart-shaped face didn’t seem to go with the dark blue uniform she had on. “So she made it this far,” the woman said to Quinn. “How do we know he hasn’t made an appearance?”

Her voice matched the one who spoke on the transport ship. So that was Felicity.

“Go ahead, ask me your questions,” I said as I put my hand over my mouth. Every movement I made, the handcuffs clinked in response. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

Quinn quickly agreed. “Do you remember that time before you saw your cousin? Before I had a chance to warn you?”

I nodded.

“Who did I warn you stay away from?”

An easy enough question.

“You warned me to stay away from a tall man. He was one of the General’s friends.” My voice was quiet, but I managed to get the answer out.

“It’s her. The General was unconscious while I said that to her.”

Felicity seemed satisfied with that response. “Okay, then. But for our safety, I expect her to wear a Lund Bracelet while she’s walking around here.”

“What’s a Lund Bracelet?” I mumbled.

My question was answered when one of the male guards removed my ankle cuffs—only to put a bracelet on my right leg. The band of metal, about an inch thick, pulsed every few seconds.

I extended my hands for him to remove the handcuffs, but he shook his head.

Quinn grabbed my shoulders and directed me toward the door. “Don’t worry about anything,” he said. “I’ll keep you safe.”

“What about the bracelet? What does it do?”

He chuckled. “You might not want to know what it does. But just to check, you do remember the new routine we talked about, don’t you?”

I nodded. “We exchange numbers when I feel him coming.”

We left the room through the door to my right. Felicity took the lead. From the doorway, we walked down a well-lit hallway. Our footsteps scraped against the concrete floor, filling the silence of this place with echoes. At the far end of the corridor, we reached a large metallic door with a panel on the side. Felicity exposed her wrist and swiped her bar code on a scanner.

A series of muffled clicks through the door reached my ears as well as the churning of massive gears. Then the great door crept open.

Felicity turned to me, a proud smile on her face. “Welcome to the headquarters of the Resistance.”

The Resistance. So this was the headquarters of the group that tried to rescue me right after the auction.

I walked through the massive doorway and followed Felicity through more corridors past more guard posts. The earthen smell continued through the hallways. Some of the walls appeared carved out, as if a machine had burrowed through this place. I reached out and brushed my hand against the wall. It was far colder than the air around us.

As I took it all in, I wished they’d rescued me before General Dagon had taken me. But, of course, that would mean I might not have been able to help Quinn find his brother.

Felicity led us through a storage room into a conference room. She gestured for me to sit down on one of the chairs. “At this point, you might be a bit frightened with what’s happening to you.”

“You could say that.” I rested my handcuffed hands on the worn table. “Do you know how to get Dagon out of me?”

Felicity’s face didn’t appear hopeful. “I’m afraid we don’t know exactly how to push the Guild members out. We’ve never come close to figuring out how to reverse the Vorhees Unit.”

I rubbed my fingers against the table. Someone had carved it with their own hands. “I have so many questions, but I don’t know where to start. Maybe I should start with the obvious. What
can
you do to help me?”

Quinn, who sat next to me, finally spoke. “They can give you the tools necessary to get rid of Dagon on your own.”

“Tools?” I asked. “As in a technique of some kind or a real tool I hold in my hands?”

Quinn replied, “You have the advantage. Don’t forget that. It’s your body he wants to take over, but you were there first, and that’s the way it’s meant to be, especially since two minds weren’t meant to fit in one body.”

He waited a moment for me to absorb the information before he continued. “Your brain’s a bunch of cells—neurons. Are you familiar with the terms I’m using?”

I nodded. So far so good.

“From the day you were born until now, your thoughts and actions have determined how the pathways between those neurons were formed. A gigantic, immense map that makes you the person you are. What makes the Water Bearers special to the Guild is how easily that map can be altered to include another ‘person.’ The more accessible the person is, the higher the value among the Guild.”

Some of what he said made sense. And it explained why those Guild members bid so high for me. But what did it mean, overall? “So how does this information help me?”

Felicity placed her hand on Quinn’s shoulder. “The path Quinn took to free himself may not work for you, but you have to try. He’s the only one right now who’s figured out the process.”

The grim news made my face fall. But Felicity appeared excited.

“When I first became a Water Bearer,” Quinn said wistfully, “I knew something was wrong the moment I took that disgusting offering at that well. That made me question why they would make us drink the water. Why perform some ceremony? Why not just auction us off to the Guild?” He rested his elbows against the table. “But it was more than that. It was all a trick to give us the drug necessary to help the Vorhees Unit work properly. A catalyst was needed for the transfer process to occur in the host’s body.”

The horrible taste came back to me again. “I knew something was bad about that water.”

Quinn continued. “But that’s just part of the puzzle, Tate. The Guild just aren’t regular people who jump into our bodies whenever they want. Once they buy into becoming a member, they’re trained in how to use us to live forever.”

Felicity smirked from behind him. I didn’t like how she leaned so close to him. “That’s one thing we’ve figured out on our own.”

Quinn stood. “We need to start the detox process tonight.”

Why would we need to be worried about the drugs from the initiation? They should’ve been out of my system a long time ago. “What do you mean by a detox? Are those chemicals still in my body?”