Kelly Gay: The Better Part of Darkness

And she was my pathway to the light.

Only the good, I commanded as thoughts of her kidnapping came into my mind. My Emma. Strong-willed, passionate, kind. Pride swelled my chest, mingling with all the wonderful emotions she brought out in me.

The goodness unlocked something and behind my closed lids a light grew, and the Elysian power released, flooding into my own light and the light that my child created inside of me. I realized then, as my fingers and toes tingled and my body hummed, that the darkness had nearly overtaken me. I had relied upon it so much in my anger and desperation that it had grown and adapted to me while this power had not been given much of a chance.

Well, now it had. And I held on to it, letting it course through my veins, every sinew and muscle, every cell and bone, welcoming it and fusing it with my human side and the dark side.

It was like a giant helping of morphine. For a moment everything—my side, the bruises, cuts, and stiff muscles—became pain free, but it didn’t last long. Once it ebbed, I was left with some serious aches and pains, but not enough to keep me from getting my ass out of there and finding Emma.

“Will you help me sit up?” I asked the nurse sitting by the bed reading a novel. From her tired look, I wondered how long I’d been healing myself. It hadn’t seemed that long.

“Sure.” She set the book down and raised the bed.

Relieved, I scanned the room, noting the two doors, one to a small bathroom and the other—my path to freedom. As she fluffed the pillow for me, I pulled on the restraints around my wrists. “Is there anything you can do about these?”

She gave me a sad look. “Sorry.”

“What if I have to use the bathroom?”

“One of the guards will come in and stand outside the bathroom door while you go.”

“Fine by me. I have to go.”

“Let me check your side first,” she said, coming around the bed to inspect the bandage around my torso. “No bleeding. How do you feel?”

“Trust me, good enough to go to the bathroom.”

After patting me on the leg, she went to the door to tell the officer that I had to pee. Way to put it bluntly.

Trying to formulate a plan in that short amount of time was impossible. But one, I did have to pee, and two, I desperately wanted out of those restraints. And three, if I was able to stand on my own two feet, then I knew I could make it out of there somehow.

One of the officers came in and unlocked the restraints. He lent the nurse a hand in helping me to my feet. Chills flew up my legs and thighs as my bare feet hit the cold tile, but I didn’t mind. It woke my body. Those first few steps were wobbly and painful, but as I shuffled toward the bathroom door, my strength slowly returned. Some clothes would be nice, I thought.

“Will you tie me tighter?” I asked the nurse, turning my back to her and away from the guard. I didn’t need to flash my ass at him or anyone else during my escape. She tied the four sets of strings into double knots. It would leave gaps between ties, but it was better than nothing.

After doing my business, I washed my hands and face and then gripped the sides of the sink, staring at my reflection in the small mirror and ignoring the cuts and bruises on my face. I was so gaunt, I barely recognized the wild-haired woman staring back at me. Come on, Charlie. Think!

I had no weapons, and I sure as hell wasn’t strong enough to overpower anyone. I’d have to rely on my powers, which were nearly as weak as my body.

Once I came out of the bathroom, I asked the nurse for something to eat and was rewarded, after being helped back into the bed and waiting a good twenty minutes, with a tray of generic meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and carrots. It looked suspiciously like a Banquet TV dinner. At least I was permitted to eat on my own, further delaying their reattaching the restraints. I ate slowly, all the while willing myself to continue the healing process and trying to figure out how to escape.

I was on my last bite of processed meat when the door opened and Titus Mott hurried inside, looking almost as bad as I did. I set the tray aside, feeling satisfaction roll through me at his busted lip and black eye. His brown hair was in more disarray than usual and his lab coat was smudged with blood, probably his own. A fine crack split the left lens of his eyeglasses.

“That’s the problem with guys like Mynogan,” I said, easing back into the pillow. “They always turn around and bite you in the ass.” Translation: it sucks to be betrayed, doesn’t it, you asshole?

“Charlie,” he began in a defeated tone. I mean, really, what excuse could he possibly give for what he’d done to me? Yeah, he’d saved my life, but injecting me with off-world DNA? I might be extremely grateful to him for being alive, but I didn’t have to like him for it. He stayed a few feet away from the bed as though I’d hurt him if he got too close. Smart man.

He went to speak but I cut him off. “Where’s Emma?”

“At Mott Tech with the rest of your friends.” His gaze dropped to the floor, but he spoke quickly as though he was running out of time. “Charlie, I didn’t know. I had no idea Cass was using one of my labs to process Sangurne N’ashu . If I had, I would have stopped him immediately. I’ll do whatever you need me to, to find him and make him stand charges. And I’ll put all my resources to finding a cure for ash’s effects.” The miserable expression on his face didn’t elicit a single ounce of sympathy from me.

His hand slipped into his pocket. A tingle wove along my spine, and I tensed. Something was up. “I’m to take you to the lab,” he said.

Before the nurse realized what he meant, he pulled a stun gun and fired. The tag hit her in the right shoulder, her mouth open in a scream that never quite made it out. Paralyzed, she hit the ground hard.

My mouth dropped open. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I told you. Taking you to the lab. Your daughter is not the only one threatened, you know.” A spark of anger lit his eyes.

Finally, he gets a backbone, I thought. He stepped forward, hands trembling so badly, I was afraid he’d accidentally shoot himself or me. I jerked the gun from his grasp and swung my legs over the bed.

I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Amanda,” I surmised, knowing how much Titus cared for his niece. If he had a weak spot, that was it, and Mynogan had used it just as he’d used Emma to get to me. He answered with a slight nod. I checked the chamber of the gun. Three tags left out of six, which meant … “ You took out the guards?”

He slipped around me and opened the door, sticking his head into the hallway. “I have a car parked out back. We should go before someone else comes.”

“I need weapons.” I peeked out to see the hallway was empty for now.

Titus whirled on me, his face no longer apologetic. “I won’t risk it, Charlie. If I don’t get you back to the lab in” —he glanced at his watch—“forty minutes, my niece will be dead.”

I was so mad, I wanted to pound him into the tile floor, but I knew exactly what it was like to have a loved one’s life at risk. And the last thing I wanted for Amanda was to be late.

I led the way into the hallway. I knew Station One inside and out. We were on the basement level, which meant it stayed relatively quiet. There were extra holding cells, file rooms, the weapons depot, and supply closets. We should be able to make it to the back stairs and then out into the parking deck at the back of the building.

But just as we began our journey up the back stairs, a door opened and footsteps sounded above us.