Vicki Pettersson - The Scent of Shadows

“You’re confused, dear,” Greta said, her voice soothing and light. “Looking directly into Tekla’s eyes will do that to you.”

“No. I’m not,” I said evenly. “Just the opposite, in fact. I looked into Tekla’s eyes and for the first time everything became clear.”

She looked at me for a long, silent moment. They all did.

“I should have figured it out sooner. But, you know, everyone here trusts you so much.” I laughed at the irony of that. “Trusts you more than they even trust themselves.”

“What are you talking about?” Greta was forced to ask, but I could tell she knew. I explained it anyway, so the others would know too.

“I’m talking about the way you suggested to someone that I might like to read the day’s news, news that contained information that would hurt me. News that would send me running right to you.” I started walking toward her, my footsteps a deep and even beat, projecting more confidence than I felt with Chandra’s gun still pointed at my chest. “You wanted to hypnotize me, get in my mind just like you’ve done with everybody else. But there was only one problem. My mother was already there.”

“You bitch. We don’t have to listen to this!” Chandra was rattled, her eyes traveling between Greta and me, and I knew I was right about the paper. But she’d also raised her arms again, and mortal weapon or not, at that distance it would make her point. As the hallway filled with the remaining star signs, however—Vanessa supporting Gregor as they emerged from his sick room, Felix just behind—Chandra became less and less of a threat. So I remained focused on the woman who’d been a threat to them all.

“I don’t think I’d have put it together if it weren’t for the nightmares. I’ve never had them before. I’ve never seen the Tulpa, so I couldn’t fear him enough to have him lunging out at me in my dreams. I certainly haven’t ever allowed myself to dream about my past. But you opened all that up with your own special blend of alchemy. Chemistry, some call it. Let me ask you, when was the last time someone visited your office that you didn’t offer them a spot of tea?”

Greta’s mouth opened, but I didn’t let her answer. It wasn’t really a question meant for her anyway. I could see the others puzzling it out as I began inching her way, though. “It’s so easy to plant mistrust in the minds and psyches of people who have full trust in you, isn’t it, Greta? They come to you after their greatest fears have erupted in their nightmares, and you cement those fears with your little sessions .” I halted, directly across from her, and folded my arms, my conduit still at hand. “You’re all looking at the reason your Zodiac has been depleted. Greta’s true role here is as a mole.”

“Bullshit!” Chandra exploded, and her trigger finger trembled.

“Olivia.” Micah’s patient voice barely masked his annoyance. It was the voice a parent would use on a naughty child. “Greta has never left the compound. Not in two years.”

I lifted a shoulder. “The perfect cover.”

Hunter moved in, clear-gazed now, which would’ve been a good thing if he weren’t eyeing me like a hawk. “You’re going to have to give us more than that.”

“Hold the hermaphrodite off long enough and I’ll give you much more.” The pistol was precariously close to my temple. I swallowed hard and waited, knowing my fate swung on these next few moments alone.

“Chandra. Stand down.”

“What?” she exploded, whirling on Gregor, who had straightened as much as he could. “I can’t believe we’re listening to this! In less than two hours we’re going to battle with every Shadow in town.” Her breathing was ragged as she cocked the gun. “I say we start with this one.”

Holding still as stone, I fixed my eyes on a point just above her head, not wanting to see when she pulled the trigger.

“What you’re going to do is stand down,” Gregor said, his words spaced as deliberately as notes on a music sheet. “I’m in charge when Warren isn’t here, and the reason he’s not here is because he traded his own life for mine. If Olivia has something to say that’ll help get him back alive, then you will damn well stand down! Now!”

His voice had risen, and ricocheted down the cavernous hall, echoing before dying away. I looked at him, standing there with only one arm protruding from his shapeless hospital gown, and the humor I so readily associated with him was nowhere to be found. He would’ve looked more the part of ailing patient if his stocky legs weren’t spread wide and his single hand weren’t curled in a fist. I thought of what Warren had said about him being the most senior agent left, and knew if I could get him to hear me out, the others would follow suit. Chandra’s barrel shook as it slid away from my body.

Then, from an ally I’d never have expected, I heard, “All right. I’ll play.”

Hunter shot me a raw, distant smile as I turned to him. “Your hypothesis is that Greta never leaves the sanctuary, therefore she can never be suspected of betrayal, right?”

“Never leaves,” I corrected, “because she can’t. Like me, she’s unable to exit through the chute. The Shadow side is too dark inside of her now.”

“I can’t leave because I’m totally vulnerable up there.” Greta’s voice was reasonable, as if she were leading a group therapy session. My gaze flickered her way, narrowing at the way her hands played uncertainly with the pearls around her neck, but I had to give it to her. She had her role down pat. “They would find me and hunt me down within a week.”

I blinked at her. “If you haven’t noticed, Greta, this is a suicide mission. And no one else seems particularly concerned with their own lives. Aren’t you the one who told me that duty comes before all else? If something’s not good for the organization then it’s simply not done. If it is—such as going after our troop leader—then everything is done to make sure it succeeds.” I shot them all a mirthless smile. “A true follower of Light, agent or not, would sacrifice everything if it meant saving this troop. Rena convinced me of that.”

“Would you?” Chandra said, arms folded across her chest. It looked like she was fighting to keep from reaching out and strangling me.

I looked at her coolly. “I’m doing it right now.”

“So how’d she get down here?” Hunter continued, with his usual single-mindedness, something I was grateful for at the moment. I blew out a hard breath as I turned back to him, and chose my words carefully. He didn’t look like a man who gave people a second chance.

“She’s half mortal. The other half is Light. Choices, however,” I told him before turning back to Greta, “can be made for either side.”

I saw Felix shaking his head from the corner of my eye. “So how does she tell the Tulpa who we are, then?”

Chandra frowned and turned on him like he was traitorous, but he just shrugged as he met her gaze, his eyes quickly returning to me. “She doesn’t. She marks you. After she gets you into her office, she alters your scent during hypnosis so the Shadow agents can locate you when you’ve left the sanctuary.”

“Not possible,” Chandra spit out, shaking her head.

“You just said it was possible. You said with the chemicals from your lab and a little knowledge—”

“The right knowledge—”

“Which you and Micah have,” I said, anger overtaking my fear for the first time. She was just opposing me as a matter of course. Well, fuck that. I jerked my head at her. “Where do you keep it? Notebook?”

“No. Nowhere anyone can find it.”

“Folder? Filing cabinet? Microfiche?”

“No, you idiot!” she exploded, brows slamming together. “In our minds!”