Coldbloods

  Hurriedly, I gathered up the tea mugs we’d been drinking from and rushed out of the room. On the top of the staircase, I took a deep breath. Some air—that’s what I needed. If I kept running through the mission and all that could go wrong in my head, I was going to explode.

  After I’d dropped off the mugs on the kitchen counter and returned to the room, everyone was on their feet.

  “There’s no time to waste,” Bashrik said, as he heaved every article of clothing his hands came into contact with into a beefy duffel bag.

  “Yeah, except when you’re packing my bra,” Angie pointed out with a grimace. She lifted a slinky red lace balconette out of his bag. “What did you think it was?”

  “My apologies,” Bashrik said, eyeing it with a wary sort of curiosity. “I thought it was a fancy doily.”

  At this, Lauren, Angie, and I burst out laughing. Bashrik’s face went red as he upped his pack-heaving pace.

  “Really, we do have to get going!”

  “He’s right,” Ronad said, with a rueful smile of his own.

  I zipped about the room, helping them finish packing their bags, and then we all but ran down the stairs and out of the bed and breakfast, saying a quick goodbye to the owner on our way out.

  When we reached the ship, we rushed to clamber inside, and as soon as we were all piled in, Galo lifted off.

  Angie was the one who broke the silence. “So it’s awesome that we got out of our bed and breakfast super duper fast, but for how long are we going to be squished together like this?”

  I glanced back to see her, Bashrik, Ronad, and Lauren all side by side behind us, looking uncomfortably squeezed. Clearly, these ships had been designed to comfortably fit two lycans— and not one person more.

  I smirked. “It’s not very far.”

  “And seeing as Riley and I are the ones risking our lives, undergoing a cramped-but-brief trip is a minor price to pay,” Galo said, not looking up from the ship’s steering wheel.

  “Yeah, maybe, but you’re not stuck beside some glaring monosyllabic jerk,” Angie said, making a face at Bashrik, whom she’d ended up beside in the melee.

  “I could rip apart your stuffed rabbit again,” Bashrik offered.

  “And I could solidify your eyes shut with Lauren’s coconut face mask again, but we agreed to get along better,” Angie shot back.

  I resisted the urge to laugh. Clearly, Angie hadn’t been kidding when she’d said that Bashrik was driving her crazy. And I knew all too well how swift Angie’s justice was when it came to her enemies. I remembered how she’d slipped several spoonfuls of the spiciest chili sauce into the soup of an unsuspecting Andrea, a girl who’d bullied me in junior high. I could still remember her little cheeks puffed out like a squirrel’s as she held her mouth and raced to the bathroom.

  “In any case, for how long in this direction am I expected to fly?” Galo asked.

  “I’m not sure,” I said. “I lost the map Navan and I had while trying to escape. But, like I said, the camp’s not far; we weren’t flying for long before the ship broke down. I’ll recognize the area when we reach it.”

  “Okay, so maybe… in another ten minutes or so, we’ll land,” Galo said. “Better to be a bit too far than a bit too close.”

  The ten minutes dragged on like half an hour. Everyone was tense, quiet. But sure enough, I recognized the area when we reached it—it wasn't difficult, thanks to Navan’s and my broken-down ship still parked there in the snow—and it ended up being about eleven minutes away. When we landed, we wasted no time in hurrying out of the cramped quarters.

  “Thank God,” Angie said, sucking in several breaths of fresh air.

  “Oh please,” Bashrik replied, looking down his nose at her. “I’m sure you’ve had worse travel companions.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Angie replied, deadpan.

  “So,” Galo said, clearing his throat.

  Everyone quieted down, turning to look at Galo and me.

  “Be careful, okay?” Lauren said, approaching me with teary eyes.

  As she and Angie wrapped their arms around me, I hugged them back tightly. “I will,” I promised.

  When we separated, Bashrik gave me a tensely nodded “Good luck,” while Ronad shook my hand with a kindly “Stay safe.”

  “We will,” Galo commented, with an odd little laugh.

  When I glanced at him, his eyes looked even greener than usual, perhaps from nervousness.

  As we walked away, I looked over my shoulder one last time. I took in the scene carefully, trying to memorize every detail I could—Angie’s blond head held erect as she tried to look tough for me, Lauren adjusting her glasses with a sad smile, Bashrik, with his muscled arms folded across his broad chest, Ronad, waving, his lips set into a worried line.

  I waved my hand once more, then turned and continued walking.

  “I didn’t indicate this to the others,” Galo said in a low voice, “but you should probably know that our chances of success are not good.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I glared at his still-calm face. “Was that supposed to make me feel better?”

  “No,” he replied. “It was supposed to inform you of facts. I am simply doing this—helping you on this mission—because it is right. Not because it is likely to be successful.”

  “Okay, well how about this,” I said a bit testily. “You can think that this is a long-shot, and I’ll go on thinking that we can do this.”

  I was stressed enough about what we were about to do; I didn’t need Galo making his dire, loopy predictions.

  “As you wish,” he said. “Although we should probably put on the invisibility suits soon.”

  “You’re right,” I said, pausing. “But for putting on the suits…”

  “Yes, yes,” Galo interrupted, getting my drift immediately. “I’ll go over here, and you’ll go over there, and we’ll change without looking at each other.”

  “Okay,” I said, sighing and walking off a few paces, before turning my back to Galo.

  Really, I’d just made a point about the changing thing because I was irritated with Galo for being so calmly pessimistic in the face of our upcoming mission. For whatever reason, I trusted the man—not only in not being an old pervert, but also in having my back during this mission. It was weird—and maybe it was because of what Galo had said back on the ship—but I was feeling more and more like Galo was a sort of wise grandfather, one who had my best interests at heart. And I’d need that. This mission wasn’t important, it was essential. I had to rescue Navan. I hadn’t admitted it to my friends, but I was more in agreement with Bashrik than I’d let on. I wasn’t sure I could leave the camp without Navan. Not again.

  And he’d be there. I’d heard them talk about using Navan as a pawn—he had to be alive. Or maybe hurt. Maybe they’d even sent him away, and if that was the case, I’d find out where and I’d go there. Whatever it took, that’s what I’d do to save Navan. I’d seen the protective look in his eyes when we’d kissed. I knew he’d do the same for me.

  “You ready?” Galo asked from a few paces away, breaking through my thoughts.

  “Ready,” I said, clearing my throat.

  “Good,” he replied. “Let’s go.”

  I took a deep breath. It was time.

  Chapter Six

  As soon as my fingers closed around Galo’s hand, he pressed the button on his wrist. Immediately, he disappeared from view. I pressed the button on my wrist and did the same. It didn’t take long before we were passing by Navan’s and my old ship, and the sight of it made my heart droop. If only Navan and I had known what we’d find here when it first broke down…

  “Best not go near it,” Galo said, voicing my thoughts. “We’ve got enough to worry about without getting mixed up with ship-dwelling shifters.”

  As we passed, a gray wolf padded out of the ship. It sniffed at the air, then turned its furry head toward us.

  “Keep moving, slowly,” Galo said in an undertone.

&
nbsp; I did as told, and, though the disguised shifter advanced a few paces, it disappeared back into the ship.

  “Good job,” Galo said. “Now for our actual mission.”

  My smile fell. The old lycan was right—we were just now reaching where the invisibility shield had been around the camp.

  “You said that Navan was in a bunker separated from the main camp?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” I said. “You just have to walk through the dirt path in the middle—it cuts straight through the camp. Then there’s some empty space, and we’ll come to the bunker where they were keeping him. I can lead us in.”

  “No, no,” Galo said. “If there’s anyone who should be caught, it’s me. I’ll go first.”

  Although I worried about the old man, I didn’t argue. Galo stood a better chance of fighting off any coldblood guards, and I couldn’t afford to be captured again, not when the rebels would use me to coerce Navan into doing their bidding.

  Galo stopped, and I heard a sniffing noise. A foot ahead, the air shimmered, presumably because Galo had touched the shield.

  “Yep, we’re here,” he said. “And no, I can’t sniff invisibility shields, if you’re wondering—it’s only habit.” He paused. “Now would be a good time to tell your friends that we’re here. And I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that once we get inside you must stay completely silent, and not let go of my hand unless completely necessary. If I’m caught, you should of course continue on your own, but otherwise we must stay together. Since we’re both invisible, finding one another in a crowded base camp would be nearly impossible.”

  “Okay, I won’t let go,” I said, before taking the comm device out of a pocket on the side of my suit. “We’ve reached the bunker—we’re going in,” I whispered into it, then turned the device off and tucked it back into my pocket. “Ready,” I told Galo.

  “All right. Hey ho, let’s go,” he said.

  Together we stepped through the shield, and I held my breath, expecting a shifter or coldblood to greet us on the other side with a spear—but there was no one. The camp itself was almost empty and fairly quiet, with hardly any coldbloods or shifters milling about, and no guards around this part of the border.

  Galo squeezed my hand, and I was pretty sure I understood his message. So far, this looked good.

  As we ventured farther into the camp, we saw that the atmosphere was much the same. The few coldbloods and shifters who were outside mingled about casually—the tension of earlier seemed to have died down. Even when I accidentally brushed a shifter woman’s arm, she paused, glanced around suspiciously, but then shrugged it off.

  In fact, going through the entire camp was easy, to my massive relief. Galo navigated us through the tents and around the odd coldblood or shifter, keeping as firm a hold on my hand as I kept on his. When we finally broke out of the main part of the camp, and the last tent was a good yard away, Galo stopped. After what sounded like him looking around, he whispered, “Let’s give your friends an update.”

  I took out the comm device. Normally, it would’ve been funny to see the little round thing floating in my invisible hand, but these weren’t normal circumstances.

  I pressed the button. “Hey, guys, just an update. We’ve made it through the camp and are on the way to the bunker.” I breathed so softly I could barely hear myself—but it seemed to be loud enough for the comm’s sensitive mic to pick up.

  “Hey, Riley—Bashrik here.” The reply came almost instantly. “Okay, good. Stay safe, and give us the next update when you can.”

  With that, I clicked the device off and put it away. As we continued, we passed by the far-off silo-like building, which was thankfully not currently spewing red smoke.

  “This place is disgusting,” Galo muttered, mostly to himself. I could hardly blame him. It had been a shock enough for me, let alone a lycan Fed agent who belonged to an organization expressly designed to be aware of places like this.

  As we neared the bunker, we saw that its surroundings were deserted. We reached the building’s doors, one of which was still wrenched off its hinges, and Galo paused again.

  “You ready?” he whispered.

  “No,” I said.

  He chuckled. “Good. Me neither.”

  And then he squeezed my hand, and we walked through the doors. He paused there, and I understood—he wouldn’t know where exactly in the building Navan was, but I did. Keeping our hands clasped, we switched positions so that I was leading him, and continued advancing. My heart hammered in my chest as we neared the end of the hallway, toward the room I’d escaped from last time. The last time I was here, I’d nearly been captured. This time, however, there wasn’t the slightest sign of any coldbloods.

  A chilling thought suddenly occurred to me as my hand closed around the room’s doorknob. Had they moved Navan somewhere else? Are we too late?

  Something about this situation felt very, very wrong.

  “Where did they all go?” I breathed.

  I didn’t hear Galo’s answer as I entered the room and spotted a chair in the middle of it—more specifically, as I spotted who was in it. He was tied with the same red intestine twine as last time, his face looking even more slack and hopeless than before.

  Navan.

  I released Galo’s hand and sprinted forward so I could pull off Navan’s blindfold. Surprised, he looked around as I lowered his gag too. In my excitement to see him, I had forgotten that I was still invisible.

  “Navan, it’s me,” I whispered, my voice shaking with relief at the sight of him alive.

  Navan’s eyes widened with fear. “Get out of here,” he said frantically. “They left me unguarded on purpose—it’s a trap!”

  My heart leapt into my throat, and I twisted around just as two uniform-wearing coldbloods appeared in the doorway.

  Chapter Seven

  “Search the room. Someone’s here,” one of the coldbloods said.

  He locked the door as the other strode ahead, arms out and a glassy, rifle-like weapon raised.

  “Show yourself,” he barked.

  As quietly as I could, I backed away from Navan.

  To my horror, I recognized the coldblood at the door as the same silver-haired one who had chased me last time.

  Sneering, he advanced toward Navan and pointed his gun at Navan’s arm. “Show yourself—or I’ll pull the trigger.”

  I scanned his scowling, sculpted face. Would he actually shoot Navan?

  A glowing blast exploded from his gun. Navan ducked his shoulder away just in time.

  The coldblood hadn’t been bluffing—that shot would’ve injured Navan badly. My heart was nearly pounding out of my chest. I had to surrender.

  “I’m warning you,” the silver-haired coldblood snarled.

  This time, he aimed the gun between Navan’s thighs.

  “Don’t fire!” I cried out. “I’ll show myself.”

  “Don’t!” Navan shouted, just as I pressed the button on my suit.

  When I materialized, I lunged out of the way, but the silver-haired coldblood was too fast. He tackled me onto the ground. As I struggled, he kicked me, then, straddling my waist, pointed the gun at my right thigh.

  “Struggle again and I’ll shoot you this time. After all,” he said, smiling with yellow teeth, “you don’t need legs to talk.”

  Ahead of us, there were sounds of a scuffle. The other coldblood cursed in irritation as he was thrown backward.

  “Whoever you are, invisible idiot, stop, or I’ll shoot her!” the silver-haired coldblood roared.

  There was a pause, then an “Oh bollocks” from Galo as he materialized too.

  “Gotcha!” the other coldblood cried triumphantly.

  Galo and I eyed each other anxiously as the coldblood threw him to the ground as well. My hand dove into my suit for the comm device. I jammed the button, just as the silver-haired coldblood snatched it out of my hands.

  “Nice try—but did you really think a human could outsmart coldbloods?” He chuckl
ed and tossed the comm device onto the stone floor, crunching it under his foot. He moved his boot onto my chest. “What other things do you have hiding in that suit of yours?”

  Cold fear cut through me. Would he actually strip me down completely? What else was he going to do to me?

  “Nothing,” I said, glaring at him. I’d just have to wait until he was distracted… and then I could stab my knife into his stupid evil back. Stab and keep stabbing until he’d stopped moving entirely. It was the least they deserved.

  But now he was squinting at me, pressing his foot harder against my chest. My breath came out in shuddering gasps.

  “We’ll see about that,” he said softly.

  He felt me up and down, while I squirmed, until his hand clasped triumphantly on the knife in my pocket.

  “You lying little bitch,” he growled.

  With his knee digging into my shoulder, he raised the knife, then slashed it down. It connected with the button on my suit with a great crackling shudder. He repeated the motion, over and over again, until my whole suit sputtered and shuddered into permanent visibility. He tossed the knife to his companion to do the same to Galo’s suit, then turned his sneering attention to me.

  “You really thought that would work? For Rask’s sake, humans are getting dumber every day. In any case, you won’t be needing those suits anymore.”

  “What should we tie them up with?” the other coldblood asked once he’d disabled Galo’s suit too.

  His long brown hair flicked back and forth as he turned his head to look around the room, before his gaze stopped on a chain hanging from the ceiling. He glanced at the silver-haired coldblood, who nodded.

  “Bingo.”

  “By the way,” the silver-haired coldblood said as he advanced to grab it down, “in case you haven’t gotten the message yet—if either of you moves or tries to escape, I’ll shoot one of you.”

  I glared fiercely back at him, once more picturing myself stabbing him with the knife over and over again. These coldbloods were nothing like Navan—they were a different species entirely, one that didn’t deserve to exist at all. Hot tears rose to my eyes. I knew it wasn’t fair to blame myself for failing again, but I couldn’t help it. I’d been so eager to free Navan, so overjoyed to see him, that I hadn’t stopped to consider that this could be a trap. And it had cost both of us our freedom this time.