Of course, I understood why those two were going. As fae, they were the least likely to be detected and set off alarms. The IBSI could detect witches in their vicinity. Fae were a species that they had much less experience with, because, thankfully, fae had not paid Earth much attention. It seemed that the main attraction the human realm had for them was for collecting ghosts to deliver to the ghouls. But that pact had been broken long ago. There had certainly been no sightings and no major natural disasters that we had reason to believe they were the cause of.
More of our group—including Brock, Arwen, Grace and Heath—came to sit with us in the control room and together we gazed out of the window, our eyes fixed on the headquarters’ entrance. This became pretty tedious after a while. Grace rummaged in one of the compartments and found a card game, which we busied ourselves with, but we got tired of that too as the hours passed.
After three hours, we were starting to feel anxious.
“Do you think something could have happened?” Sofia asked.
“I doubt that,” Derek said—the calmest of all of us. “Remember, this place is huge. It will take them a long time to look around thoroughly.”
And so we continued to wait and watch and fidget. Arwen and Brock slipped away toward the back of the vehicle after another half hour. Since Corrine was here, and it seemed Arwen still hadn’t told her about Brock, they were keeping things more low key. The rest of us lapsed back into conversation. Then, as I stood up to stretch my legs and gazed around the jungle again, something caught my eye through the trees.
“What’s that?” I whispered, pressing my face against the window to get a closer look.
“What?” my mother asked. Everyone shot up from their chairs and looked to where I was indicating, to the left of our vehicle. I wasn’t sure exactly what I’d seen myself, but it had been movement. Something moving. “It could’ve just been an animal,” I began, before a group of five men in IBSI uniforms emerged through the trees. They were carrying a large metal case. We watched with bated breath as they passed us and walked toward the headquarters’ entrance.
“I wonder what they’re carrying in that case,” Rose murmured.
“And where exactly they’re dragging it from,” Grace added.
I frowned. Grace had a point. I had seen from the chopper that to the west was nothing but jungle for miles and miles.
The hunters soon disappeared through the entrance, and we were left with nothing to look at again. None of us could think of much of an explanation, so our speculations fizzled out and gave way to silence until Ben and Lucas finally returned. I could already tell from their expressions that their excursion had not been successful.
Making themselves solid, they both slumped down into seats. “Nothing really to report,” Ben said. “We probably roamed through fifty laboratories. We checked bottles and ingredients, couldn’t make out what most things were for the life of us. Also checked residential quarters. They have a massive underground compound for mutants, though that’s nothing new. We didn’t manage to eavesdrop on any pertinent conversations. I would suggest, however,” Ben added, “that we try again at a different time of day. We’re here now, so I suggest we stay the night. Lucas and I can enter again tonight. If we still have no luck, then I guess we’ll all just return to the island.”
“All right,” Derek said. “Does anyone have any objections to that?”
Everyone shook their heads.
Nightshade, our helicopter-cum-tank, was equipped with bunks, and there were also toiletry supplies and plenty of food and water. I ended up sharing a double bunk with Grace. Around eleven PM, after Ben and Lucas left again, we snuggled up next to each other on the mattress.
I leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “Good night,” I whispered.
“Yeah…” she said, smirking. “Like either of us is gonna get any sleep.”
She had a point. My mind was too alert now that we were here, just outside the IBSI headquarters. Grace especially would be worrying about her father.
We ended up chatting late into the night to take our minds off the wait. We talked about school, mostly, before I broached the topic of Heath. To counteract this, she quickly changed the topic to my “love life”.
“Well, Vicky?” she asked, propping her head up against the pillow. “Do you really not fancy anyone on the island?”
I smiled at her, then shrugged. It wasn’t like I avoided boys. I had a lot of male friends whom I was close to. I guessed I just hadn’t found that “spark” yet… whatever that even was. I told Grace this, and there honestly wasn’t much more to say on the subject.
We continued chatting about other things until I took a break to go to the toilet. On my way back, I stopped by the fridge to grab a cold bottle of water. I was about to return to the bunk when Kyle, who had still been sitting in the control room, called, “More of them.”
Everyone jumped out of bed and hurried to the control room. Indeed, we saw more of those uniformed hunters. There were eight this time, carrying two large metal cases between them. I guessed they contained equipment of some kind, maybe weapons. But, again, where were they coming from? It made no sense.
As they disappeared into headquarters, we were once again left to our speculations. Only this time, Rose said, “I want to go take a look through those trees.”
“I’ll go with you,” Caleb said, and soon everyone else was offering to go too, including myself. I guessed for many of us this was more out of boredom than anything else—an excuse to get some fresh air and stretch our legs.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Derek said, holding up a hand and shaking his head. “There’s no point in all of us going. Six of us can go; six at a time. And no longer than fifteen minutes for each batch,” he added, looking at us sternly—especially me and the other youngest four. “Or I will come hunting you down myself.”
Grace, Heath, Arwen, Brock and I ended up being allowed out first along with Corrine, perhaps since we’d been first to rush to the exit. We donned high, thick boots, and with our durable, long uniforms, we were fairly well protected from insects. My father handed each of us a mini-flashlight.
The door to the tank opened silently and we stepped outside into the cool jungle. I stowed my hands in my pockets as we touched down in the undergrowth and began to make our way slowly, cautiously through the trees toward the direction we’d seen the hunters emerge from.
After we’d been roaming for about five minutes, coming across nothing but more trees and bushes, we split into pairs so that we could cover more ground. Being closest to Arwen, I took her hand, while, also due to proximity, Brock partnered with Corrine… leaving Grace and Heath together.
I kept a keen eye on my watch as we wandered for the next five minutes. Just as I was resigning myself to not finding anything in the short amount of time my uncle had given us, voices rang through the trees. Male voices. Hunters’ voices. Who else could they be?
Arwen and I ducked to the ground and peered out from behind a bush towards the sounds.
“They should have dropped it by now,” one said.
“Stand back,” another called.
Flashlights flickered on about twenty feet away from us. Then came the sound of crashing. Metal colliding with wood. A deep groan; someone in pain. Heavy breathing. Something heavy being dragged against the ground. Another case? Then I heard the trudging of footsteps. The hunters were moving through the undergrowth. As they came within our view, they were not carrying anything. To my relief, they sped up into a jog and raced right past us, toward the direction of headquarters.
Once they were definitely gone, Arwen and I exchanged glances in the gloom. Someone else from our group sighed nearby. I, however, did not feel relief for long. Curiosity burned in my veins as to what the hunters had just “dropped”. Dropped from where?
Catching Arwen’s hand, I pulled her toward the trees that the hunters had emerged from. As we emerged in a small clearing, we found ourselves staring down at a gaping black hole
in the ground. A starry abyss. A portal to another realm.
Victoria
Arwen and I were in too much of a daze to even call to the others about what we had just found. We moved to the edge of the portal, gazing down into it.
My head spun. Where did this lead to? And the hunters, they had passed through it? And they also said they had dropped something through it from the other side. What other side? What had they dropped?
I whirled around to take in the small clearing better and that was when I spotted it. Only six feet away, partially obscured by trees, stood a cast-iron cage large enough to hold three men. At first I thought that it was empty, but then I saw the form of a man, slumped against the bars, cast in shadow.
Arwen’s breath hitched as I clutched her shoulder and spun her around. I dared shine my flashlight to get a better view of him as we neared. He had thick, wavy black hair, strands of which hung over his face. I couldn’t see his face much at all. His head lolled over his chest. But his body was tall, broad and muscled… too muscled for a human. He wore a tattered shirt, which I guessed had once been white, but was now so covered in bloodstains it was hard to tell, and ripped black pants.
Crouching down by the cage, I ventured closer and shone my light directly toward his face.
“Hello?” I breathed.
His head lifted slowly and I found myself staring into a pair of savage gray eyes framed by heavy brows… The face of a young man. I would guess no older than twenty. His jaw was chiseled, his mouth set in a thin, hard line as he grimaced.
“Who are you?” I whispered. Now that life had returned to his face, I realized just how fine a man he was. His features were noble, regal almost. He certainly didn’t look like he belonged in a cage.
He furrowed his brows and I wondered whether he might not understand me. Then he crawled closer to me, wincing as he moved. He was obviously in a lot of pain. His voice was deep and guttural as he rasped, “Please. Get me out.”
I exchanged a panicked glance with Arwen, who was looking quite lost as to what to do.
“Are you… a werewolf?” she stammered.
He nodded.
I’d known he wasn’t human, I just hadn’t been able to quite put my finger on it. But now I could see he had the characteristics of a wolf. That would certainly explain his physique and there was a wolflike quality to his ears and teeth, a subtle sharpness. But it was night time. If he was a werewolf, he should be in his beastly form now. Unlike dragons, werewolves had no control over when they shifted.
“Why haven’t you shifted?” I breathed. “It’s the dead of night. And why are you here?” What are they doing with you? Why did they trap you in here? Where did you come from? A dozen questions crowded my brain at once.
“No time,” he whispered, shaking his head. Urgency pulsed in his gray irises as he locked his gaze on me.
My heart hammered against my chest. Those hunters could come back any moment now, probably with a vehicle to transport this cage to headquarters. Without thinking further, I whispered to Arwen, “Free him!”
She looked at me in alarm. “What?”
“You heard me.” I didn’t know this man at all, but this… this just wasn’t right. The way they had him locked up in this cage, battered, cut and bruised—this wasn’t a humane way to treat anyone, be they animal, human, or supernatural. And every instinct told me that if he reached headquarters, he would never come out again.
“Okay,” Arwen said, her voice shaking.
She performed a spell to weaken five bars. Before she’d even finished the job, the wolf, even in his weakened state, gripped them and pried them open, finishing the rest of the job himself. He staggered out, his knees unsteady, before locking eyes with me again. His wintry gaze was so intense, I almost felt threatened by it. But then he bowed his head slightly and the next thing I knew he had turned on his heels and leapt through the portal.
About ten seconds later, Arwen gasped. She was pointing to the base of the cage, where a red light was blinking. A red light that definitely had not been there a minute ago. I swore beneath my breath. Of course they would’ve installed an alarm.
Derek
“I’m worried they aren’t back yet,” my sister said as she sat opposite me in the control room, her hands clasped together.
The first group of six had overshot their time allowance by four minutes. I was disappointed in Corrine. I had trusted that she would herd them back in time and not get carried away herself. Perhaps they had made a discovery, but still, that was not an excuse. They should have come back to inform us. I was about to uphold my word and go fetch them when, to my surprise, Ben and Lucas appeared in the middle of the room. Their foreheads were shiny with sweat, and the look of urgency in their eyes shook me.
“What’s going—” I began.
“An alarm has been triggered,” Lucas said, wiping his brow with a tissue.
“An alarm?” Sofia gasped.
“They can detect fae now?” Rose asked, looking stunned.
Ben and Lucas eyed us with confusion.
“No,” Ben said, shaking his head. “I’m sure it wasn’t us. We thought it must be you. Kyle,” he yelled into the pilot cabin. “We have to leave. Now. The mutants are coming!”
“Wait!” I shouted, even as I cursed beneath my breath. “Your daughter’s out there!”
Victoria
About twenty seconds after we noticed the beeping red light, something detonated silently at the base of the cage. Tongues of fire burst out, followed by a heavy smoke that blanketed the area with alarming speed and thickness. I could only assume that this punishment had been meant for the werewolf… or rather, whoever was stupid enough to free him.
Arwen and I staggered back, choking and coughing. The smog felt toxic to my lungs. My vision became disturbingly clouded and before I knew it, I could no longer even see Arwen. Corrine shouted for us, for me. I tried to call out to her, but I only ended up choking more; my mouth and throat had dried out from the noxious fumes. I could barely even let out a whisper. I fumbled around, trying to feel for Arwen. Failing, I dropped to my knees and crawled through the undergrowth, attempting to get away from the fog. My stinging eyes began to water, impairing my vision even more. I blinked rapidly in an attempt to clear them. No chance. I have to get out of this.
As I sped up in a panic, my hands came down against the edge of a hole in the ground. Shivers ran down my spine. I’d reached the portal. And I’d almost lost my balance and gone toppling headfirst into it. I scrambled around the edge of it as I continued trying to escape the smoke. It was still surrounding me. Forced to breathe in this smog, I didn’t think I could remain conscious much longer. My head throbbed and dizziness was overtaking me.
Then, as if my fading mind didn’t have enough to deal with, high-pitched screeching drifted through the night air, making me stop dead in my tracks. I recognized that sound instantly.
The mutants were coming.
It had sounded distant, but with their supernatural speed, I knew we’d be lucky to have two minutes. Oh, no. Fighting to stand while my knees wanted nothing more than to give way and collapse, I forced my eyes open again in spite of the agony.
“Victoria!” Grace’s voice came from somewhere to my right.
Footsteps pounded toward me and then Grace and Heath arrived close enough for me to be able to make them out. Rushing to my side, Heath took my right arm and wrapped it around his shoulder, supporting me against him, while Grace took my left arm and did the same.
“Come on,” she wheezed. “We’ll get you out of here.”
I could only think that, being half-supernatural, they could bear this smoke much better than I could. Avoiding the portal, they began dragging me across the clearing… but we were too late to reunite with the others.
Two of the mutants crashed down into the undergrowth, blocking our path. They had fearsome hawk-like heads with razor-sharp beaks. They fixed their focus on us before letting out more deafening screeches. Their sp
ear-like tails thrashed behind them as their deadly talons dug up the ground. And then came the fire. It shot from their gaping mouths and torpedoed toward us. If Grace hadn’t been with us to divert it with her powers, we would have been scorched to a crisp. At least, I would have.
This only angered the mutants and they jerked forward, forcing us backward until the backs of our feet were at the edge of the portal. The gun I carried in my jacket would not save us from these beasts. We only had one option left.
Victoria
The three of us thrust ourselves backward into the portal.
This was the first time I had ever traveled through a gate. It was the most bizarre experience, lurching into a gut-wrenching freefall through a seemingly bottomless tunnel, with no idea what we’d find on the other end. My parents had recounted to me on a number of occasions what it felt like, but nothing could’ve truly prepared me for it.
My stomach lurched, and I was sure that I would throw up before we ever reached the other side. But as we hurtled down, I could only feel thankful that the toxic smoke no longer choked my lungs, and we’d gotten away from those monsters. I had been afraid in the first few seconds of our fall that they would leap after us, but I managed to twist myself around and verified that they hadn’t.
When we arrived at the other end, I was totally unprepared. I hadn’t even known we’d been approaching the exit since I had been facing the other way. The three of us rocketed out and landed on cool, damp soil. The smell of wet bark filled my nostrils. I coughed, raising my head slowly. It was dark, and we had landed in some kind of… forested enclosure. The trees loomed so high, I couldn’t even see the top of them through the canopy of leaves. They were breathtakingly tall, taller than any redwood I’d seen in The Shade. Directly in front of us was a towering metal fence spiked with barbed wire. An electric fence?