Return (Awakened Fate Book 3) (23 page)

Another curve followed, and then a third. I shifted on the seat again, debating whether to question Ellie about her directions.

And then a collection of grain silos came into view.

“There,” Ellie said quietly.

I didn’t take my eyes from the tall structures. Maybe three miles away, they appeared and disappeared over the tops of the corn.

Noah tensed, a curse escaping him. “Pull over,” he ordered Baylie.

Glancing to him in alarm, she steered the car to the side of the road.

“What?” I asked. “What is it?”

He closed his eyes briefly and then looked back. His gaze flicked from me to Ellie, and I saw frustration flash across his face.

“They’re here,” he admitted grudgingly.

I paused in confusion. And then it clicked.

“Wait,” I said, my heart tripping over itself as it started to race. “You mean, your–”

“All five of them. They know I’m here too. Second I picked up on them, they did the same, and now they’re hiding.”

I stared at him, fighting not to give into the panic bubbling up inside. Zeke had to be there too, then. If Noah’s family was at the warehouse, then he had to be as well, but…

Zeke was fine. He wasn’t dead. They wouldn’t still be there if he was dead.

“You need to get out of here,” Noah said to me.

“No, I’m not–”

“You have to. They’ll–”

“I’m not leaving him!”

Noah stopped. Awkward silence fell on air still ringing from my shout. His brow twitched down and I couldn’t read the look in his eyes.

“Okay,” he agreed, his voice quiet and tight.

A breath left me.

He paused for a heartbeat, still watching me with that strange look in his eyes, and then he shifted back around on the seat. “Get us a bit closer,” he said to Baylie in the same tone. “I need to see where they’re hiding.”

She put the car back in gear. In silence, we drove down the country highway and turned onto the road leading to the silos.

The cornfields fell away and more of the complex appeared. A long road stretched from the main highway to Borman Grain, which mostly seemed to consist of a cluster of square buildings next to the towering silos. Those, in turn, were surrounded on two sides by large, white storage domes that looked like they were preparing to take off at the command of the mothership. An aluminum-sided warehouse waited closer to the road, while a train track for shipments ran nearby.

“Stop here,” Noah ordered.

Baylie did.

I swallowed hard, studying the warehouse. Maybe half the length of a football field, and a quarter the width, the warehouse sat to the left of the road and far from the silos. Enormous garage doors, all of them closed, formed the longest side, with a single, human-sized door near the corner. A narrow, gravel parking lot fronted the building and held a brown Buick and a maroon SUV.

Ellie made a worried noise. “Grandpa.”

Noah pulled his gaze from the building. Reaching to the middle of the dashboard, he flipped the air conditioning to full blast, and then switched on the radio as well. As the white-noise drone filled the car, he turned to look at me.

I tensed, silently daring him to try to make me stay here.

He seemed to see it. His jaw muscles jumped.

“Can you run?” he asked.

I nodded, and attempted to ignore the worried look Baylie gave me in response.

He echoed the motion. “Then stay behind me. Walk on the grass not the gravel; they’ll have a harder time hearing that. And–”

“You’re greliaran, aren’t you?”

He blinked and turned to Ellie.

“That’s why you know about secrets,” she said. “You–”

She cut off, her brow furrowing, and she looked between us as though she couldn’t figure out what she was seeing.

“Listen,” he continued to me, his gaze flicking to Ellie distractedly. “They’re going to come after you. I can’t stop all of them. But when that happens…” He grimaced, as if he hated the words. “You run. We’re stronger, but you’re faster. So just run like hell.”

“What about Zeke?”

“I’ll–”

“I can get him,” Ellie interrupted.

Noah glanced to her again.

“You distract them,” she said. “I’ll get him.”

“They’ll kill you,” Noah argued.

She shook her head. “Grandpa will stop them. If he’s in there, he’ll stop them.”

“He’ll stop you too,” I protested.

“I can get Zeke,” she insisted.

I stared at her. I hardly knew her, and she wanted me to trust her with Zeke’s life? Sure, she’d helped me, but when it came to him…

There wasn’t a choice. We were running out of time.

“Fine,” I managed. “Just be careful.”

Ellie nodded.

“Stay here,” Noah said to Baylie. “Watch for us and, if Chloe’s parents show up, do your best to keep them out of the way. We’ll be back as soon as possible and we’ll need to leave fast.”

She grimaced, but made a grudging noise of agreement.

He glanced to me. “Run. Try to lose them in the fields if you can. And then circle back. We should have Zeke by then, so come meet us at the car and we’ll get out of here. Alright?”

I swallowed. It sounded a lot like a best-case scenario. I just hoped it worked. “Yeah.”

He climbed from the car. I followed, my legs quivering unsteadily for a moment before consenting to hold me.

We started toward the warehouse. Wind carried over the fields around us, along with a beeping noise from a distant semi reversing near the silos. Several dozen cars filled the parking lots next to the square buildings of the main complex, and as we walked over the crabgrass and dirt, a train rumbled along the track, heading for the silos as well.

The place wasn’t abandoned or isolated by any stretch of the imagination. It seemed a strange location for a secret lab.

But that could turn out to be a good thing. Maybe, if Noah’s family tried to come after us, the fact there were others around would keep them from killing anyone.

My stomach turning flip-flops, I kept pace with Noah. Ellie stayed near me, radiating nervous energy and trying to look in every direction at once.

We drew closer to the warehouse.

The door creaked as it swung ponderously open. I stopped and Noah did too. With a tiny whimper, Ellie froze.

No one came out. Nothing moved.

I glanced to Noah.

“Bait,” he mouthed.

I nodded.

Heart pounding, I scanned the fields. There wasn’t anything to do. We had to keep going.

Trembling with adrenaline, I followed him toward the door. My skin shivered with the desire to let my spikes grow and the world sharpened as my eyes changed of their own accord. I could see hairline fissures slipping along Noah’s arms, appearing like threads of lightning and then vanishing almost as quickly, while a red glow flecked the green of his eyes.

A burly young man stepped outside. Well above six feet tall, with the build of a football player on every steroid known to God or man, he smirked at us as he crossed his arms, making his biceps bulge.

“Hey there, cuz,” he drawled.

Noah ignored him, checking the area quickly.

“What? No hello? Thought you’d want to finally introduce me to your little friend.”

The guy’s gaze went to me, and his eyes grated down me like he could see straight through my clothes.

I tensed, pulling back involuntarily.

A snarl twitched his face, buried so fast it looked like a muscle spasm, and a shiver ran through him. “Name’s Wyatt,” he managed, a growl coming into his voice. “Been looking forward to getting my hands on you, pretty.”

Footsteps crunched on the gravel of the parking lot.

Two more guys, obviously his brothers, emerged from either side of the warehouse.

“Chloe,” Noah said carefully.

I glanced to him.

Noah didn’t look away from his cousins. Cracks spread through his arms and face, unrestrained now, and his eyes went red. “Run.”

He lunged at Wyatt.

I spun and took off.

The nearest cousin shouted and scrambled after me, his hands swiping the air as I passed. Adrenaline flooded me, prickling through my skin and setting my heart racing. The gravel parking lot fell away, and then the road. Grass flashed by beneath my feet while in my ears, the wind rushed like the ocean.

I threw a look over my shoulder.

They were still coming. I couldn’t see Ellie anywhere. Noah was struggling with Wyatt, but as I watched, Wyatt shoved him hard to the side, trying to break Noah’s hold to join the chase.

And the others were gaining.

Fighting for more speed, I ran for the silos.

Chapter Nineteen

Zeke

Voices carried from beyond the walls of the warehouse, and I strained to hear if Chloe was among them. On the other side of the room, Richard stood motionless by the door while Harman fidgeted next to the long, steel table. Behind me, Brock twitched as he fought to stay still, his eyes already glowing and fissures permeating his skin.

Someone outside shouted.

Richard swore. “Stay here!” he snapped at Brock as he ripped open the door.

He raced from the room.

I looked from Brock to Harman, and then yanked at the restraints.

The one on my left wrist gave enough to let my hand slip by, while the bar on my feet popped free of the table entirely. Rolling to the side, I shoved hard at the metal holding my other wrist.

Brock made a furious noise. His footsteps thudded toward me.

Something beneath the table snapped. The restraint gave away.

I scrambled aside just as his fist slammed down where I’d been.

“You scale-skin bastard,” Brock growled. “Get back here.”

Casting quick glances from him to Harman, I retreated as my few remaining spikes emerged to stand out on my arms. Adrenaline couldn’t fully drown the burning pain in my muscles, or stop the way my body was shaking. My legs were so wobbly, they felt like they’d change at any moment, becoming a tail that’d get me killed.

Brock stalked toward me, his face a tangle of glowing cracks extending from eyes that were nothing but impossibly red fire.

“I am going to
gut
you,” he snarled, “you disgusting little–”

He charged.

I tumbled to the side, narrowly avoiding stabbing myself with my spikes as I hit the floor. Skidding on the concrete, Brock spun and then lunged at me again.

Frantic, I rolled and scrambled for my feet.

His hands caught my back and shoved me. Harman stumbled away with a panicked shout as I crashed to the ground only inches from the table and his research. Ignoring him, I rolled again, trying to spot Brock before he could grab me.

My gaze caught on the underside of the table and suddenly, I realized what Harman had been holding onto this entire time.

A gun.

An enormous, double-barreled shotgun.

Lunging up, I snagged the weapon and ripped it from the straps holding it to the table. Brock’s red eyes went wide at the sight, and with a roar, he rushed at me again.

I swung the gun around, notched it to my shoulder fast as I could, and then pulled the trigger.

The recoil nearly took my arm off.

Brock stopped a few feet from me, alarm spreading across his face. My ears rang from the blast, but I didn’t look away from him as he stumbled.

His fiery eyes blinked. Dark blood spread across the chest of his tight t-shirt.

He crumpled to his knees and then toppled sideways to the ground.

Shaking, I clutched the edge of the table and tugged myself upright on legs that still felt like they wanted to change.

Harman stood motionless, staring at me with his arms frozen in mid-reach for the jars and papers still scattered on the table.

A shiver ran through me. My grip tightened on the gun.

The door on the far side of the room burst open. Harman’s granddaughter raced in.

She skidded to a stop, her eyes going wide at the sight of me and the shotgun.

“E-Ellie, what are you–” Harman stammered. “Get out of here, girl! He’ll–”

“Please,” she interrupted him, lifting her hands as if to show she had no weapons. Her gaze darted from my legs to the jars on the tabletop, and she swallowed hard. “Please, I-I’m sorry. Please hear me. I’m so sorry for what he did.”

My brow drew down.

“Please don’t shoot him,” she begged.

“Ellie, get out of here,” Harman urged.

My hand twitched on the gun.

“Please!” Ellie cried. She took a breath and inched a step closer. “Please, Zeke. It’s Zeke, right? Just… please. I’m here to help. I don’t want to hurt you. I’m only here to help.”

She came another step into the room.

“Don’t let him near you, girl!” Harman cried. “They just need to touch you and then you’ll be–”

“Grandpa, shut up!” she shouted, not looking away from me. A choked noise escaped her. “Just… shut up.” She swallowed hard again. “Zeke, Chloe’s out there. The greliarans are going after her and that…” her gaze flicked to the gun, “that could stop them.”

“Where?” I demanded.

She nodded toward the door behind her. “This way.”

I glanced to Harman, trembling. I didn’t know what I wanted to do to him. Something. Anything.

So much I didn’t know where to begin.

“
Please
,” Ellie implored.

My gaze twitched back to her. Letting out an unsteady breath, I headed for the door.

Harman made a panicked sound. “Eleanor, get back! You don’t–”

“How
could
you, Grandpa?
How
?”

She retreated hastily as I came near, terror flashing through her light brown eyes, though the expression turned to pain again when she looked back to her grandfather.

I ignored it all. My hand gripping the gun and my body still trembling with the urge to use it, I walked out of the room.

Chapter Twenty

Noah

I heard Chloe take off to my right while Ellie bolted for the side of the warehouse to my left, and despite everything, I was grateful. These damn greliaran instincts were screaming for me to kill everything in reach, and the girls were a distraction I didn’t need right now.