Page 31 of Forged in Deception

Yet still, he had pushed her. He had made her keep going until she’d faced down her fear.

She dusted a few flecks of loose sand off her clothes as Bajwa called for them and the rest of the group to gather back together.

She straightened and walked toward her boss, letting Axel fall behind her, like he was nothing more than a patient she’d teamed up with for a silly exercise.

No matter how much he made her want to let her guard down, she still had to focus.

Because tomorrow, the real danger was going to begin.

CHAPTER

THIRTEEN

THE WOMAN

BEFORE

The woman let her eyes fall gently shut as the liquid magic took her away again.

It was colder tonight, and the hut was not so large or so sturdy as the one where her journey had begun. But she knew that it was worth it.

Everything she had sacrificed, everything she had fought for, would be worth it when the time came.

She felt her thoughts beginning to drift. The cold and the unsettling newness no longer mattered. There were bigger things for her mind to seek.

It took a little while for Mother to come, but at last she did, slinking down through the ceiling of the hut and curling herself up in front of the woman.

There was no longer a floor or walls. Only stars, stars in all directions, even beneath the woman’s body, an infinite glittering pit where she floated without effort.

“Hello, Mother,” the woman said. “Our plans are going well.”

The snake let out a little hiss, but she did not sound displeased.

“I see that my people have made it to their new home at last,” Mother replied, her reptilian lips unmoving.

“Yes. Everyone is well. I have made sure of it. I know it is my duty to take care of them for you.”

“Very good.”

The snake paused for a moment and then began to move, slithering around the woman and examining her from all sides and angles. The woman could feel her wherever she was. The snake’s flicking tongue touched her forehead as she passed, seemingly tasting something that the woman could not understand.

“The time is near,” Mother said softly. “Like my beloved tribe of long ago, I will lead my new people to the truth. I will lead them to their home amid the stars.”

CHAPTER

FOURTEEN

KARLIN

“Where is it?” Karlin muttered to herself as she rooted around in the cavernous white cabinet. It was at floor level, forcing her to sit in the most ungraceful position humanly possible, and not for the first time, she found herself feeling extremely grateful to be alone in the lab.

At last, she felt her fingers clasping around a small plastic container of the correct shape. She pulled out the green food dye and got to her feet, shoving it into the pocket of her lab coat quickly, though it wasn’t like anyone was watching. Unless they were extremely well hidden, she saw nothing that would indicate the lab had security cameras.

She continued her work as normal, making the final preparations for tomorrow night’s inaugural psychedelic trip, but found herself continually suppressing yawns. It was late, but she had no choice but to finish her work now, unless she wanted to get up at four in the morning.

Bajwa had been driving her insane all day.

After their group lunch on the bluff, he’d handed Karlin a set of Jeep keys and sent her down to the main office to do some suddenly urgent inventory paperwork. She’d been paranoid for most of the afternoon that he somehow suspected her and Axel, but ultimately, she figured the real reason was a lot more mundane. Bajwa always preferred the more exciting parts of the job and loved to pawn off the most boring work on his inferiors.

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