Page 37 of Away in a Tentacle Lair
No one comes near me after that. The flow of new visitors has come to an end. Once everyone here goes home, the centre will close, and my stomach starts somersaulting at the prospect of what will come next.
A grating sound comes through the water, and I look up. The hatch is open, and moment later, the bubbles from the tube stop. I might as well head up to the surface now; there is no benefit to putting off the inevitable, but I don’t expect my family to be the ones waiting. They wouldn’t have turned my air supply off to force me to rise.
As expected, I’m greeted by more scientists than necessary.
“Good evening Braireus. How was your day?” Oslo greets.
Breathing one hundred percent oxygen all day means my first breath of the stale centre air goes straight to my head, and I’m hit with a wave of giddiness. By the time I’ve been redressed in the clothes I stole this morning, I’m used to this new air, and I can think again.
“I’d like to ask you a few questions while we wait here for the sun to set,” Oslo enlightens me. He clicks his fingers, and the guards pull me to my feet. I struggle against them, even though I don’t stand a chance.
“Do you want me to tell you what I think will happen when the sun goes down?”
“The Kraken will rise and destroy your facility?” I shrug.
“Right species. But I’m thinking a bit smaller. I think I will find my missing octopus from last night. What do you think?”
“After a day out of the water? I don’t rate its chances of survival.”
“Neither do I,” Oslo sneers sinisterly, stepping so close that I can smell his lunch on his breath. “But I don’t think it’s been kept out of the water all day, do you? I think it’s been well cared for in the right environment.”
I know he means me, and it’s almost funny that he thinks I needed to be in the water all day to survive, but it does explain why he didn’t try questioning me before now.
We both know time is working against me, and soon, I will have no way to stop my transformation.
A deep boom shakes the whole facility, something that can only be the destruction of the filter system. I smile at the idea of my rescue, but the tightening grips on my arms reminds me that I'm not out of danger yet.
The sight of movement has all the guards drawing guns from their belts, but if I know my family, they haven't come unarmed, and they have the advantage of cover.
Chapter twenty-seven
Leo
Kai’s family move quickly after the explosives are detonated around the filtration system. Seeing Kai standing with the men we are here to stop has my heart pounding, but I know my role in this rescue. I move ahead of the family, raising my hands at the sight of the guards’ weapons.
“What’s going on?” I ask in a shrill, scared voice. What do I need to do?”
I’m wearing my Marine Centre uniform, complete with a genuine ID tag. I look like one of them. Oslo beckons me over. “Hold him. We need to question him.”
As Nicholas planned, I am tasked with holding Kai so the armed guards can focus on the family.
I pull Kai back as his family challenges the research facility's management team. Mafia shifters against scientists shouldn't feel so evenly matched, but they're all packing guns, and I am lacking in anything to keep Kai safe. This makes us easy targets to the people I considered the good guys until I met Kai. Guns turn towards us, and I try to get in front of my man, but he gets in front of me. Mafia reflexes are faster than mine. I'm notducking behind cover and taking shots at the bad guys because I'm a civilian who has never touched a gun before in my life. The only reason Kai isn't is because no one has given him a weapon.
A gun points right at me, and for a moment, it's all I can see. Then I see Kai. He jumps at the man, turning his body so when the gun fires, I'm no longer in its sights. The gun fires again, but when the two men part, it's Kai holding the weapon.
He turns it on the security officer and fires, dropping the man with one bullet. Kai doesn't move. He just stands with his back to me, his dark sweatshirt looking wet again.
The world falls away from my senses, and the gunshots mute against the emptiness in my mind. As I walk towards him, there is only Kai left. My hand touches the damp and comes away red.
“Kai?”
“I can't move.” His strained reply has me hurrying to his front. There's dampness on his jumper across his chest.
“Kai…” I whisper. What do I do?”
“Can't… move…” he grinds out.
“Nicholas!” I scream.
