Page 22 of Blood Currents
“The lab,” Marigold pressed, her voice soft but relentless.“Can you tell us about the lab?”
“Stone walls,” Keane said.“Tables with straps.Needles that burned.Charts—so many charts.Natural harmony versus…” He winced as mental blocks fought him.“Induced compliance.”
“Down below?Us here?”Cyrus asked.“At the college?”
Keane tried to nod but winced.
“Beneath the place where they announce traitors.”Keane’s hand twitched upward.“But deeper.Old places.Stones remember.”
Pieces started falling into place.The unmapped tunnels beneath the academy—the perfect place to hide the council’s crimes and where Cyrus and I had encountered Keane and his uncle before.When we’d been planning tricks on Marigold at the welcome ceremony… it seemed so long ago.
“Who else knew?”Marigold asked.“Besides your uncle?”
“Others.Council members.And… and people who got too close.People who wouldn’t let it go.”
“What people?”
“Guard Parker.”The name tore out like a curse.“Uncle hated her.Said she wouldn’t stop digging.Said she was dangerous.”
“Dangerous how?”I asked.
“She knew.About the experiments.The witnesses.The others they tested on—”
Keane screamed as the mental blocks slammed down.The corruption lashed out, dark energy snapping through the room.My illusions shattered under the force.Cyrus’s fire flared, forming a shield.
“Get back!”he barked.
But Marigold didn’t.Her power surged, shadows and silver light wrapping around Keane’s trembling hands.She wasfightingthe corruption, even as it dragged at her magic like quicksand.
“Mari, stop!”I said sharply.“You’ll hurt yourself.”
“I’m not leaving him,” she hissed through clenched teeth.
The look on Cyrus’s face was pure fire—steady, unyielding.He wasn’t stopping her.Of course he wasn’t.He understood her in a way I never could, the part of her that would burn herself out to save someone else.
And I…Ihesitated.Calculated.Like my parents trained me to.
It hit me then—sick and sharp—how easy it would be to lose her.To someone who wouldn’t second-guess standing in the fire with her.
Finally, the corruption receded.Keane sagged, spent.“The Last Witness,” he gasped.“Parker’s protecting them.Knows too much.”
“We need to find Parker,” Cyrus said.
“And the laboratory,” Marigold added.She swayed on her feet as she stood.I stepped forward automatically, steadying her.She didn’t pull away.
“You need rest,” I said.
“I need answers,” she corrected softly.
And she looked at me with so much trust that it made it hard to breathe.Trust I hadn’t earned lately.Trust I was terrified I’d lose for good.
“Tomorrow,” I said.“We’ll figure it out tomorrow.”
“Will you help?”she asked, hope flickering in her voice.
The question should’ve been simple.But the part of me trained to say the right thing, to perform the right role, screamed to hold back.Say no.Walk away.Be safe.
But I couldn’t.Not when her hope still sounded like belief.Not when she still looked at me like I might be good.
