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“Sore,” Liv said. “Training is tough.”
“Yeah, it is, but you’ll get there,” Rory said. “Mykel says you’re doing well.”
“Oh, does he?” Liv asked with a snort. “That’s nice of him. He doesn’t seem to think I’m doing a good job when we’re training. He doesn’t make a secret of it, either.” She picked up a plate and dished for herself. I watched her carefully choose something from every food group, making sure that her plate was more balanced than mine. She wasn’t a shifter, though. She didn’t need as much meat as I did.
“Ignore Mykel,” I said. “He’s full of shit; he can’t help it.”
“It’s in our genes,” Rory said with a wink at me before she smiled warmly at Liv.
I chuckled. Rory and Mykel were like siblings to me. I didn't know what I would have done with myself if I hadn’t had them when my life had gone to shit.
“How are things at the lab?” Liv asked. She sat down opposite me and cut her meat into squares before spearing one.
I tried to decide how much to say.
“Not that good,” I said.
Liv frowned. “Oh?”
“Data is disappearing,” I said. “We run tests, but more than half the time, the data isn’t there.”
“How does that happen?” Liv asked. “The protocol—”
“I know what the protocol is,” I interrupted her. “That’s my point. Other things are going wrong, too. Samples are being sabotaged, and twice now, the wrong vampire was on the shift. They say it’s just a mix-up, but something’s not right.”
“What do you think it is?” Rory asked.
“We’ve never had issues like this before,” Liv said in thought. “At least not in the short time I’ve worked there. Usually, things are pretty organized…”
“I think someone’s working against me,” I said simply.
Rory chewed her food, thinking.
“Like who?” Liv asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “That’s what I need to find out, but until I do, I want that machine out of there and somewhere I know it’s safe before this goes a step further and we have irreparable damage.”
“What does Jerry say?” Liv asked.
I crossed my arms. “I haven’t talked to him about what’s going on, and I don’t want him to know I’m taking the machine, either.”
Jerry was a thorn in my side, and he was becoming more so. He was working with someone—I was almost sure of it. I just didn’t have any proof. The problem was, I was pretty sure he wasn’t the brains behind the operation. For that, he had to actuallyhavebrains, and Jerry wasn’t the brightest star in the show. He could do a job just fine, but the mastermind behind it all had to be someone else.
I just had no clue who it could be.
“You’re talking about getting the machine out of there like it’s going to be hard,” Rory commented. “What aren’t you telling us?”
“It isn’t just about Jerry not knowing. It’s about the spell that protects the machine,” I replied.
“Why is there a spell on the machine?” Liv asked. She’d been listening in silence most of the time as Rory and I talked back and forth about what it all meant.
“To keep it safe,” I answered.
“Who put a spell on the machine? Why can’t they just take it off again?”
“Because they’re not around anymore,” I said. “My dad created this machine, and he started this project. He had a soothsayer who helped him protect the machine, the project. She was the one who created the spell, and I have no idea where she is now. I’m still trying to find her, but we don’t have that much time.”
“When I was working with Jerry, he never mentioned any of this. He even told me that we would have a hard time getting it approved by you,” Liv told me.
