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He raised a hand, passing it over the glass in an arc. The air shimmered faintly with magic. Immediately, the creatures stopped fighting and slowly sagged to the ground, unconscious.
“Still a bit hard to control,” Simon said when he was done. “All of them are. As I said, it’s why I haven’t shipped any of these creations out yet. But that’s where you come in, Kira.”
The look Simon gave me sent spiders crawling all over my skin. “What do you mean by that?” I asked.
Was he going to turn me into one of these things? The thought sickened me. I’d die first. I’d rip out my own throat with my bare hands if I had to choose between that and being turned into one of these… thesethings.
“A new experiment that I think your particular genetics will help with,” Simon said. “I feel that with the strength you showed in the first experiment, you will be the key to creating a new substance that can help to control these dear creatures. You see, my first shipmentswillbe leaving the island soon, and they need to be ready for battlefield control.
“Of course, it’s not only these hulking beautiful weapons of war. Other, more… let’s say,subtletools have already been sent out over the last several months. I have devices that can nullify fae and wiccan magic. A new concoction that can send even sane vampires into a feeding frenzy like sharks in bloodied waters. Along with those are other items as well, like a potion that can force shifters into heat. Very powerful. It’s hard to fight when all you can think about is humping the person standing beside you.” Simon dissolved into a fit of laughter.
He’dcreated the heat potion? The thing that had helped ruin my career and ultimately sent me to this island? Somehow, this man had had a hand in two of the most defining moments of my entire life. Both had sent me down a dark and depressing path. Now, it appeared he’d be on hand foranotherequally awful moment.
Recovering, Simon wiped a tear from his cheek. “The forced ferality serum is still in the development stage, though. That is my only development that is yet to sell.”
“Why are you showing me this?”
“Why?” Simon looked at me like I was crazy. “Well, for one thing, all my assistants are quite boring. When I found you inthe jungle, I was ecstatic. To have someone who would truly appreciate my genius? I cannot tell you how marvelous it feels. You, more than anyone, must realize how amazing all this is. My experiment unearthed your inner wolf, made you whole. The same can be said of me. For many years, as a half-breed, I had access to my fae magic, but not my shifter side. After testing the concoction on you, then using it myself and releasing the power of my inner wolf? It was like nothing I’d ever experienced. The wolf not only gave me my shifter powers, but also enhanced my magical abilities.”
“So, you’re saying this is all my fault?” I gazed around at the horrors in the cells, feeling the crushing weight of guilt.
Either Simon didn’t hear the shame in my voice or chose to ignore it. He nodded eagerly. “Indeed. With my increased magical powers, my experiments grew in complexity at an exponential rate. My inventions and developments progressed at leaps and bounds. Soon, I’ll be able to show the world what true power is.” Simon pulled his eyes away from me and stared into space, voice dropping to a whisper. “Perhaps one day, my father and his pack will look upon me with pride.”
That last bit was barely audible, and it confused the hell out of me. Maybe there was even more going on in Simon’s head than he let on. Desperate to learn more, I kept my mouth shut, hoping he’d give more glimpses into his mind. Instead, he ushered me into another corridor, leading me away from his abominations.
“Here is where I keep much of thefuelfor my most intense magical work,” Simon said.
He punched a code into a panel. A section of that wall slid aside, revealing floor-to-ceiling racks filled with angel wings. Despite myself, I gasped. There were feathers of over half a dozen different colors and sizes. Some were single wings, while others sat beside their matching partner. Several racks wereempty, either waiting on new additions or disposed of the wings thathadbeen there.
“Where did you get all of these?” I asked. Wings from fallen angels weren’t technically rare, but they were hard to find and almost prohibitively expensive. I’d been shocked when the show had us look for them in the forest during one of the last challenges, butThe Reject Projectbasically had a blank check to work with.
Simon shrugged and punched the code back in to hide the wings. “Here and there. Angels fall, wings are lost. You have to know the right people to get these, of course. There’s no substitute for the magical power they contain.” He smiled. “This next area should be of utmost interest to you, though. Follow me.”
Simon’s excitement bordered on fanaticism. He couldn’t even see the cruelty and pain he was inflicting on other beings. Everything was about his brilliance, his experiments, his goals—everything else was beneath him. The guy was a fucking sociopath.
Thenext areaSimon was so excited about was even more disgusting. He led me to a huge, glass-walled corral filled with feral shifters in their animal forms. Bears, tigers, lions, panthers, wolves, and a half-dozen others all snarled and snapped at each other, fighting over scraps of bone and meat scattered on the ground. In the upper portion, feral bird shifters sat on beams, nervously plucking out their own feathers and twitching their heads back and forth madly.
“Good gods,” I muttered, gazing through the glass at the awful living conditions.
“I know.” Simon beamed. “These are my absolute favorites. The others are left to roam the island at will. Though, your little friend Leif is an exception. He is exceptional at finding other specimens for me.”
At Leif’s name, I scanned the group of animals, but caught no sight of him. Instead, through the glass walls of the opposite end of the corral, three more assistants walked by, rolling a massive plastic bin filled with hunks of meat. The team inserted them into a feeding trough in the wall, and the creatures inside immediately ran over and snatched the food, only to begin fighting once more.
Between these assistants and the techs I’d seen in my room, Simon had a total of five staff members. How many more could there be? Everything here was well-run and professional. When discussing this man with Crew and Eli, I’d imagined some dirty, mad-scientist lab with limited resources carved into a muddy cave. This was… beyond anything I could have guessed. I realized I’d need to double the number of staff in my mind from whatever I counted during this tour. Safer to be too careful than not careful enough. The last thing I wanted was to expect nine or ten people when there were actually twenty.
Simon took my bound arm and led me down the hall. “Speaking of Leif, I thought you might like to see him. Here we are.”
I caught a whiff of Leif’s scent and found him alone in a cell. Unlike the other ferals, he was in his human form, sitting on the ground. His back rested against the wall, but he rocked back and forth, tearing at his hair. Whatever Simon had done to him, he was mentally and physically struggling with it. My heart hurt to see him fighting the madness that threatened to drag him under. If I hadn’t been bound and weakened, I thought I might have butchered Simon right there in that hallway.
A doorway beside Leif’s room opened, and yet another assistant came out. This one was a human.
“Dr. Shingleman? The subject still hasn’t become fully feral yet. I think the newest version of the potion isn’t as strong as we’d hoped.”
Simon sighed and gazed at Leif. “True, but it does keep him more pliable. Let’s continue tweaking the formula, see if we can find a happy medium. Thank you for the update. We’ll continue assessing each time he returns from his excursions.”
Simon and the assistant led me back down the hallways to the vault door. Passing the ferals and abominations, I kept my eyes down, not wanting to see them again. On the walk, I grew lightheaded and dizzy again, probably from whatever they’d pumped into my body. It also could have been from fear. WhatdidSimon have planned for me? The unknown was almost too much to contemplate. Would I end up like Leif, half-mad and suffering? It was too terrifying a thought. Getting torn apart to be melded with other creatures would be even worse. A fate worse than death.
Hurry, Wyatt, I thought as we stepped through the vault door.
