The Shadow Project Read online

  "Thank you," I croaked out. "We'll do what we can to protect her."

  Robert gave me a too-long look. Too drained to do anything to appear other than what I was, I looked back. I clutched my talisman in my pocket, but it had gone cold. No comfort there.

  Finally, Robert said, "You're welcome, I suppose." Then, to Lawrence, "As I said, be careful with this one. She's been withholding information from you the entire time."

  "Do you have any proof?" Lawrence, ever the scientist, asked.

  "No, but that's what her kind does."

  Then Robert stepped back into the bushes. Another rustling preceded a wave of wolf smell, and then I knew he'd gone.

  Sir Raleigh rubbed against my ankles, and tendrils of strength twined up my legs. I reached down to pet him and ended up plopping on my ass. Dampness from the leaf mulch soaked through my jeans, but I couldn't get up.

  "More powerful than me?" Lawrence asked. His eyes had gone dark again.

  "Oh, gods, don't change here. We may never get back. Just help me to the car."

  I'm not a light Fae, being the height and build of a slender, medium-sized human woman, but he picked me up as though I weighed nothing. I thought about protesting, but I laid my head against his shoulder. Sir Raleigh appeared on my stomach, and I held him to me.

  I went in and out of consciousness until we got to the car, and Lawrence placed me in the passenger seat.

  Just before I passed out, I heard him make a phone call.

  "Corey, hey. Yeah. Interesting stuff. Grab Doctor Rial and let's do a picnic at Stone Mountain. I need to charge my Fae."

  His Fae? I managed to pry my eyelids apart just long enough to give him a good side-eye, but I also couldn't stop my lips from twitching into an almost-smile.

  Although the Equinox ritual had long been over, the granite hill still hummed with the energy. Once we reached the top courtesy of the cable car again, I found the secluded clearing with the exposed rock where I'd spoken to my mother. No trace of the doorway remained, but that didn't matter. I placed my hands on the granite and closed my eyes. My palms and fingers warmed, and the sensation of a thrumming golden glow filled my body.

  Words came into my head—"You need to be more careful, Sister."

  "Thank you, Sister," I replied to the spirit of the mountain. "I didn't realize I was at such a disadvantage."

  "Something else is draining you. Be aware…" Then her presence faded.

  Great. What could that be? Another puzzle on top of the too many I already had.

  Corey and Selene soon appeared, carrying white plastic bags of food. Corey had a red-and-white striped picnic blanket rolled up under one arm. Soon we were all seated on the ground, and Selene passed the food around—salads for everyone. I didn't say anything about the plastic containers or utensils, at least not out loud.

  Selene and Corey looked at each other, and then Selene leaned forward and said in a hushed tone, "We found a secret room."

  "The one Latonya was talking about?" I asked. "Where she said it would be?"

  "Not exactly," she said. "I would never have found it if it hadn't been for Corey's sharp eyes and nose."

  "Aw, shucks, ma'am." Corey said and assumed a bashful look. "I was just doin' my job."

  "That Southern thing doesn't work for you," Lawrence teased even though he'd played that card, at least as far as I knew.

  "But the secret room," I prompted.

  "Right," Selene said. "It's behind the storage area, basically between that and the file room. So, opposite where she told us. What if there's another one?"

  "It's possible," I murmured. "By the way, she may not be as innocent as she seems." Lawrence and I related what we'd found out from Robert Cannon.

  Selene sighed and pulled her sweater around herself. "We should go before we said we'd meet her. What if she's somehow involved and it's a trap?"

  "Are you up for it?" Lawrence asked me. "It seems like you should rest."

  "You as well." But again, I didn't know about gargoyle anatomy. Dammit, why hadn't I studied other paranormal creatures as much as humans and Fae?

  Because I hadn't considered them worthy of my notice. It was a common enough Fae attitude. We accepted we needed cooperation from the humans, although we'd never let on to them how dependent we were on them to make space for us in their world. But shifters, especially gargoyles? They were there to serve us. Same for most other paranormal creatures. We had our hierarchy. That was how things worked. How it would all work better.

  Wasn't it?

  I shook my head. This was no time to ponder nuances, especially since it cast a shadow over Faerie, which I, of course, still desperately wanted to return to. There would be no questions there. No challenge. No handsome gargoyles that drove me to distraction with their attitudes…and pecs and abs. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the picture of gargoyle-Lawrence out of my head. He'd activated my lust drive, and I couldn't reconcile his condescension with his words… "We used to guard you."

  How long had it been since I hadn't had to guard myself?

  "Are you sure?" he challenged. "It looks like you just had a nice mental wander."

  I wanted to argue with him, but I guessed he had watched me, so I couldn't say anything.

  "We don't need as much sleep as everyone else," I finally told him. Corey turned his head, and his shoulders shook, and Selene adopted her neutral shrink face, so I could only surmise one thing—they were amused.

  Good for them. We had a job to do, and the sooner we could accomplish it, the sooner I could return to Faerie and not have to deal with all this ridiculousness.

  Just when I thought we'd managed to avoid any unnecessary drama, I heard an angry young female voice behind me.

  "What are you doing back here? And why are you having a picnic?"

  23

  "Kestrel!" Corey stood. "What are you doing here? I thought you had class today."

  "It's Equinox, idiot. School holiday." She pointedly looked from him to Selene. "You certainly seem to be enjoying it."

  Selene stood. "Miss Graves, it's good to see you again. I was just telling Corey about my fiancé, Gabriel."

  Of course, she hadn't been, but…

  "No, you weren't." Ouch. "You were talking about sneaking into the lab. For what?"

  I held up a hand. "Kestrel, you're right, and Selene shouldn't have lied. You may be able to help us."

  "How?" Her expression shifted from annoyed to interested.

  I knew I shouldn't reveal what we'd discovered outside our foursome, but Kestrel would be a good ally.

  "What are you doing?" Lawrence asked via secret conversation.

  "Using our resources. Think about it—she's practically invisible at the lab. They've become so accustomed to her being there. She's probably overheard something useful, although she may not recognize it as important. We can at least ask her."

  "Waiting," Kestrel said.

  "We've found out that the vector leak is a female," I told her. "You've hung around the lab enough to know people pretty well there. You may have noticed or overheard something that could help us."

  She sat cross-legged on the blanket between Corey and Selene and touched her knee to Corey's. I stifled a laugh.

  "So, you think the person is still there?" she asked.

  "Good question," Lawrence said. "I can't think of anyone high up enough or involved who would have left. In fact, we haven't had any turnover of female staff since the leak that I'm aware of."

  "Right. Me, neither." She frowned. "So, if we're talking about people who were involved with the project, that leaves Doctor Francis, Leah, my dad's tech…" She wrinkled her nose. Did she suspect something going on between Leah and her father? "Andi the lab manager, and Tricia Yu the genetics tech."

  "And your mother," Selene pointed out.

  "There's no way. My mom's not a mastermind type."

  "We can't rule anyone out," I said. "Or you."

  "Me?" Kestrel looked at me, then laughed. "I can
barely manage my school and externship schedule, much less some grand scheme. Plus, Corey can tell you I'm honest, even if I'm an underachiever."

  "You're not an underachiever," Corey said. "It's not your fault that your witchy powers haven't settled yet."

  "Right. Tell that to my parents." She followed that with a classic young adult eye roll. "I'll think about it, though, and let you know if I come up with anything. But if you're sneaking into the lab, you need me. I can take you in through the service duct entrance."

  "The what?" Corey and Lawrence asked.

  "There are tunnels all under campus in the case of a nuclear or bioterrorism attack. I found one that leads into the CPDC. It opens into Uncle Lawrence's animal lab."

  "And you didn't tell me this, why?" Lawrence asked.

  "I was waiting for the right time. But that way even if there are people still upstairs, you can still get in without them noticing and wait for them to leave."

  Corey put an arm around her and hugged her to him. The expression on her face—bliss—until he said, "It's too dangerous."

  "No, it's not. And if you don't let me come along…" She gave him a significant look.

  "All right," he said. "If everyone else is okay with it."

  "Definitely," Selene said.

  Lawrence frowned, but grumbled, "Yes, with hesitation."

  "Yes," I said. "So, it's agreed? Let's meet at our hotel rooms around seven."

  Before we left, I whispered thanks to the granite hill and got a response.

  "You are quite welcome, sister. Don't forget to seek that which may be draining you."

  "Thank you for the warning. I will seek it." I hated to think it may be Sir Raleigh, and I doubted it, considering he gave me comfort and strength, albeit the latter in small doses. What would his capacity be when he was full-grown? I wish I knew more about grimalkins, but in my grandmother's court, only spies knew about such creatures.

  Once we returned to the hotel, I collapsed onto my bed on top of the covers. Sir Raleigh curled up next to me, but I couldn't sleep. My mind kept jumping to suspects to scenarios to…

  After half an hour of my tossing and turning, Lawrence came in from his room. He wore black wire frame glasses and must have been running his hand through his hair because it was tousled. Gods, he looked sexy.

  "If you don't stop with the sighing, I'm going to have to check your oxygen levels," he teased.

  "I…" I had to start over. Dark curly hair, glasses, and a half-grin? Fates kill me now. I'd always had a weakness for the geeky ones. "I can't get comfortable."

  "Yeah, a lot has happened." He sat on the edge of the bed. "Roll over, away from me."

  "What are you going to do?"

  "Reine…" Now he let out an exasperated sigh. "Just trust me."

  Easier said than done, but I complied. I startled when his large hand touched my back.

  "It's all right," he said.

  Sir Raleigh, who had given up with all my tossing around, jumped back on the bed and curled against my hip. Between his purring and Lawrence rubbing soothing circles on my back, I drifted into sleep.

  When I woke, the sun had set, and I felt remarkably refreshed and awake. My hand went to my pocket, where my talisman normally was, and panic jolted me upright when I found it gone. Sir Raleigh, who lay in the same place he'd been when I fell asleep, scrambled out of the way. I turned on the light, and a sparkle on the floor told me what had likely happened—it had fallen out of my pocket and become a cat toy. I picked it up and placed it on the nightstand.

  "Not a kitty toy," I told Sir Raleigh, but he blinked sleepily at me. Okay, so maybe he wasn't the culprit. As much as I hated to be separated from the only key I had to Faerie, I decided to leave it in the hotel room safe so I wouldn't lose it.

  The door between my and Lawrence's rooms had been closed, and I didn't want to disturb him in case he was resting, too. If we ran into any trouble tonight, he'd likely shift, so he needed to be in the best shape possible to do so.

  I changed into all-black clothing and put my hair under a black cap. There was nothing to be done for the luminescence of my skin, but I'd dampen it with a glamour as best I could.

  The time read six-fifty, so I knocked on the door to Lawrence's room. I wondered again who had poisoned him and when. Someone at the vampire club? Or someone closer? Any of the women in the lab could have had an accomplice. A mastermind never worked alone. They always had minions, often in high places. Again, Dr. Cimex popped into my head. There had been something shifty about him from the beginning, and not in the changing forms way.

  "Ready?" I asked when Lawrence opened the door. His black turtleneck hugged the planes of his pecs and accentuated his flat abs. He'd hidden his curls under a black cap, and now he looked the opposite of the straitlaced gargoyle scientist I'd first met. Damn, Clark Kent and a dangerous criminal type all in one?

  "Are you?" Huskiness dropped his voice an octave, and his gaze turned dark, but not in an about-to-wing-out kind of way, when he took in my form-fitting attire.

  "Yes," I whispered, homing in on his lips. "Well, as soon as Selene gets here."

  She arrived just as I'd finished talking about her, keeping me from doing anything stupid. We set off for the lab with Corey driving his almost-sensible black pickup truck. At least it had an extended cab so we could all fit.

  "Is it legally required for young men in this part of the country to drive these things?" I asked.

  "Not always, but it’s encouraged, and we like to stay on the right side of the law," he replied with a wink.

  We pulled up to the lab a little after seven-thirty. Corey drove by the building and parked in the deep shadows of a nearby parking lot. I couldn't see any other cars or sense any other beings except for one whom I presumed was a security guard about a quarter of a mile away and Kestrel, who'd been waiting for us.

  "Now, everyone be quiet," Corey said, somewhat unnecessarily, I thought. Kestrel took the lead, then Corey, and I fell in behind him. That close, I heard him humming something.

  "What are you singing?" I whispered.

  "Oh, you could hear that?"

  "Yes, we Fae have good ears."

  "Um, well, it was the 'Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies' from the Nutcracker," he replied, somewhat sheepishly.

  "Are you Fae-ing kidding me?"

  "It always sounded like they were up to something," he murmured. I whacked him on the arm.

  "Shhh," Lawrence hissed from behind me.

  Kestrel led us to a small utility building, where she unlocked the door. I could practically feel the questions bubbling up in my colleagues' brains—how did she get the key? Who'd showed her the secret entrance? Who else knew? But they remained silent. We walked inside, and she shut the door behind us. Several large tanks and gages lined the walls, and the air felt humid. Kestrel led us to one of the tanks, turned a dial, and a section of wall opened behind it.

  "Careful," she said. "There's a ladder. We'll go down it and then across."

  "How did you find this?" Corey asked. "I didn't even know about it."

  She grinned. "I had a short flare of passage-finding and unlocking power. It was useful while it lasted. Well, except…" She shook her head. "Never mind. Follow me."

  We arrived at the lab without any other conversation—or offensive humming. Kestrel let us into the broom closet that serviced the veterinary laboratory. It felt like ages since Sir Raleigh and I had been there.

  We took the stairs up to the main level, and we stuck to the shadows in the hallway. When we walked into the section of the lab where Selene and Corey had discovered the secret room, we found someone had beaten us to it. A section of the wall was open, and inside at a metal table, surrounded by files, was John Graves.

  "I knew it," I murmured.

  24

  John looked up and pulled his glasses from his face. "Kestrel? What are y'all doing here?" he asked. His hair stood up in gray-black spikes, and he sported red rims around his eyes and bags under them.
>
  "I could ask the same," Lawrence said and moved to the front of our group. He crossed his arms and frowned. Hmmm, not what I expected. But what did I think he'd do? The two of them had been up to something, and I still didn't know what.

  John appeared unfazed. "Why? I'm here working late, and you're all here dressed like cat-burglars. No offense, Corey."

  "None taken," Corey replied. "But seriously, what are you doing here?"

  John gestured to the files around him. "I've recently been made aware of a secret project our group has been involved in." He sighed. "Don't ask me how I know, I just do."

  Lawrence seemed genuinely nonplussed. "What sort of project? Animal or human?"

  "A little of both." John motioned for us to come closer. The rest did, and I hung back, looking for the trap. When it appeared that no cage would fall from the ceiling—not that there was one up there—or a spell would be triggered, I gingerly moved to join the others by the desk.

  The "secret room" had unfinished cinder block walls and the same dark, gray, cement floor as the rest of the lab, but shinier. File cabinets lined the walls in the cramped space, and unlike the uniform black ones in the main lab, they were various shades of dark and dented. They looked like they'd been squirreled in from the surplus department and other places they might not be missed. So did the desk, which had obviously seen better days, according to its scratched finish. Whoever had set this up had wanted to stay under the proverbial radar.

  "How did you find this?" I asked.

  John glanced up from the file he was showing Lawrence. "Got a tip," he said. "Someone texted me, but the number was listed as anonymous. They told me how to unlock it and get in." Something rang false about his words, but I didn't press in case he'd clam up.

  "This is fascinating," Lawrence said. "Doctor River, come see."

  I moved to stand beside him and tried not to be aware of his warmth and strength next to me. Damn, something had been triggered in my psyche by him going gargoyle in my hotel room. Even Sir Raleigh, who'd been draped around my shoulders, purred softly.