Page 44 of Crimson Bond

He and Reece embraced in a quick man-hug then Kannon stepped back and looked at me.

“Good to see you, too, squirt. Who’s your...” His booming voice died off into a whisper as his eyes locked with Larkin’s. “... friend?”

Kannon stared at her like a man lost in a desert who’d stumbled upon an oasis. Or maybe someone seeing a mirage of an oasis because he stared at her as if she wasn’t real. Did they know each other?

Apparently not because she let out a nervous sounding giggle and extended a hand to him. “I’m Larkin Spurling, a friend of Abbi’s from California. It’s nice to meet you.”

Still looking like he was in a daze, Kannon took her hand and shook it. And kept shaking it.

“Kannon,” he mumbled. “Friend of Reece. And Abbi’s. You’ve... never been here before, have you?”

She looked up and around at the calcite formations on the ceilings and walls surrounding us. “No. First time. It lives up to the hype—and that’s based on just this first chamber. I hear the caverns cover sixty-four acres?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be happy to give you the grand tour later if you’d like.”

She beamed. “I’d love that. I guess I should meet your leader first though. Imogen? I have something to show her.”

At this his awed expression abruptly changed, as if he’d been yanked out of a pleasant dream by the annoying beep of an alarm clock.

“Yeah... about that...” Kannon turned to Reece. “There’s a sort of... party going on in the Grand Dome.”

He didn’t look thrilled about it.

“A party?” I asked. Was it time for another Inception Ball?

Kannon grimaced and nodded. “Imogen’s celebrating.”

I looked from his face to Reece’s pained expression. What was I not getting? “Celebrating what?”

Reece answered for him. “Sadie’s death. I called it in before we left Sudbury.”

The bear trap was back, gouging my heart again with its steel jaws. “Imogen is celebrating Sadie’s murder by throwing aparty?”

She had no feeling at all for her sister. She truly was a monster. I wanted to turn around and leave right then, but of course I couldn’t do that. I had to get Shane out of here—and ensure that this time Reece would be coming with me.

“It’s more like a feast, actually,” Kannon clarified. His brow furrowed, and he swallowed hard, as if struggling to keep down a surge of bile. “Imogen sent the Bloodbound out last night to gather some...provisions.”

We were all quiet for a minute as the implications of his words sank in.

“Do you mean humans?” Larkin asked, apparently just now getting it. “She had a bunch ofhumansbrought here? For their blood?”

Kannon nodded grimly. “Everyone’s there—the whole population of the Bastion—at Imogen’s orders. Things are... I don’t even know what to say. Things have kinda gone off the rails in the past couple of days.”

He rubbed his forehead and let out a tired-sounding breath before turning to Larkin. “If you’re used to Sadie Aldritch’s way of doing things, you might want to just go directly to the guest chambers. You probably won’t like what you see at the feast.”

That’s when it hit me. “Kannon... where’s Shane? Is he still in the medical clinic?”

Kannon looked down at me with sad eyes. “Sorry squirt. I know you had a soft spot for him, but, you know, he’s human, and we had orders—”

“Where is he?” I demanded.

“He’s in the Grand Dome. I’m sorry, Abbi. I did try—”

I didn’t stick around to hear the rest of his excuse. If he’d let my friend—who’d saved my life—become a human hors d’oeuvre, there wasn’t one good enough. I’d never speak to Kannon again.

Taking off at a full sprint, I weaved through the interconnected caverns toward the Grand Dome. The artfully lit stalactites and stalagmites all resembled teeth and jagged knives to me as I passed beneath them in a life-and-death race toward the Bastion’s largest community gathering space.

At least I hoped there was a life left to save.

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