Page 23 of Sinner
“It doesn’t matter, I—”
“You may have to fight.”
“I can’t—”
“Mary!” Gloria grasped Mary’s hand in her own. “There are things I have to tell you. To prepare you for. Listen.”
Mary squeezed the tears from her eyes, inhaled deeply and pushed the panic away. She was better than this. She’d trained for worse situations. She was unbreakable.
So don’t break.
“Okay. Tell me.”
“I lied to Julius.”
“About what?”
“The children. Their powers.” Gloria licked her lips. Her eyes fluttered. The automatic medicating machine must have released a dose of morphine. She slurred her next words. “They all have them.”
“Why aren’t they manifesting?”
“Because I blocked them under a layer of their sin’s opposing virtue.”
“What does that mean?”
“When they meet a mate who embodies their exact opposite, their special ability will manifest, and they’ll be able to procreate. It will be safe for them to start their own family,” Gloria murmured, then drifted asleep. “I want them to have a full life.”
“Gloria, I don’t understand.” Mary patted Gloria’s hand, but she’d gone silent.
Mary’s phone pinged, signaling Flint was down in the garage with the van, ready to go. In a few minutes, he’d be finished laying his disrupter devices to wipe the camera feeds. Mary shot a text back to give her five minutes.
“Gloria?” Mary patted her again.
Gloria’s eyes opened. “Hmm?”
“You were telling me about the children. What did you mean exactly?”
For the first time in Mary’s life, she saw tears in Gloria’s eyes.
“Those children will grow to be saviors, but in the wrong hands, they will bring destruction. So, I blocked them from having the ability to have children, and I locked their powers away. Just in case.”
In case we fail.
Gloria panted, stressed. “It was always about balance, Mary. There had to be a balance. It’s a safety mechanism. I may be a scientist, but I’m not mad. I won’t condone bringing evil into the world. My parents had no balance. None. Too wrong for each other, but these children… they have a chance. Never in my life did my parents look at each other the way you and Flint do. With both of you they have a chance.” Gloria’s grip tightened on Mary’s hand. Wild, dark hair fell around her face. She locked eyes with Mary. “Promise me you stick with Flint and show these children what true love looks like, so when they find their mate, they latch on with two hands. They save themselves. Promise me.Promiseme.”
A lump formed in Mary’s throat as Gloria’s words sank in. Her plea changed everything. No more Sisterhood. No more Plan B where she saved the world by ending the deadly children before they grew up. A life with the children and Flint settled in her mind with a sense of rightness, of possibility. She could teach them everything she knew about warfare, and Flint could teach them how to have a soul. Together, with the right training, the children could grow into the leaders the world needed.
Maybe they could grow a garden. Together.
Mary nodded. “I promise.”
Gloria sank in relief. “I’ve done all I can to help them,” Gloria mumbled, darkness swimming over her features yet again. “I made them strong in body, I programmed biological warnings, triggers, pheromones… the Bee Wolf Wasp… but you have to make them strong in heart. I can’t. I can’t.”
Gloria faded for a moment. Mary let go of her hand and paced the room. She made no sense. What the hell? A Bee Wolf Wasp? Mary knew the building was full of research laboratories for this project. Billions of dollars went into it. Billions. There were animals and insects from all over the world, from the highest mountain to the deepest ocean. Cutting edge genome sequencing and engineering. It all went to make these children what they were, except it came to the project room in pieces for Gloria to put together. It was a security strategy—to keep the important information isolated so no one could steal it and understand the master plan.
Mary tried to recalibrate, to adjust the escape. Before Gloria dropped her bomb, the plan was to evacuate, setting fire as they left. Her research would burn, leaving nothing for Julius to use. But they couldn’t very well ignite the place if Gloria was left inside. Perhaps Flint’s disruption device would take care of the cameras and anything left the fire didn’t burn. But Mary’s vision had still shown flames.
A sound behind her made her look.
