Page 130 of Love, Nemesis
It was what remained of an Atlas. Ares had never owned one.
“I—I tried to save them.”
“Them?” She looked past the bronze ring to Ares, who watched her with conviction out of the corner of his eye.
He winced before he started coughing violently.
“You don’t mean—” She looked to the door. “Jasper. The Mystics.”
“Do—n’t,” Ares forced out. “Don’t go.” He rushed the words. “Don’t—” He raised his voice. “D-Don’t go!” he shouted.
Ana pulled the trigger of Chronos, only slightly with a targeted concentration. It encapsulated Ares.
She looked over at the black curtain, past all of the shells. The lab was expansive, but if she called loudly enough, Lethe would find her.
Lethe was a powerful ally, but on impulse, she resisted the urge to yell for him. As powerful as he was, he had a real life. He was a real person. Not to mention, if Ana were to use Chronos—which she very well would, he would get stuck in time and it would be difficult for them to retreat. It would be best, strategically, to leave Lethe behind. He would follow after her, she was certain, but if she went in first, froze what was down there, then perhaps much of the risk would be mitigated.
Ana stood, leaving Ares suspended in time. She walked into the hallway, fingers on the trigger of Chronos as she proceeded deeper, past where she’d found him.
There were stairs. Flights and flights of them. Adrenaline ran through her as she descended them, reminding herself that in a single second, she could freeze everything.
It was several minutes before she found the first body. A Mystic, cast on the floor, long dead. Then there were two together, four, a hallway full of them.
There were no similarities in the wounds as if every manner of weapon had been used to unstitch them.
She walked over their corpses, heart throbbing as she tried to measure her breathing. She searched their faces, turning into another dimly lit hallway with a dark room at the end.
She stared at the room, waiting in the silence before her eyes slowly combed through the area. At last, she saw him.
It was Jasper, lying still with his arm collapsed beside him, his head curled up near his chest.
Ana kept her eyes on the room at the end as she crept closer to Jasper’s body. She knelt beside him, brushing the hair from his face as she stifled the surge of emotion inside her. She moved his arm, seeing the large laceration across his chest and up toward his neck. His death would have been immediate. Her hand moved to his face, and before she could say his name, she heard a whisper.
Her head jolted toward the dark room at the end of the hall and eased up.
Several whispers, pulled together in one voice, echoed from the room that lingered like an endless void ahead of her. She readied her fingers on the trigger of Chronos, wading slowly forward. The voices repeated the same words, again and again, and finally she heard them.
“Guest of hon-or.”
They whispered, all in unison.
“Guest of hon-or.”
One foot after the other, she neared the edge of the dark room, as far as the light extended.
The voices came from all directions inside, the faintest of lights visible, colorful neon circles in the blackness, vibrant like buttons from machines. They didn’t blink or move.
“Guest of hon-or. Guest of hon-or. Guest of hon-or.”
Ana activated Chronos.
Time spun out into the room.
The chanting stopped.
Ana waded into the darkness, searching the room. Some of the small lights were closer to the ceiling, some farther, some lower near the ground. Ana neared the closest of the illuminant rings, steadying her breath in the silence.
It was the only sound.
