Page 8 of Unraveled
“I was upset the first time I saw a dead monster as well.” Irene walks into my line of sight with a tentative smile. She mistakes my horror, and seems to believe it’s at seeing a corpse.
Why is there a beast in the middle of town? Why were they keeping it in that chamber?
I cover my lips and wheeze.
“I assume this is the first time you’ve encountered a beast?” Skylar shoves his hands into his pockets and rocks from the balls of his feet to his heels and back. It’s a carefree movement that doesn’t match his calculating expression.
Of course it’s not, though I’m usually safe inside my home when they break through the veil. My blood turns cold, and I shiver when my mind supplies me with the screech of the beasts as they hunt the streets.
“It’s not that,” Irene says. “Mia has a soft spot for animals...”
My hackles rise, and I’m not even sure why I’m feeling defensive. Both things can be true. I like animals, and I also believe in our survival. “They are predators, but so are we, and many other creatures out in the world.”
I always wondered what goes on in this room, what the machine is like. But now that I’m here, the only thing I can focus on is the body abandoned in the corner, with a dirty tarp on top of it.
“The one that killed our father looked like that one.” Irene’s voice has me jumping where I stand. I glance back at her with growing unease. She would know as they were together when it happened. It’s hard to forget my father’s blood stained thesidewalk for weeks before I gathered enough courage to wash it away.
“I just— I can’t believe you have a dead being here.”
“Beast. Call it what it is. It helps. You’re human and feel empathy. It’s why it’s shocking to see them dead for the first time. But remember, they aren’t like us or even like other animals in the forest.” Irene’s voice trembles as she points in the direction of the forest outside, and the voices in the room grow quiet. “They’re despicable and evil. They take us from our homes. Sometimes they gut us in the streets and don’t even eat us.”
“What are you doing with them? Does the mayor know what’s happening here?”
“Of course she does. She funds our initiative, as it’s the only thing keeping us safe from the Hunt,” Skylar says. “To simplify it so you can understand, the machine gathers their core energy and uses it to keep the veil running.”
I purse my lips to hold back an insult. I might not be a scientist, but I’m not an idiot, either. “So you use the beast’s magic. I can understand how that works.” Probably better than they can, for I can use magic when neither of them can.
It makes sense, and yet, I’m not fully buying the goodness of their intentions.
“Do they feel it?” I ask, because torture isn’t something I could ever agree with, no matter how horrible the one receiving it is. “Are they alive when the machine is... using them?”
Irene opens her mouth, but Skylar beats her to it. “It takes their energy. Like the nectar from a flower, and we are the bees.”
“You aren’t answering my question.”
“We aren’t the animals here.” Skylar’s smile is pleasant enough. His straight teeth and handsome face have Irene under a spell. He straps a handheld crossbow the size of my two palms to his belt. The polished-redwood and aged-brass details on thehandle stand in contrast to the black grease smeared on his fingertips.
I’m not sure I believe them, which is not good as I need confidence in them if I’m going to use magic against the powerful monster ripping our veil to shreds.
The building trembles again as the machine sputters. When the building shook before, I assumed it was the beast’s doing. A scientist rushes to replace one vial with a new one. It’s a long bottle, filled to the brim with a thick, glowing golden liquid that sloshes against the glass. As soon as it glides into place, the ray of light shooting from the top of the pyramid renews, bright and vigorous.
Even though I can’t see it, I can feel the veil growing stronger. How often do the scientists go into the forest to hunt for beasts to feed this machine? Does the veil weaken every time they change bodies in the chamber, allowing a beast in? Or do the beasts break through regardless, like the flying one did earlier, but on a much smaller scale?
It’s been a year since a beast crossed the veil—or so we’ve been told. I remember the night Father was killed like it happened yesterday. But how many truly cross every three months during the blood moon? That corpse isn’t a year old.
“We are going to the west tower, so we are close, but hidden. When the monster comes back to attack the dome again, you can cast your spell to kill it.”
“I won’t do anything unless you answer my questions.” I point toward the forgotten corpse in the corner. “Was it conscious? Had it hurt anyone before you captured it?”
“It’s nothing you need to concern your pretty head with, darling.” Skylar’s voice is all politeness, but his flaring nostrils reveal a horrible temper. “We don’t have time for this, but I promise after we’re done, I will answer all your questions. Otherwise, how will the people of Penumbra feel when they findout you could have saved their children but instead allowed the veil to fall?”
It’s official. I don’t trust this man. His condescending words might be worse than the way he stares at me. “I don’t care about opinions. Librarians have our own set of laws to abide by. I’ve already said hurting the beast will break one of those laws. I was ready to do so if it meant saving Irene, but after what I’ve seen here... I require more of an explanation.”
“We follow the laws,” Skylar agrees, and a pit settles in my stomach at the wicked glint in his gaze. “Which is why I might need to report you to the head librarian. Using magic to break into the scientist quarters goes against your laws, too, doesn’t it?”
Even Irene stops breathing as we stare at each other in silence.
“Skylar...” Irene speaks, but stops when he raises a hand.
