Chapter 34

Familiarity ceases to exist in a facility such as this.

White spheres are now clamped on my own wrists as a safety precaution as I am transported across the facility by a group of Warrior escorts. I try not to be smug as the thought dawns on me that I am cuffed simply because the Jotunn don't even know what I am capable of. It makes me feel almost superior. I was sent out to recruit a few specific Warriors along the way as a rescue mission to save our asses and possibly bring my father back to his senses. This plan is ridiculous and crazy and it might not even work, but I don't know till I try. And if, say, it doesn't work, then I might as well die trying. Right now my top priorities is to get Casper out alive and get my father back. It didn't matter to me whether or not I made it out alive as long as Casper and my father are safe.

I clear my throat. "Excuse me?" I glance to the Warrior walking alongside me on my right.

"What?" It rasps. The voice is definitely that of a male.

"I'm in need of a certain Warrior." I cock my head. "Not that you aren't satisfactory or anything, because you are, but..."

"What makes you think you have the right to demand such things?" He retorts.

"Because I am your guest of honor, the one who brought you these fugitives." I reply.

He is silent for three seconds before nodding. "Who do you seek?"

"Her name is Ariel." A smirk broadens on my chapped lips. "Ariel Lavina Monroe."

+++

I don't remember what happened after my request, because I was sedated once more. I awoke on the same surgical table from before. My cuffs were gone but in return the straps were back, placed across my forehead, my wrists and ankles, my chest, and this time an extra strap placed across my abdomen. I groan and struggle for a good twenty-seven seconds before I come to the conclusion that I can't break free from these bonds on my own.

The doors to the room slide open with a whoosh after one thousand, one hundred and twenty-seven seconds of waiting. I expect to see my father standing there in his menacing eleven foot tall stance, but it's a shorter Warrior that greets me. However, the Warrior doesn't strike me short enough to be Ariel. I know that the people in the suits have their limbs stretched as a form of final torture, but Ariel didn't have very long limbs to begin with, so she had to be much shorter than the rest of the Warriors.

"Can I help you?" I say with a cocked brow.

"Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back." The rough voice says. "Had to see the girl the entire facility speaks about." I can tell it belongs to a female, and I know exactly who the voice belongs too.

"Oh, hey Calyx."

The Warrior falters, her helmeted head tilting to the side. "How do you know of me?"

"Take off the helmet. Make yourself at home and we will have a chat. Not like I can do much else." I attempt a shrug but my restraints keep me from doing so.

The helmet clicks at it unlatches. She holds it beneath her armpit, those hypnotizing gray eyes looking back at me, the Good Jotunn herself standing there, flummoxed. It's too bad that she isn't the Good Jotunn she once was, now she's just a Jotunn and there's nothing good about that.

"Better question, now that I think of it." Her voice is deep, signifying her change over to a Jotunn. There's even a scar along her neck to prove of the transformation. "Do I know you?"

Calyx informed us all of who and what the Jotunn were days, maybe even months earlier. Being that I have no perception of time, I don't know how long ago it was that we discovered what lay beneath the Jotunn Warrior's helmets. Calyx told us that each Warrior pertains the wound that ultimately sentenced the person to their death. And sure enough, there was Calyx, standing before me with a bullet hole in her forehead.

"To answer that question, yes, you know me. In your previous life, at least." I reply.

She doesn't respond to that and creates a different conversation. "The Warrior you requested will be with you shortly. I just needed to gain sight of who the facility speaks about. Our mighty betrayer, or so some say."

"Eh, I do what I can." I smirk. Calyx turns around and begins to type in her key code to the door before I blubber out some words to stop her. "So you really don't remember me?" I say.

"Should I?"

"God I don't know, what does the database tell you?"

Her voice turns monotone and her eyes glass over as she speaks; "Zachary comma Baylee Areaux. Wanted fugitive. Keep Zachary comma Baylee Areaux alive and unharmed at all costs."

That sends chills down my spine but I choose not to have her elaborate on such words, afraid of what I might discover. I'm not sure I even want to know why I must be kept alive. What am I?

"Okay, now how about without use of those records?" I give her a toothy smile.

Her glassy, gray eyes look back at me emptily. I lose the smile and replace it with a sarcastic frown. My brows draw together and my teeth bite down on my lower lip. Here I am, hoping that somehow she'd remember who I am to her. Even though we only knew each other for a brief moment of time. I wanted her mind to still be intact. I didn't want her to be fully converted. I want Calyx to be okay, just like I want my father to be. But something tells me there isn't much to re-jog their memory. Perhaps they're too far gone.

"Oh, come on, Cal." I draw out, chuckling. "It's me, Bay! Your Jotunn killing buddy!"

"I do not kill my kind, nor do I know anyone who kills my kind." She states.

"Oh now that's a load of shit and we know it." I laugh. "You have me, and Casper! Surely you remember Cas. For God's sake, you hit on him like nobody's business, eyeing his body up and down."

"You lie." Calyx growls, her tone sharp as she nears me.

"What purpose do I have lying to you?" I scowl. "I have nothing to gain, and nothing to lose. Remember when we first met? You grilled me about my past and when you got those answers, you confessed that you already knew all about me, and all about my past, for that matter. Same with everyone else. You knew, and know, all about Casper, Avery, Demetria, Willow, Diego and I." It stings to say Diego's name, but he was alive at that time, so he had to be mentioned.

"Stop lying." Her voice takes on a warning tone.

"Oh! Remember how you spoke of my mother being a dead-beat drunkard? Man, were you right."

"Stop."

"Or how you nitpicked the group's flaws? You made us extremely uncomfortable, and if that was your goal you definitely succeeded."

Before I know it, Calyx stands at my side and her hand collides with my cheek. My eyes grow wide and my jaw drops as I hitch a breath. I roll my head back to where it faces her, my blue eyes looking straight into her gray eyes. Before I can come back with a snide remark, her fist encloses around my neck and thrusts my head back against the table I'm strapped to. I yelp hoarsely as I struggle to gain air. My cheek stings with heat and tears fall freely down my splotchy face.

"Now I highly suggest you stop your lying." She seethes, her spit raining down on my face.

"I'm... not... lying." I choke out.

"Liar!" She yells.

"Hook me up to the machine!" I cough, "De—determine if I'm lying." I cry out.

"If you do lie, I will kill you myself." She releases my throat and walks over to the machine.

I cough as my airways become unblocked, gasping hoarsely. "What happened to keeping me alive at all costs?" I grunt to myself.

"That rule does not apply to me." Calyx mutters.

In no time I am hooked up as we still await the appearance of Ariel of my father, so Calyx has time to properly interrogate me. I hope that her interrogating me will get her on my side. We need all the help we can get, and it's all a part of Casper's master plan. I wish I knew where Casper hatches such elaborate plans, but for now I have to keep on wondering and stay focused on the task at hand, which is convincing Calyx that I'm a good person, and that she still might be, too.

"So when will The Master Jotunn and or Ariel Monroe arrive?" I ask as she finishes hooking me up to the machine.

"The Master is settling a dispute among the Jotunn involving the escape of the captives you supposedly betrayed." She gives me a side glance before returning to what she was previously doing.

Calyx walks back to me and repositions one of the stickers, placing it on my right temple. She gets the heart monitor up and running before pulling a stool over beside the medical table I remain strapped too. She sits and gets comfortable before she begins the interrogation. In her hand, Calyx clutches the same remote Kole had before, ready to press it if I'm caught in a lie. Lucky for me, this time I know there will be no lying on my end.

"Tell me the story of how we met, from there we shall determine who is lying." She sneers, her spit landing on my cheeks. Unable to wipe it off due to my restraints, I'm forced to let the slimy liquid dissolve into my skin.

"I didn't know you for very long, or very well, for that matter. But you knew me. All I really and truly know about you in your previous life is that you were a complete and total badass. You rebelled against the Jotunn regardless the situation. You ultimately didn't fear death, you greeted it, if anything."

She cocks her head to the side, surprised that I speak the truth.

"I find it ironic, actually, that you've become the thing that you hate the most, the thing you fought so hard against in your previous life. Yet, here you are now. Being the thing you hate, living the life you once despised."

"That's all life is, isn't it?" Calyx growls. "Life is stories, it's feelings. Life twists everything up to fit some sick image that you people call living. Life is like broken glass, which leaves the people scrounging to piece it all back together. Those glass shards dig their way into your skin and soon all you have left is an open wound. Life is a sick game, and every day you're forced to live it and abide to its twisted rules. Life is a story with no happy ending, and the sooner you realize that the better."

I have nothing to say, eyes wide and ears attentive to her words.

"That's all this is, Bay. What you're telling me is all some made up story to help you cope with what life is to you. It's fiction, and it's time you wake up."

"I haven't been shocked, Calyx. Which means its nonfiction, which means my so called "story" is absolutely true and you now know that." I reply after nine seconds of agonizing silence.

She waves her hand dismissively. "Fine, continue on." She grunts.

I realize now how big of a longshot this is to get Calyx on our side. What if it's temporary and soon afterwards she reverts back? We'd lose any advantage we had and would be right back where we started—prisoners.

I have to forcibly shake the thoughts from my head and focus on the present, focus on the now. I have to focus in on what is occurring around me.

Everything I say is a blur. The words vomit out of my mouth as freely as a waterfall flows. I speak of our short time getting to know each other. How she informed me that I was different, which is why she took me to the cockpit to overtake the shuttle we were held captive on. I tell her of her wounds on her back and how the wounds are probably still present. I inform Calyx of her accusations against me as a traitor and the plan that was hatched unbeknownst to me. I speak of becoming that traitor and how she died, a gunshot to the head. She seems to listen intently and when I reach the portion of the story to where we are now, I shut my mouth and wait for her to speak.

Sweat beads my brow and anticipation gargles within my stomach as I await for her to say something, anything. When she doesn't, I'm forced to purse my lips and ask the question gnawing away at me.

"Do you believe me, Calyx?"

She's silent for eleven more seconds before suddenly she nods. "I... I am not sure I would class it as belief, on my part, but no one can manipulate this machine." Her gray eyes look at me, eyeing me in suspicion. "Yes, Baylee Areaux Zachary. I believe you."

I smile the smallest smile, trying to hide how much excitement I truly feel. "Thank you." I whisper.

"Ariel Lavina Monroe will be with you momentarily, I will see to it." She says, standing to her feet and making her way towards the room's exit.

"Wait!" I call out, tilting my head back as far as the restraints will allow.

She looks back over her shoulder. "What?"

"I need you to do me a favor, first."

"Which is?"

"Can you break Casper out of his cell and hide him safely until I can convince Ariel to help?" I ask.

"And how do you know she will help?"

"Call it a gut feeling." I reply. "If and when she does help, I will tell her to find you and then you can go from there, okay?"

"Alright. That brings me to my next question: how do you plan on escaping, yourself?"

"Don't worry about that. I have it handled. Just get him out undetected."

"I..." She takes a deep breath. "I will, but if you and your group do successfully escape, I cannot accompany you. I must stay here, I must stay behind."

I nod. "I can live with that. Now go." I smile a little as she disappears and the door closes behind her.

I plan on doing something entirely idiotic. It would either result in Kole's death, or my death. I have hopes that perhaps we can both make it out alive, but something tells me only one of us will be walking out still breathing. I find it reassuring that I don't fear death. Not anymore. Maybe it's sadistic, or psychopathic, but I have nothing more to lose. There's no guarantee that anyone will ever see tomorrow, so might as well live each day as if it's my last. I want to save New York, I want to return home more than anything in the world, but right here, right now, I don't only welcome death. No, I embrace death with open arms.