Spectacle (Menagerie #2)(100)

“Vandekamp started this,” I said. “Gallagher and I are finishing it. And we’re getting plenty of help, in case you haven’t noticed.” I tilted my head as another monstrous screech echoed from outside.

My fingertips began to itch and I resisted the urge to reach for him. If he saw my beast emerging, he would shoot.

“Where is he?” Woodrow demanded, and suddenly I understood.

“You want Gallagher? Are you suicidal?”

“Thanks to you, I’m unemployed. But there’s a lab out west offering a cool million for the only redcap ever captured. Vandekamp turned it down, but he’s not in charge anymore.”

I indulged a bitter laugh. “You better hope you never find Gallagher. You’re on his list.” But he was on the furaie’s list now too.

“Even the mighty fear dearg can’t stop a bullet.” Woodrow tossed me a set of handcuffs. “Put those on.”

I bent to pick up the handcuffs, to keep him from seeing my eyes, as my vision became suddenly sharp and clear, even in the dark.

When my wrists were bound in front of me and my hair was just beginning to lift from my shoulders, Woodrow reached forward and grabbed my arm in his gloved hand. “Gallagher’s the puppet and you’re the string. Let’s go make the big guy dance.”

As he tugged me toward the door, I twisted and grabbed his forearm with both my hands.

Woodrow froze as rage poured from me into him. His arm fell to his side and the pistol clattered to the floor.

“Look beneath the flesh...” the furiae murmured through my lips. “See what really matters.”

I let Woodrow go, and as my vision returned to normal, my hair still settling around my shoulders, the gamekeeper pulled a knife from his belt and made a long cut down the back of his left forearm. Then he began to peel back his own skin.

Horrified, I pushed past him into the hall, trying not to hear the soft patter of blood as each droplet hit the tile. “Claudio!” I called, as I ran toward the back of the building. “Claudio, where...?”

“She won’t wake up.”

I whirled toward the voice to find the werewolf standing in the hall behind me, holding his daughter’s limp body in both arms.

“She won’t wake up, and I can’t carry her.” Beneath Genevieve’s thin, dangling arms and matted hair, blood had soaked through her father’s bandage. He’d reopened his stitches.

“Oh no.” She’d been fine an hour earlier, asleep in her hospital bed. And now she was...

Her chest rose.

“Let me see her.” I jogged down the hall and felt Genni’s forehead. Her skin was cool, but not cold. Her breathing was smooth and regular.

I pulled back her eyelids and her eyes dilated. “She’s sedated. She must have fought the doctor. She’ll wake up soon and be fine, but we have to get you both out of here. Give her to me.”

But then I shook my head and took a step back. “Wait, I’m not supposed to lift anything.” Among the things I remembered from the CVS procedure was the doctor telling Tabitha not to let me strain. “I’ll find a wheelchair.”

Yet as I turned to head for the supply room, heavy footsteps clomped toward us from around the corner. The walls shook with each one.

One of the beasts had gotten into the infirmary.

“Shit!” I whispered. “Go back the other way.”

“Wait!” Claudio cried, as I tried to tug him along. “I can’t—”

The footsteps stomped closer, and a shadow fell onto the tiles at the end of the hall. My heart leapt into my throat and I stepped in front of Claudio, shielding him and Genni out of instinct, before I realized I was actually putting my baby in harm’s way.

The beast stepped around the corner, and I nearly fainted with relief. “Eryx!”

The minotaur couldn’t speak, nor could he smile with his bull’s mouth, but his outstretched arms spoke volumes.

“Give Genni to him!” I stepped out of the way so the werewolf could get by.

As the minotaur relieved Claudio of his daughter’s limp weight, Rommily stepped around the corner, her long dark hair hanging half in her face, her eyes wide and completely, opaquely white.

“The cradle will fall,” she said, and a chill traveled down my spine. But I didn’t have time to worry about what that might mean.

“Okay, go! Find a car big enough for Eryx. Look for a van. Claudio, can you drive?” The werewolf nodded, and I wrapped my arm around him for support as we headed for the back door. “Has anyone seen Gal—”

Sound exploded from the other end of the hall, and I stumbled backward as pain stabbed at my left side. Rommily screamed.

I pressed my hand to my side, trying to find the source of the pain, and my fingers came away warm and wet. And red.

Stunned, I looked up to see Tabitha aiming a pistol from the other end of the hallway. “Now he’ll know,” she mumbled. “Now you’ll all know.”

“Go!” I shouted, but my voice carried little volume. I couldn’t draw a deep breath. Each beat of my heart somehow hurt deep inside. But they didn’t go. “Claudio, get them out of here.”

I fell against the wall, and my hand left a bloody print.

Tabitha lifted the gun again, as I fell to my knees. “Run!” I tried to shout. Then the world lost focus.