Siege of Shadows (Effigies #2)(82)

I needed the other girls.

? ? ?

“Sounds like a rough night,” said Chae Rin back at the dorm. She was still sweaty from training, sitting cross-legged on the chair at the right side of the coffee table. Perhaps in a show of support, she slid the open pizza box on the table closer to me. “Now I feel kind of guilty for having such an easy time during that boring mission in Glasgow. Have you even eaten since you got back? Here, have some. It’s only like a day or two old; it’s still good.”

Everyone was treating me rather nicely after they’d heard what had happened to me. I didn’t hate it. It was like being with friends. I had a feeling that Chae Rin, at least, would throw something at me if I ever used the term out loud, but it was a comforting thought nonetheless. A team. Friends. Didn’t have much of those even before my family died. It was nice to finally gain some after I’d lost so much already.

Why was that? Why was it that no matter what I did, I just end up losing something else?

“Maia, you okay?” Lake said, and the weight of her body plopping onto the long couch next to me snapped me back to reality. “You don’t look too good.”

“I’m okay,” I lied. “As okay as I’ll ever be.”

Lake grimaced at the stale pepperoni and flipped the lid closed. “How’s Rhys?”

I tried to pass off my flinch as an awkward stretch. “He’s at the hospital.”

“You didn’t go see him?”

I did, once. Just like all those other times, I went while he was sleeping because after that night, I couldn’t handle facing him. Couldn’t bear it.

That night in Blackwell’s courtyard had turned my hopeless suspicions to reality. I thought once I knew for sure, everything would become clear. But everything was worse.

I thought of Belle, my insides churning. What do I do?

He’d begged me not to hate him, just as he’d begged Natalya for death. There had to be more to the story. Why did I want to believe that so badly?

Ignoring Lake’s question, I rubbed the back of my neck. “Is my neck still red?”

Lake rolled onto her knees and brushed my hair back to check. “Yeah, a bit. They really did a number on you, didn’t they?” She plopped back down. “I can’t believe Pete’s a bad guy,” she said, sinking deeper into the couch. “He’s a bit odd, but really quite good-looking. I was even thinking of asking him out after the TVCAs. Oh, well.” She started fiddling with her phone.

“We don’t know for sure,” I said. “The investigation’s still ongoing.”

I flinched, surprised when Belle suddenly placed a bowl of fresh fruit in front of me, pushing away the pizza box.

“Right now we have to treat everyone as a potential enemy,” she said, her long French braid sliding across her back as she took the chair opposite Chae Rin. “You said that this Jessie Stone is one of Saul’s soldiers. We haven’t located the others from Fisk-Hoffman, but we have to assume they’re like her. And there could be more.”

It took me a while to answer her. I wiped my clammy hands on my legs but didn’t know where to put them. Quickly, silently, I buried the thought of Rhys deep within me. Only then could I answer.

“There are two from that facility still unaccounted for.” Two left like Philip and Jessie. And Alex. The memory of his dead, rotting face hitting the pavement still made me shudder. “But they’re not Effigies. Right?”

“Dot said they found an entire ‘electromechanical network’ down the spine of that dead guy. The first dead guy,” Chae Rin clarified. “Philip. Not the undead one that tried to eat you.”

“Got that.” I plucked a cherry out of the mix of fruit and tossed it into my mouth.

“Dot and Pete definitely made it seem like we could be looking at the possibility of something man-made,” Chae Rin continued. “And, hey, it’s not like there wouldn’t be a basis for it. Some people out there already think Effigies are government experiments. There was a whole special about it on the Conspiracy Channel.”

Lake snorted as she tapped away at her phone. “Watching the Conspiracy Channel. Sounds like a rousing Saturday night.”

“It’s interesting, okay?” Chae Rin glared at her. “Anyway, people have been trying to figure us out and re-create what we can do for so long. You heard about all that illegal research in Europe decades ago, right?”

“Wait.” I sat up, my mouth sticky and sweet as I chewed another cherry. “When I was under control, Jessie mentioned someone. Grune . . .” I frowned, waiting for the name to come to me. “Grundewall. No, Grunewald? She said the mind-control tech was his. Ever heard the name?”

“Grunewald.” Belle folded her arms. “No. I don’t recognize it.”

Grunewald. Was he a scientist working for Saul? Was he part of the Sect?

“Ugh, this is confusing.” Lake flopped sideways, kicking her bare legs onto my lap and curling her toes as she rested her head against the arm of the couch. A bit intrusive, but I didn’t mind. It was the kind of familiarity that came more easily with her. “What about the Castor Volume? Did you find anything about the symbol that Natalya drew?”

“No, but I didn’t have the chance to search long.”

“Of course not.” Groaning, Chae Rin jumped to her feet and wandered behind the couch.