We Shall Be Monsters Read online

  Trusting him had been a necessity, but Anika always felt that it was more shared secrets than an actual alliance. If Misty’s secret got out, Anika’s might as well follow.

  “Come see me in an hour.” Dravovitch got up. “In my office.”

  He left.

  Anika was through being the hero. She scanned the room for Coralynn, but she had slipped out. After finishing a second waffle, Anika thanked the servers and headed for the exit, working her way through lab techs and guards, all wanting to shake her hand. She appreciated the ones that just smiled. Anika finally slipped into the hall.

  Which was swarming with labcoats. Where did they all come from? Anika spotted Coralynn berating a young woman holding a clipboard near the elevator. Anika ducked into the stairwell and took a few breaths. She took the stairs two at a time.

  Dravovitch needed an hour to what? To sort things out? He likely dispatched his goons to verify Anika’s details and would grill her about them. Still, she’d get to see his office. That was a missing element to her layout sketches of the laboratory. Something was off, and she couldn’t quite place everything together. Plus, she might get a chance to run the color-blind test on him.

  Anika peeked out the door to the elevator. Coralynn would have to go by eventually, since her office was a few doors down. The horrid woman was the worst strike against Blake as a boyfriend, and he was still half insect.

  Anika slowed her breathing, closed her eyes, and focused on the sounds of the laboratory. The air conditioner in the hallway ceiling rattled. Faint music spilled out of the office across the hall. Somewhere, deep inside the lab, something scratched at concrete. Or was that her imagination running wild?

  She bumped her forehead against the wall. Anika had saved the kids and teachers, but she was no closer to saving herself. All she had was a bag full of toys and a bellyache. She couldn’t believe Pankina had pressed the button so easily. Why couldn’t she have listened?

  Mentally, Anika added three more names to her killed list: Pankina and her stooges. The alligators that died were her fault as well, but she didn’t care enough to memorialize them with a list. How many more people would she have to destroy before she found a way out of this mess?

  The elevator dinged. Anika closed the door to a tiny smidge and waited. Coralynn sauntered out alone and headed toward her office. Anika whipped the door open, reached out, and yanked Coralynn inside the stairwell, slamming the door behind them.

  Coralynn screeched. “What are you doing, child?”

  Anika let go of Coralynn’s arm, set her shoulders straight, hands on her hips. “Listen up, Corky. It’s time to pay up!”

  “Anika.” She fumed. “You don’t get to…”

  “I did my part of the bargain.” Anika pointed a finger in her face. “Now, it’s your turn.”

  Coralynn’s angry eyebrows straightened. A smile broke out on her face. “Anika, darling. You didn’t complete your side, did you? Daddy is still going to have to kill my poor George.”

  Anika huffed. “That wasn’t the deal.”

  “Please, child.” She smoothed out her starched suit jacket. “You know nothing. I’ll pretend this never happened.”

  She turned to leave, grabbing the door handle and pulling it open.

  Anika kicked it closed, and Blake’s mom yanked her hands away. She held them up, staring at her fingers as if she might count less than ten of them. She turned, eyes open, and examined Anika anew.

  “You think you’re safe?” Anika pointed at her chest and inched closer.

  Coralynn reeled back. “Anika. I will not have you speak to me with that tone.”

  “You owe me information,” Anika said. “If you do not deliver, I will bury you. You’ve seen first-hand how capable I can be.” Anika emphasized that last part by poking Coralynn in the chest, over her heart.

  Coralynn snapped her jaw shut.

  “I saved your son’s life. I saved your husband from certain death. I saved every kid in this town.” Anika leaned against the wall. “You owe me.”

  “Fine.” Her lips curled. Oh, this woman was devious. “What is it you’d like to know?”

  “Also, not the deal,” Anika said. “You promised me specific information you said could save my life.”

  “Oh, honey. Why would your life be in any danger?”

  This was a trap. She was her father’s agent after all. If Anika mentioned anything about the machine or impending doom, her father would know she’d been lying. He’d connect last month’s power outage to her, putting her friends in danger. No, Anika was better at this game. She was taught by a master.

  “I see.” Anika said. “You’re a liar.”

  Coralynn opened her mouth to protest, but Anika cut her off.

  “I suspect my father would be happy to know about our little arrangement. About how you coerced me into risking my life.”

  Coralynn’s facade dropped to a snarl. “I’ll deny it.”

  “Yes,” Anika said. “We’ve covered that you’re a liar. Only I have proof.”

  Anika was a better liar. It was her super power.

  Coralynn stammered. “You’re lying.”

  Anika locked eyes with her. “Try me.”

  They had a little staring contest, one Anika wasn’t about to lose. She had nothing left to lose.

  Finally, Coralynn looked away. “What do you want?”

  “I want to know what you promised.”

  “There’s nothing,” she said. “I was bluffing.”

  Anika noted a slight twitch in her right eye. Another lie, but what good would pressing the issue do? “Then you owe me a favor.”

  “Fine.” She took a step toward the door. “What do you want?”

  Another trap. Ask for too much, Coralynn goes to Dravovitch, betraying Anika and her friends. Ask for too little, Coralynn wins. Anika couldn’t ask about anything important. Too risky. But she needed to make her act, if nothing else, to win the current power struggle. Lose this one, she’d come back with another.

  Anika couldn’t give up anything.

  “Claire.” The name surprised Anika as much as it did Coralynn. Too late to shift gears, and Anika couldn’t believe she was wasting her favor on the petty cheerleader. “Claire is suffering side effects from some experimental therapy her parents are secretly giving her. It is making her smarter, but I think it’s killing her.”

  Coralynn scoffed. “What do you want me to do?”

  “You’re a deceitful woman,” Anika said. “I want you to figure out a way to help Claire without involving me or getting Claire into any more trouble.”

  “Interesting.”

  Anika leaned closer. “You will protect Claire as if she were your own bear cub.”

  Bear cub? Anika wasn’t sure where that came from. Maybe it was how Coralynn had fussed around Blake when he was brought into the lab after Anika had saved him.

  “And why would I do that?”

  Anika got in Coralynn’s face. “You are going to save Claire, or I will destroy you. Are we clear?”

  Coralynn straightened her jacket and fixed her hair, stepping around Anika to the door. “Very clear.”

  Coralynn sneered as she left the stairwell.

  As the door clicked closed, Anika took several deep breaths. She was no closer to knowing what to do next. She took one step and hesitated. Better to deal with Margery now than have her meddling later.

  Anika headed to the infirmary and found Margery standing out front, a hand on her hip. “I didn’t appreciate you running away the other day.”

  Anika pushed past her and went through the lobby into an exam room. “Well, you were wrong.”

  “About what?”

  “I was poisoned.” Anika sat on the table and held out her arm. The little robot popped up to take her blood. “Pankina did try to kidnap me. I dealt with it.”

  “You continue to impress.” Margery picked up a clipboard. “Any chance you’ll tell me how you managed to pull that off all by yourself?”
/>   “Nope.” Anika stared as the robot pierced her skin and red liquid filled the test tube. Her blood was the key, and they were testing it every chance they could get. But why?

  The robot switched out the full vial, which disappeared into the robotic arm. Where did it go after that? Straight to the secret lab?

  “I have type O negative blood,” Anika said, “don’t I?”

  “Yes.” Margery let her hands fall in her lap. “Why do you ask?”

  “You keep collecting it.” This conversation was another minefield. “I couldn’t figure out why you’d need so much, but then I remembered everyone in this building is mad.”

  Margery put her hand to her forehead. “We’re not mad.”

  “Fine,” Anika said. “Ambitious. Why else would you keep collecting my blood if you weren’t going to do something with it, and what else could you do with it besides put it in other people. My blood would have to be O negative to affect the most people.”

  She left out the part where she thought her father had likely made assurances that she was born with O- blood. She watched Margery’s eyes for her reaction.

  Margery set the clipboard on the counter. “Anika, were monitoring your health.”

  Anika grit her teeth as the robot arm retracted back into the arm. “What’s wrong with me!”

  Margery turned toward the computer and clicked her fingernails across the keyboard. “You’re the healthiest person I’ve ever met. And you’re dying.”

  Anika sat upright. “What?”

  “You have a unique condition, which was the reason we had to find you.”

  That was a lie. Margery’s eyes flicked to the left as she spoke. At least the last part was a lie. The dying part Anika wasn’t so sure about.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Your father wanted to run a few more tests. He wanted to be sure.”

  “I don’t understand. How can I be the healthiest person you’ve ever met and still be dying?” Anika glanced at the clock. She was running out of time before her appointment with Dravovitch. This was a distraction. Of course, they wanted to keep her close to the lab. More lies. Still, it would be reasonable that whatever her father did to her would have a shelf life. Crap. Now she was worried.

  She didn’t let it show.

  Margery put a hand on Anika’s knee. “You don’t seem upset.”

  Anika pushed it off. “Neither do you.”

  Margery studied Anika’s eyes. There was a time Anika thought her mother had taught her the wrong skills. Instead of teaching her how to shoot a gun or kick in a head, her mother had given her all the skills she needed. She could travel inconspicuously, find escape routes, and talk, bluff, and outright lie her way through most problem situations. She could access cash in a few different ways and knew how to lie low. That was how she was raised, and Anika hoped to live long enough to thank her mom.

  Margery cleared her throat. “We have a medicine I’d like you to take.”

  Wow. The subtlety Margery wielded was nearly a wisp.

  Anika hopped up. “I think I’ll get a second opinion.”

  “Wait,” Margery protested, but Anika was out the door and running down the hall to her father’s office. Whatever excuses Margery spewed were lost to the sound of blood pumping in Anika’s ears.

  She raced around the last corner to her father’s office and slid to a halt. A man with a machine gun snapped to attention. A long hallway behind him led to a solitary door.

  “Anika,” he said. “Your father will see you now.”

  Anika sat at a large oak desk across from her father. On his right, a computer drew his attention, his eyes flickering back and forth as he soaked in information Anika couldn’t see. On his left was a waffle maker. The desk was a minefield of pens, gadgets, notebooks, cups, and knickknacks. Across the middle of the desk was an antique spear with a jagged stone tip.

  Anika pulled a bright blue block from her backpack and set it on the desk. She didn’t think Sasha’s experiment would be fruitful, but she saw no harm in it, either. After two minutes, Dravovitch still hadn’t spoken to or even looked at her. Perhaps he was testing her as well.

  Anika studied his office. Bookshelves lined the walls, stuffed full of new and aging books and various artifacts from around the world, including ancient pottery, stone tools, vials, jars, at least eight skulls, three of which were human, and several authentic-looking Egyptian canopic jars. Anika’s chemistry teacher would be so jealous.

  One shelf held a photo of a young woman with bright silver hair wearing an extremely tight bodice in a desert field with a zebra in the background.

  Anika squeezed the tip of the perfume vial, spritzing a mist of the stuff into the air. Her father swiveled an inch in his chair and finally pulled his attention from his computer screen. “Now Anika, what was it you said?”

  Two and a half minutes ago. “Are you planning to take over the world?”

  “Oh, someday. I might get around to that.” He shook his head, suddenly aware of who he was talking to. “Right now, there is simply too much to do. Running this lab, making sure we complete our contracts. Keeping an eye on my employees.”

  Again, he seemed surprised that he gave her so much.

  “What about me?” she asked.

  “I suppose you’re right. I’ve been neglecting you. George had been taking too much of my headspace. You seem to know everything going on around here. I don’t suppose you have any ideas how to bring him back, do you?”

  His eyes finally fell on the blue block on his desk, and he raised a fluffy eyebrow.

  “I have lots of ideas.” She retrieved the block. “My best guess is to use my blood.”

  “Your blood?” His eyes widened. “Absolutely not.”

  “Yeah.” Careful, Anika. “Every time I come into the lab, Margery wants more of it. She can’t seem to get enough.”

  “Yes, yes. But why do you think it would help?”

  “It makes the most sense.” Anika placed a dark, olive green army man onto the desk. His eyes examined the tiny plastic soldier as she spoke. “My rat shouldn’t have lived, and yet the dude’s still chugging along. The only thing that could have possibly saved him was that he bit me more than a few times. He still almost died. My blood was the unexplainable factor.”

  “Blood can save lives for sure,” he said, “but I don’t think your blood is anything special.” His gaze shifted from the army man into her eyes. His left eye actually twitched. Anyone else might not have noticed. Pathetic.

  “You could always try it out on Blake.” Anika replaced the army man with a bright yellow golf ball. “See how he reacts. If it helps, I would give as much as his father needs to get better.”

  “No, no.” He pulled his hands back and sat on them. “Your blood is too valuable.”

  She frowned. “Valuable to whom?”

  “You…” He turned to the computer screen. “You need it.”

  Anika grabbed the golf ball. This experiment wasn’t getting her anywhere, and the subject of blood was perhaps a little dangerous. She needed to get out of there before either of them let slip too much and landed her into a laboratory cell. “Fine.”

  He followed her hands as she returned the golf ball to her bag. “What exactly are you doing?”

  “I’m giving you a test.” It was a gamble, but the truth was extremely hard to see through. He’d never guess why, because it was stupid.

  He fluffed his eyebrows. “It is simply too dangerous to take your blood now, with your stomach issues. You need your strength.”

  Anika smiled as he spewed another lie, a smile like you give someone who helped you tie your shoe when you were five, even though you could have done it yourself.

  “Margery says I’m dying.”

  “Well, that’s an exaggeration.” His eyes flicked back to his monitors. “Mostly. We have a rare condition that runs in our family. I’m dying, too. I’ve been trying to beat it for a long time.”

  No kidding, Dad! “So
, I have it, too?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “Were you ever going to tell me?”

  He put his elbows on the desk and held his palms together. “I was hoping I would never have to, that I would find a cure before it mattered.”

  Anika set out a solid pink monkey. “Margery wants me to take medicine.”

  “She is the doctor.” He stared at the monkey as she made it dance on the desk. “She knows what’s she doing.”

  Anika sighed. This conversation wasn’t getting her anywhere. “I thought you wanted to know how I beat Pankina.”

  He put his hands in his lap. “Are you going to tell me?”

  “No.”

  He laughed. “That’s what I thought. My men found nothing salvageable at the site and nothing at the schools.”

  “Perhaps you should have sent women.”

  He reached across the desk and took the pink monkey from her and examined it closely. “Perhaps.”

  “So.” Anika placed an orange onto the desk. “Are you going to let me in on the other people who are going to try to kill me, or should I wait and find out in the thick of it?”

  He wheeled his chair to a mini fridge tucked into a cabinet. “Would you like a waffle?”

  “No, Dad. We already had waffles. I want to know the truth.”

  She didn’t want him to tell her everything. That would get her locked away until his machine was charged up. For a moment, as he turned around, she thought he might spill it all.

  He sat. “I’m dying. Sometimes it’s hard to think about anything else. Like you assumed, it is in our blood, but I’m hoping to cure it before anything bad happens.”

  Anika collected the orange and the toys from the desk. “I see.”

  “I didn’t want you to worry.” He bit his lip as she collected each item. “I’m almost there.”

  Anika dumped the rest of the objects onto the desk: a bright red whistle, a bright neon green jelly shoe, a brown knit cap, and a plush purple dog. All the objects were one single color throughout.

  A ball rolled off the desk. As he picked it up, Anika spritzed more of the chemical into the air. Sasha’s mother was a neurobiologist, and Anika had chosen to trust her. She had to finish out the experiment.