At Last I See the Light (Lunar Chronicles Fanfic)

Chapter 22: Dreaming (by Smallpools)

"Someone better start explaining." Kinney crossed his arms and glared at Rose.

"I swear I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I-I was just following orders," she pleaded. While she did seem sincere, they had all learned from last time.

"Sure you were," Jacin huffed, "would you mind telling us what exactly those orders were?"

"I...I was told to gain the trust of this one doctor...Darnel I think his name was, escape from the lab when directed, meet with someone close to Cinder and stay with them to gather information. That was all, I swear."

Jacin pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to figure out what all this had to do with their current situation. Clearly she had to have done something wrong, or they wouldn't be here. But the whole situation with Cress, the fact that wolf had actually sided with them...it just didn't add up.

"They're trying to recreate it, aren't they? The operation," Iko asked plainly, as if it were obvious.

"Please tell me Wolf wouldn't be that stupid," Kinney sighed. His mind lingered on the look he'd seen in Wolf's eyes far too many times. After all this time, why couldn't he see that they couldn't be trusted?

"You're one to talk about stupidity," Iko muttered sarcastically. Yes, she'd been practicing.

"Doesn't matter right now," Jacin interrupted, "that still doesn't explain why we're here. Dr. Darnel is dead, they know that."

"Do they?" Rose sighed, "when I told them what the lab had told me, this happened. They thought because the operation worked I must've found him, but I didn't. There was someone else... he said his name was Aydan Redlan. He was the one that performed the procedures."

"Well what's the problem with that? They found a guy?"

"Other than the fact that he had no ties to Cinder, he was gone when the pack broke me out. Disappeared. I tried to come up with another way to get close to Cinder, or maybe Wolf, but apparently it wasn't enough."

"Believe me, it was," a deep voice called from the corner. Wolf stepped away from the door, his eyes a unnaturally vibrant shade of green. Somehow, he looked larger than usual. More intimidating. Ravenous almost.

"Wolf, please," Iko begged, "They're lying. They're not going to stop until they hurt every single person you love."

A small grunt escaped from his lips before he met Iko's line of sight. "If I don't go through with this, I'd be doing the same." The pigment of his eyes deepened briefly–a bit of morality shining through. For a second, he almost looked scared. Within seconds, it vanished and he strode over to Rose. In one fluid motion, yanked her out the room and locked the door once again. However, this time, it closed with a light thunk.

As soon as they left, Iko hobbled back to the room's only exit to see if it had worked. Sure enough, a small sliver of her heel remained wedged into the crevice, just far enough for them to pry open with some force. It seemed too easy, but maybe Wolf was mentally distracted at the time. Maybe he had let it slide, knowing they did not deserve the torture.

After quietly widening the gap so it was wide enough for them to slip out of, the three of them slowly made their way into the hallway.

Surprisingly, the hallway was empty—no guards, no members of the pack. Everything was almost too eerily still. As they made their way through the Menagerie, they were faced with absolutely no opposition; it was completely abandoned.

"They're gone," Kinney stated.

"Thanks, I don't think we got that," Iko muttered under her breath. Finally, they reached the east wing exit. Jacin tried the door, but it was locked, the keypad mounted on the wall beside it had been slashed. Sparks flickered from its base as Iko took to examining it.

"Any chance  it can be fixed?" Jacin asked hopefully.

"Probably. Whoever did this must've been in a hurry, they just snipped one of the wires." Quickly, she gathered the two ends between her fingers and twisted them together, closing the circuit. The machine gave a faint beep, but nothing more.

With a swift kick, Iko knocked the door open and light from outside poured in. She tossed her hair to the side and walked through the open entrance while Jacin followed and Kinney stared at her with a look of pure admiration.

* * *

"Thorne," Scarlet whispered, "we were there, he's gone." Everyone stared back at him with worried faces.

"No, you don't get it. That's him. He's using a glamor but it's him. I don't know why or how but it's him," Thorne tried, but no one looked convinced. In fact, Cinder wasn't even paying attention. She sat, squinting absently at the lab room. In the corner of her vision, a small orange light flashed.

"He's right," she said suddenly, snapping her focus back towards the others.

All at once there was a scream, followed by what sounded like a gunshot. Receptionists and nurses from the main labs began flooding into the quarantine wing, followed by three men in long, black coats. Third-tier thaumaturges. The first one pulled down their hood, revealing a wolfish face, two pointed canines poking out from beneath his lips.

"If Dr. Erland would please step forward, we'd be happy to leave here without any casualties," one of the other thaumaturges declared, his weapon pointed at the crowd.

* * *