MOTHERS

◙twenty-two◙

With number two returned—Cole, he said his name was—Lola felt a sense of accomplishment, a rush of adrenaline coursing through her. She'd enjoyed carving humans up with her sharpened tentacles, yanking their insides out, exposing their guts to the outside air, watching them shrivel in anticipation of her carnage. And yet, it was meeting her other brother for the first time that raised her heart-rate more than anything.

Cole, the one who'd gotten out. The slyest of the bunch, the wittiest, the best at fooling the humans around him. And the one who could—as he explained to them briefly—shapeshift.

Shapeshift; such a tremendous gift for one of us to behold.

Star, the frailer-looking, palest, quietest of them all, had thought of jumping into Cole's arms—Lola had read her thoughts—but at the sight of Cole's scarlet eyes, she'd refrained, intimidated by the power contained within his human encasing.

While barging into rooms and finishing off any humans she found, Lola had been communicating with her family, her ancestors. The female voice, encouraging more bloodshed, had given her a plethora of details to communicate with her siblings. Speeches to prepare for anyone who'd question her motives. Not that she needed to explain herself—she had every right to be pissed, to want blood in vengeance for what these lab-workers had put her through. But her ancestor had warned her that not all humans had to perish, and some might be worth explaining the truth to.

"Not anyone in the lab, though," she'd specified, her tone taking on a darkness that made even Lola shudder. "They all must die."

Pulling herself away from her own thoughts, Lola linked herself to Rivo's mind, needing reassurance before continuing her mission. "What is the status up there, on the next level?"

Though used to Lola's mind invasions by then, Rivo still startled at the sound of her words inside his head. He jolted in her direction, interrupting the conversation he'd been having with Cole. He knew not to speak out loud if she communicated privately like so, but she noticed his eyes narrowing and his brows furrowing in wonder. Why would she need to talk telepathically in front of their siblings? What was she hiding from Cole and Star?

She wouldn't tell him, or anyone, but Rivo was who she trusted most. He couldn't see lies on faces, but with his heightened senses he could smell lies, feel them like no one else could. And until she had thorough proof that all three of her siblings were on board with their objectives, that they were the true descendants of her species, like her, she'd continue her private discussions with Rivo, and Rivo alone.

"There's still a group of people huddling in one room with a lot of screens," Rivo said, lips bunched as he thought hard. Lola saw the images flashing through his mind as he expressed them to her. "A security room, I think. Dark but for blaring purple lights. Middle floor. I smell them, their fear. They're terrified."

Lola nodded, then remembered his blindness and instead took his hand and squeezed it. "I thought so—I've been hearing human voices and couldn't figure out where they were coming from. Thank you for confirming."

The ancestor's instructions resonated inside her skull, reminding her to hurry up, to get back to work.

"I'll send you up there momentarily to take care of them, but first, we must have a conversation with our mothers."

"Mothers?" This, Rivo said out loud, raising his nose to the air as he sniffled. "They're here?"

Star, ever intuitive and touchy-feely as she had no means to speak, grasped her brother's wrist and hauled him within feet of the four horrified women standing near the entrance to the stairwell. They were grouped together, half-huddling, half prepared as if to pounce on Lola and her siblings in attack. But they wouldn't dare—the information Lola collected from their thoughts was a bunch of gibberish mixed with pleas for help and utter disbelief of their situation.