Daegelus | Volume One: Subject 0333

Chapter Eighteen | Files

"We're gonna stop at a motel," Jake said. "I've been driving for like...forever, and my legs are killing me."

"And I wanna see what's on this laptop," Zoe added.

He wasn't going to argue; he wanted to know what was on Shaw's laptop, too. He also wanted to see what was inside the bag he took from the mechanics. So, he sat up straight, dragged his fingers through his tousled white hair to tidy it a little, and then unzipped the duffel bag.

"Oh, yeah," Zoe said, looking over her shoulder at him. "I was meaning to ask what that was."

When he looked inside, relief struck Elijah. There were stacks of coronam notes, enough to last the rest of his search—which he hoped wouldn't be long, but if it did drag on, at least he had to funds to buy more weapons, transportation, and accommodation. There were silver bullets, some laced with wolfsbane and others with surripio—a sedative that weakened Caeleste so much that they could barely stay conscious—and a collection of crossbow bolts. A small, folded crossbow sat under a machete, and beside it...was a can of soda.

Elijah rolled his eyes and took the soda.

"What's that?" Zoe asked nosily.

Ignoring her, Elijah opened the can and took several gulps.

"Yo, where you get that?" Jake asked, staring in the rear-view mirror.

"Jake, it's just up here," Zoe said, pointing out the window.

"Oh, right."

Elijah downed the rest of the soda as Jake turned right and pulled into a dusty parking lot. There weren't any other cars, and it didn't seem like anyone else was staying at the motel, either; the only heartbeats that he could hear were coming from the reception office.

Jake parked a few feet from the building and switched the engine off. "Man, if we get murdered out here, I swear, I'll haunt you in your next life, Zoe."

She frowned nervously as she put the laptop in her bag and picked up her dog. "Don't say things like that."

"We're not going to get murdered," Elijah grumbled as he zipped up the duffle bag and grabbed both that and his own bag. He climbed out of the jeep, and as he stretched his legs, he groaned quietly in relief.

Jake got out, too. "It says no pets," he said, pointing to a sign.

Zoe pouted and took Shaw's laptop back out of her bag. She then carefully put her dog inside and whispered, "Be quiet for a few minutes, Antonio," and then she zipped it shut.

They headed for the reception.

But as Elijah followed, a chill traced its way down his spine, sending a shudder through his very core. The air around him grew thick with an unseen presence, a spectral whisper of something beyond comprehension.

"Eli..." the voice echoed, distorted and unnaturally warped, sending a ripple of unease through the desolate expanse.

He halted abruptly, his senses heightened as he scanned the barren wasteland around him; there was no discernible source for the voice, yet it lingered hauntingly in the stillness of the empty landscape, a phantom beckoning from the shadows.

It was then that a familiar feeling of loneliness struck Elijah. Only Haru called him Eli, and at first, he was convinced that maybe it was he who called him, but reality slapped him hard. He knew that Haru was far away; there was no way that it was him.

So who was it?

He frowned both skeptically and cautiously, scanning the sandy expanse, but the only movement his sights locked with was that of tumbleweeds and sand picked up by the humid breeze.