Disciple: DreamWalkers, Book 2 (13 page)

Because she was mad, it didn’t hurt her knuckles.

It didn’t hurt Zeke and his iron jaw, either, but that wasn’t the point. Zeke fended off more punches—unnecessarily, because she’d never try for another lick now that he was on guard—and stared at her like she’d sprung a new head.

Maggie sat back down, feeling mulish and immature.

“Nobody will tell me anything,” she complained. “I’m not a newbie. I triple locked my conduit while we were tranced and shut it when I left. I thought I did. I haven’t tried to reenter the sphere to check. Have you…” She pushed her hair out of her face, grabbing it like Zeke did his own, and tugged the top to wake herself up more. “Have they found any malingerers? Or another source of conduits?”

She and Zeke had been asked to come to Wyoming to verify the status of Karen Kingsbury, convicted mass murderer and crazy person. That was public knowledge, yet Maggie seemed to be the persona non grata here. She could understand taking precautions since a mass of vampires had tagged along when she’d exited the sphere, but the guards who’d been protecting her and Zeke had handled it. They’d leaped into action, dispatching the vamps. She’d thrown herself across Zeke, who’d been unconscious. Within moments, another pack of soldiers had dragged Maggie away, rushing her to trauma for stitches—and to this cell.

After that, she’d known nothing. The sirens had wailed and people had run back and forth outside the observation window.

“No conduits were connected to our target.” Zeke’s lips thinned. “She came out of the coma. She’s viable again.”

Maggie shot to her feet without being ordered to. “What? And they think I’m the one who—”

Zeke shook his head, tight and suspicious. Perhaps not suspicious of her, but he didn’t want her talking. “They’re investigating. The code one is over. Whatever conduits existed have disappeared. And there were a few other developments.”

“Wraiths came through when I woke,” she said.

“I know. Five.”

“And two dead ones.”

“You dusted some?” He gave her a thumb’s up. “Good job.”

“You misunderstand.” Actual wraith bodies weren’t something Adi had been secretive with them about in their handwritten notes, because they weren’t something anyone could have predicted. It should be safe to tell Zeke about it on camera. “Two wraith carcasses in Whedon vampire form manifested along with five living ones. One had a bashed in head.”

“Two wraith carcasses.” He blinked, processing her words.

“Completely dead. They didn’t turn to dust. They just…laid there. And oozed. The soldiers hustled me off to the infirmary, so I don’t know what happened after that.”

“Weren’t any carcasses when I woke,” Zeke said. “I don’t like this.”

“I’m not a fan myself.” She wanted to tell him she might have been the one to slay the wraiths in the dreamsphere—like the bellatorix in the Antipodes scroll he’d mentioned. Who could forget the broken-egg sensation of her foot driving into the monster’s skull? The sucking ache of its brain matter? The unholy scream? No one could injure wraiths in dreamspace, whether the alucinator was asleep or tranced.

Had she managed it?

Could Karen?

Maggie desperately wanted to know what it meant before she admitted what she might have done. She needed to find out about that scroll. Quietly. There was already too much suspicion directed her way, and she didn’t know how much of the blame for today’s outbreak was hers.

“Wraiths staying solid after death. I wonder if that explains why the other ones were eating corpses?” Zeke mused.

“They have an appetite for flesh and blood,” Maggie said, not sure why he didn’t know. “It’s their way of feeding on humans’ life force. But they don’t seem to require those things to sustain themselves, which doesn’t stop them from eating whatever they can get their mouths on.”

Different wraiths tended to go after different parts of a human’s body. Zombies, clearly, went for the brains. Vamps for the blood. Were-animals for the guts. Slime monsters for extremities, and so on. It was believed this was because dreamers expected their creations to behave in certain ways. Just as an alucinator’s brain gave physical form to the monster, it also influenced the monster’s behavior.

“They eat living people or people they killed themselves,” Zeke said. “They don’t eat corpses. Down below, in the cold box, the vamps were ripping into body bags and chowing down on the stiffs.”

“Are you kidding?” She corrected herself quickly. Zeke was hardly ever kidding. “Did you witness this?”

“Saw them devour an entire body until there was nothing left.” His gaze, for the first time, slid away from her to stare at something close to the floor.

That explained the hint of sallowness in his skin tone. Well, that and the industrial fluorescent lights everywhere.

A light tap sounded on the door, which Maggie thought was superfluous considering this was a holding cell. There was no need to ask a prisoner’s permission to enter.

But it was Adi, not a hostile soldier. The vigil entered briskly and shut the door behind her.

“Are you well, Maggie? I was told you were injured.”

With the large, shatterproof observation window and the camera, there would be no secret notes passed among them to explain what was unsaid. At least Adi wasn’t toting an ECT, which presumably meant she didn’t believe the facility invasion could be traced directly to Maggie.

Either that or the invasion was over, so there was no longer a need to shock her conduits closed.

“I’m okay. Thanks for checking on me.” She held up her bandaged hand. “Four stitches. The first overnight collaring mission I had to go on with Zeke, I got twenty-five in the arm, so this was nothing.”

The manifested wraith that had sliced her on that mission had torn a nice, curly scar above her elbow. The others had teased her about getting it tattooed into a snake, back when they’d been friendly with her. Back before she’d become the neonati to spend the longest amount of time in phase one in history.

“Did you visit the morgue?” Zeke asked Adi.

“Yes.” For a moment, Adi looked older, and almost as tired as Maggie. “We have to notify some next of kin that the funeral arrangements will need to be closed casket. A large number of our dead were mutilated, and several cannot be accounted for at all.”

Maggie pressed a hand to her stomach. “Were the wraiths staked?”

“All but three,” Adi said. “They’ll be transported to another facility for study.”

Maggie shivered, thinking about the fact there were living wraiths in the building at this very moment. Considering the tendency of manifested wraiths to come after her, it wasn’t a comfortable feeling.

“I guess whatever the dead ones consumed turned to dust when they were dispatched?” she asked. “So you can’t prove…I mean…which one ate what?” The theoretical physics behind the matter conversion that took place during wraith consumption wasn’t a class for neonati, but wraiths didn’t eliminate waste. Once they themselves were wasted, autopsies couldn’t be performed on dirt and sand. That was all that was ever left of them no matter what they’d done while they’d been alive.

Until now. Maggie waited to see if Adi would mention it.

Adi re-secured the end of her long braid. “The remaining wraiths in the morgue died the standard way. We didn’t expect the creatures to molest our dead. Nor did we expect what Maggie manifested. Zeke, has she told you about the wraith carcasses?”

No doubt the researchers would be excited to get their hands on the bodies Maggie had unwittingly provided. She was too tired to bring up the Antipodes scroll in a natural-seeming way.

Zeke gave a single, short nod. “Do you think there’s a connection between the carcasses and that shit in the morgue?”

Adi cocked her head to one side. “I hadn’t considered that, but I’ll relay your suggestion to my staff. For now, all information must remain classified. Please don’t discuss it with anyone outside this facility, including superiors.”

“You realize it’s not a coincidence these things happened after you woke Karen Kingsbury,” Zeke pointed out.

Maggie hadn’t told them yet that she’d witnessed the three of them in the dreamsphere. Not only had she heard Adi, but she’d been standing outside Zeke’s shield, watching him and Karen. Was that something she should share on camera?

Should she tell them that she knew Karen had tried to convince them Maggie was the weak link? The problem was, Maggie felt weak.

“Perhaps.” Adi looked at Maggie, her gaze dark and unreadable. “And perhaps Karen isn’t the connecting factor.”

“If you’re saying it’s Maggie—”

Adi held up a hand. “I’m not conclusively saying anything at this time. Nor will I. Right now we need to sift through the events of the past several hours in order to make sense of it. Conclusions may not occur quickly. In the meantime, I’ll require you and Maggie to remain here. And I’ll require you to take on a new disciple.”

“A student? Now?” Zeke goggled at Adi as if she’d just asked him to—well, to take on the responsibility of another neonati in a war zone. “Maggie’s phase one, Adi. I could possibly move her to phase two next week, but with everything going on, another pain in my…another disciple is the last thing I need.”

“I misspoke. Not a new student. I need you to finish training Karen Kingsbury.”

“I’m not going into the sphere with Karen by myself. Ever. She can vigil-trap, in case you forgot.”

“You will never be alone. There will always be others present to network with you and prevent that circumstance. And Karen’s matriculation shouldn’t take long. I managed a surface linkage with her in the dreamsphere. For a full assessment of the situation—and of Karen—I need her to be graduated to a full alucinator.”

“Get a curator,” Maggie and Zeke said at the same time.

“That wouldn’t be wise, considering the other issues we discussed and our need for confidentiality.” Adi’s expression didn’t twist or otherwise reveal their secret plotting, but Adi was generally cool as a cucumber. “Information has been promised to me, Zeke, and I’ll have it. Sooner rather than later, as our target may be inclined to drag things out.”

“She told us we should kill her,” Zeke said in a grim voice. “That isn’t a problem for me.”

Now that Maggie had observed Karen in the dreamsphere, she didn’t feel as horrified by Zeke’s darkness as she had before. Whether or not Maggie had been too weak to keep the wraiths from using her conduit, Karen had known Maggie was there.

She’d known, and she’d lied about it. She’d told Zeke that Maggie was lost and he should pray that she was dead. Considering Karen had the skill to vigil-trap others, threats from Karen shouldn’t be taken lightly.

“Absolutely not,” Adi said. “We do not commit outright murder.”

“Because you want your answers,” Zeke said. “No matter the cost.”

“Because we need those answers and because the Somnium has never supported murder,” Adi corrected. “We have to investigate Karen’s abilities and the recent deaths of the coma patients. To analyze and fully assess Karen, I must have full linkage. Thus, matriculation.”

“Linking with that psycho will put you at her mercy,” Zeke said. “Are you going to be alone in the sphere with her?”

“Precautions will be taken.” A soldier knocked. Adi opened the door and accepted two clipboards with pens. She handed these to Maggie and Zeke. The man, Blake, remained.

Zeke held his at arm’s length as if it might bite. “More contracts?”

Adi gave them a tired smile. “I thought you might want to make lists of the items you’ll require for an extended stay. I know I’m more comfortable with my own possessions.”

Zeke sat at the table on the other side of Maggie. The clipboard hit the metal surface with a rattle, and he clicked the pen several times. As his gray eyes skimmed the checklist, his expression tightened. The fact he wasn’t arguing anymore let Maggie know not to argue anymore either—or ask more questions.

“Ms. Sharma,” Blake said, “we’ve finished our accounting of facility damage if you’d like the report.”

“Yes, please.”

While Maggie tried to concentrate on how many pairs of socks she’d need for an indefinite stay here, Blake ran down a list of injuries, deaths, property damage, and manifestation totals. He ended with the names of alucinators whose bodies had been consumed.

“Joan Wilkins, Bertello Santini, and Landon Whitefeather are missing,” he stated gravely. “As are Sarah Bench and Richard Lamas.”

“Sarah Bench was a patient,” Adi said. “She wasn’t in the morgue.”

“She was killed during the attack and her body was swarmed. We were too slow to prevent it.”

“I see.” Adi pinched the bridge of her nose. “Sarah had only been here a few weeks. She wasn’t one of our declines. I had hopes we could revive her. And wasn’t Richard—am I correct that he died a few hours before the manifestation?”

“His body hadn’t been placed in the morgue yet,” Blake said. “We’re operating under the assumption it was consumed. We did find the sheet used to cover him.”

Maggie remembered the tiny drama when she and Zeke had first arrived—the body being wheeled out of the high security area. She set down her pen. “How normal is it for a whole body to get eaten?”

Adi and Blake looked at her like she ought to know the answer. Zeke scribbled things on his clipboard.

“I’m not aware of any other instances wherein wraiths attacked a corpse they did not cause to die,” Adi said.

“But consuming an entire body,” Maggie persisted. Adi and Blake didn’t seem as gobsmacked as she’d have expected. Was or wasn’t this unprecedented? “Does that happen?”

“Yes,” Adi admitted.

“I never heard of it,” Zeke said. So he was listening. “Maybe if a field team doesn’t get to a neo in time, but—”

“We’ve recorded a few instances in the past year,” Adi said.

Zeke scooted his chair, the legs scraping on the concrete floor. “Not in my area, you didn’t.”

“Internationally. And interfacility.”

Zeke’s inventory clattered to the table. “Look, Adi. You want me to help, but you’re not giving me the whole story. You’re handicapping me.”

“We have no proof the disappearances are connected to the reason you’re here.” Adi nodded to Blake in dismissal. “Your task was simply to confirm Karen’s state of decline, which you did. Dr. Leifer believes the stimulation of your tangible allowed her to emerge from the coma. It’s possible you could have helped release her at any point in the past year, but that wasn’t attempted.”