Flight of Fancy by Cherie Noel

Author:Cherie Noel [Noel, Cherie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: M/M romance, fantasy
Publisher: Cherie Noel
Published: 2013-05-08T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four ~ Elixir

The whole way through the city, Cam wondered if he should have waited and asked Seth to come with him. But if Seth said no, then they would have fought, and there was no time for that. Wrapped safe and warm in Seth’s arms, Cam had finally slept deeply enough to dream for more than a moment. He’d dreamed of the last night before the Ravineux came to the home he used to share with Pa-paw Tolly. In the dream, just as had happened then in his waking life, Tolly had drawn out the old book with slightly shaking hands. With a pained grimace, he’d slit open it’s binding to pull a folded sheet of shiny material he called plastic. Then Tolly unfolded the material, pausing to clear a wide spot on their floor until nothing remained but bare cement before carefully laying out the drawing.

Tolly called the drawing a map. He told Cam they could not wait much longer, one moonrising or perhaps two at most, but that they must make their way to the place the elixir was kept by the end of that set amount of time. They had no choice, lest Cam fall prey to the same illness that his father had fallen to before him. Cam turned startled eyes on Pa-paw at those words, because he had never heard Tolly speak of his father before.

Tolly ran a trembling hand over his lined face.

“There was never a time—never a right time, sprout. I’m to blame in part for his death and yours if we don’t get you that elixir. I knew well enough what those grubbing bastards were up to. I worked for them for years. Oh, not in the labs, mind you. Hah. Never that—no, I was a guard. Still, I had eyes. I saw what they did to those boys, the changes happening after they gave them the first round of treatments. Yes, they were desperate, we all were after the meteors struck and the new diseases they brought began to decimate the world. But—oh, hell—you’ve no idea what I’m talking about, Sprout.”

Cam watched Tolly closely, wondering if he had the oldster’s disease where the mind played tricks. Tolly met his gaze with a grim steadiness that spoke only of determination and ironclad will. Cam shook his head.

“No, Tolly, I—what is a lab? Meteors, I—those are the sky rocks that shoot through the air, yes? What has this to do with me?”

Tolly’s eyes grew solemn.

“At the end, Sprout, one of their experiments went wrong. Instead of a cure, they made one of the diseases strong enough to change those susceptible to it into—monsters.”

Cam reeled at the implications.

“The Ravineux?”

Tolly nodded, the corners of his mouth pulling farther down as his eyes grew dark with memory.

“Your father was visiting the lab that day. He wasn’t a subject in the round of experiments that made the Ravineux. He was there for a checkup, and to get the final dose of elixir to complete his immunizations.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.