S. W. Clarke - 05 Soulbound by S. W. Clarke & Ramy Vance

Author:S. W. Clarke & Ramy Vance [Clarke, S. W. & Vance, Ramy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Keep Evolving Studios
Published: 2019-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Serena lowered her hand. She had rendered Hercules completely silent.

There in the doorway, the scientist stood with perfect and unconcerned poise. She wore the same black suit and heels I’d always seen her in, her hair once again a waterfall over her shoulder. Something was tucked into the curve of both her ears. Her lips were painted a brilliant and complementary red to Hercules’s eyes. “I knew you would come for him. And I knew, when the show began outside, that you had arrived.”

My body went as tense as a drum. “You’ve been waiting for me?”

Miral had turned toward Serena, her sword still upraised. “You have turned him against us.”

Serena’s eyes seemed reluctant to leave me. “Turns out, when you explore a demigod’s memories, a lot comes out. Like the time a voice sang to him to kill his wife and children.” Serena gestured to the demigod. “You see, it was Hera who sang to Hercules. But Hercules, in one of our sessions, used the word ‘angel’ when recounting the event. Isn’t that strange, I thought. There’s a reason why we have that old saying, ‘A voice like an angel.’ ”

Miral set her jaw. “You tricked him. I never did such a thing.”

“You did … with the help of technology.” The tiniest twitch of triumph touched Serena’s lips. “We have many recordings of your speaking voice. A symphonic remix into a melody wasn’t challenging, given our resources. You would be amazed at the reaction you get from the demigod when you play that melody into his ear.”

Was that what they tortured Hercules with? Was that what broke him?

The sound of Miral’s singing?

“Serena,” I said. “Let him go.”

When her blue eyes shifted back to me, I felt practically leveled. Something had changed in her gaze. It wasn’t until this moment that I understood the woman standing before me wasn’t the same scientist I’d met a year ago.

The light seemed to shrink around her, darkness closing in. I had the strong sensation that at any moment she could reach out and snap the bones of my neck.

She had changed. Or maybe she had changed herself.

For some reason, I felt compelled to keep talking.

“What the World Government has planned,” I began, “the genocide of Others in Paradise Lot … It’s not the way. It won’t get you what I know you want. Not with the OtherX in Vegas, and not this time, either.”

“Time.” A tinge of wistfulness had entered Serena’s tone. “Collin doesn’t have time.”

I swallowed, caught. I had not helped her son. While we talked, he was gradually—with aching slowness—drowning in his own phlegm.

“I’m still going to save him,” I managed to say. “I’m still going to save Collin.”

Her eyebrows lifted at the center, the first show of real feeling I’d seen from her.

“But,” I went on, “I need you to release Hercules. You let me go once, months ago. Why not now?”

Pain lanced across her face, like a thought had entered she couldn’t voice. When her lips parted, her white teeth glimmered under the lights.

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