“Sebastian? What do you need?” I ask as I morph back into my human form.
A few humans toss me some clothes, and I quickly wrap up my trembling body.
“I need to know what the hell that shit is on that trap,” he says as he puts some clothes on.
“I’m not sure, but I think it’s a serum to try and slow us down. The Council’s on the move.”
“What?” Sebastian growls.
“I heard them talking at the other end of the forest. They’re heading to the war room, Sebastian. They’re gearing up for war.”
“Are you sure?” he asks.
“Yes. They were talking about coating their spears in different kinds of serum. One meant for males, and one meant for females. Sebastian, I think they’re going to use this war against humans as a way to turn them into their experiments.”
“Make the men stronger and the females able to reproduce with us,” he says.
“Yeah. It’s not good. We have to get back to the cabin and figure out what our next move is. Because the Council is coming. And Kyle’s still alive.”
“How do you know that?”
“You don’t sound happy about that,” I say.
Sebastian growls, and I can smell the jealousy oozing off him.
“Really? Her husband? It’s her damn husband.”
“Shut up and tell me what you know,” he says as he stands.
He’s still limping, and it starts the gears turning in my head.
“The guards were talking about a creature in the dungeon. A creature they have to keep transferring to a new cage every day. They’re doing experiments on him. Tissue samples and drawing blood. Kyle’s their Patient Zero.”
Sebastian’s eyes slowly crawl up to mine, and I can see something behind them. Pity? Sympathy? Is Sebastian feeling bad for the man he’s jealous of?
“We don’t tell Clarissa,” he says.
“I don’t think she’ll like that,” I say.
“She hasn’t been feeling well. This will only make her sicker. We don’t tell her.”
“Fine. But this serum that’s coated on the trap you got caught up in. Whatever it is, it weakened you. It’s preventing you from healing. So we can only assume they mean to use it against us in battle.”
“Yep. Sounds like the Council,” he says.
“You good to walk back?” I ask.
“I sure as hell am not gonna lean on you.”
“Trust me, I wouldn’t let you. But some of the humans might,” I say.
The two of us turn our heads and look out among the sea of faces. Worrying faces and troubling faces and faces set to go to war. They have no idea what they’re up against. What this Council is attempting to do to them. They’re brave, all of them. But they’re also very, very stupid.
“Come on,” I say. “Let’s get back to the cabin. It’s dinner time, and we’ve got a lot to talk about.”
And Sebastian follows me, though I know he doesn’t like it.
Chapter 8