New Accommodations
Nurse Talbot walked into the kitchen, saw the children sitting at the table and shooed them into the game room. Her eyes roved over them dangerously. Now that the secret was out, she was allowed to hate them, and if they tried to disobey, it was a simple push of a button and those new cuffs on their wrists would offer a mild electric shock. She smiled.
"You all wait in here."
They waited until the nurse was gone, and Chloe glared after her. "They're going to get Clary, aren't they?" She looked at Derek, who could hear.
"Yeah…" His eyes widened in surprise. "Jace is here. He's in the house! They've been keeping him in the basement, and-and doing something to him." A low growl in his throat told them all it wasn't a good something.
Simon was up in flash, hand on the door. "We should have known. What have they done to him?"
Derek shook his head. "They're going to use him to make Clary come. Enright is taking him right now."
Tori glowered at the door. "Bitch."
They were all silent, waiting for Derek to pick up the rest of the conversation outside the door. Derek's face turned into a mask of hatred and he lurched at the door and then paused. They all watched and when Derek finally relaxed, their eyes turned sharp and waiting.
"So?" Tori pressed.
"I heard them fighting. Jace must have put up some fight because Enright was snarling and trying to curse him. I think Talbot gave him something, a drug. He was struggling, and then he just started to relax, and Enright said he wouldn't even know it when she…" His voice wavered off and his eyes drifted away.
"When she what?" Chloe asked softly.
Derek slowly met the eyes of Chloe, Simon, and Tori. "When she killed him."
It's too late to go back, Clary, she said to herself as she left the bike on the street side. Her heart was beating painfully fast, like she couldn't breathe enough. Be calm. Jace needs you to be calm.
Jace did need her to be calm. He needed her to be a lot of things, and the most important was that she be in that abandoned warehouse right then. Time was almost up, and Jace's life was on the line. Her feet were moving without her knowing, carrying her quickly to the door left slightly ajar.
Clary pushed the door open, listening to the echoing screech of the metal in the wide, empty warehouse. She paused at the entrance and closed her eyes, picturing the nightmare things that could be lingering in there. Picturing the demons that were a part of her new world.
"Hello?" Her voice was weak and shaky. "Jace?"
Clary waited for any answer, but all she got was the resounding note of her own voice floating away. Jace…ace…ce…
You're too late! Clary screamed at herself, tears pricking at her eyes. Enright killed him just like she said she would. He's dead!
"Clary?"
She knew that voice, new the way it curled around her name like a soft caress. But there was something wrong with way it sounded, wounded almost. Clary swallowed her broken sobs and moved toward to the voice. Toward Jace.
"Jace! I'm here," Clary croaked. The warehouse was pitch black and, if possible, colder than outside. "Jace, please, just say my name one more time. One more time."
She tripped over a stray cord and went down hard on the cement floor. Hands stinging from the impact, Clary curled up and cradled her hands. "Clary!"
It was a watery rasp this time. Jace was in pain, and the panic mounting in Clary reached a horrible pinnacle. She clambered onto her feet and ran to the voice, ran as fast as she could without seeing a thing. When Clary tripped again, she knew she could stop.
The thing she'd fallen over was soft and warm. It was curled in a ball on the cement, issuing heavy breaths. Clary's hands searched over the dusty cement and eventually found soft fabric. Her fingers tightened on what had to be the collar of a shirt, and she felt a pulsing heat from the skin beneath it.
"Jace?" she whispered.
"Clary…no…" It was Jace, panting heavily in pain. "…Go…"
"I'm not leaving Jace." Clary sniffled and felt tears running down her face. He was alive, he was breathing, he was speaking to her. She crawled next to Jace and explored his body in the dark until she found his hair. Her fingers knotted in the curls. "I couldn't leave you."
"Please, you have to go before she comes," he begged.
"Enright?" Clary guessed at once. "I'm not afraid of her, Jace. I don't care what she does to me. I won't let her kill you."
"No, get away from here. I'm better off dead…I saw what they do…the laboratory…"
A shiver raced up Clary's spine at the idea of a laboratory. What waited for her once Enright came? Would she spend the rest of her life lying on a metal table, needles piercing her skin?
"I don't care, Jace." Clary wrapped her arms about his shoulders and clung on tightly. "I'm not afraid."
"How sweet," said the voice behind her, clearly feminine, clearly Enright. The lights in the warehouse came flickering on, illuminating the scene before her. "Look at you two, clinging onto each other for dear life. That seems appropriate."
Clary was holding onto Jace desperately. He was bound with rope at his hands and feet. There was a metal cuff on his wrist and a ring in his ear. She furrowed her brow and squeezed him. It'd only been three days. He'd only been gone for three days and Clary had almost completely broken down.
"It was good you decided to come. I didn't want to kill your Jace, but with both of you, it will make out experiments much easier." Enright eyed Clary sharply.
Clary found her voice. "What did you do to him?" she demanded. Jace looked at her with wide golden eyes and she saw how big the pupils were. "You drugged him!"
"Of course. He was having a tantrum and I don't stand for those. Now though, he seems a sweet docile boy." She gave him a small terrible smile. "I like you this way, Jace. It suits you."
"You bitch!" Clary snarled and lunged at her.
Mrs. Enright seemed to expect this, and she didn't have the time to deal with this little girl. She met Jace's eyes and offered him a wide happy smile. He screamed at her and tried to move, but he knew it wasn't enough. Clary froze midair and Mrs. Enright jabbed a needle into her arm.
"What are you doing?" shrieked Clary as she watched a silver liquid seep into her vein.
"You're out of commission for the night Clary." She ran a cold hand over Clary's cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Something like wood cleaner and an overpowering scent of daisies filled Jace's senses as he came to. He breathed in and the aroma came with the air purging his brain of any thoughts and bringing an uncomfortable twinge some place behind his eyes. Jace licked his lips and tasted sweet, sweet strawberries. Too sweet. With another breath, Jace forced his eyes open.
"Arg!" Jace groaned the moment light touched his eyes. He clamped his hands over his eyes and turned his face away from the light. "What the hell!" he snarled, and his voice echoed all over the room, reverberating in his sore head.
Where am I? Jace asked himself. What happened to the Institute? Jace tried to concentrate on the night before, but all he got was pain, daisies, and an uncomfortable feeling in his abdomen. Well, idiot, let's start with opening your eyes.
Slowly this time, Jace opened his eyes and shaded them with his hands. He waited until he adjusted to the light and distant pounding in his skull lessened before lifting his hands and taking a look at his surroundings.
Defiantly not the Institute.
He was in a room. A simple room, four walls pained a faint yellow, one wood floor, and a window. Jace struggled up in what he realized was a bed. It was made of wood, and draped in two soft blankets. Right beside him was a bedside table with a reading lamp and a book. At the end of his bed was a wooden dresser. On the opposite wall, a closet and a desk.
Defiantly not my room.
Jace inhaled, and the smell surged in, making him gag. He clambered out of the bed, and struggled to the window, praying for fresh clean air. Jace threw it open and felt a cool breeze brush his face and rustle his hair. It didn't help to clear his mind, but the bittersweet taste in his mouth dissipated and the throbbing in his head lessened.
For a few minutes, Jace remained at the window, scouring his brain for any memory. None came, but he kept trying anyway. When Jace finally admitted he had no memory of the previous night, he sighed and turned away. The room felt like a cage, and he, Jace, a lion prowling about it.
"Hello?" he rasped out. He went to the door and checked the knob. It wouldn't turn. "Hello!"
Jace spun about and went to the closet. Some of them had crawl spaces, maybe he was in luck. He threw open the door and was greeted by a rack full of hung shirts. They were all brand new, all from expensive name brand makers, and none of them his. He pushed them aside and pressed his hand to the back of the closet. It was solid and wood. No crawl space there.
It was as Jace pulled his hand out he noticed the plastic band secured round his wrist. Jace stepped back into the light and saw minuscule writing around the band. He made out his name, Genesis II, and then another number.
The uncomfortable feeling in his abdomen expanded suddenly. He felt his heart beating frantically against his ribs. None of this made sense. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know how he'd gotten where he was. He didn't know what Genesis II meant. He didn't like being locked in a small room.
"Let me out!" he snarled, and banged on the door. "I said let me out!" There was a long silence, and then hasty murmurs. Jace paused and listened. He made out two male voices and two female voices. They were whispering. "I can hear you, you morons."
There was a whisper, the doorknob shot off the door, and the door swung open a little. Jace froze and waited, tensing his muscles and preparing to lunge into action. A hand shot in and flung the door wide.
"What a coincidence, we can hear you too, moron." Jace watched as a young man stepped over the threshold and glowered at him. Jace scrunched his nose and narrowed his eyes at what was unmistakably a werewolf.
"Wouldn't have expected better from a wolf," replied Jace caustically.
"Wouldn't have expected better from an ass." A girl poked her head into the room. Her dark eyes narrowed at the sight of Jace. "You know, I put myself at risk to break you out and this is how I get repaid? You were right, Derek, we should have left him in here."
"Tori," said a tired voice from behind. "He's just in shock. Hey, Jace, sorry about Tori, she's a bitch. And sorry about my brother, he's about as much an ass as you."
The boy who joined them was at least some part Asian, though his blond hair contradicted the idea. His round brown eyes surveyed Jace cautiously and then a smile crossed his face and he held out his hand.
"Simon-" the werewolf began.
"Derek, don't. If we're all gonna be stuck living together, we better all get along."
Jace shook Simon's hand, and the boy smiled. "Listen to Chloe, bro."
"Chloe?" Jace asked, waiting for the other girl.
With a shy smile, a young girl stepped into view and pushed her hair out of her eyes. "Hey, Jace. It's good you're awake, we've all been worried."
Jace's eyes roamed from face to face, measuring the trust in each. They seemed readily open, though the boy called Derek seemed highly skeptical. Again, the girl named Chloe stepped up and smiled.
"Listen, you should probably come with us, when the nurses see you out of your room, they're gonna freak." Chloe looked to Derek. "Can you fix the door?"
"Yeah, give me a few minutes." His green eyes raked Jace and then shifted to the door. "Take him to the game room and keep him there."
"Game room?" Jace repeated with a sneer. "I wasn't aware we had a place like that to stay. Sounds rather pleasant."
"Someone's coming!" Tori hissed, and they took off down the hall. Chloe snatched Jace's hand and pulled him down the hall, to a set of stairs, where they all tramped down. Jace's eyes snatched glances of the house he was now in. It was old, and made mostly of wood, painted off yellow. There were a number of other rooms, and many open windows. But it was hard to miss the blinking light of a camera.
Jace followed them into a comfy kitchen and then into a carpeted room with worn blue furniture. There was a blank television and a dark computer. Jace spotted a door and his legs lurched toward it instinctively. He could see freedom right through it.
"Don't, man," said Simon softly. "It's locked."
Jace shot him a quick arrogant look. "Locks don't faze me like you."
Simon shrugged. "Even if you get through the door, the fences are electrified, and that cuff on your arm is a tracking device. They're probably watching you right now. Measuring the beat of your heart, temperature, brain activity. You're not going anywhere without them knowing."
Jace considered his words and still prepared to lunge at the door. One good kick, and it'd be down, that was for sure. "Who's them?" he asked while he measured the distance he was from the door.
"Scientists mostly," yawned Tori from the couch. She'd turned the television on, but the only channel was public access. "A few doctors. They're all insane."
"They're not the only ones," Jace muttered.
"Listen, Jace," Simon said, tugging him away from the door. "We haven't got time. Once the nurses come we have to eat lunch and then there's no point in trying to make sense of this." Jace's head ached and he ignored Simon. "The people they work, for the Edison Group, this organization that wanted to help the lives of Supernaturals-"
The word jumped out at Jace. "Edison Group?" The feeling in his abdomen moved to his stomach and he thought he was going to be sick. A memory, something of a cold table and a bright light surged up in his head.
"Yes," Chloe replied. She pushed him onto the couch. "They wanted to make Supernatural lives easier, help us blend into normal society, so they started experimenting on people, on us-"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Jace snapped. He still had his mind on the memory, and was clawing desperately at it, because it was important. It had to be.
"Where is the boy, Derek?" shouted a woman. All the children looked up and tensed. Jace stopped thinking about the memory, and starting thinking about how he could best use the television remote as a weapon. "This door was locked, and he was inside."
"Damn it!" swore Simon. "Listen, we'll tell you more later tonight. Don't worry, me and Tori can unlock a door if needs must." He flopped down the couch next to him and flicked his hand. The remote landed in his hand and he turned the volume up. Chloe grabbed a book off the shelf and buried her nose in it. Tori stared at her nails and pretended to watch the birds outside the window.
"You wanna explain what the hell-"
"Jace," Chloe said, "don't eat the pill they give you. Hide it under your tongue. But don't take it!"
"Why?"
The door slammed open and an aged woman came in, dragging Derek by his hair. "So, this is where you absconded to, is it?" She eyed Jace angrily. "I warned those doctors we needed electronic locks on these doors. How'd you do it?"
Jace felt his mouth go rather dry and stared at her. His stomach was doing back flips and his frustration with himself mounted when he couldn't name the woman but knew he didn't like her. "I unlocked the door." For some reason, the idea of telling the truth caught in his throat.
"Liar," she hissed. She turned on the boy in her hands "I'm reporting you, Derek, and I know Jace didn't undo the lock. Who did it?"
Jace's eyes found Tori, who gulped and looked down. "I told you, it was me," Jace snapped. "I think I'm capable of pulling a doorknob out. Want to see me kick that door out?" He gestured to the screen door and stood.
The woman stared at him furiously. "Well, then, Jace, you're about to be reported. Congratulations. Derek, you stay here. If any one of you leaves this room, I'm locking you freaks in the basement." She tossed Derek into the room and stormed out.
"Bitch," Tori said after her. "Thanks, Jace. If I'd been reported my mom would have murdered me."
Derek rolled his shoulders and plopped down next to Chloe. "Talbot is really starting to piss me off."
"Who?" Jace recognized the name at once.
"That's Mrs. Talbot. One of the nurses." Derek glanced his way. "I'm assuming the drugs haven't worn off yet? You'll remember her soon enough. She's kinda the top dog here."
Jace racked his brain and his stomach was aching terrible. "So, what happens once we're reported?"
"No clue. But I'm guessing Davidoff will come down here and give us a talking to." Derek shrugged and watched the screen.
"I don't know who Davidoff is," Jace pointed out sharply. "At least, I think I don't." His whole body was shaking. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.
"Doctor," grunted Derek.
A silence descended over the group and Jace drifted over his memories. When he strained his mind he came up with a weak image. He saw Clary staring at him with wide eyes as a woman shoved a needle in her arm. He saw the same woman smiling viciously at him. He saw the stars above him, and he saw them cartwheel as he slipped into unconsciousness.
"Is there another person here? Another girl?" he asked softly.
"No," Simon said, giving him a quick look. "Why?"
Jace just shrugged. So Clary wasn't here. Was she with the Lightwoods? He hoped to God that was the case.
The door swung to and Nurse Talbot stuck her head in. "Lunch is ready; get in here."
Th group tromped in and Jace gaped at the table which was set with plates; it looked so ordinary. They all sat, leaving him a seat by Derek, and waited in silence as Talbot handed out sandwiches. She then came back with a bowl full of carrot sticks and celery, and also poured everyone a glass full of cranberry juice.
Jace had a turkey sandwich, stacked with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and mayo. He poked it and traced carrots around with celery. Next to him, Derek was staring at his sandwich and scratching at his arm dejectedly.
"Derek, Jace, I contacted Dr. Davidoff and he's coming to speak with you today." She glared at them and Jace felt his stomach clench. "Now, let's all be good little children and take our medicine."
One by one, Nurse Talbot handed out pills and watched as each of the children placed it in their mouth and swallowed. When she came to Jace, she took his chin firmly in her hand and made him look into her cold eyes. He was thinking how great it was that Clary wasn't there when she pinched her fingers tighter.
"You take this pill, Jace, and don't ask questions. You're already in enough trouble, don't make this worse on yourself." She handed him a small green pill and stared at him, hawk like, until he placed it in his mouth and swallowed.
Talbot left after that with an order for them all to eat. When she was gone, all the eyes at the table lifted to Jace who smirked. He opened his mouth and lifted his tongue. Tucked under his tongue, caught in the membrane, was the small green pill.
"You all owe me an explanation."
