Shattered (Alchemy Series Book #3) (5 page)

"Jo," Oslo greeted me.

At least he was calling me Jo, the name I'd assumed as an adult. That was a positive sign.

Cormac tilted his head in Oslo's direction.
"Your
friend
has a message for you that he refused to share until you were present." Cormac didn't like that many people. If he had been Santa, there would be a whole lot of coal going around. It looked like Oslo had made the naughty list.

"Can
we go somewhere more private?" Oslo asked, looking around at the glass walls. "This might not be something you want to go public with."

My stomach clenched an
d my eyes darted around the room. I wasn't sure I wanted to go private with whatever it was, either. I'd prefer if it just went away altogether, but that didn't appear to be an option.

"Sure. Come on." I led him
out of Sabrina's office and headed toward the conference room upstairs, hoping it was empty. I turned back in the guise of making sure Oslo was following me. How full of it was I? I really wanted to see if Cormac was. He was following right behind Olso, like a dark shadow of death just waiting to strike.

Now what? Cormac
knew I had a shaded past. I was prepared for that skeleton. The goose chase I'd sent Cormac on with Oslo's help? That haunting seemed imminently close, with the ghost right on my tail.

I'd
stay close to Oslo. If I had to take him down to keep him quiet, I would. I'd apologize in a note pinned to his shirt when he woke up tomorrow, miles away from here.

"Long time since I saw you in class. How have you been faring in these crazy times?"
Oslo asked.

I inwardly sighed in relief. He was letting me know he wasn't here to give me up.
But if he's not here to blackmail me or some other such thing, what the hell did he want? His clothes and appearance didn't look like he'd been toughing it out, so he wasn't a refugee seeking shelter.

"As good as
can be expected. How about…" My feet flew up over my head and I knew I was in for one dozy of a headache as I was about to land head first. I felt Cormac's hands on my arms right before I totally wiped out.

"What did I slip on?" I asked as Cormac helped me right myself. I look
ed down and there was a four feet by four feet area of carpet gone with stone in its place.

"What happened to the floor?" I asked, looking at the weird spot. "Renovations? Now?"

"I'll ask Dodd," Cormac said.

He
held the door to the conference room open for us and just as Oslo was about to follow him in, I saw Dodd and Buzz turn the corner down the hall. I held back a sigh of annoyance. Of course, they would run right over.

Oslo stopped a couple feet
inside the room and I knew what was running through his mind.

"Y
ou'll get safe passage out of here," I said, then threw him a look that made it clear, as long as he didn't screw with my secrets. Oslo was slick enough to get the point and gave a subtle single nod.

"What about them?" Oslo asked, looking over
at the three menacing figures, also known as Cormac, Dodd and Buzz.

"Cormac?"

He stared down Oslo for a minute. "This is a one-time offer."

"That's all I need," he said. Oslo
sized up the room before he turned back and looked at me. "I'm here on behalf of the senator." It was telling that in a room full of chairs, not one person sat.

Of all the thin
gs he could have said, that was the last thing I expected. Buzz edged in closer to Oslo, Dodd silently positioned himself next to the door and Cormac moved nearer to me. It was weird, like they'd been practicing. Strange men, they might have been too. If they had, I was glad I
hadn't
been invited, for once.

"Frisk him," Cormac told Buzz
, probably thinking what I was. Rick. Promises and assurances wouldn't do us any good if he had no control of himself. The image of Rick shooting a bullet into his own head would never leave me.

Oslo stepped back from the table and raised his hands in compliance as Buzz patted him down.

"He's clean," Buzz said and returned to his spot by the door.

"I understand your concern but I'm not corrupted. I never come in
to physical contact with him."

"Is that how it happens?" I asked.

"Yes. He's got a way of interjecting a piece of himself into people with touch. But I'm pretty sure he doesn't like to do it."

"Why are you here?"
I asked.

"To offer you
his terms of peace."

"Terms?" Cormac scoffed.

"Yes," Oslo continued looking at me. "The senator wants to offer you a deal."

"After our last encounter
, what makes him think I'd even negotiate? He's the one that ran, not me."

Oslo's eyes widened slightly at that. I didn't add that I'd very nearly died and my control over the silver strands was
nonexistent.

"
That's your decision, but I have to deliver the terms. That's on me." He said it like a man that knew what the consequences of not fulfilling his responsibilities were.

"Go ahead,
" I said.

"
Are you familiar with the wall of tornados that are running diagonally through North America?" Oslo continued.

"Yes,
we're aware of them," I replied.

"They
extend all the way around the Earth."

And it just gets better and better. Wait until the crowd downstairs hears about this one. Wow, is my popularity going to skyrocket then.

Oslo walked to where there was an antique globe in the corner and traced a line with his finger, demonstrating the divide all the way to China.

"The s
enator has agreed to relinquish any claim on this side of the globe," he pointed to the half we were in, "if you stay out of his half."

I had
no honor left when it came to the senator. I wouldn't handicap myself to rules I doubted he'd adhere to. What did I care if I said yes now and then backed out on the deal? But the senator would expect this, so instead of jumping the gun, I waited for the other shoe to drop.

"And?"

Oslo smiled slightly, reminding me of the person I used to know before the world had turned on its ear. Once he'd declared himself as the senator's man, it was startling how quickly he'd changed in my eyes, evidenced by this slight reminder of who he used to be.

"We wi
ll need reassurances, of course," he finally said.

"Of course," Dodd said
in the background.

"Which are?"
I asked. Cormac remained silent. Oslo might not know it, but that was worse than threats.

"I have a list of people I am to return with
, if you agree."

That would never happen
, but I held my cards close to my chest. My entire life had become a poker metaphor. I really needed to stop gambling. Good thing the casino floor was filled with refugees instead of gamblers. "So, what do we get?"

"Y
ou get peace."

I stood on the opposite side of the table and waited for the rest of it
, but got nothing. "You've told us the stick, no carrot? You can't expect us to take an offer of peace with nothing to back up the gesture." No one in the room would accept the deal anyway, but it would be good to know what they had to offer.

"We can
also tell you how to kill the things you call rippers."

And that
was their ace in the hole. How to neutralize the rippers was a game changer. We could send out scouts without the threat of death or simply being able to walk outside the casino at night without constant fear.

I stepp
ed back and looked at Cormac, Dodd and Buzz to see their reactions. It was pointless. Even Buzz was unreadable today. Must have been those secret practices.

"If you would be inclined to o
ffer me lodgings, I've got two days before I need to return with your answer."

"
Leave your list and we'll think it over. Buzz will get you a room," Cormac said.

Oslo reached into his
back pants pocket and laid a folded sheet of paper on the table.

I watched his cold manner. I knew he'd come up rough, much like me, but it didn't squash the anger I felt.
"Is it worth it? Whatever you are getting to work with a killer?" I asked, having a hard time not viewing this as a betrayal to the human race.

"I don'
t know. Is it?" he asked, then looked at Cormac.

"N
ot even close to the same."

"We all have our lies that let help us go on," Oslo replied.

"Out," Cormac said in a barely restrained voice. "My promise was to let you leave here alive. I didn't promise how long you'd make it after you left."

Oslo didn't utter another word and turned toward the door.

I finally sat down as I watched Buzz escort him out. The sound proofed door slid shut with a click, leaving Cormac, Dodd and me alone in the room.

"The senator has
at least one person inside here," Dodd said, speaking first.

"I agree. He's got spies," I said.
"That's not surprising, with the amount of people we've taken in. That'll be handled. Right now, I want to know who's on the list."

I grabbed a pencil from the sideboard and u
sed the eraser to drag it over, skeptical of touching it.

The only thing on the sheet was a list of ten names
. I recognized most of them as humans that I'd had limited contact with, but my heart gave an extra beat when I saw the name on the bottom. As soon as I felt my reaction to seeing Sabrina on the list, I realized a tiny part of me had been considering the deal.

"
We can't do it." I pushed the paper away, annoyed with myself. Realizing who I was starting to become made me that much more opposed, as my conscience needed the salve to my guilt.

Cormac leaned over the table a
nd looked down at the sheet. He stood back and didn't say a word.

"What is it?" Dodd asked and then looked at the sheet himself. "Absolutely not. Why the hell would they even want her?"

"Relax, it's not happening," Cormac said.

The door swung open and we all turned to see Buzz walking in with Sabrina
herself behind him.

"Kever is showing Oslo to his room," Buzz said.

I looked at her and couldn't help wondering why the senator would've wanted her. It didn't make any sense to me. Nothing about the list was clicking into place.

"Why are you all looking at me oddly?" Sabrina asked
.

I looked away quickly
, with everyone else. I guess we were all wondering the same thing.

"What is it?"
she asked again.

O
ne of us must have looked to the sheet on the table, or maybe the single sheet just lying there by itself was tip off enough, because she made a grab for it. Dodd lunged at it too, but a split second too late.

"What
is this and why is my name on it?" She looked at each of us and I felt even worse as her eyes came to rest on me, like she expected me to be the one to be honest with her.

"That came
from the senator. I'm not sure you should touch it," I finally said.

"What is it
? Why is my name on a list from the senator?" she asked, ignoring my advice, still gripping the sheet.

Dodd
spoke then and told her of Oslo's demands from the senator.

As he spoke,
I watched her reaction go from outrage, to anger and finally defeat within the course of a few minutes. She sank into the conference chair, her normally perfect posture abandoned for the slouch of resignation.

"I should go," she said.

"You are not going!" Dodd exploded as he watched her whole demeanor become resigned.

She ignored him
, looking completely dejected.

"You aren't going," Cormac said, backing up Dodd.

"Maybe I should," she said.

"What are
you saying?" Dodd demanded. "Absolutely not!"

"Why these people?" I asked, looking at the list again.

"I think I might know," Sabrina answered. "Remember what we were talking about the other day?" she asked as she turned to me.

"Yes," I said, thinking back to the humans
who were mutating and the story she told me about the baby with the tail.

Sabrina
caught Cormac, Dodd and Buzz up to speed on what she had witnessed with the humans.

"Every name on this list is a h
uman that's changing," she explained to us.

"But w
hy are you on it?" I asked.