Chapter Thirteen: Spectors

It was dark. The kind of dark where Bramble couldn’t see her hand even though she knew it was right in front of her face. Her heart was pounding a mile a minute and her mind was racing at the same speed. Despite the fact that her sight was hindered she knew what was surrounded her: three men – two whom were unconscious -and a small barn that was located directly in front of her. Her elbows were locked with one of the unfortunate guard’s as she dragged him head first into the shrubbery. The whole barn was surrounded by the overgrown greenery. She dumped him there and a nearly silent thud signaled that the other unconscious man had been hidden from view as well.

Bramble wheeled around, her pace calm and her breathing unusually even after knocking two fully grown men out. She headed back the way she came, using the bright blue glow that pierced the night as a guide. It glimmered a few inches about her head. The light Azreal’s spark provided was hardly enough to give away their position but it was enough to light up one side of his face in an eerie shade of blue.

“Azreal,” She whispered, “we need to get inside.”

He nodded, green eyes falling on the wide double doors of the barn. It was old; not nearly as red at Bramble was sure it had been originally. It was also dead bolted with some sort of device. When Azreal reached out to touch the metal rungs electricity danced out in bright loops and crackling sizzles. The hiss of pain that escaped his lips confirmed that the voltage was nothing to scoff at. While Bramble was momentarily unsure of what to do, Azreal seemed smug. He paced to his left a little. Then to his right. Then he stopped in a relatively wide section of the barn and put his hand up against the rotting wood.

“What, are you going to punch a hole through it?” She inquired with a role of her eyes.

Azreal laughed and shook his head but did not lower his hand. Instead he rose his eyes to meet her own, even though the darkness, “You’re going to have to trust that I won’t rip you to shreds.”

Bramble realized exactly what he was going to do.

Last night, even though it had seemed like years ago now, Azreal had explained to the Cress Mission how he had appeared so suddenly. It turned out that he had the ability to transport molecules through space. His range was limited, less than a mile, but he could move anything or anyone through any material that existed. It wasn’t the same thing as teleportation for two reasons.

The first was the fact that he had to be touching a solid material; a wall or even a person that he could open up a portal through. He could not pick the exact destination either, just the general direction and distance. The second was the fact that it wasn’t just relocating an object. He could only transport molecules. This meant that he had to break down whatever object he was moving and then reconstruct it on the other side.

The look of fear on Bramble’s face must have been humorous because Azreal was soon laughing at her. Bramble found herself glaring at the man but defiantly waltz up to him, arms crossed and head held high.

Azreal free hand reached up and rested gently on her forehead. It reminded her of when her mother would check her for a fever when she was little. Only her mother’s hand hadn’t made her nervous. Nor had it made every fiber of her being hum. She wasn’t sure how long her body buzzed, feeling lighter and lighter. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she felt nothing. Not her heart in her chest or the air in her lungs. She was somewhere simple, someplace where feelings didn’t exist.

Then, without warning, everything snapped together. She was thrown onto a pile of hay, hair and limps flailing in the wind. The sensation was so jolting she found herself gasping for air. Azreal was beside her before she regained her bearings. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet, though not gently.

“You did rip me to shreds.” Bramble managed out a few seconds later.

Azreal shrugged and threw a devilish grin her way, “Yes but I put you back together, didn’t I?”

Bramble found herself groping her face after he spoke. Her nose was in place, as were her eyes ears and hair. Her lips and eyebrows were fine. She slowly moved her hands in a northerly fashion, checking her breasts for any abnormalities in size. She was cut short by her partner voice.

“Molest yourself later. We have business to accomplish.”

She rolled her eyes at him again but joined him in the middle of the barn. After all, everything felt like it was working properly.

“Have you seen one before, a Spector?” Bramble asked as they scoured the dimly light room. Azreal didn't reply. There were hay stacks everywhere and crates placed haphazardly around the space. There was a latter that lead to a second story and Bramble could faintly make out the night sky through an opening up there. She decided she would much rather jump from there than be torn apart, molecule by molecule, again.

After a few minutes of searching Azreal’s voice pierced the night, “Bramble!”

She whipped around, hands balled into fists, ready to bash someone’s face in. Only there was no one there, “What?” she hissed.

“Come. Look at this.”

As she approached Azreal, who was currently peering inside a wooden create, she realized that his normal smug demeanor had changed slightly. He was usually confident and brash. Now he seemed unsure -almost startled.

Bramble approached the crate slowly. She was not quite sure what she should be expecting. A dead body? Organs?

She peered inside carefully at first didn’t see what the big deal was. Inside were two Spectors. Their doll-like bodies were twisted in inhuman and gruesome angles. Bramble had to remind herself that they were robots, not humans. If they had indeed been human it was obvious that every limb in their body would have been broken.

However, this wasn’t what Azreal had his eyes attached to. No. In the corner of the crate, resting soundly on lumps of dull hay, was a baby. The small thing couldn’t have been more than a year old. Its chest rose and fell, confirming the fact that it was a human. Not a doll. The seconds ticked by as the duo stared in shock.

“What do we do?” Azreal whispered, glancing up at Bramble.

She reached out, tenderly wrapping the child up in her arms. They couldn’t just leave it there. God only knows what would happen to the poor thing.

“Do you think this has to do with what you said last night,” Azreal was already hooking up a small device to the two Spectors, “with what you said about King Richard and Cress?”

“I don’t know…” She whispered, rocking the child in her arms. It was still sound asleep, its breathing steady against her chest.

The night she had found out Cress had been the one to develop Spector technology she had told them about something she had over-heard during her enslavement. The night of her eavesdropping had been long ago and she had only caught bits and pieces of the conversation that night but she was certain of their overall goal. A visiting Lord had been speaking to a guard about improving the Spectors. Giving them powers akin to the Vestige. Making them not only able to locate but capture and fight them. She hadn’t caught the how.

Looking down at the young child in her arms she felt a familiar drop in her stomach.

They couldn’t possibly be planning on experimenting on humans.