it’s very possible he’ll simply go ahead and destroy whatever is left of the blood. Cut off his nose to spite his face, sort of thing.”
I was utterly sick of trying to locate things within the IBSI. As crazy as it sounded, I was actually more enthusiastic about uncovering a decade-old mystery than traipsing back into their twisted web of lies and deceit, even if there had been a chance Atticus had not yet destroyed the stock of blood. I had failed to discover things too many times while in their facilities. And I didn’t want anything more to do with the bastards… except Atticus… He’s one person I wouldn’t mind bumping into sometime soon.
My father’s next request of the doctor refocused my mind. “So tell us everything you know about the disappearance of these ‘specimens’. Every single detail you remember.”
“Hm…” She furrowed her brows and leaned back in her chair, repositioning her grip around her son, who had dozed off against her chest.
“Did their disappearance suggest a kidnapping?” I asked. “And how old were they when they vanished?” What are the chances they’d even still be alive after all this time?
The scientist rubbed her temples. “They were, I think, just over a year old.” Well, that ruled out escape. What one-year-olds could figure out how to escape the IBSI? They’d still be figuring out how to use their wings. It also meant they’d be in their teenage years now… That was assuming they aged. Hawks aged. But half-bloods didn’t. They remained frozen in time like vampires. Ugh, this was all so confusing. “As for your first question,” the scientist continued, “definitely a kidnapping. But let me tell you what I remember, and then you can draw your own conclusions.” Dr. Finnegan looked tired. It’d been a long, stressful night for her. Only a few hours ago she had been kneeling before death.
“It was one night in December,” she began. “A particularly cold night with heavy snow closing in around the mountain base. There was an electrical outage that night, too. Though the IBSI had their own backup generator to keep the most crucial functions running—like the lighting in the hallways and security mechanisms keeping the more dangerous specimens in their cells—other functions were stopped temporarily until the main power came back on. This included CCTV cameras… Anyhow, the scientist charged with caring for the specimens put them to bed at the normal time—into cots within a special lab reserved just for them. And when their caregiver returned in the morning to feed them breakfast, they were gone. Just gone. Without a single feather fluttered to the floor. Of course, nobody could say what happened due to the lack of footage.
“An investigation was then launched. Atticus put a witch he had dealings with in charge. Her name was Loira Sulvece. A witch of The Sanctuary, she assisted the IBSI on and off over the earlier years of its establishment… she hasn’t been around recently, to my knowledge.”
“Loira Sulvece,” Ibrahim muttered.
All eyes shot to the warlock.
“I know of that witch,” he said. “She was allowed to live in The Sanctuary because of her noble heritage, but she has always been a loose cannon, helping out other species in exchange for various items to stock her spell room with.”
“That sounds like her,” Dr. Finnegan replied. “She was assisting the Canadian base on a fairly regular basis at the time. Anyway, Atticus put her in charge of the investigation but it soon stopped short. It was pretty pathetic. None of them had the first clue where to look. And Atticus, in truth, wasn’t all that bothered about their disappearance. They already had blood samples and I suppose Atticus thought that if they ever needed that halfblood-Hawk combination in the future, they could always breed some more. And then of course, shortly after the specimens’ disappearance, Frans came out with a cure. Heh. After that, I suspect
I was utterly sick of trying to locate things within the IBSI. As crazy as it sounded, I was actually more enthusiastic about uncovering a decade-old mystery than traipsing back into their twisted web of lies and deceit, even if there had been a chance Atticus had not yet destroyed the stock of blood. I had failed to discover things too many times while in their facilities. And I didn’t want anything more to do with the bastards… except Atticus… He’s one person I wouldn’t mind bumping into sometime soon.
My father’s next request of the doctor refocused my mind. “So tell us everything you know about the disappearance of these ‘specimens’. Every single detail you remember.”
“Hm…” She furrowed her brows and leaned back in her chair, repositioning her grip around her son, who had dozed off against her chest.
“Did their disappearance suggest a kidnapping?” I asked. “And how old were they when they vanished?” What are the chances they’d even still be alive after all this time?
The scientist rubbed her temples. “They were, I think, just over a year old.” Well, that ruled out escape. What one-year-olds could figure out how to escape the IBSI? They’d still be figuring out how to use their wings. It also meant they’d be in their teenage years now… That was assuming they aged. Hawks aged. But half-bloods didn’t. They remained frozen in time like vampires. Ugh, this was all so confusing. “As for your first question,” the scientist continued, “definitely a kidnapping. But let me tell you what I remember, and then you can draw your own conclusions.” Dr. Finnegan looked tired. It’d been a long, stressful night for her. Only a few hours ago she had been kneeling before death.
“It was one night in December,” she began. “A particularly cold night with heavy snow closing in around the mountain base. There was an electrical outage that night, too. Though the IBSI had their own backup generator to keep the most crucial functions running—like the lighting in the hallways and security mechanisms keeping the more dangerous specimens in their cells—other functions were stopped temporarily until the main power came back on. This included CCTV cameras… Anyhow, the scientist charged with caring for the specimens put them to bed at the normal time—into cots within a special lab reserved just for them. And when their caregiver returned in the morning to feed them breakfast, they were gone. Just gone. Without a single feather fluttered to the floor. Of course, nobody could say what happened due to the lack of footage.
“An investigation was then launched. Atticus put a witch he had dealings with in charge. Her name was Loira Sulvece. A witch of The Sanctuary, she assisted the IBSI on and off over the earlier years of its establishment… she hasn’t been around recently, to my knowledge.”
“Loira Sulvece,” Ibrahim muttered.
All eyes shot to the warlock.
“I know of that witch,” he said. “She was allowed to live in The Sanctuary because of her noble heritage, but she has always been a loose cannon, helping out other species in exchange for various items to stock her spell room with.”
“That sounds like her,” Dr. Finnegan replied. “She was assisting the Canadian base on a fairly regular basis at the time. Anyway, Atticus put her in charge of the investigation but it soon stopped short. It was pretty pathetic. None of them had the first clue where to look. And Atticus, in truth, wasn’t all that bothered about their disappearance. They already had blood samples and I suppose Atticus thought that if they ever needed that halfblood-Hawk combination in the future, they could always breed some more. And then of course, shortly after the specimens’ disappearance, Frans came out with a cure. Heh. After that, I suspect
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