Chapter 45: Zephyr

While Kaylani goes to get Everett, I sit with Nova and try to help calm Naida. I can feel her fear and trepidation at allowing Everett to take her blood.

“Naida, you said you have been in the laboratory for four years, but what about before that? You must have been pretty young, maybe you have parents looking for you?” I ask.

“No, the tiger, Ishir, asked the same thing. My father is in prison for killing my mother. I ran away and then was caught by the people that put me into the laboratory.”

“Tell me about that. How did they capture you? Did they snatch you off the streets, or did they lure you into a place where you felt you’d be taken care of before they began hurting you?” I ask her.

She looks at me a moment and it looks like she’s remembering back to that time. “They lured me, I guess. I remember being hungry, so hungry, and they offered me food.”

Her eyes go unfocused as she goes back to that time.

“I think the food must have been drugged. I remember eating fast, I was so h