[Cordelia]The plan requires Magnus to come to us. Either in person or on the phone. We need to find out the location of the facility. We are almost 100% certain that our message system has been compromised. We aren't sure if it is on Jude's end, our end, or both, but considering we each have a Greyson sister it could be either one. Neither Sydney nor Delilah can be trusted. Thankfully, we didn't have long to wait. Once my interview went viral, Magnus began reaching out. First I received a text. "Mrs. Steele. That was very bold of you. You called me out by name. There will be consequences." When I showed Atlas, he had to be the voice of reason. "He's bluffing," he tried to convince me. "He can't hurt Jasper because he needs him. But he's also at risk with our reward. He needs to make a deal with us soon and he knows it."I want to believe them, I do, but each subsequent message is more and more verbally suggestive.And then he begins showing pictures of Jasper. He is starting to l
[Cordelia]Clark places a hand on my shoulder. As he squeezes gently, I turn my head just enough to see his face, warm around the edges, softened by the glow of the overhead lights. "There's more," the smiling warmth of his voice relaxes me and I know whatever it is he needs to share will be something that will add to my joy. "Jude wants to meet us in one hour. And you won't believe where..."He shows us and I laugh. "The old apartment? Didn't that get destroyed?""Not all of it," Clark explains as he then tells us about an underground passage into the basement. "His lab, the one you fell into, had another exit. That's how he was able to get people in and out without anyone noticing."I didn't mention that by "people" he means "bodies." None of us needed that reminder, especially considering he is currently the only person between us and our baby."One hour!" I pull the rest of the way from Atlas. "That's...Oh. My. God." my heart stops. "We could maybe see him? Do you think he'll hav
[Delilah]My father thinks he can control me."Delilah," he called the day after I arrived in LA. "I am sending your instructions by courier." A package arrived with an itinerary. I immediately threw it out. Another itinerary was emailed to me. Then texted. "Make sure you make it to the interview on time," the message read. I made it to the interview with minutes to spare, my hair in a sloppy bun and my shoes thoroughly scruffed. I refused to buy the car my father imposed on me, trading it in and using the money to buy a very nice bike. Bicycles are not meant to be ridden in pumps. Not that it mattered. My father already ensured that I'd get the job. A job where I look so much like my predecessor that the interviewer thought it was a joke."Sydney? Where have you been? You do realize you are interviewing for your old job? Right?"I made sure she understood immediately that I was not Sydney Bryant. "We're related," I grinned as an explanation. "Well you come with the highest recomm
[Cordelia]The boys didn't give me much choice but to sit here and wait for them as they raced off to be the heroes of the moment. Atlas kissed me goodbye and Clark gave a friendly little wave as they headed down through the secret passageway out into the garage into an unmarked van with tinted windows, each of them wearing a disguise. They looked ridiculous. But maybe that's just jealousy speaking."We need you to man the fort," Atlas explained when they told me what my task would be. Frowning, I accepted that I'd be left behind to continue the subterfuge. If I'm careful, nobody is to know that they aren't here.I will be their alibi. When Magnus comes looking, all his people will see is us exactly where we should be. Stand and wait. Be a good girl. Stay safe. But I'm tired of standing by waiting for things to happen to me. I want to be the one making things happen. This game is stupid. I want my child back. Picking up my phone I text Magnus back. "Do you want the cure?" I quer
[Cordelia]I close my phone. Even after taking several deep breaths, I can't get my heart to stop racing. Calling doesn't work. I can't get through to either of the boys, and I realize they are most likely watching the scene with their phones turned to silent. I send them both a text warning them about Magnus and then begin doing the same for every person I know.I do get through to the police eventually, but the best they could do is say that they'll "redirect my message" to the "appropriate detective" and that they'll do their best to get there in time.None of this is good enough. They are walking into a very elaborate trap, one that Magnus must have been planning since the beginning. I try calling Atlas again. "Argh! Damn it, Atlas, pick up the phone!"Should I rush out there? Yes, that would be better than letting them die. What if that's what Magnus wants? What if this is just a way to draw me out?"Don't be ridiculous, Cordelia," I shake my head as I grab my phone and head to
[Atlas]When Cordelia called on Theo's phone, I came back in a rush, expecting to find her there. Instead, I found an empty office and my design lead, Theo, waiting for me. "What do you mean my wife is not here?" "I mean," Theo said very slowly in the irritatingly calm way she has about her that borders on sarcasm, "that she is not here. Absconded. Left. Oh, and she took my car," she hands me a white piece of paper. "Make sure she brings that back in one place or you're buying me a new one. Better yet," she smirks, "Just give me your car and we'll call it even."Carefully I read over the note. Bakersfield. She thinks Jasper is in Bakersfield. "Throw out your phone, it's been bugged," the note warns. "And don't take your car or they'll know." "Ted down in accounting owes me a favor," Clark announces when I show him the note. "And nobody would bother tracking it. You really can't miss it."I soon know why as we make our way to the vehicle. I really should pay my employees more if th
[Cordelia]There isn't much to see or do in Bakersfield. This isn't a town I'd go out of my way to see. Lined on either side with factory farms and large fields, the growing town has a constant smell of dying animals and manure.It's the perfect place to hide something or someone you don't want anyone else to notice. The address took me to a shopping center across the street from a large office complex. The air is dry and dusty, the wind doing nothing to cool the late afternoon heat. The smoggy haze in the distance makes the blue sky look a dingy brownish gray, darkened by the pollution from nearby LA. But soon I'll have Jasper in my arms and it will be worth it. All of this struggle will finally be worth all the pain. Atlas should be here any moment. Theo borrowed someone else's phone to text me on her phone that Atlas and Clark were on their way in a beat-up car from the 1980s.That's what I was expecting to see pull up into the parking lot. Not a semi-truck with a chicken on the
[Jude]I've been prepared for this day for weeks now. It was waiting to see how far Magnus would take things before she was pushed hard enough to seek the truth. Cordy is a smart woman. I knew she would eventually figure out how to draw Magnus out and force him to show his hand. I only wish it had been a little sooner. Even with treatment, Jasper isn't doing well. "Hey there, little guy," I gently lift him from his crib. He's sleeping, but these days he's almost always sleeping, his lungs are too weak to allow him to do much more. "I'm going to take you to your mommy now."Scooping him up, I place a set of infant-sized sound-canceling headphones on his tiny ears and swaddle him carefully into the baby carrier on my back. He's getting too big for this carrier. Even with his weak lungs, he's been gaining weight. In my right pocket, I place several vials of his current medication. In my left pocket, a detonator for a device I put together from lab equipment. It will create a spark in