The Burning Shadow (Origin 2)

Dammit, Clyde was right. “Injured? I’m not—”

“You have a cut.” His jaw was hard as his chin dipped down. “How is that not being injured?”

“I’m totally fine.”

A muscle flexed along his jaw.

“She pushed me out of the way of a chair leg that had been turned into a projectile,” Zoe explained. “I already told her that wasn’t necessary.”

Pulling away from Luc, I spun toward Zoe. “How was that not necessary? You could’ve ended up with a chair leg in your head.”

“I would’ve moved out of the way before that happened.” She paused. “I’m fast like that.”

“She wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” Luc tugged on the sleeve of my shirt, and I faced him. “And while it was rather admirable of you to look out for her and I’m sure Zoe appreciates it—”

“I do,” Zoe chimed in.

“It wasn’t necessary,” Luc finished. “You know what she is.”

“Just so everyone is on the same page, if anyone throws a chair leg at the head of someone I care about and I can intervene,” I said, “I’m going to intervene. I’m not just going to stand there.”

“Peaches—”

“Except for you,” I told him. “I’m going to let it hit you in the head because you have a thick skull.”

One side of his mouth curled up. “I’m okay with that.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”

Placing his hand on my lower back, he leaned down and whispered, “I’d take a thousand chair legs to the head if that meant you stayed out of harm’s way.”

I had no idea how to respond to that. Saying thanks seemed wrong. Thankfully, I didn’t have to, because Zoe started telling Luc what had gone down, and we made our way into the room next to his, an open space with couches, giant beanbags, and a TV that was obscenely large. Kent joined us, Cokes in hand and his mohawk all perky and upright.

It occurred to me as Luc and I sat on the couch and Zoe and Kent occupied one of the beanbags that I had never seen any of them in Luc’s room.

By the time Zoe finished with what happened, I’d drunk almost all my Coke and Kent was staring at her, slowly shaking his head. “That’s impossible,” he said. “RAC drones don’t hit on humans.”

“I know,” she replied. “But that’s what happened. And if he was wearing contacts and in hiding, I would’ve sensed it.”

“It was like he had a fever or something. He said he was going to go home after he took an exam. He was talking, and then he just snapped and started throwing up that stuff.” I rested my Coke on my knee as I looked over at Luc. “Is it possible that he might’ve known a Luxen and was healed by one? That he began to mutate?”

Kent shook his head. “Mutation doesn’t look like that. Yeah, you get sick and all, but you don’t rage out like that. Right, Luc?”

Luc, who’d been awfully quiet through the whole discussion, leaned forward and rested his hands on his knees. “When the Daedalus was trying to re-create mutation, they were developing serums that were administered to humans who’d been mutated. LH-11 was one of them, as was the Prometheus serum.”

Muscles in my neck clenched. Those were the serums Luc had set Daemon and Kat up to retrieve for him—for me.

“The serums were designed to speed up the mutation and enhance it. They often didn’t work, causing the subject to rapidly mutate and, in some cases, rage out,” Luc explained. “So if he was given something like that, then it could explain the strength and the rage.”

“But how would that be possible?” I asked. “The Daedalus is gone, so even if he was somehow healed by a Luxen on such a level that a mutation began, how would he have been given one of those serums?”

“We have some of them,” he said, sitting back. “Just in case of emergencies.”

I really didn’t want to know what kind of emergency would warrant that. “But you’re Luc, and this is Foretoken. I can see you guys getting your hands on these serums, but other Luxen?”

Luc looked over at me. “It’s not impossible, but yes, it’s unlikely. If that’s what did it, then there’s someone else out there who had ties to the Daedalus.”

“How bad would that be if that’s the case?” Kent asked, rocking forward into a sitting position.

“If it was some Luxen who saw the mutation start to take hold and gave the serum, then it really sucks for them,” Luc explained.

“Wait. If he was healed, wouldn’t he have a trace?” I looked over at Zoe. “Wouldn’t you have seen it?”

“Traces can fade during mutation. Fever sort of burns them off,” she explained. “But I didn’t see a trace on him at all, and I think I would’ve seen one.”

Luc’s brows pinched. “Then I really don’t know what could cause a spontaneous mutation with those kinds of results.”