Like many disappointments in her past, the feeling of getting let down never got easier. Celeste tied the laces of her shoes the moment Jade left her cell and remembered her sister, Orion. Who, in her most nonchalant attitude, once told her: "Why do you always look so disappointed? You should be more like me. I never put any faith in anyone and always expect the worst, so my life is full of pleasant surprises."
Now, in her most time of need, Celeste could only agree with her. If only she didn't put too much faith in Avond, then she wouldn't be so disappointed. Everything she had always thought and saw Avond as—a protector—was only a fantasy fueled by loneliness. And now she was going to run away once again. Hopefully, she won't make the same mistake again. Next time, she won't be as lucky.
Celeste threw her backpack over her shoulders, casually peeking out to find the corridor, which was brightly lit here and there, empty. In front of her cell was empty, but as she walked on, she saw there were many people kept in these prison cells, each with varying degrees of wounds and bruises.
She walked on, casually ignoring them until she reached the end. The corridor branched out in two ways. One way led to another branch, while the other was a wide-open space. The sound of men chatting and glasses being put on the table reached where she stood. Celeste looked at the metal door she suspected was the way out, but she wondered how she could get there without getting caught.
"Hey… hey…" A male whisper took her attention. The man inside the last cell leaned closer to her behind the metal bars, his eyes wide and scared. "Please, let me go. You don't understand how hard it is to come by money out there. My business went bust, but it's not my fault!" he pleaded. Pushed by him, Celeste started to move, ignoring his plea, calling out to her as she continued to walk closer to the metal door.
Her heart stopped when she saw Wouter standing at the end, his head turned, speaking to a person out of view. Celeste quickly pushed the door beside her, finding herself in an elongated room, where toilet stalls stood with all their doors open. She was alone in there.
Behind her, Celeste could hear someone coming in. Fear pumped the increasing rate of her heartbeat. She slipped inside one of the stalls in the middle, just as someone walked in. She didn't know who it was, but she held her breath, waiting as the man finished his business.
Like a wild animal trapped in a corner, Celeste looked around frantically. There was a small window serving as ventilation above the toilet stalls, slightly higher than the partition. The moment the man left, she quickly went to the stall right under the window. It was much too high, but she climbed on top of the tank, carefully slinging her knee on top of the partition, then jumped to hold the window, pushing her backpack through first and then herself.
Celeste never thought she could do something like that, but she did. She crawled out of the window, the smell of fresh air hitting her face, cooling the heat on her cheeks. The first sign of sunlight had changed the color of the sky, and the sound of hurried morning workers' cars hummed in the distance.
Beside her, a long row of motorcycles offered her some protection from being seen by a group of men smoking outside. Their chats were hushed, but their laughs were loud. Before anyone noticed her, Celeste began walking away, leaving behind a life she was glad she could leave behind.
XVXVX
Avond closed the door behind him, then threw his phone on his desk with a light swing. When he came back from his trip to the abandoned factories on the outskirts of town, he felt all the life sucked out of his body. He was just tired, and now it seemed his heart wouldn't stop jumping in his chest. His body was restless, and it felt as if he could go on for another adrenaline-fueled mission.
But not even the heat of a violent street war, the repetition of thunderous discharge, or the silent hunt of an enemy hiding behind containers could match the feeling Celeste Everhart ignited inside of him. It was a feeling of adrenaline like no other, and Avond would do anything to kill it.
He leaned on his office chair, staring at the screen of his old-school computer as the familiar logo of Doors appeared, then glanced at his phone, knowing well what he needed to do but couldn't bring himself to. Celeste Everhart was promised to his younger brother, and it was the right thing for him to make sure she followed through on her promise to him. But at the same time, could he blame her for running away? More importantly, could he blame himself for thinking Celeste deserved better? Didn't he owe it to his family at least to put his feelings aside in this matter?
'Avond.' Her voice.
Avond let a breath slip slowly out of his lips, remembering her sweet voice when she said his name. He thought she couldn't speak, but now that he had heard it, he realized all he wanted was to listen to her say his name once again. But what a foolish thing to ask for.
Avond scolded himself as he started to write down everything important he had done today, any detail he might need to recall in the future in case his memory failed him. And then a knock came on the door.
"Come in," Avond said, grateful for the distraction.
"Hey." Wouter entered, his eyes half-lidded and his lips turned into a deep frown as he closed the door behind him. He pulled one of the complimentary chairs in front of his desk. "So, I went to Mercer Walk, like you told me to," Wouter said as he sat down.
"And?"
"Here." Wouter threw a plastic bag on the table, which was inside a much thicker plastic bag, and then another bag with a white plastic container inside of it. Avond took it and then looked at the substance inside. He sighed. "It looks like Simplif. And this looks like Hedrox."
Wouter leaned forward, resting on his knees as he rolled a cigarette for himself. "It looks like it, but I got one of the guys to try it. It's not a recreational drug. It's an enhancer. You won't like what it does," he said, taking a long drag of his cigarette before his eyes rested heavily on Avond.
"Alright, tell me."
"The powdered one, it's called Voltaris C-3 or VC3. You won't believe it, but when Alex drank it, he was so strong he could run faster than anyone, even lift a motorcycle by himself. He could bend metal, even jump higher than usual. It's not normal what it does," Wouter explained.
Avond's eyebrows shot up as he listened to him, eyeing the white powder as if it were a bag of magic dust. He had heard of such drugs in the process of being created, but to hear about it so soon and find it on the streets at that… It meant being outside was far more dangerous than it already was.
"I can't imagine something like this would hit the streets. This isn't chemistry, this is bioengineering," Avond said, carefully placing the drug in his wardrobe. He needed to get to Lionel as soon as possible. Having a bulletproof vest was no longer enough to protect police officers with this kind of drug out there.
"Well, if criminals didn't evolve, they wouldn't have come up with better locks," Wouter said, leaning his head against the back of the chair. His eyes were drawn shut, heavy from sleep deprivation.
Avond rubbed the base of his nose, feeling a headache coming in from the amount of problems piling on his plate. First, it was the suspected trafficked foreign girls, and now some military-grade drug was on the loose.
"And what about the second one? Please tell me it just makes you sleepy," Avond asked, almost begging.
"I wish," Wouter shattered his hopes. "It's called NeuroLock X-9. NLX9 for short. It enhances your reflexes and problem-solving skills. Taking these two combined…"
"What a combo," Avond finished for him, his hand already on his phone when Jade barged into his office like he owed her money. He glared at her, holding the phone against his ear. When Lionel didn't answer, Avond quickly sent him a text: 'EMERGENCY. CALL ME.'
"Didn't I tell you to knock?" Avond asked while confirming the message was sent. Jade nodded at Wouter as a greeting. Wouter bowed his head. She put both hands on her hips. "Is it true that you're going to send Celeste back to Tiel!?"
Avond frowned. "I have to."
"But why? You went out of your way to save me from that monster, and you can't do the same for Celeste!?" Jade slammed both hands on the table, which woke Wouter from his nap. He looked taken aback, confused.
"This situation is more complicated than what happened between you and Tiel. My father bought someone out of a steep debt to have her hand in marriage. It's different when Erickson's involved."
Both Jade and Wouter looked at him with a different sense of impending doom at the mention of Erickson. Jade was all of a sudden quiet. "Oh," was all she said, looking to one side while Wouter pursed his lips with a continual nod of understanding.
"Please tell me you locked the door to her cell," Avond finally asked, feeling the knot tighten in his stomach. If Celeste had a stronger will to fight than he expected, she may already be gone.
Jade stammered, "I… uh… well, does she have a place to go?"
"No." Avond shot up from his seat and ran to the cell he'd left her in earlier that day. He had left it locked, but a sinking feeling told him it was already too late.
The cell was empty.
A single note was left on the bed.
Jade caught up to him, her mouth hanging open at the sight. She glanced at Avond apologetically.
"Uh… boss," Wouter said, holding out Avond's ringing phone. "Big boss wants to talk to you."
Avond answered the phone, and Erickson's calm voice greeted him on the other end. "Celeste's gone. Find her."
And with that, Erickson hung up.
Avond felt a chill go through him. No one could ever guess from his calm voice that Erickson was angry—but Avond knew. His father was pissed.