“Just tell us,” Blake practically growled out. “I haven’t liked a word you’ve said so far anyway.”
Kate frowned. “I was hoping you’d see that Sammy really isn’t the bad guy here.”
I licked my lips, trying to decide what I should say. Part of me really liked to think Sammy had the master plan, that her motives were really good after all.
Kate must have taken my silence as a good sign because she shot me a sympathetic smile. “Samantha, maybe one day you’ll get to know Sammy like I have. When this is all over, I’ll show you the letters. Then you’ll see.”
“I’d like that, actually. Thanks,” I replied honestly, even though Blake didn’t look happy about the idea.
Kate took a deep breath and faced Blake. “So to answer your question. What we have to do now is get to your brother.”
“What? Why?” he asked.
“Because when Sammy went to the ancients, they didn’t just sit around sipping iced tea. They developed a new serum, with Sammy’s… or well, your blood, Sam. Sammy had the theory that if the bugs were given something to help them come together and work as a team for a common goal, their out-of-control desires to hunt and kill could be channeled into something better. With the ancients’ help, she added honeybee DNA.”
“Yeah, that’s what Alek told me back with Kory,” I told Blake. “So Sammy and I don’t actually have the bee DNA then, she just added it to what she gave Jocelyn?” I asked, hoping I was keeping this all straight.
“That’s right. Sammy got the serum ready and told the few ancients who had agreed to help that they should try to find where Kory was and join him. Pretend they were on his side, whatever it took to gain his trust. She felt they should be there to alter the Defenders without Kory really knowing. In the meantime, Sammy wanted to test her new serum out on Jaxon. She figured since Jaxon was doomed either way, it couldn’t hurt to try. She knew you were hunting the bug, so she knew she had to move fast. Get to Jaxon before you did,” Kate told Blake as goose bumps shot up and down my arms.
Blake might not like what Kate had to say, but too much of it was making sense to me. Like puzzle pieces snapping into place.
“So she flew home to warn Joc about Kory first,” I said.
“Yes, she’d hoped if she told Jocelyn the entire story, that she’d see why Kory was so evil,” Kate said, nodding.
“But Jocelyn just felt like Sammy was a hypocrite since she had been the one to change herself in the cabin, not me,” Blake added. “Jocelyn told us about this part.”
“Oh good, so then you know how she asked Sammy for a sample of her blood. Sammy told her she’d need some time and left. Really, she needed a minute to think. She knew this was the perfect opportunity to get the new DNA serum into Kory’s hands and into the Defenders’ blood, but she’d wanted to test it out first on Jaxon. In the end, she knew she didn’t have much time left. She divided the sample into two vials. One she gave to Jocelyn, and the other to Jaxon.”
“So that’s why Jaxon said it seemed like she wanted to be caught,” I said. “Sammy did. Only she probably didn’t mean to drop the bag. Lucky for her, Jaxon went back for it.”
“Actually, I bet she dropped it for that very reason,” Blake said, scratching his chin. The hazy outline of the Outskirts was all too clear now; we’d need to be switching to camo soon.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Sammy,” he said, for the first time with no contempt in his voice, “knew the bug in Jaxon would have been more cautious if she’d had it with her, maybe even tested it out to make sure it wouldn’t hurt him. But since she’d left it behind, almost like she didn’t want him to have it…”
I laughed. “It only made him want it that much more. No questions asked.”
Kate cocked an eyebrow at Blake. “Told you Sammy knew what she was doing.”
“So Sammy gets the new serum into Jaxon’s blood and hopefully Kory’s new army, and then I wake up in the cave. Her job’s done,” I said with a little bit of awe. “All those times I was so close to passing out, Sammy was really trying to come back to tell us what she’d done, so we could finish it,” I said more than asked.
“Exactly.” Kate grinned at me.
“Which I’m guessing has to do with Jaxon,” Blake said, his tone surprisingly void of argument. “I’m still not seeing how the bee thing fits in. So you’re telling me he wants to work with other bugs now, or something?”
Kate didn’t have a chance to respond because something fast and invisible knocked into her, sending her body catapulting backward. Blake swore and shot after Kate’s cartwheeling form. As soon as Kate got herself reoriented, the invisible dragon must have put her in a chokehold. I got a glimpse of her gasping for breath, clutching at something across her neck, before she disappeared.
Blake yelled over his shoulder, “Sam, camo now!” and then he was gone from view as well. I quickly switched and shot after them. At least, where I hoped they were.
Why do they always want to fight invisible? It makes it so hard to tell what’s happening! Wouldn’t it be easier to not have to just use scent and sound? I mean, one of the huge benefits to be being part dragonfly is that we have insane vision!
Remembering how fast Blake could target his prey and attack, it dawned on me. Maybe that was the exact reason they did camo out. Perhaps it leveled the playing field a bit more. Not being able to use super-human sight to stalk prey was the price paid to not have the prey use that same skill in return. Either way, I couldn’t stand not knowing what was going on. All I could hear was grunts, gasps, and a lot of cursing. They were moving too fast for me to tell whose outlines were whose. I so need to work on my sense of smell! All I could make out was Blake’s warm amber scent, Kate’s lilac and spring floral, and something new that was a bit too sweet to be pleasant. Almost like watermelon-flavored candy. How any of that information could help me fight was beyond me.
From the outlines, it appeared Kate had been freed. I drew closer to her. No one had touched me, but that didn’t mean we weren’t surrounded right now.
Blake gasped, and then suddenly appeared, looking like he held someone by the neck.
“You’ve lost, so you might as well show yourself,” he commanded.
Kate and I both followed suit, dropping our camo.
When our attacker appeared, it was my turn to gasp. Without her hair in the ever-present tight chignon and thin-rimmed glasses perched on the edge of her nose, I almost didn’t recognize her. When she smiled at me, the way it didn’t reach her eyes had my mind registering that it was really her.
“Dr. Killian?” I asked.