Chapter 7 - The Blackout
Complete darkness swallowed the library instantly, broken only by the dim, flickering amber glow of the desk lamp illuminating Arthur Vance’s frail face. Lily let out a sharp gasp of panic, dropping her stuffed rabbit as her small fingers clawed frantically at Julian’s coat sleeve.
“Uncle Julian! It’s dark! The air is getting heavy again!” Lily cried out, her breathing turning rapid and shallow in the sudden panic.
Julian dropped to his knees in the pitch black, abandoning all caution. He scooped Lily up into his arms, pressing her head against his chest, and yanked the blue inhaler from her grip, pressing it expertly to her lips.
“Breathe slowly, Lily. I’ve got you. I’m right here,” Julian commanded in a firm, steady whisper, trying to mask the rising terror in his own chest. He felt her small chest heave twice before the medication finally took hold, stabilizing her breathing.
Clara stumbled through the dark, her hand sliding along the edge of a mahogany bookshelf until she collided with Julian’s shoulder.
“Julian! The doors are deadbolted from the outside. Marcus and your grandfather just trapped us in here!” Clara hissed, her voice shaking with adrenaline.
Across the room, Arthur Vance’s raspy voice echoed through the shadows, amplified by hidden speakers embedded in the crown molding.
“You can’t just walk away from a legacy, Julian. The board requires total compliance. If Lily leaves this estate, her respiratory system will experience rapid cellular rejection within forty-eight hours without our synthetic filtration compounds.”
Julian stood up, holding Lily securely in his right arm while using his left hand to feel along the wall for a manual override.
“That’s a lie!” Julian shouted into the darkness.
“You engineered her dependency just like you engineered my brother’s! There has to be a counter-formula in the mainframe!”
“There is,” Arthur’s voice replied smoothly, the speakers crackling with static.
“And it’s stored on a micro-drive inside the music box hidden within that stuffed rabbit she dropped on the floor.”
Julian froze. He looked down at the dark floor near his feet where Lily had dropped her toy during the blackout. Before Julian could take a step toward it, a beam of harsh red laser light cut through the darkness, sweeping across the library floor and stopping dead center on the stuffed rabbit.
A heavy, metallic thud echoed from above as the ceiling vents hissed, releasing a faint, sweet-smelling vapor into the room.
“Sleep now, Julian,” Arthur whispered from the speakers.
May you like
“Let the family rest.”
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