Played For A Fool

Darker and Darker

Haunted houses had never been something that Kai had enjoyed. He didn't like walking around in silent, creepy mansions, waiting for something to jump out at him and scare him. The simple idea that there were people and Wolf Mutants hiding in any corner of the hospital was nearly more than Kai could bear.

Kai felt slightly guilty about splitting off with Iko, wishing that he had been with her instead of the jerk officer. The only thing that comforted Kai was this: Kinney would be able to protect her, unlike Kai. He was trained for this kind of thing and Kai was as good as useless.

Jacin wasn't that bad himself, though he hadn't spoken to Kai since they had entered the east wing. He had checked every single door since their entering, but all of them had been unlocked and empty. Not only were the doors unlocked, and the halls mysteriously empty, but there were no Wolf Mutants anywhere.

Whispers assumed the silence of the darkness, and Kai could hear the words yielded to him before he had ventured into the hospital. He heard Winter's, "Please bring Selene home." And Torin's "Please come home right now." The irony between the two sentences were not lost on him.

Anticipation tingled inside every inch of Kai. His nerves were on edge from everything that had happened in the past forty-eight hours, and although he didn't have all the answers, everything laid out in his mind in order.

Scarlet's grandmother had been kidnapped by the Wolf Mutants. Her house had been torn apart, possibly for information, but maybe something more?

Dr. Darnel told them to go visit Garrison Clay, though he seemed to be hiding something.

Garrison Clay had known nothing except that the Wolf Mutants had kidnapped Michelle Benoit.

Winter came in and proclaimed that Cinder was her cousin, while Cinder refused vehemently.

Cinder crushed Kai's heart into a billion pieces, rendering him broken and... Okay, she'd only "broke up" with him.

Garrison Clay informed Kai and Iko that only Logan Tanner had been allowed to work on Selene Blackburn and no one else had seen the body.

Kai figured out that Cinder was Selene.

Kai told Winter that Cinder was Selene

Cress called Kai and told him that Cinder was at the hospital from a bad car accident, though she wasn't there.

Jacin informed them that both Scarlet and Thorne had been abducted, and possibly Cinder and that there was suspicious activity outside of Luna hospital.

With all of the information spread out through his brain, Kai felt as if he were playing clue. He had all the small pieces of information, and the back of his brain was itching for the final piece; the one that would connect the entire mystery.

Kai wasn't even sure how to find the final piece. He knew almost nothing as to who would hold such a deep grudge against Dr. Blackburn that they would want to kill an innocent teenage girl. He knew hundreds of people who had lost loved ones due to Letumosis, but no one who had ever wanted to hurt her family for it.

Jacin turned what may have been the thousandth door handle, though this time all there was was clicking. The was locked. He tried pulling and twisting it, but the door was jammed shut. He pulled out his gun, pushed Kai back, and shot off the doorknob with a loud crack.

The echo of metal against metal reverberated through the corridor and inside of Kai's mind. The echo came in time with the pounding of blood within his ears, and fear began to cloud his mind. Thinking of all the possibilities that the door could hold inside was frightening. What if Cinder was already gone? What if she was being held at gunpoint? What if she was already dead?