Page 88 of Dark Island: Rescue

He walked over to the one that made cappuccinos, inserted the clan credit card he'd been given, and when the coffee was ready, he took it to the table.

Should he call Wonder?

Anandur was back from Safe Harbor, and it felt awkward to call someone else's mate on a weekend.

Instead, Esag sent her a text,Had another vision about Tula, do you want to call me?

The answer came back right away.Canyou come over? Anandur wants to hear about your vision, too.

He put the lid back on the cup and texted,I'm on my way.

30

ELUHEED

Hopelessness hung around Tula like a shroud.

Eluheed didn't need shamanic abilities to see that. He also didn't need to summon visions to deduce that Areana had no plan.

Tula knew that, and that was why she was despairing.

It affected him, creeping up and threatening to pull him under as well. It seemed increasingly unlikely that some miracle would allow all four of them to escape this accursed island.

Eluheed had survived this long by maintaining hope that he'd eventually retrieve his treasures from Mount Ararat and that he'd find his way home to Elucia, but hope was becoming harder to hold on to with each passing day.

When a knock sounded on his door, he set aside the herbal mixture he'd been working on and walked over to the door. One of the harem guards stood in the hallway.

"Lord Navuh summons you, shaman," the man said. "A vehicle is waiting for you outside the perimeter fence."

Eluheed's stomach tightened. "Do you know where I'm going?"

He didn't mind if it was just another trip to Navuh's office to provide the lord with a glimpse into his possible futures, but it was more likely that he was being taken to the facility holding the enhanced soldiers. The poor bastards' collective mind was not a good place to visit.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to hold the barriers in his mind against the power of the collective, and he knew it was a matter of days before they broke through them and learned the truth of who he was.

"You will have to ask the driver," the guard said. "I'm just the messenger."

The driver was an immortal who had driven Eluheed before, and he wasn't the talkative sort. Eluheed didn't even bother asking because he knew he wouldn't get an answer.

Instead, he spent the ride to the other side of the island meditating and working on his mental shields. When the jeep stopped next to a square building, Eluheed looked out the window in surprise.

"Where are we?"

"The new laboratory. Hurry up. The lord is waiting."

Eluheed thanked the driver, even though he had no reason to do that, and walked into the building.

Inside, he found Navuh talking to a man Eluheed hadn't seen before. From his appearance, he deduced it was the mad Russian scientist who had taken over Doctor Zhao's work. The stranger was short and padded around the middle, with wild gray hair and a beard that looked like it had been trimmed with hedge clippers. Anearly empty bottle of vodka was clutched in one hand, and he was gesticulating wildly with the other.

"—the quantum field theory supports my hypothesis!" the man was saying in heavily accented English, probably assuming that the lord didn't speak Russian, and Navuh didn't bother to correct the misconception. "If we adjust the neuroplasticity inhibitors and introduce selective serotonin modulators at precisely calibrated intervals?—"

"Elias." Navuh's voice cut through the scientist's impassioned monologue. "Come meet Doctor Konstantin Petrov. He's here to continue Doctor Zhao's work."

As Petrov shifted his gaze to him, there was a manic gleam in his pale blue eyes that made the small hairs on the back of Eluheed's neck stand up.

"The shaman!" Petrov lurched forward, his breath reeking of vodka. “Fascinating. Lord Navuh tells me that you can perceive quantum consciousness states through physical contact and that you are able to tap into the same unified field as that of the enhanced subjects."

"Those were not the exact words I used," Navuh said. "But that's beside the point. We should focus on today's objective."