Page 68 of Despair
DAISY LAZARUS
Daisy found mostof the family in the basement at the door to Griffin’s cell. Lilo, straight from her captivity and still wearing dirty clothes, had her palm on the door. She spoke into a microphone connected to the cell while everyone else looked on from various positions around the nearby rooms.
Lilo rested one hand on her swollen belly, the other stroked the door, as if she could soothe Griffin though the thick concrete and whatever else Parker had built the room from.
Daisy knew what Griffin would look like. His veins would be popping in his forehead. His gaze would be dark. He’d be the bull about to charge.
“There’s too many of you,” Daisy said quickly, making sure she kept her distance. “I’m assuming you want Lilo’s presence to calm him. She can’t touch him, so it’s unlikely she can block out the sin he’s feeling. The further we all stand back, the better Lilo’s proximity will work to bring him back.”
The spectators nodded, seeing the truth in Daisy’s words. And she would know. She was part of the experiments on how to turn them all dark.
“Griff, honey, I’m back. I’m safe. The baby is safe. You can stop worrying now.” Lilo’s voice tightened. “Come back to us.”
She continued to speak to her husband as they all gathered further down the hallway and spilled into the operations room. It might not be far enough, but it was better than standing right next to the cell.
Just like upstairs in Mary’s apartment, Daisy felt like an intruder. A voyeur. On the outside looking in. She wanted to feel more connected to the man inside the cell, but the truth was she barely remembered him. Just like Sloan and Evan, Griffin was one of the younger ones. But she wanted the chance to get to know him. She wanted to get to know them all.
“He’s going to be okay,” Parker said, coming up to her side. “It might take some time, but he’ll get there.”
“What if he doesn’t switch back?” she whispered, not wanting her voice to carry and alarm Lilo.
“He will.”
“How can you be so sure?”
His brow arched, and she couldn’t hold in her amusement at his classic reaction. Her brother. Pigeon. The most arrogant man on the planet, but also the smartest she’d ever known.
“What about you,” Parker said. “Are you good?”
She snorted. “Good is a gray area.”
“Yes, it is. But I was talking about your gift.”
“I should probably train,” she mumbled reluctantly.
“Any time you’re ready.”
“Now?” she asked hopefully.
He glanced at his fiancée standing closest to Lilo at the edge of the operations room—looking down the hallway. The burden on Alice was to eliminate Daisy and her siblings if they went dark… and couldn’t be saved. But for some reason, they allowed her here.
Hope battled despair in the room. Daisy felt it in her gut. From her siblings standing by in the operations room, to Mary and Flint in the hallway closer to the cell. The grimy fingers of her sin weighed down the tingling butterflies of hope. She’d never felt such a unified collection of belief other than in this moment, and she didn’t want to be the one to burst their bubble.
Griffin may never come back from the brink.
Like Parker, Alice was full of confidence, but where he outwardly professed his, she remained humble. Alice flicked her gaze Parker’s way and gave him a small smile. That was all Parker needed to decide.
“Let’s do this now,” he said to her.
“Actually,” Daisy said. “Can you give me ten? I just want to check in on Axel and Elena.”
“Proud of you, Daisy.” He flashed her a toothy grin. “You’ve come a long way.”
Her cheeks heated at the praise, and she scowled, to which his grin widened.
“Be prepared for a walloping,” he teased.
She scoffed. “By a pigeon?”