Cassius by Stevens, Madison (chromebook ebook reader txt) 📕

wheel bar obstacle. It involved her grabbing one of the many exposed bars on the edge of a wheel that spun down toward other similar wheels. The obstacle required perfect timing.

She launched onto the outer wheel, but instead of waiting for it to spin down, she scrambled up the top, using the bars as footholds. The crowd gasped in disappointment as Kendra leapt from the top of one wheel to another.

“They’re going to disqualify her for that,” the earlier woman moaned. “And such a good run. Darn.”

CJ growled. Since when did Kendra take mindless risk and ignore race rules?

Kendra continued her movement, but her foot snagged a handhold. Fearful cries went out from the crowd as she pitched forward, slamming into the top of the wheel. It rotated forward and launched her off headfirst.

Someone in the crowd screamed. Under normal circumstances, obstacle failure meant a one-way trip to the pool or mats and nothing more than getting some bruises or soaked, but being flung from the top of the wheel arced her well past the safety zone.

CJ charged toward the obstacle, not caring about anything or anyone but saving Kendra. Panicked staff and guards watched wide-eyed as the Vestal plummeted toward the ground. There was no sign of fear on her face.

He jumped on top of a long, closed equipment case and into the air, grabbing the falling Kendra and twisting his body. The crowd fell silent as he hit the ground hard and slid, tearing his shirt, Kendra clutched in his arms.

CJ sat up, still holding Kendra. She stared out, her eyes glazed over, but all the crowd saw was a man who’d saved a woman from serious injury. The entire area shook with their cheers.

“Kendra, are you okay?” he asked.

She stared straight ahead, not reacting to him at all. There were no lacerations or contusions on her head or body.

“Talk to me,” CJ said. “Are you okay?”

Two white-uniformed men wearing arm bands reading FIRST AID ran toward CJ. They extracted the silent Kendra from CJ’s arms and started pulling her off the course. She didn’t resist them.

“I think she might have hit her head,” CJ said. He stood to follow.

One of the men put up a hand. “Thank you for your assistance, sir, but you don’t look hurt. We need to check her out inside, and it’d help if you backed off.”

“I’m her boyfriend,” CJ replied.

“Go back to the crowd, and we’ll let everyone know in a few minutes how she’s doing.”

CJ jogged over to the crowd, hopping back over a rope. A couple of men gave him backslaps and thumbs up. He ignored them as he walked along the edge of the crowd. The medics had disappeared, people parting to let them and Kendra through, but their direction was unmistakable, the main building.

He texted Julius.

Found Kendra, but something’s wrong with her. Some guys are taking her inside, and I’m in danger of losing sight of her. There’s no way I can wait for everyone else.

Julius’s response was instant and surprising.

Do what you need to do, and I’ll back you up. I already saw you on the big screen anyway. They know you’re here. I saw one vehicle leave, but she wasn’t inside. Some other woman.

CJ headed toward the building, having long since lost sight of Kendra and the medics. Excited murmurs from the crowd discussed everything from Kendra’s spectacular but doomed run to the last-minute save. Most people were so focused on talking about what they’d just seen, they didn’t pay much attention to one of the key participants in those events other than glancing his way briefly as he passed by them.

He reached the edge of the crowd area and hopped the stanchions again before jogging behind some parked trucks and following a sweeping arc back toward the building.

His heart pounded. He wanted to roar and sprint right through the front doors.

Seeing Kendra move like that only confused him. The earlier woman he might have been able to explain away as a hybrid, but Kendra wasn’t a hybrid, and it wasn’t like Ouroboros could just dose someone with a drug and give them hybrid-like abilities.

Or could they? It was like Julius said. The evidence was right there in front of his face. Ouroboros was there, and they’d done something to her.

CJ arrived at the building, this time approaching from an open side door. There weren’t any guards around. He sniffed at the air, finding both Kendra’s scent and the awful smell from before.

He took a deep breath and jogged toward the door. The entire crowd, along with any security working for Ouroboros had spotted a huge man sprinting as fast as an Olympian to catch Kendra. He’d lost the element of total surprise, so there was no reason to use maximum stealth.

The whole thing might even be a trap to lure him out. He didn’t care. At this point, sneaking around wasn’t much of an option. If he ran into anyone, he’d demand Kendra’s location and punch them until they gave it to him.

CJ entered the building, finding himself in a lobby connecting to a narrow hallway. Faint voices sounded in the distance, but nothing that sounded all that harried or worried. He continued down the hallway, his stomach knotting with worry over Kendra.

Her scent grew stronger, as did the other one. He slowed after turning and walking down another long hallway. He was approaching a gymnasium according to a sign on the door.

“The other one is unaccounted for,” a woman said. CJ didn’t recognize her voice.

“Does it matter?” replied a man. “We have what we came for. I thought this whole plan was idiotic to begin with.”

“Was it? We have two test trials now, including one with a new Vestal, and it’s also obvious that our equipment can’t be easily detected. That’s good to know.”

The man scoffed. “This whole project is a waste of time. It’ll never be useful.”

“Really?” The woman laughed. “If anything, the fact that we were able to identify one potential Vestal