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Chapter 13

"Do you see anyone?" Jace was poised at one of the doors in the nursery. We'd decided on the last one in the hallway, and would work our way forward.

"Nope," Theo shook his head and walked back over to us. "Did you put up the illusion?"

"Oh, yeah," Jace nodded, slipped the key in the slot, and turned it. "It's in the doorframe, just looks like a normal hallway, and we're not here. I wish I could make it so people saw us outside."

"You could have," I giggled.

"Is it wrong that I want to do the permanent illusion to someone?" he looked at me.

"What's the difference between that and her putting a memory in someone's head?" Theo asked as we walked down the stairs that had been revealed behind the door.

"I can make it look like anything is happening, I could make this look like a huge underground lake. And you'd believe it, swear up and down that you could feel the water. Working with her, we could make you hear the water lapping on the edges, hear the ducks swimming," Jace turned on a flashlight we had. "She and I could make it real. And for a bigger group of people."

We'd spent a lot of time talking to Otka about the power while Theo talked over some safety measures with Philip. I could do a memory at a time, but if I worked with Jace, I could create an entire new reality for someone.

We could also snap someone's mind beyond repair.

If our fathers found out about that, they really would take over the world.

"What's in the crates?" Theo swept his flashlight over a stack in one corner. He handed me his flashlight, and I held it steady. Grunting just a bit, he tried to open it. Jace found a hammer, then handed me his flashlight. I tried to give them both as much light as I could. They heaved the lid off. "Damn," Theo looked in on what they'd found.

"What?" I walked closer.

"Guns," Jace looked back at me. "They really are planning for a war. Here's the proof."

"With the looks of how many are stored," Theo took his flashlight from me and swung it around the room, "they're using this as a storage place."

"Because who would suspect flowers?" I wanted to cry.

"Hey," Jace wiped away a tear that managed to escape. "We will end them. Don't let this taint your view of your plants."

"No," I sat down on the floor, "it taints my view of my daddy. Daddies aren't supposed to use their little girls to take over the world. I'm not a weapon. You're not a weapon."

"No, we're not," Jace dropped beside me and pulled me onto his lap. "Right now, we're their worst nightmare. There can't be much more evidence that Edward will need before he gets us out of here."

There was a noise at the top of the stairs. The lock tumbled.

"Get over here," Theo motioned to us.

We hid behind one of the crates, and Jace threw out another illusion that there was nothing behind the crate, and we held our breath.

"All of this came in last night?" Brian's voice along with the sound of a lightswitch. Our eyes squinted in the brightness. "Who is your supplier?"

"Cuba," Dad answered. His footsteps got closer. "They ship from Russia. You know how paranoid they are. This was surplus from before," we all knew what he meant. "Plus, they started producing again as soon as they could get the factories up and running."

"Well, now you need to start the training back up more," Brian was closer, and from the sounds of things, opened a crate. "They all need to know how to use these things."