The Lone Knight (Under The Cowl Book #1)

CHAPTER 42

     Stephanie passed the threshold with her first step expelling the darkness around her. 

She stopped to look around when she found the aid of an unfamiliar light within water filled tanks lighting the way. It was in that moment when she froze in horror. Her mind began to race a million miles a minute.  The light allowed her to see everything. But still she stood unsure if her eyes were playing tricks on her. Stephanie wanted so badly to rub her eyes furiously and look again to find what sat inside each tank to not be there. But in truth the longer she looked on there was no denying the hundreds of men and woman floating inside each tank like scientific specimen. Hooked up to tubes at nearly ever orifice from their mouth, to their nose, ears, even their rear end.

"What is this?" Gypsy asked.

Stephanie could hear her horror in Gypsy's voice. "Leslie's collection." she answered with a swelling knot in her throat. 

"What has she done to them?"

"What needed to be done." a voice shouted from above.

Stephanie looked up where she found Leslie standing alone on the catwalk above them, looking down at her as if she was waiting for this moment.

"When I detected another opened breach I knew you'd make your way here sooner or later. Renee would be disappointed to see you here. She worked hard to get Gypsy to take you back home. Shame, she doesn't know you like I do."

"What is all of this?"

"The look of disgust on your face tells me you already know the answer, Stephaine."

"Maybe I wanted to see the good in you and give you the benefit of the doubt.

"Keep your doubt. And believe when I tell you this is my arc. Whether that will ease your conscious and answer your question about me, or not, is not my problem. However, I will offer the kindness of sending you back home to your earth if you'd like."

"And them? Are you going to send them back home too?"

"No." Leslie said without hesitation, without giving thought to what her answer meant.

"You've taken people from their homes, away from the life they knew and from the people who love them. What gives you the right?"

"They will understand the battle I'm preparing them for when the time comes. Argus will save this world. And each and every one of these people you see inside these tanks share a similar story to your own, Stephanie. Alone, without parents who loved them, friends to stand by their side. Misfortune was the normal for every one of them. All I did was save them from such isolation."

"Save them!?"

"Stephanie." Gypsy called out before stumbling off to the side and grabbing hold of the wall to keep herself from falling over.

Gypsy's labored breathing looked as though she was seconds from passing out or worse.

"What wrong?" Stephanie asked.

"I'm vibing multiple unstable breaches when I shouldn't."

"Gypsy's reaction to the open breaches combined with the fact that she does not belong in this universe is nothing unexpected. Breachers like Gypsy hold a very unique connection to whatever multiverse they are from. Pulled away from that multiverse and into one like this is like putting a Goldfish in saltwater. Although it won't kill her, it may or may not take some time for her to adjust."