Free Jekyll, an Urban Fantasy by Lauren Stewart Page A

her in the process. “Let’s get one thing straight, Carter. You don’t know me. You may think you do, but you don’t. Not now. Not ever. Or you never would have done what you did.”
    He finally looked up, his expression that of someone fighting the need to argue, wanting to explain instead. “You’re wrong. I did what I did because of you . I just wanted you to be safe. Yes, I made some mistakes. Hell, I made a lot of mistakes, but giving you the medicine wasn’t one of them. Imagine what might have happened if I hadn’t.”
    “Is this a Christmas-past kind of moment?”
    “No. Because then I’d have to show you what happens to those of you who don’t get help. And that would mean taking you to a cemetery.”
    If he hadn’t doped her, would Chastity’s behavior have put both of them underground? Maybe. But… “You don’t know that. I could’ve been fine.”
    His brows came together. “Fine? With all of Chastity’s recklessness?” He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
    “Well, forgive me if your opinion means nothing to me.”
    He shook his head sadly. “More of you die than live, you know. Without medication, even Jekylls die young. Almost like they’re looking for it.” He was probably right—Chastity’s life choices were hardly rational behavior for someone who wanted to see tomorrow.
    But that didn’t mean someone else got to make the decision for her. “Well, thank goodness The Clinic is here to save us from ourselves.”
    “You can believe whatever you want to believe, but they are helping other people.”
    “Really?” she asked sarcastically.
    “There’s a boy here. He’s sixteen.”
    Oh God. “He’s another prisoner?” Someone else she would have to free on her way out?
    “You’re not a prisoner. He isn’t, either. He lives here and can leave whenever he wants.”
    “I want to meet him.” I want to ask him myself. She’d know if he was lying, if they were all lying.
    She walked about ten feet behind Carter, watching him. He moved like an old man, as if he’d aged fifty years since the last time they’d seen each other. Before she’d found the ‘medicine’ he’d been giving her. She’d thought it was heroin or maybe cocaine, his private stash, and had kicked him out for bringing the thing that had killed her mother into their home.
    She stopped. “My mother OD’ed. What did she OD on?” Was it heroin she was injecting? Or something The Clinic had prescribed?
    He looked over his shoulder, noticed she’d stopped, and turned. “She died from an overdose of heroin.” Then he started walking again. “Come on. He’ll want to meet you too.” He knocked on a door that looked exactly like every other door in the place. “Justin? It’s Carter. I want you to meet someone.”
    She heard someone inside yell, “Hang on!”
    “Do you live here too?” she asked Carter.
    “No, I live in a shitty apartment nearby. But I’m here a lot of the time.”
    “Home sweet home, huh?”
    Before he could reply, the door opened.
    “Hey, Carter. What’s up?” The boy wasn’t wearing scrubs, and he looked so… normal . Like any other teenager one would see coming out of school. When he saw Carter, he smiled. Then it slipped slightly as his gaze turned toward her, and a blush rose on his cheeks. “Who’s she?”
    “This is Eden,” Carter said. “Can we come in for a sec?”
    Justin shrugged and then stepped back into his room. “Sure, but you should’ve told me you were going to bring a— someone.” He scrambled to clear off a chair, tossing clothing and other junk onto the desk.
    Eden felt something pull her into the room—something she couldn’t, or didn’t want to, struggle against. But on her way, she wiggled the doorknob, testing it. It wasn’t locked from the outside. And the interior lock was puny, way too weak to hold back a Hyde, even if he couldn’t figure out the absurdly simple release mechanism.
    “Where do they put him when he transforms?”