“W e had begun to discuss our next move when Eli, who had been keeping an eye on the constantly spreading news, interrupted us, panic shining in his eyes. “Oh, no,” he rasped. “What?” I urged. “The boundaries in Chicago separating the residences from the Bloodless… they have fallen. They have been blown .” I grabbed the phone from him and stared down at the report. Horror filled me as I realized what was happening. I looked to Lawrence, who appeared to be thinking the same thing.
“My father,” he muttered. “I’m sure of it.” “Why is he doing this?” Xavier posed.
“I should’ve realized this was what my father would do,” Lawrence said, cursing beneath his breath. “It’s just so typical of him. He wants to make a public mockery of us, after I just declared that TSL’s plan is to take over. They want to prove to the world how incompetent we are at the jobs they are carrying out—like keeping the divide between Bloodless and humans.” My throat constricted as I imagined hordes of Bloodless flooding into towns inhabited by families and children. We had our work cut out as it was, attempting to cure the existing Bloodless, let alone thousands more who were probably being created as we spoke.
Eli took the phone back from me and continued scrolling. “Oh, great,” he said, “apparently IBSI Chicago has made a statement, confirming that they are withdrawing even the mutants. And they will do the same in New York, very soon.” “Scare tactics!” Xavier fumed. And they were working. I could only imagine how terrified the humans who lived in the city must be. Or humans who lived anywhere that was dependent on the IBSI’s protection. It seemed that we had pushed the IBSI to the point of desperation, and they were no longer cautious enough to hide their ugly side publicly, for this was nothing but open blackmail. Continue on our path, and they were going to continue wreaking havoc on the cities and townships that they were supposed to be protecting. If anybody ever had any doubts about the IBSI’s motives being tainted by power, they should be eradicated now. And yet it didn’t matter. Because the irrefutable fact remained: the people still needed the IBSI to keep the Bloodless sectioned off. We still needed them. We weren’t prepared yet to take their place—and they knew it, which was why they had withdrawn just at the wrong time. I had honestly been hoping that they would remain clinging to power as long as possible, and if anything, increase their protection around the cities to prove themselves to be more competent than us. But apparently, I still had a lot to learn about Mr. Atticus Conway, and Lawrence knew a lot more about him than me. We had little time left until the IBSI were going to do the same to New York… and then where next? When would they stop, or would they even stop?
We had done our job in unsettling Atticus, that much was clear. We had done that job too well. First , we all traveled together to the borders of Chicago, and then the witches transported everyone to The Shade, while I remained behind. In this state of emergency, any plans had to be scrapped. Our first priority had to be to gather as large an army as we could possibly muster from our island and for all of them to rush back to Chicago to try to remedy the situation—including the dragons. They also needed to bring as much antidote from the island as they could carry—I hoped that Dr. Finnegan and her helpers would be prepared for what we required. In the meantime, Lawrence suggested that I go to search for Atticus. If the order to blow the boundaries had come from Chicago HQ, Lawrence was sure that it would be his father directly behind it… which meant that Atticus was likely back in Chicago. I had to search for him and attempt to stop him from giving another order. He had seconds and thirds and fourths in command, who would not respond to Atticus’s absence lightly— assuming I did get hold of him. If he’d already discussed his plans with them, likely my capturing Atticus would make no difference; they’d go through with them anyway. But hunting down that man was the most useful thing that I could think to do with my time right now, and so, after the others vanished, I dashed toward the looming silhouette of the IBSI’s Chicago headquarters. The boundaries sectioning their compound off from the rest of the city remained intact, keeping the Bloodless out, not that this should come as a surprise.”