Chapter 2: Power in the Blood

The building Griffin arrived at almost made him get back in his car and drive home. He was already on the fence about the whole thing anyways, and the appearance of the facility made it seem like Sarah had pulled a prank on him. It almost looked like a shed because of how small and temporary it seemed, as if someone just set it up overnight. There was one door in the front, with no sign, and no people or other parked cars around it. He was fairly sure that the building couldn't fit more than ten people inside it, and even then everyone would have to be standing and not moving. He really considered leaving.

The worst thing about coming here was lying to Mandy. He couldn't really tell her where he was going or why because he didn't know those answers himself. Something like that may have made her come with him or not let him go all together. Both options weren't okay with him. If he were going to learn more about himself, he'd rather do it alone.

It took him an entire week to work up the courage to it. He planned on telling her that he was going to Sam's house for the day if she asked. She had trusted him enough that she never called Sam's to check up on him, so he wouldn't have to fill Sam in for this lie either. However, as he headed out the door, Mandy didn't ask him where he was going, but only asked that he'd be safe. Even without the lying, though, Griffin still felt sick about it.

But he was here already, and he had already done what he did. To turn around would be to do this for nothing. Or worse, have to do it again later when he wouldn't be able to sleep because he didn't open that door. If it was a prank, great. He was okay with being laughed at as long as he figured out that that is what it was. Hesitantly, he went inside.

The room he walked into was almost like a waiting room. There was a couch along the side wall with tables at each end, magazines, and oddly placed, fake plants. On the other wall was what looked like a receptionist window, looking into a small room. There was a man sitting on the other side of the window, though he had yet to notice Griffin. He was young, no older than 25, dressed in what looked like army sweats, with his natural hair shaved close. At the moment, he had his earphones in and seemed to be fully engrossed in some kind of portable game system.

However, the oddest thing about the room had to be the elevator on the other side. This building didn't have a second story, so the elevator had to be down only. But down to what? The feeling like he should leave became stronger.

As he came into the room, the door slammed behind him, and the man in the window finally looked up. When he saw Griffin, he jumped up in surprise, almost screaming. Griffin imagined that the look on his face had to be how other people looked when they caught a burglar in their house. He then wondered if he was no longer expected to show up. It had been a week since Sarah asked him to come, and since then, neither her nor her brother had shown up at school.

On his back, Griffin was carrying his backpack. He was unsure how long he was going to be there, so he brought food with him, amongst other things, and put the card that Sarah had gave him in the front pocket. He went to take off the backpack to reach it, but as soon as he did, the man seemed to get even more frightened, so he instantly stopped.

Before Griffin could think of what to do next, the man suddenly moved back over to the desk and slammed his hand down on what must have been a button. It was then that the main lights turned off, only to be replaced by red flashing ones, and an alarm came on that was so loud that Griffin and the man had to cover their ears.

Slowly, Griffin backed up into the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. He thought about the elevator but decided against it. After all, the alarm had to be an alert for somebody, and that seemed like the only way they would come in.

He really wished that he had left.

After a few minutes, the elevator did ding and slowly open, just as Griffin predicted, but a crowd of about five people with guns swarmed out. Even though it hurt his ears, Griffin raised his hands up and let them come. One person took his pack off and grabbed his hands, while another cuffed him. The cuffs were odd, like very thick bracelets, and glowed blue in the middle. Though these people were dressed like the military, he was beginning to think that they might not be.

They then shouted something to the man in the window who finally shut off the alarm. Griffin was sure he could hear ringing in his ears as the people pulled him into the elevator. They then all huddled in in a practiced manner. One of them hit a button and the doors slid closed.

It was starting to weigh on Griffin that he was being arrested, maybe kidnapped, and he did little to stop it. He had no idea who these people were or where they were taking him. Should he have struggled? Should he ask them? Looking around at the stern faces of his captives, he decided not to. What would he say to them anyways? If he was under arrest, then he thought he should be quiet until the situation was clearer.

Griffin then prepared himself for what he thought was the most likely scenario. A classified military base was his best guess. It was the only thing that explained the uniforms and the immediate action. If he wasn't trespassing on government property, then he was being held by armed wackos. Both of these seemed like scenarios that Mandy was going to kill him over. He sighed, and the elevator doors finally opened.

It was safe to say that Griffin would have never guessed the scene that laid before him, nor did it help him figure out which scenario he had entered. The best way that his mind could explain what he saw was subway station, though 'subway' was definitely not the word for it. The 'train' was on a track, and he was underground, but it was much too large to be a subway. It was a couple stories high and so wide that it should have been a building. The length of it could only be guessed as only part of it was sticking out of a dark tunnel. He couldn't be sure that such a 'train', if it really were one, could actually move.

Then there were the people. A station this large was by no means crowded, but it seemed to Griffin that there were at least 100 people around him. They were mostly dressed like the man from upstairs had, in army sweats, while a select few were dressed as his captures and seemed to be armed. Only a few people raised their heads at the sound of the elevator, and when they did, they gave Griffin the same look of shock that the man did. Some, he swore, even looked like they were going to be sick.

"Do we need to alert General Abner before we take him to the holding area?" one of his captures asked another, all while pushing him toward the train.

"No, we'll alert her after. Last thing I want is this thing gettin' lose inside," another man answered. He jabbed the end of his gun into Griffin's shoulder and said, "Though I bet that sounds appealin' to you."

Griffin neither answered nor looked in his direction. Looking ahead, however, allowed him to see a figure running towards them from the train, pushing past people as she went.

"Move, move!" he could hear her yell, but his captives had yet to notice, still talking out their plans for him.

As the figure came closer, he realized that it was Sarah. To Griffin's surprise, he was relieved at the sight of her. At least there was one person he knew in this place.

"What are you doing?" she yelled when she got close enough. Griffin's capturers looked up then, finally noticing her. They seemed taken back by her appearance, even more so as she reached for Griffin's cuffs.

"What are we doing?" one of the men asked while pulling on Griffin so that Sarah no longer could undo his restraints. "We caught this one trying to get in from above and now you're trying to set him free?"

"He was only trying to get in because I invited him," Sarah answered curtly. "Did I not send out that message through the proper channels or are you choosing to ignore direct orders?"

"You can't be serious, Sarah. He's a full-blown-" he started to yell but something about Sarah's expression cut him short. He started again, but this time in a more respectful tone. "Major, you cannot seriously believe the lies of a pure blood. I won't be responsible for any violence that happens on base."

"No, you won't," Sarah replied, finally getting the cuffs around Griffin's wrists to open. "I will. So, lieutenant, why don't you step aside?"

For a moment, it seemed to Griffin that the man wouldn't leave. There was some type of resolve in his eyes, the stiffening of his shoulders, that made him think that his anger may even lead to violence. But in the next moment, he exhaled, lowered his shoulders, and cursed under his breath. Without another word to Sarah, him and his men walked to the train.

"Are you alright?" Sarah said, refocusing her attention on Griffin. Her voice was worried and she reached out to grab his shoulders, as if trying to stabilize him.

Gently, Griffin pushed off her hands. "Yes, they only handcuffed me."

Sarah did not become less worried, however, and carefully examined the blue-lit handcuffs that she still held, then looked Griffin over.

"And you don't feel dizzy at all? Nauseous, maybe?"

Griffin shook his head. Other than some slight bruising from being pushed around, he felt fine.

"How strange," she answered, though mostly to herself, then refocused again. "Either way, I'm terribly sorry about all of that. I told them you were coming, but, well… Most of our volunteers are not as Pēy-looking as you are."

Sarah bent down to pick up his bag that the men threw down as they left and handed it back to Griffin. "But you must be anxious to talk to our scientist. Shall we?"

Hesitantly, Griffin took the bag, and followed. Though he had already had his fill of stress for one day, it seemed to be a waste to turn around now. After all, what else could go so wrong?

As they walked by more people, Griffin was greeted by more stares, all ranging from terrified to wrathful. Whatever it was that made him so Pēy-looking, as Sarah had put it, had put them all on edge. Griffin pulled up the hood of his jacket and kept his head down as he followed Sarah in.

The inside of the train was even more impressive that the station was. It looked almost like a spaceship to Griffin, as everything was blinding white, clean, and minimalized. The hallway that they came into was lined with doors with no doorknobs, but buttons instead. It was hard to see where the hallway began or ended.

"This way," Sarah called to him when she realized he was no longer following. Griffin walked briskly to her as he caught up. "Overwhelming, isn't it?"

He nodded. That was the perfect word for what he was feeling. He was unsure where to look.

"I remember when I first stepped foot here," she continued. "I was able to visit the bases in my childhood since my family was serving here, but it still shocked me when I was finally able to enlist. Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

Griffin nodded again. "What exactly is… this?"

"Oh, yes, sorry. I forget how little you know," Sarah replied while leading them down a different hallway. "You're inside a class 33 vessel, though there are no others like it. The number mostly refers to the attempts made to build something of this size to be functional. It's for traveling- underground."

"Why do you travel underground?" Griffin asked.

"There's a few reasons. Privacy, for one. This branch of the military is classified, so staying hidden is priority."

Griffin thought about how Caleb had just come up to him to reveal himself. He wondered if Caleb would be in any sort of trouble for that, or how well kept this secret really was. He let Sarah continue without interrupting.

"Then there is the convenience of it. Most of the places we need to travel to already have the proper tunnels below them. Without things like traffic or land obstacles, we tend to get to our destination much faster."

"Wouldn't flying be the fastest way?"

"Yes, I suppose it would, but it would be difficult to make a facility of this size mobile. It serves as more than just transportation. It's also armed, in a way. Most of the Pēys' bases and territories are underground as well."

"And the Pēy are?"

Sarah's expression turned sour then, as if she were almost afraid to answer. "Well, maybe we should let Dr. Laban answer that one. We're almost there anyway."

Griffin felt slightly annoyed as she had evaded his question yet again but continued to follow in silence. As they passed by several doors, he began to notice that many of them were labeled. There were plaques above the archways of some rooms with a combination of a letter and numbers. However, they appeared out of order, both alphabetically and numerically, and confused Griffin more than it helped him. He decided that it must be in some sort of code and stopped looking all together.

They finally halted in front of door 'M-7', where Sarah held down a button close to the door and said, "Dr. Laban? It's Sarah."

A speaker answered her with joy. "Sarah! Come in, come in. I've been eagerly waiting for your arrival."

This made Sarah smile to herself while she pressed a different button. The door slid open.

The lab was just as Griffin expected, now that he was getting use to the look of this place. Like everywhere else, it was large, clean, and bright. The only difference was the equipment which filled every space possible. There was normal equipment such as beakers, microscopes, burnets, and countless other objects that looked familiar, but the names did not come to Griffin's mind. Then there were machines that were completely foreign to him, and objects that, once again, reminded him more of a spaceship.

Out of the three techs working in the room, all were too absorbed into their work to see Griffin and Sarah walk in. Their faces were buried into their computer monitors, their expressions serious, focused. Griffin felt comfortable enough to let down his hood.

However, his movement was in the peripheral vision of one tech's eye. The woman peered over her monitor, looked straight into Griffin's eyes, and screamed.

Her shrieking violently surprised the others who jumped out of their chairs. Someone tipped a drinking glass from their desk onto the floor. It shattered, and the screaming woman fell to the ground.

The sound of running footsteps made Griffin look over towards an open doorway on his left and he saw a man come running out of it. He was an older gentleman, with gray hair and glasses, wearing the same lab coat as the techs. Griffin assumed that he was Dr. Laban.

"What's going on in here?!" he yelled, then quickly made his way over to the woman on the floor. She stopped him, however, with a silent shake of her head, and raised a very shaky hand to point over to Griffin.

He turned towards them and Sarah gave him an embarrassed wave.

"Uh… Hi, Dr. Laban," she said to him. "Sorry to cause a disturbance."

Dr. Laban didn't answer at first, but instead looked over at Sarah, then Griffin, then back again, and again. He seemed to be trying to decipher the situation, when out of the blue, he started to laugh.

Griffin looked over at Sarah, confused by him, but she only shrugged and waited for him to speak.

When Dr. Laban could breathe easier, he walked over to Griffin and gave him a friendly slap on the arm, only confusing Griffin more.

"This is a good one!" he said, still laughing a bit. "I have to hand it to old Abe. Sending you in, Sarah, is what really got me. You're usually so serious. What did he give you to do this?"

"Dr. Abraham didn't send us," Sarah answered, clearly still embarrassed.

"One of the stewards, then? I did play a nasty trick on them last week.."

Dr. Laban was circling Griffin now, examining what was a well-thought-out joke in his mind.

"The height is a really nice touch, though they went over-board on the eyes. They're a tad too dark- more blood like. I'm guessing from a Halloween store?"

"Please, Dr. Laban," Sarah protested. "I told you I was going to bring you a new volunteer. This is Griffin."

Dr. Laban laughed again, nervously this time, but when Sarah didn't break, he looked intensely at Griffin, who immediately looked away. Behind him, the techs were gathering themselves, still terrified.

"Oh," Dr. Laban said in a soft voice, then loudly exclaimed it once again, "Oh!"

"I am so very sorry," Dr. Laban said once he had fully grasped what Sarah was trying to say. "I knew that you were coming but I didn't know that… I must have seemed so rude to you, and after all it must have took to come here. Sarah, you must properly inform me next time."

Confused again, Griffin looked to Sarah for answers but she only smiled apprehensively. Griffin suddenly started to feel as if something was off.

Scrambling now, Dr. Laban ordered his techs to start grabbing equipment while he ran back into his office and remerged with a tablet in hand, muttering to himself. "A pure-blood? In my office?"

Behind them, the techs rolled in chairs and urged for them to sit, facing the doctor. He still wore a smile on this face, though it was now less of the smug smile from inside joke and more of a smile of a man who just won the lottery.

He paced a bit, typing something into his tablet before grabbing a chair himself.

"Let's begin with the personal background," he said, looking at Griffin squarely. "I cannot tell you how much it means to have someone of your rank here. This will change everything!"

The bad feeling Griffin was getting grew larger. Just how much information did Sarah leave out?

"Actually, Doctor," Sarah interrupted. "I think starting would a blood test would be best."

"No, no, no," Laban answer, waving her off. "I have a rough idea of what the blood test results would be, but the inner workings of their capitol? Not one clue. We can start off small though. Maybe with your parents."

Griffin looked at Sarah again. She had told the Doctor nothing at all. She had promised him answers and instead he was asked questions. He had no idea how to respond. How was he supposed to explain to Laban that he knew nothing at all? Sarah barely believed Griffin and he was sure Caleb still didn't. But Sarah didn't offer to help. She only avoided Griffin's eyes.

"We don't have to go over names, if you would rather we didn't," the Doctor chimed in after an awkward moment of silence. "After all, names would mean nothing to me. It's more of their genealogy and culture that I'm curious about."

Sarah still stayed quiet, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the seat of her chair. Griffin was beginning to realize that she wouldn't help him, and sigh. Dr. Laban mistook this as anger.

"Or we can move on," he said in a hurry. "I really meant no offen-"

"I never met them," Griffin finally spoke. "I have no idea who they are."

"Really? Is that to keep you from forming attachments?" he replied earnestly.

Griffin shook his head. "I can only imagine what their thoughts were."

"Well, then. Who raised you?"

"The foster system." Griffin was starting to grip the seat of his own chair. "Until I was adopted that is."

"The Pēy have a… foster system?" Laban asked, clearly skeptical.

"I wouldn't know," Griffin answered.

Laban shook his head and put down his tablet. "Now I know you're messing with me. Are you trying to tell me that you've only lived with humans? That's ridiculous. Even those of mixed blood have lived with the Pēy for a short while. You can't expect me to believe such an insane lie."

Griffin could tell, no matter what he said, no one would believe him. Sarah still stared down at the floor, refusing to help. Sighing, Griffin got to his feet again and grabbed his pack.

"Sorry," he told the doctor, "for wasting your time."

"Wait. Please wait, Griffin," Sarah begged. "I'm sorry for not explaining this before. Honestly, I thought you would never come here. But, Dr. Laban, he's telling the truth. I researched him and his background fits that he-"

"Backgrounds can be edited, Sarah," Laban countered. "You of all people should know that."

"But the minds of an entire town can't be," she answered back. "You weren't there. You didn't see how these people knew him."

"The town were a Pēy was on a killing spree?" Laban laughed, though this time there was nothing funny. "Charm is a part of who they are."

"The murders started up a month ago, but Griffin has lived in that town for years," she said, getting to her feet as well. "I know what charm looks like, but this wasn't it. These people know him, they grew up with him."

This made the doctor pause, and his brow furrowed as he thought. "How many years?"

"Seven," Griffin replied when Sarah couldn't produce the answer.

"That is… unheard of," Laban said, unsure.

"Please, Doctor," Sarah said, taking his hands. "All I promised was that you would take a blood sample. He just wants to know if he really is Pēy or if he's human."

Laban sighed and squeezed her hands. "I suppose I could do that. It will help us more than it'll help him anyways."

He looked at Griffin then and asked, "Are you sure you want to give a blood sample?"

Griffin only nodded.

Reluctantly, Dr. Laban asked his techs to start preparing the test. Griffin was told to sit again and he obeyed, sitting as still as he could as they tied off his arm. The doctor put on his gloves and reached for Griffin. After they put in the needle, Griffin looked away.

They took four vials before they were done. A timid tech told Griffin it was so they could do a variety of tests later, but the Pēy testing would only take a few moments. They placed a vial into a strange machine and turned it on. As it whirled, Griffin struggled not to bite his nails. Every second felt like an hour.

Finally, the machine beeped and the doctor sat down at the computer, typed something in and began to read.

"Well?" Sarah asked after a few minutes of silent reading had passed. "What does it say?"

"I'm not certain what this means," he answered. "I'll have to redo the test. This doesn't make any sense."

"Why not?" Griffin asked this time.

"Well, your DNA is a perfect match for the Pēy. But the other readings, they have to be wrong. I've gotten stronger test results from someone who was 1/16th Pēy," he replied.

"If the other readings are wrong, couldn't the Pēy one be wrong too?" Griffin asked.

"I'm… sorry, but no," Dr. Laban replied.

Griffin took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to remain calm. He almost started up his old habit of counting to ten.

"So, how bad is this? I get it that everyone here is afraid of Pēys. Of me, I guess. But what is it? Why is it so…" Griffin started to say but had to stop. His voice was becoming stressed, uneven. He didn't want to say more.

"I guess to start with," Sarah said, her voice quiet, "is the meaning. Pēy is a word from one of the oldest languages; Tamil."

"And it means?"

Sarah looked at Dr. Laban, worried, then looked back at Griffin. "It means, 'Demon'."