NOVEL NEXT 347 Back in Neoma's Room 2
"Goddess, she's trying to help, Greta," Lucas growled.
"Why do you care so much, Lucas? Have you had to deal with any of the heartache that her and Andreas and the other elders have caused? Sam and I lost a baby because they were apparently calculating probabilities about the likelihood of alyko births. And you think we should just welcome her into our pack with open arms now that she's suffered some minor injuries and supposedly grew a conscience?" Greta seethed.
Neoma's shoulders sagged and she dropped her eyes to the floor. She deserved this. She deserved so much more than this.
"Yes, I have dealt with my share of heartache and you know it. I have been in this pack the same as you have, Greta. I have seen what's happened to those around me. But how can we hold her responsible when she was under that psychopath's control and had no memory of who she really was? Before Zagan got control of her, she was treated horribly like most other alyko out there. But she saved me tonight. She sacrificed herself…"
"I don't need you defending me, Lucas," Neoma spoke up, grimacing at the words exchanged concerning her. It was painful hearing all of it—his defense as well as Greta's truth. "I returned because I want to help. I know I can never take back what I did or what I was involved in, even if it was as the monster Zagan created in Zosime, but I can help you now. But I will let you decide if my help is something you actually want. If not, I will leave."
Greta watched as the girl she knew as Zoe spoke these humble words with her eyes downcast, but it did not soften her feelings. It couldn't. This could all just be some elaborate act to get their favor. How could they possibly trust her after everything?
"I don't know if we have destroyed the map," Graeme replied to Neoma's earlier question. "Have we destroyed the map, Sam?"
"Yes, we did," Sam whose hand was resting on Greta's shoulder, comforting the rage and heartache he felt welling within her nodded.
Neoma glanced at Selah, and Selah nodded her understanding. "I will make sure the servers and everything else is properly destroyed as well," she said.
"From what I know of Zagan, he will have likely replicated our work here for his own use to ensure that it is not vulnerable to any hiccups on our end. So us destroying the map and servers here will take down the feed from all of the other packs, which is good, but Zagan will still have access to whatever setup he has created. There is nothing we can do about that," Neoma explained.
"What else do you know about Zagan?" Graeme asked, a growl puttering in his throat as he imagined having a go at the vampire who had created all of this mess they were dealing with now.
"He is unkillable," Neoma frowned, "but he has vulnerabilities."
"What vulnerabilities?" Greta asked, eager to exploit whatever opportunities they had available to them.
"I seem to be one of them," Neoma replied.
"What?" Greta scoffed. "What does that mean?"
"When he came for me earlier, I was able to make a deal with him in order to spare Lucas. I might be able to do something like that again. If I am as important to him as it seems, perhaps he would make a trade," she suggested.
"No way," Lucas growled an objection from his side of the room.
"Let's do it," Greta smirked, shooting a glare Lucas' way.
"What makes you think you are that important to him, Neoma?" Graeme asked, his forehead feathering with a deep frown. He didn't like the idea of trading one life for another, even with all that this young girl was apparently responsible for. It didn't sound like she had any control over her prior actions—much like he didn't have control over gaining his memory back.
"Wait? Neoma?" Greta asked. "Who gave her the honor of being named 'New Moon?'"
"An element of nature named her, Greta," Selah replied, her voice soft. "Perhaps you could just listen."
"He acted strangely… protective of me," Neoma shrugged. Recalling it much less putting the impression into words made her uncomfortable. "I know he spent a lot of time with me before I came to this pack teaching me things and making me a little replica of himself, I guess. He was hoping things would turn out differently for me with Andreas, and it upset him that this happened," she gestured toward her face. "For whatever reason, he seems to care about me. And I think I could use that to help benefit you. Maybe I can get the remaining alyko back… maybe even August."
"You think he values you over the others?" Selah asked.
"I don't know, but he was taking me to his castle rather than wherever he keeps the others."
"So you saw Sage?" Selah asked, swallowing as the thought of her brother being alone there made her anxiety skyrocket.
"Yes," Neoma said softly. "He was okay when I saw him," she offered a small smile for whatever reassurance it could give.
"He keeps the others in a containment facility that my mother helped him create. His own residence is separate—a castle within a dense forest of trees. So, yeah, if he wasn't taking you to containment… then I wonder what he was going to do with you," Selah explained.
"How do you know all of that? Have you been there? Wait… your mother?" Neoma asked, stumbling over the facts, eyes growing wider with each new revelation that alighted in her mind.
"I was born there… it's a long story," Selah replied quickly.
"So that is how you were able to retrieve Livvy?" Greta asked.
"Yes. I know how to get there and how to access it through a side portal that no one else is aware of."
"Well things are looking up for us after all," Greta smiled.
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