Chapter Forty

*Keothi*


After reaching Ariya I breathed a sigh of relief. There was so much more that we needed to talk about but knowing that she was ok and still alive was what was important at the moment.
“Did you reach her? Is she ok? Where is she? What’s going on?” Caleb bombarded me.
“Breathe, Caleb. She’s holding on. She’s still at the facility. It was as we suspected. Something else is going on there. At least I think so. She said something about Boss having a serum that can make it to where he knows when someone lies.” I explained.
“How does the serum work?” Drake asked, his eyes narrowing.
“I’m not sure. We got cut off too quickly. It sounds like they’re going to have a new set of torture for her each day. So we need to figure out how she and I can switch quickly or she’s going to take all of this on her own.”
“What all did you two talk about? There has to be more than Boss has a serum.” Caleb asked.
“We caught up quickly. She knows that we’re all safe. That we killed a bunch of Shadows to get out of there. She said that was probably all the Shadows that Boss employed. She explained that she’s chained to a table upright. I explained that we might be able to switch places. Then we went over who was important there with her.” I growled, “She has a thing for Justin.”
“Justin?” Drake eyed me curiously.
Caleb laughed, “Easy, Keo. She doesn’t remember Ivan yet. It’s going to be ok.”
I growled louder, baring my fangs, “Ivan needs to hurry up and remember already or I’ll kick his ass.”
Drake coughed, “It’s going to take a while. It’s my fault he doesn’t remember yet. I put so many locks because I was worried he was going to get caught.”
I narrowed my eyes at Drake, “What do you mean? How many locks did you put on him? I thought it was just the one?”
“Ummm…well I was worried that hearing your name would unlock the memories. Keep in mind I was also suppressing his wolf side. Wolves HAVE to shift at least monthly. Ivan hasn’t shifted in 14 years. He doesn’t remember anything. Hearing your name was one lock. He also has to call Ariya what he used to. She also has to call him Ivan. Lastly, he has to hear Caleb’s name.”
“How is she supposed to call him Ivan if she doesn’t remember Ivan?” I asked, frustrated.
“She has her suspicions on who he is.”
“Not anymore. You locked it when you locked the plan in her mind.” Caleb intervened.
Drake cursed under his breath, “The locking part of the plan is going to cause problems…”
“So what do we do about it?” I said pacing.
“Easy, Keo. She only really needs to say Ivan’s name with him around for him to start unlocking his memories. When his memories start unlocking, her memories will start to unlock as well. They just won’t get all their memories back the rest of the way until she calls him Ivan. Didn’t you say your full name in the room?”
“Yeah, but I only said my full first name.”
“That’s all that was needed. Ivan would have started unlocking his memories more by now. And you said Boss announced Caleb’s name over the intercom right? That’s how he got Ariya to stay?”
“Yes…” I grinned.
“Then Ivan’s memories should start to push through a bit. Hopefully she can figure out to say his name with him around and he will call her what he used to. His memories will start pushing through after that.” Drake grinned back.
“Looks like it’s all coming together then.”
“Wait, something doesn’t feel right…” Caleb interjected.
“What’s wrong?” Drake and I asked, starting to feel the nausea.
“Ivan hasn’t shifted in 14 years…if he remembers while he’s at the facility, he could shift on the spot right?”
“I don’t think he will, he had control of his ability before you Caleb. You guys don’t really struggle with control too much. Maybe anger a bit. But outside of that, it should be ok…” Drake said thinking out loud.
“That’s not completely true. I remember hearing something about us having issues with control but only when it came to certain requirements…” Caleb trailed off, lost in thought.
“What are you thinking, Caleb?” I asked.
“Remember how Ivan was the only one that ever knew when you and Ariya would pretend to switch places?”
“Yeah…What about it?” I was trying to connect the pieces but it wasn’t clicking for me yet.
Drake went pale, “If Ivan remembers who he is and Ariya is getting tortured, he won’t be able to stop himself from shifting. He’ll jump in trying to protect her. The plan will be out the window and it won’t matter at all. He’ll probably be killed on the spot or used against Ariya…”
“We need to warn Ari.” I said, wide-eyed.
“She’s not going to be able to stop it, Keo. She doesn’t fully remember who Ivan is. How are they going to be able to prevent him from shifting? It doesn’t matter if he shifts beforehand. The second he sees that she’s being hurt, he’ll shift automatically.” Caleb warned.
“What do we do then?” I asked, worried.
“We need to get to Ivan before he remembers he’s Ivan. I can create a different lock. Where he only remembers who he is when it’s just the 2 of them or if he’s completely alone. Just like the plan works. That way, if she’s being tortured, he’s not going to remember being a wolf which will make it to where he won’t shift.” Drake said, his wheels turning in his mind as he came up with a solution.
“That could split his personality though…” Caleb said, concerned.
“It probably already is split though…” Drake trailed off.
“Probably not as much as you think. If what you told us is correct Caleb, Ivan probably still cares about Ariya whether he remembers or not.”
“So how are we going to get to Ivan in time?” Caleb asked.
“We need to act quickly. Keo, you were there, you know who Ivan is right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I think so. I didn’t see everyone that was there. How do we know it’s the right person?”
“Ivan should have started remembering by now. I’ll have to check before creating the new lock anyway. If it’s not the right person we can take off.” Drake said.
I went pale, “Wait. We can’t do that. If this person isn’t Ivan, we’re screwed.”
“Why?” Drake and Caleb asked.
“Ari mentioned something to me when we were talking. I didn’t even think about it. But if it’s true and we’re wrong on who Ivan is. We’re screwed. We’ll never get Ari back.”
“So our options are, risk Ivan shifting, getting killed or used against Ariya. Or risking ourselves and we never get Ariya back if we’re wrong? Fantastic.”