Chapter 239
Eastern State Penitentiary was enormous. Standing outside the massive stone wall and looking up made waves of despair wash over me as I tried to envision what it would be like to stand on this threshold as a prisoner, knowing the moment your feet crossed the boundary, you could be locked up here for years, maybe even die behind this block of stone and steel.
From the outside, I couldn’t even see the building itself, but I could imagine how immense the structure must be. I tried my best to take deep breaths and remember we needed to take this one step at a time. I’d wait until I was inside to worry about the darkness I could already feel emanating from the building, threatening to suck me in. I knew immediately that Gibbon was here and had no doubt he was pulled here by the blackness I felt tugging at the edges of my thoughts as well.
We’d parked several blocks away so that Gibbon wouldn’t be tipped off that we were nearby. I didn’t think that was a legitimate worry. My understanding was that Gibbon was more like an animal than a person at this point in his existence, and I didn’t think he had any lookouts, either in the form of accomplices or even his own mental feelers. He’d have no idea we were here until we made the first contact with him. Still, I’d learned my lesson about offering my advice to anyone on this team, and I walked along beside Brandon as we approached the structure, assuming we were headed for the front gate. There was no reason why we couldn’t walk in the substantial iron entrance. Gibbon was not expecting us. I knew that for a fact.
We didn’t stop in front of the obvious entry point, though. I followed along as Cadence, Elliott, and Brandon snaked their way through the shadows until we were about a block away from the gate. “All right. We’ll go in here,” Cadence said over the IAC.
“Why can’t we just use the gate?” I asked, hoping my voice wasn’t shaky. I looked up and couldn’t even see the top of the wall from here. Thoughts of teetering on the glass bridge at the train station entered my head.
Elliott answered. “Too obvious. Come on. You’ve got this.”
I appreciated his vote of confidence and didn’t want to be a pain in the butt, but my feet were frozen on the sidewalk. “It’s too high. There’s no way I can jump up there.”
Cadence had walked off a ways and circled back, raising her eyebrows at me. I wanted to suggest I just wait out here, or thought maybe I could try to squeeze through the gate without actually opening it. With an expression that said, “Watch me,” Cadence backed up a bit and took about three running steps before she leaped into the air, landing easily on the thin ledge at the top of the wall. My stomach turned over. I knew I couldn’t do that.
“I’ll give you a boost,” Brandon encouraged, bending down and putting his hands out in front of him so I could step on them.
“I still can’t.” I didn’t understand why I knew I could face the monster on the other side of the wall but the idea of jumping up there and plummeting to the ground on the other side made me want to pee my pants.
Aaron hadn’t been with us, but when I turned around, there he was. He had his hands on his hips, and I could tell his patience was wearing thin.
“Cass, come on. You can do it,” my sister yelled down to me.
“What’s the problem?” Aaron finally asked.
“Nothing. Cass is just having a little trouble getting over the wall, that’s all,” Brandon explained with a shrug. I glanced at the Leader for a second and then looked back up at my sister who was beckoning me with her hands. I was already causing delays, causing trouble.
Aaron exhaled loudly. “We don’t really have time for this,” he muttered. “Elliott, get up there.”
I turned to look at Elliott who had been standing behind me. He nodded and did the same thing my sister did, backing up a bit before leaping off the ground about thirty feet vertically. Unlike Cadence, he didn’t quite make it to the top, but he reached up with one hand and grabbed the ledge, pulling himself up and making a gesture like there was nothing to it.
As much as I wanted to do the same, I simply began to shake my head.
Once again, Aaron sighed in exasperation. Before I realized what was happening, he had his hands around my waist. A wave of terror washed over me. “What are you doing?” I did my best not to scream as he made eye contact with Elliott above me, and I realized what he was about to do.
Aaron didn’t answer me. “Ready?” he asked Elliott, and the next thing I knew, I was sailing through the air. Despite knowing I wasn’t supposed to make any noise, a loud screech escaped my lips as the ground grew smaller and a breeze whizzed through my hair.
I felt Elliott’s hands pluck me out of the air, which sent him rocking backward, and for a moment, I thought we’d both fall off the other side of the wall, but Cadence reached out a hand to steady him, and Elliott set me down on my feet next to him but didn’t let go.
“What the crap?” I shouted over the IAC, not daring to look down at Aaron.
“You’re welcome,” he replied. A moment later, there was another whooshing sound as a blur went sailing right over the top of the wall, landing on the ground on the other side. The tops of the trees right below me made a rustling sound.
“What the crap, indeed,” Elliott muttered. His face looked as shocked as I felt.
“Elliott, meet Green Aaron. He can do lots of things that regular Aaron couldn’t do,” Cadence explained as Brandon came to a stop next to her on the other side. I assumed that was a reference to the Transformation serum Aaron had used that had temporarily killed him before Cadence used another dose of Transformation serum to save him. I knew it had made him faster, but I had no idea he could do that.
Cadence looked me in the eyes and asked, “Ready to go down?”
“No!” There was no way in the world I was ever going to be able to get down from here. I’d have to wait until morning when they could come back with a very tall ladder.
“Well, you can’t stay up here,” Elliott reminded me. I wanted to disagree. I thought I could stay up here nicely for a few hours.
Without responding directly, I took a deep breath, grabbed Elliott’s arm, and peered down. It seemed almost as far away from me now as it had when I was on that airplane. Looking at my sister, I warned, “You’re going to blow out your knee again.”
Cadence had a smirk on her face, but she also looked empathetic, like my remark reminded her of how she must’ve felt when Aaron threw her out of the airplane. “Come on, Cass,” Cadence said, clearly not afraid of heights of this distance. “You can do it.”
“No,” I said again, wanting to back up, but there was nowhere to go.
This time, it was Elliott’s turn to sigh. “Get on my back, lil girl,” he insisted, turning to the side so I could do just that. My feet were still frozen, but Cadence picked me up and placed me in position so that I had no choice but to grip onto Elliott for dear life. I could feel myself shaking as his hands came around to grab the backs of my thighs. I closed my eyes, thinking that if it was possible for me to die, this is how I would go. I thought of Sam in that hospital bed, all messed up, and wondered how far away Jamie was.
I got no warning, no count to three, nothing, and before I could even protest again, Elliott jumped. About a half a second later, I heard his feet hit the ground and opened my eyes. We were alive. I was fine. “Are you okay?” I asked him as I slid off his back, happy to have my feet back on the ground.
“I’m just fine, lil girl,” he assured me, patting me on the shoulder. “And so are you. Best get yourself back together now.”
I nodded as Cadence and Brandon each came to a stop nearby. Aaron was already several yards ahead of us. The trees were dense here and the yard was overgrown. I had access to everyone’s visuals, and even though it was dark and a little foggy, I could see Andrew headed in Aaron’s direction, and Cadence rushed up to meet them.
“Come on,” Elliott said, taking my hand. “We need to get you in position before Cadence and Aaron poke the bear.”
I nodded, trying not to listen in on Cadence’s conversation with Andrew since it was none of my business, but it seemed like part of Aaron’s frustration had to do with Andrew’s team being out of position, and I hoped maybe that’s what he was upset about more so than his soon-to-be sister-in-law being a chicken poop and not wanting to jump over the wall.
Elliott led me to the main building, and it was every bit as menacing in person as it had been on the haunted Philadelphia videos I’d watched, probably more so. I tried not to study it too closely as we tiptoed through the front doors and headed toward the observation room. Christian had already disabled the meager alarm they had on the building, and as far as we knew, there were no other security measures in place, so breaking in had been no big deal.
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