by K. J. McPike
Delta cleared her throat and gave me a pleading look. “Just know that if you do not cooperate, there will be consequences for your family, as well as mine.”
My family. So Arlo had found them. And if he found them at The Hill, he’d most likely gotten our friends, too.
I blinked back hot tears, not quite able to keep one from escaping sideways down my cheek. My memories had put everyone I cared about in danger.
“Have you seen my family?” I asked. “My friends? Are they okay?”
“It is not my place to discuss that,” Delta said. Then she thought, Your family is fine for now. They are separated into single rooms like this so I can collect astral energy from each of you individually before you go into the shared rooms.
Shared rooms? Hope flickered inside me. Maybe I’d be able to see everyone once Delta had completed her rituals. I just needed to be sure they were okay—at least physically. I knew Arlo had no problem disposing of semmies if he didn’t find their abilities useful, and Ulyxses constantly complained about his power not being helpful. What if Arlo felt that way, too?
“Now.” Delta held up the blade, its sheen reflecting the harsh overhead light. “I will have to prick your finger, and when I touch the stone to the wound, you must repeat this statement: Pull only enough of my energy, so that another may use it as well as me. Understand?”
Fighting a gulp, I nodded once. Maybe there was a way I could sabotage this ritual so Arlo couldn’t gain access to my ability. But if it didn’t work, would he go after my siblings? I couldn’t take that risk.
Delta slid the crystal grid over to my bedside and sat on the opposite edge so that the stones were between us.
I couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t have any candles set up the way she had with the rituals I’d seen her perform in my original timeline. Was that because she was still learning, or because they weren’t really necessary? Or were they not here because she didn’t want this ritual to work any more than I did?
Clearing her throat, she began to chant. “Pull only enough of her energy, so that another may use it as well as she.” She continued reciting the words as she pricked her finger and pressed her blood to the stone. It sizzled on contact, and though I’d seen her do this in my own timeline, it still made me cringe.
Continuing her chant, Delta leaned across the grid and flipped up the side of my sheet so she could reach my hand. I couldn’t move it toward her with my restraints, but she tugged on my index finger and jabbed its tip with the dagger. The sting was met with the cold, hard surface of the quartz as she held the stone against my wound. Then she dipped her head toward me, indicating that it was time for me to say the words.
“Pull only enough of my energy, so that another may use it as well as me,” I recited. I’d learned that programming crystals was all about intention, and I hoped my secret wish that this ritual wouldn’t work came through my statement somehow.
Delta kept her eyes on me, and I repeated the phrase until she held up a hand for me to stop. Though the stone didn’t glow the way I’d seen in her other rituals, she lowered it into one of her pockets. Had it worked? Did she want it to work?
“That is all for now.” She picked up the crystal grid by the edges, effectively turning it into a sack as all the stones clattered into the center. “Perhaps Arlo will reward you for going along with this so easily.”
I frowned. What did that mean?
“Delta?” I called out as she headed for the door. “If you see my brothers or my sister, tell them everything’s going to be okay. We’ll find a way out of this.” I told myself that if we managed to get out, we would come back for Delta and Brendan, too.
“You will not find a way out,” Delta said, catching me off guard. “There is no way out.” Spinning around, she punched a code into the keypad and walked through the door.
“Rise and shine!” Nurse Cora pranced into the room some time later, carrying a tray with another bowl of mush. This time, her orange hair was gelled into three points instead of one, making her look like a walking pitchfork.
“Where are my brothers and my sister?” I asked. “What happened to everyone at The Hill?”
“All I know is that I am in charge of you.” She answered in the annoying singsong that seemed to be her default tone, and I couldn’t help but scowl at her. “Do not look so down. You are going to get your placement soon.”
“Placement?”
“You did not think you could lie around all day, did you?” She laughed, an airy sound that might have been endearing if she weren’t about to force feed me. “Even semmies must contribute.”
I gaped at her. Did she really think being tied to a bed was just a vacation for me? I couldn’t tell if she was pretending to be oblivious to the fact that I was a prisoner here, or if she was that brainwashed.
“Placement is when you get sorted into your department,” she explained. “Then you will get your work assignment.”
I swallowed. Did that mean I would see my siblings and my friends? If I was being placed, surely they would be, too.
“Now.” Cora set down the tray on the table next to my bed, making the spoon clank against the ceramic bowl. “First you must eat.” She hit the button to make the top half of my bed lift, and this time, I didn’t object to the food. If eating meant seeing my family and friends sooner, then that was what I would do. I choked down the disgusting cherry-flavored mush without protest, opening my mouth like a pathetic robot and cringing after every bite.
“That was much better.” Cora smiled, setting the empty bowl down so she could undo the straps binding my wrists. I rubbed at the raw skin as she freed my ankles and my chest, too.
“Okay,” she said as she helped me stand. “We will get you bathed and dressed, and then I will take you to Placement Seven.”
Placement Seven? There was more than one placement room? Did that mean I wouldn’t get to see everyone else? I tried to convince myself I would get to see some of them, as least, but my posture drooped as Cora led me down the hall.
We entered a room with two rows of stalls that I assumed were showers. “Your clean-up time is seven minutes,” she informed me. Taking one of the fabric bags from the cloth bin near the door, she held it out to me with a grin that made me want to lunge for her throat. “There is soap and a fresh suit inside.”
I took the bag, but Cora made no move to leave. Of course. I should have figured they wouldn’t even let me be alone to bathe.
Turning into the first stall, I stripped off my clothes from the previous day, feeling like I was peeling away the last of my freedom. Taking the bar of soap out of the bag, I stepped under the faucet. The water was barely warm, but I couldn’t deny the comfort that came from it. I wondered if showering would be the only normal-feeling part of my life from now on.
No. I couldn’t give up. If they’d brought everyone else to the lab, we had plenty of abilities to work with. We could come up with a way to get out of here.
When I’d finished showering, I dug through the bag and found out a yellow jumpsuit, the sight becoming all too familiar. Tugging it on, I buttoned up the front and told myself I would hold my head up high. If Arlo was going to be at this placement thing, I refused to let him think he’d broken me.
After we left the bath area, Cora took me down another metallic hall that seemed to curve slightly, its bend the only distinguishing factor I could find to separate it from the other hallways. Everything else looked uniform, and I couldn’t tell if we were passing the same rooms or new ones. I’d seen the lab from above once in my original timeline, and I remembered the building’s shape was like a giant wheel with spokes extending from the center. For all I knew, we could have been walking in circles.
I searched for any sign of my siblings or our friends, but all the doors were closed, and we didn’t pass anyone else. When we finally stopped in front of yet another unmarked set of doors, Cora punched in a series of numbers I couldn’t see from behind her.
“Cora Zent,�
� she said, triggering a laser scan.
The green light moved over her features, and I felt my brow bunch. Why did they only have to scan their faces when going into rooms? While I was strapped to the bed, I’d seen Arlo, Cora, and Delta all exit without the scans.
“Match,” the electronic voice announced. The doors opened, and I followed Cora into a space that housed two empty rows of chairs and nothing more.
“Looks like we made it first,” she said, taking a clipboard from a hook on the wall. “Have a seat. Everyone else will be here soon.”
The bare metal walls taunted me as I claimed the closest chair. I was sure they were blocked, though it didn’t make a difference if they weren’t. I wasn’t going anywhere without my family and everyone from The Hill.
I felt each second of the minutes that passed while Cora and I waited for whoever else was coming. Though I was eager to see the others, I also couldn’t help but wish Delta had been wrong, that they hadn’t been dragged to this awful place after all.
Finally, another nurse came in wearing the usual white lab coat and a forced smile. Her nose was more like a beak, the tip dipping down so it almost reached her top lip. Kai stalked into the room behind her, wearing a jumpsuit that matched mine. The moment he saw me, he tore past the nurse and kneeled in front of my chair.
“Are you okay?” he asked, taking my hands in his.
“Yeah,” I said, even though we both knew I wasn’t. “Are you?”
He nodded. “Don’t—”
“Enough chatter.” Kai’s nurse clapped loudly. “Sit.” She pointed to the chair next to mine at the same moment two more nurses entered, followed by Macy and Elliot.
My fledgling hope died at the sight. They’d found The Hill, and if they’d gotten Elliot, that meant Paris had brought him and Amber-Ann back from shopping. I felt my lip tremble. I didn’t want to think about what they’d done to Paris or the parents of the other semmies.
Elliot walked past, glaring at me with hate in his dark eyes. I didn’t blame him. In this timeline, the raid had been my fault. Whether he knew it or not, I was the one who gave away The Hill’s location through my memories. He’d accused me of putting them at risk, and he’d been right.
“Have a seat,” Elliot’s nurse chirped, guiding him toward the back row. Macy followed as if in a daze. I wanted to reach out to her, but something told me to hold back. If the nurses saw that I cared about anyone else, Arlo could use it against me.
Dixon came in with his nurse, and I felt a quiver in my throat. He started to say something when he spotted me, but I shook my head quickly. They didn’t need any evidence of our connection, either. Giving me a confused look, he stayed quiet and sat in the chair beside Kai. It took all my strength not to reach over and squeeze his hand.
“Okay.” Cora hugged the clipboard to her chest and scanned our small group. “That is everyone.”
What? No. Where were Oxanna and Ulyxses? Kala? The rest of our friends? There was no way Arlo had decided that none of them were useful. Were they in the other placement rooms?
“You will watch a short video, and then you will receive your placements,” Kai’s nurse said, dimming the lights. “Hold your questions until the end.”
The metal wall in front of us lit up, though I hadn’t seen a projector anywhere. A female with long magenta hair and a mouth that was too big for her face appeared on camera.
“Welcome to The Laboratory,” she began. “Congratulations on your selection. We employ only the best, so if you are here, you have shown great potential.”
She started to drone on about Alean history, and I only half-listened to mentions of names and dates that were apparently important to the lab. Once she began praising Arlo as the forward thinker who had been kind enough to give semmies a chance at a productive life, I couldn’t listen at all. Tuning out her high-pitched voice, I let my thoughts run rampant with ideas for escaping.
It seemed like the fastest way out would be to get one of the purple stones to Kai so he could penetrate the block. But how would we steal one of them without risking everyone’s safety? Overpowering a guard was out of the question, at least for me. Kai might be able to use his ability and get close enough to grab a necklace before anyone could stop him, but he would have to make several trips to get all of us out of here if they split us up. I didn’t know how quickly the lab workers could communicate, but I wouldn’t put it past Arlo to kill someone I loved if he realized that some of us had gotten out.
The video finished, and the lights came back on to reveal the five nurses standing in a row.
“Now it is time to let you know your placements,” Cora squealed, as if this were supposed to be an exciting event. Looking down at the clipboard, she read aloud. “Lali, Intelligence.” I waited for more information about what that meant, but she continued without pausing. “Kai and Macy, Retrieval. Elliot, Crystals. Dixon, Questioning.”
We all exchanged blank looks, but there was no further explanation.
“It is time to go back to your rooms,” Elliot’s nurse said. “Now that you have departments, you will share space with the other new placements.”
I felt my shoulders lift. Did that mean I would see the rest of my family and friends? Maybe there would be more semmies than the ones we knew. If we were going to make it out of here, we needed all the powers we could get.
“Now, no talking in the hall.” Cora motioned for us to follow her as she entered a code to open the doors.
We all stood up, and I did my best to communicate silently to the others how sorry I was that we were in this mess. Elliot avoided my gaze, and he didn’t project any thoughts into my mind. His cold shoulder was even worse than accusations.
After moving through a series of hallways, we reached two sets of doors that were closer together than the rest, the first distinction I’d noticed. Macy’s nurse led her to the room on the right, while Dixon, Kai, Elliot, and I were taken to the one on the left. I fought back the urge to protest the separation, knowing any false move could mean not being allowed to see Macy or any of the others again.
I followed Cora and the rest of the nurses into the second room with Kai, Dixon, and Elliot behind me. Six beds waited, all lined up against the left wall. Oxanna and Truman were already strapped to two of them, and they turned their heads toward me as if connected by an invisible string. I couldn’t even muster a reassuring look.
Four more beds lay empty, waiting for the group of us that had just entered. My chest tightened. Ulyxses wasn’t here, and there wasn’t an extra bed for him. I told myself that he was in the next room with Macy and the rest of our friends, but the pang in the pit of my stomach didn’t fade.
I let Cora strap me to the bed next to Oxanna without a fight. She pulled the sheet over me as the other nurses got Kai, Dixon, and Elliot settled into their beds. I stared at the cabinet in the corner, counting the seconds until they left.
“Lights out will be soon,” Cora said. “We will be back for you in the morning.” With that, she and the other the nurses left.
“I’m so sorry, you guys,” I whispered as soon as the doors closed. “They read my memories, and—”
“It’s not your fault,” Oxanna interrupted.
“It’s mine,” Dixon mumbled. “If it wasn’t for my stupid power, none of this would have happened.”
“No.” Kai’s voice came out firm. “We all decided together. And we’re going to find a way out of this mess together.”
I shifted in my bed, the restraints keeping me from moving my body more than a few degrees toward everyone else. “He’s right,” I said. “We have to put our heads together and think of a way out.”
“We can’t,” Truman said. “They put in trackers. Even if we get away, they can find us.”
The lights went out then, leaving us in darkness for a moment before a soft white glow came on along the stretch where the walls met the floor. It was just enough to illuminate the outlines of the room, as if this place weren’t creepy enough.
I took a deep breath. “We can cut the trackers out.”
“Cut them out?” Oxanna gasped. “Are you serious?”
“It’ll be better than staying here,” Elliot said, speaking for the first time since I’d seen him in the placement room. “My parents died trying to keep Amber-Ann and me out of this place.”
His words slapped me across the face. Paris had told us how his parents had refused to give up The Hill’s location when the Eyes and Ears found them. That must have been before Sind started working for Arlo. Elliot’s parents had died protecting their children, and my memories put them right back in danger.
“We’re going to get out, Elliot,” Kai insisted. “If we can get an idea of the layout here, then we can figure out the best way to do that. Maybe all of us can split up and try to map it out.”
“How?” Truman asked. “We can’t get out of this room without a code.”
“That nurse just entered it when they left,” Dixon said. “I can project to a few minutes ago and see it.”
“What about the block?” Elliot asked.
“I just have to follow someone’s past on the same side of the block as me,” Dixon told him. “Hold on.”
An idea sprang into my mind at that moment, and my chest inflated so quickly that the strap across it strained. Could Dixon take all of us into the past? If he projected back to when we were in the transposer tunnel, we could switch into our physical bodies there, and we’d be free.
But what about the others? We would all have to join hands to project with Dixon, so he would only be able to take the six of us in this room. And we wouldn’t be able to come back for everyone else once we spliced time again.
My hope withered almost as quickly as it had come. We’d have to find another way out.
“Five-eight-six-one-two-six-three,” Dixon said suddenly. He repeated it again, as if he’d been reciting it in his mind to try and memorize it.
Kai’s silhouette appeared near the foot of my bed, and I startled. He must have projected out of his restraints. Moving toward the wall, he punched in the code. Even in the dim light, I could see the doors slide open.
