by K. J. McPike
“I suppose you want my sister to make sure I’m telling you the truth about what I saw today,” I muttered.
Arlo smiled. “Smart girl.”
“Fine.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “All you’ll get is that I’m telling you the truth.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about.” He looked at me like he wanted his beady eyes to slice right into my brain. “Tell me what you saw while you were following Veeti.”
I met his gaze, refusing to back down. “I saw her go to her house, and not come out again. That’s it.”
“She’s telling the truth,” Salaxia announced, looking relieved. “Veeti just stayed in her house the whole time, and Lali couldn’t get inside because of the block.”
Arlo clicked his tongue. “It seems we are out of luck today. Then again, you understand that I must follow up just to be sure.” He looked down at Salaxia and patted her on the head. Seeing him touch her made me want to rip his arm off. “It is only during the probationary period that I will implement randomized checks. Once I am sure of your loyalty, I will not question you again. It is far too time-consuming to deal with certain methods.”
He stepped out of the room and returned with Sind. My heart stopped. Arlo was going to make him raid my memories again so he would see exactly what I saw when I followed Veeti. But what if he went back far enough to see the dream meeting from last night? Our plan could be ruined before it even began.
I held my breath to keep from hyperventilating. If they could tell I had something to hide, it would only make it more likely he would keep searching.
“Time to get some insight.” Arlo shoved his hands into the pockets of his lab coat, and his infuriating smile was the last thing I saw before blinding pain tore through my skull.
The agony blocked out everything else, and I couldn’t even form coherent enough thoughts to worry about what Sind would see and hear from last night. When the torture finally ended, his sneer withered.
“Nothing of use,” he said, and I couldn’t help the exhale that whooshed out of me. How close had he gotten to my memories from last night? How likely was I to get caught if he came back tomorrow? If we were going to have a chance at escaping, we needed the element of surprise.
“That is too bad,” Arlo said. “Maybe you will have better luck with Veeti tomorrow.”
Not if I can help it.
“Call a nurse to take these two back to their rooms,” Arlo ordered the other lab worker who’d been waiting quietly for instruction. With that, he strode out of the room, leaving me to figure out how we were going to get out of here.
Tonight.
By the time the last nurse left before lights out, my heart felt like it was skipping rope. The second the doors closed, Kai was standing by the lever that would reveal the glass wall. I tilted my head to the side, looking around my restrained body at the same time he glanced over his shoulder at me. His chest expanded, like he was amping himself up by taking in as much air as he could. I filled my lungs, too, the oxygen adding to the mounting pressure inside me.
Please don’t set off any alarms. I repeated the silent plea as Kai closed his fingers around the handle and lifted the lever. The metal rose slowly. Torturously. The shifting barrier didn’t make a sound as it climbed, taking its time revealing the adjacent room. The beds came into view bit by bit, their white sheets taking on the shape of seven sets of feet pointed in our direction. I held my breath, counting every throb of my heart as the last of the metal disappeared from sight.
Silence.
Everyone on my side of the glass let out a collective exhale. I could see the group on the other side fidgeting and looking down their bodies toward us the way we were looking down ours at them. I just hoped they stayed quiet until Elliot projected his thoughts to explain.
Kai showed up at my bedside, wasting no time letting me out of my restraints. Once I was free, I stood up and gave the group in the next room a quick finger over the lips to tell them to stay quiet. Then I moved to help the others in my room up. Oxanna used her astral form to undo her own straps, and Kai worked on letting Dixon out, so I went to Elliot’s bed.
Working to free him, I dipped my head toward the other room with a question in my eyes.
Yeah, I’m going to tell them, he thought to me, thankfully picking up on my meaning. When I’d finished with his restraints, he sat up and stared through the glass to start telling everyone our plan.
Then I remembered: Someone had to fall asleep for this to work. If we told everyone about our escape plan, it would likely keep them awake longer. Maybe it was better not to tell the youngest ones. They were our best shot at someone falling asleep soon.
I tapped Elliot to jar him out of projecting, and he startled.
What? he asked in my mind.
I pointed to Salaxia, Amber-Ann, and Caleb.
What about them?
I put my finger over my lips and shook my head.
What?
Letting out a sigh, I pointed to the three youngest ones slowly and mouthed don’t tell them.
Okay… Elliot’s face made it clear he didn’t know why I added that request, but he seemed to have gotten my message.
The lights went out then, followed by the dim light along the floor. I started back toward my bed, but Elliot grabbed my arm.
I’m sorry, he thought.
I gasped, nearly blurting out “what?” before remembering that I had to stay quiet.
I didn’t know about your sister until you told us last night, and I’m sorry for making things harder on you. I know how much it hurts to lose someone you love.
The air moved out of my lungs, and I gave his hand a squeeze. It was all I could do to communicate my appreciation silently.
And that explains why Paris didn’t want you to tell us.
I winced, wondering if he knew that Paris had been killed. I would have to tell him and the others if they didn’t know, and I couldn’t imagine that conversation. Surely they would blame me for her death. I blamed me.
Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry. He let go of my arm, and I tip toed back to my bed in the dim light, still unsure what to make of his apology. It sounded sincere, as far as I could tell from thoughts. I wondered if he’d been inspired to apologize because he didn’t think we were going to make it out tonight.
No. He didn’t know about Sind roaming through my memory again and the risk of Arlo finding out about our dream meetings. Just the thought made my heart start racing again. But it didn’t matter. We could make it out of here tonight. We already had most of the plan in place. We just had to execute it—so long as we could get the others to agree.
Moving back to sit beside Kai on my bed, I leaned my head on his shoulder, hoping I could stand the wait until one of the younger kids fell asleep.
Chapter 27
Jailbreak
The sound of Caleb’s snoring came from the other room, and my heart leapt into my throat. I felt Kai tense beside me, his eyes finding mine in the dim light. We both pulled in a gulp of air, and before I could exhale again, he’d vanished.
Here we go.
Kai’s darkened form appeared on the opposite side of the glass and went straight into undoing Ulyxses’ restraints. Just watching his hands work made my fingers twitch. My palms were already slick with sweat, and I ran them up and down my bed sheet three times before I had to sit on them to keep still.
To my left, Oxanna, Dixon, Elliot, and Truman waited on their beds, rigid as statues. Their faces caught bits of the light that crept up from the edges of the floor as they stared unblinking through the glass. They were already on edge, and I hadn’t even told them or any of the others that, whatever we planned, we had to make it work tonight. The monitor still waited on top of the cabinet, eager to pick up everything we said, and I couldn’t risk talking about Sind raiding my memories. I just had to hope everyone would be willing to make a break for it right after our dream meeting. Otherwise, we might not get another chance.
My pulse throbbed as I watched Kai finish with Bianca. He and Ulyxses moved to let Kala and Macy out of their restraints, and Bianca sat up on her mattress, rubbing her wrist. Her head twitched in our direction, her frown half shrouded in shadow. It was hard to tell, but I could have sworn she looked more angry than nervous. Before I could decide, the rest of the group surrounded her, and the five of them joined hands.
Kai projected them into our room, and I slid off my bed, tiptoeing toward them at the same time as Oxanna, Dixon, Truman, and Elliot. None of us said a word as we all formed a circle in the darkness. We’re going to get out of here. I focused on that thought and squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for Truman to project us into Caleb’s dream.
Within seconds, we were standing in what looked like the common area at The Hill. Caleb gazed at all of us with a wide smile and waved, oblivious to the heavy nature of this meeting. He ran up to hug Bianca around the legs as she looked at the rest of us with a fierceness I’d never seen from her.
“Another escape attempt?” she hissed, running a hand along Caleb’s back. “Are you guys crazy? Who knows what they’ll do if they catch us again?”
“They’re not going to catch us,” I said, amazed at how confident I sounded in that statement. But I needed it to be true. We all did. “We’ll make sure we think of everything, but we have to get out tonight.”
Truman blinked at me. “Why the rush? I’m all for getting out of here, but I don’t wanna end up with a half-baked plan.”
I sighed. Obviously, I would have preferred not to rush too, but that wasn’t going to happen—not when another day could mean Sind finding out about our dream meetings with a simple projection.
“It won’t be half-baked,” I insisted. “We had a great start last night. We just have a few kinks to work out.” I hope.
“In one night?” Oxanna shook her head. “No way.”
“We don’t have a choice.” I decided now was as good a time as any to tell them our latest complication. The sooner it was out in the open, the sooner we could figure out exactly what we were going to do. “Arlo had Sind read my memories today,” I explained. “We’re lucky he didn’t see anything about our dream meeting last night, but he could invade my memories again tomorrow, or any other day we’re stuck here. If he sees what we’re planning, they’ll only put more measures in place to keep us trapped. We’ll lose any chance we have now.”
“Crap,” Elliot whispered.
Kala’s face darkened. “But we are not ready.”
“I’d rather try before someone finds out our plan and gets rid of any chance we have to pull it off,” I said. “They’ll punish us either way.”
We all stood in silence for a long moment, Caleb’s subconscious replica of The Hill calling me to curl up on the couch and stay here instead of facing reality. Though I’d done what I could to sound reassuring for everyone else, I couldn’t deny my own fear creeping in through the cracks in my resolve. Could we really pull this off? Did we have any other options?
“So it’s now or never.” Kai ran his fingers through his hair. “I think we can make it work. All of us traveling with Macy should—”
“Me?” Macy gulped.
I offered her what I hoped was an encouraging look and quickly recapped the plan we had come up with last night. “We need an astral form that’s invisible and can enter a code into a keypad,” I concluded. “I would project you guys myself, but I can’t push buttons in my astral form.”
“But I’ve never projected so many people.” Macy sounded like she was on the brink of tears. “What if I can’t carry everyone? Or I run out of energy? Or someone lets go and switches back into physical form and sets off the alarm? Or—”
“Macy,” I interrupted before she could talk herself into a frenzy. “Try to stay calm, okay? Panicking isn’t going to help us get out of here.”
She took a step back, shrinking in on herself. “But, I don’t know if I can carry you all at once. There are so many of us.”
Yeah. Thirteen to be exact. I hadn’t forgotten that our numbers were one of the challenges working against us. But there had to be a way to handle that issue, too. I refused to leave anyone behind.
“I’ll be your backup,” Kai offered. “If you run out of energy, I can get us to the glass room’s door. Lali just has to project me there before we leave so I can see what it looks like. Then I’ll be able to get us there in a second if I have to.”
“But what about the barriers?” Oxanna asked. “If we set off the alarm again, those things will come down and block the door. There won’t be enough time for all of us to get out.”
“Guys, we can just do this again,” Ulyxses said.
I blinked at him. “Do what?”
“Project into someone’s dream,” he replied, his thin face lifted in thought. “If Truman brings all of us into a dream again, then Macy would only have to carry the sleeping person. The rest of us would go along in astral form, Trojan Horse style.”
“Lyx,” I gasped. “That’s genius!”
“But that would only get our astral forms out,” Dixon argued. “Our physical bodies will still be here.”
“Not if we use the transposer,” I countered, my mind already running away with the idea. “When Truman’s astral form leaves a dream, it appears beside the dreamer. I’ve seen it. All we’d have to do is wait by the transposer, and once everyone comes out of the dream in astral form, they can switch. It’ll be just like when you projected us to the past, Dix.”
The past. My thought from the other night came rushing back to me. Now that all of us could be in the same room, could we use Dixon’s power to escape? He would just have to project our group into someone’s past to take us to the transposer. Then we’d be able to get out of the lab without having to navigate the hallways.
But we’d lose our chance to get back to our proper timeline using Sariah’s ability. Elliot had already asked Delta about trapping Sariah’s astral energy so we could use it to time hop. I didn’t want to give up that option.
And if Dixon did take us back in time, things could get even messier. The block limited him so he would only be able to travel into the past of someone in this room. That meant there would be an overlap with two versions of that someone—and potentially more overlaps with the rest of us, depending on which person he chose. We’d have to travel even further into the past to avoid anyone’s astral energy merging, and we had enough complications as it was.
“Okay,” Truman said, bringing me back to our current plan. His wide-set eyes roamed the mural along the wall as he gathered his thoughts. “Let’s say I project everyone into a dream and we Trojan Horse it up. How will I know when you make it to the transposer? I can’t hear anything going on outside.”
“Just hang on in astral form as long as you can,” Kai replied. “We’ll wait by the transposer until you come out.”
“Did you guys forget that we have trackers?” Bianca tightened her arm around Caleb like she hoped to protect him from our insanity. “Even if we get away, we’ll be dead as soon as we go out of range.”
“That’s actually where you come in,” I told her. If you get on board. “You’ve seen the thing they use to insert and remove the trackers, right?”
Her frown deepened. “Yeah.”
“Do you think you can project it out of the cabinet?” I asked. “I remember how Cora got our trackers out, and I can get them out of us if you get me the device.”
Bianca glanced at Kai, as if his signing off on this plan would make it worthwhile.
“Please,” he said, the angles of his face pulling down with his plea. “I don’t wanna be trapped here forever. I’m sure you don’t, either.”
She huffed. “Fi
ne. I’ll get the stupid tracker thingy. But if we get busted—”
“We’re not going to get busted,” I interrupted. “We need to think positively.” That earned me an eye roll, but I chose to ignore it. “And we should keep the tracker remover with us. We’re going to come back for Delta, and we’ll need it to take out her tracker, too.”
I turned to Kala. “Any chance you know the way to the glass room with the transposer in it?” I asked. “I tried to memorize the path, but I’ve never gone directly from here to there.” I wondered if Arlo had made sure of that on purpose.
“I know the way there.” Kala straightened up, as if proud to contribute. At least she seemed eager to get out of here, too. “It is not far from this room.”
“Awesome.” Kai grinned. “Kala can direct us to the glass room, and once we get there, Macy can switch us into our physical bodies. Then I can project us straight to the transposer. We’ll be out in no time.”
“Actually, I’d rather not risk switching back into physical form while we’re still in Alea if we can help it,” I said. “I don’t want to give them any opportunity to catch us. I know the way to the portal, and I’m sure we can make it there.” I turned to Macy. “Do you think you can carry four people? Kala can get us to the glass room, I can get us to the portal, and Kai should be backup, just in case you run out of energy. Then the fourth person would be whoever’s dream everyone else is in.”
“I can try,” Macy said, though her expression wasn’t exactly convincing.
“But the more people you take, the sooner you’ll run out of energy, right?” Ulyxses asked. “Why don’t you just take Kai and Lali, and then whoever ends up being the one whose dream we’re all in. Kala said the glass room isn’t that far, so she can tell you the way before you go.”
“That’s probably smarter,” Elliot agreed. “The fewer people Macy has to carry, the better.”
Kala nodded. “To get to the glass room, you only have to turn right out of this room and then—” She stopped herself, and my spirit sank. If she’d thought of another obstacle we hadn’t considered, I didn’t know if I could handle it.
