Of Snow and Roses

by T. M. Franklin

  Once the rats had been dealt with, a water leak flooded the library . . . then there was a small fire in one of the storage rooms.

  Torbin kept the staff busy, and the doctor out of the basement.

  Neve used the time to practice, a frantic edge to her training as she felt a ticking clock marking every passing second. The diversions would only work for so long, and the conviction that they were all in danger grew until it was all she could think about. More and more frequently, she found herself having to breathe deeply to calm down so she could focus enough to exercise her gifts, only to have panic rear up again as she thought of the challenges ahead.

  Neve snuck down to the basement to check on Tala frequently and make sure she was all right. She seemed . . . the same. The candles were unlit, the bottles unmoved. The monitors continued to beep away, but for the time being, Tala appeared to be resting comfortably.

  Early on the fifth day, however, Neve found the lock on the basement door had been repaired, and knew they were running out of time.

  “It has to be tonight,” she told Torbin as they stood at the edge of the forest during free time. “I think I’m ready.”

  Torbin nodded, then jerked his head toward the large group of patients playing ultimate Frisbee on the lawn.

  “Wondering how we’ll get them all to leave?” When Torbin nodded, she studied them, brow furrowed. “I don’t know, to be honest. I’ll have to convince them somehow, let them know they’re in danger and we all have to get out.”

  Torbin looked skeptical. He scratched the scruff on his cheek, then pointed to her, to himself, and back toward the basement door.

  “We can’t leave them here!”

  He mimed making a phone call.

  “We have no way of knowing how long it would take before we could even find a phone to call for help,” she replied, fighting to keep her voice down. “I don’t know where we are, do you?”

  A sharp huff. No.

  “It could take days for us to find someone,” she said. “And who knows what might happen to them if we left. They could move everyone. Or worse.” She didn’t like to think of worse. Worse was not even worth considering.

  Torbin crossed his beefy arms and lifted his chin. He didn’t like this. Not one bit.

  “I know it’s not going to be easy, but I don’t have a choice, do I? It’s not like you can talk them into it.”

  Torbin rolled his eyes, then pounded a fist into the opposite palm.

  “I don’t think threats are the way to go,” she said. “I’ll figure it out. Trust me.”

  Torbin gave her a long look, then his eyes softened ever-so-slightly, and he dipped his chin in a nod.

  “Thanks,” she said. “I’ll be in touch.”

  Neve walked away from him, lifting the concealment as she joined a line of patients waiting to reenter the building. She wasn’t sure how she would convince anyone that she wasn’t crazy herself, let alone that they should trust her to help them escape a mental hospital where they all believed they should be in the first place.

  But she had to figure out a way. There was no question about that.

  Neve was starting to believe that all of their lives depended on it.

  “You seem distracted today, Neve.” Doctor Alberich scribbled something in his ever-present notebook, drawing her out of her thoughts. It was her regular one-on-one therapy appointment, and they were sitting in a pair of leather chairs in the library. Doctor Alberich preferred to see patients either in the library or the garden. As a matter of fact, Neve didn’t think anyone even knew where his office was.

  The leather squeaked as she shifted in her chair. “Sorry, doctor. I guess I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

  Nothing she wanted to tell him about, but Neve knew she needed to be more careful. If he grew suspicious of her, everything could fall apart.

  “Oh?” He peered at her over the top of his glasses. “Anything you’d care to share?”

  Neve swallowed, thinking fast. “I, uh, I guess I was thinking about my delusions,” she said, wringing her hands a little to sell the portrayal of an anxious, submissive patient. “I haven’t had one in a long time. And I guess I was wondering, uh, how long you think I’ll need to stay here?” She gave him what she hoped came across as a hopeful look.

  He smiled slightly but shook his head. “Oh, Neve,” he said, condescension dripping from his voice. “I know you want to get better. We all want that. But I’m afraid you still have a way to go.” He uncrossed and recrossed his legs. “We have control of the delusions, but there’s still the matter of the amnesia. You haven’t regained any memories, have you?” His black eyes narrowed, beady and piercing, and she tried not to fidget under his stare.

  “No, nothing,” she lied. “I don’t remember anything before waking up here.” She slipped a hand into the pocket of her sweatpants and pinched her thigh, hard. Tears formed in her eyes, and she let her voice go quavery. “I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll ever remember.” She sat up quickly. “Can you－can you tell me anything about myself? Even something small? Maybe that would help.”

  “Neve, we’ve talked about this－”

  “I know you want me to do it on my own, but it’s not happening,” she said. This was dangerous. She knew it was dangerous, but she couldn’t resist.

  “Maybe the special individual therapy you do with some of the patients?” she asked. “Like Lily and Tala?” She watched him closely to gauge his reaction, but the guy was good. Stoic and unmoving.

  “I’m afraid you’re not quite ready for that yet,” he said. “But Neve, you’ll get there. I promise.” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “I think that’s our time for now. Please, don’t rush things, all right, Neve? It’ll come. Just follow the program, take your meds, and everything will be okay.”

  She swallowed and tried to look meek, hiding the anger inside. “Yes, Doctor. I will.”

  “All right, then. I’ll see you later.” He focused on his notebook, effectively dismissing her, and she left the room, a distasteful shiver running down her spine.

  The guy acted like he cared about them, had their best interests at heart . . . wanted them to get better. But all the while he was doing some kind of weird experiments on his patients. That had to be it. He was trying out some new, unapproved medication or treatment and using all of them as guinea pigs.

  Well, not all of them. Apparently, Neve wasn’t quite ready. Although she didn’t know how ready you had to be for what Tala was going through.

  She gave herself a little shake. There wasn’t time to think about whatever Doctor Alberich was up to. She needed to focus on the job at hand.

  Instead of going to her room to practice, as had become her habit, Neve made her way to the common room. A few patients were scattered around the room, some reading, some playing board games. Lily was putting together a puzzle with the teenager, Alice.

  Where to begin?

  She spotted Melissa from group in the corner, drawing on a notepad in long, even strokes. She looked up as Neve approached, but back down quickly, hunching over her pad, her long dark hair hiding her face.

  “Hi, Melissa,” Neve said brightly. “How are you?”

  The woman glanced up through her hair briefly. “Fine.”

  “Uh.” Neve licked her lips, then dragged a chair over. “Mind if I sit here?”

  Melissa gave her a confused look. “I . . . guess?”

  “Great!”

  Okay, so this was going to be tougher than she thought. Neve plucked a book from a shelf near her elbow and flipped it open, eyeing Melissa over the top of it. After a few moments, she dropped the book to her lap. “What are you drawing?”

  Melissa hesitated for a moment, before turning the pad so Neve could see. It was a charcoal drawing of a waterfall, and although the lines were rough, the colors monotone, even Neve could see the talent at work. The water really looked like it was moving, crashing over the rocks below. Trees shaded a large pool at the bottom of the falls, and someone
stood behind the wall of water, as if in a cave.

  “Wow, that’s . . . amazing, Melissa. You’re really talented.”

  The woman ducked her head and blushed. “Thanks.”

  “Is that a real place?” she asked. “Or something you imagined?”

  Melissa, to Neve’s surprise, snorted lightly. “Who can tell anymore.”

  And Neve knew exactly what she meant. Reality and illusion kind of blended in her own life, after all. It hadn’t occurred to her that it could be the same for others.

  She scooted her chair a little closer. “Melissa, can I ask you something?”

  The woman nodded but went back to her drawing.

  “How long have you been here?”

  Melissa lay the pad on her lap and looked toward the ceiling, thinking. “About a year, I guess.”

  “And do you－” Neve glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was listening. “Do you think it’s helping?”

  She looked surprised at the question. “I think so.”

  “Don’t you－” She swallowed. There was no time to beat around the bush. Best get to it. “Don’t you think this place is kind of strange?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that people disappear for days at a time, then show up and are completely different. Have you noticed that?”

  She cut her eyes to the side. “Not really.”

  There was no other way. She had to come clean. “Melissa, did you know there’s a basement to this place? That they’re doing some kind of weird experiments down there?”

  Melissa’s shoulders curled up toward her ears. “I don’t think we should be talking about this.”

  “No, I’m serious,” Neve said, moving closer to her. “I saw what they’re doing and it’s not good, Melissa. We’re all in danger.”

  “You shouldn’t say that,” Melissa said, her voice growing louder, a little frantic. “You shouldn’t say those things!”

  “Shh!” Neve fluttered her hands, trying to quiet her. “It’s okay. We’re going to help you.”

  “I think you should go now,” Melissa said, jumping to her feet. Her notepad fell to the floor, and she clutched the charcoal in one white-knuckled fist. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

  “But－”

  “I don’t want to!” she shouted, and every head turned toward them.

  “Okay! Okay!” Neve got up and backed away, hands up defensively. “It’s okay, Melissa. I’m sorry. I’m going.”

  Melissa stood, trembling for a moment, then picked up her notebook and started drawing again, as if the whole interaction had never happened.

  Neve thought this might be more difficult than she’d anticipated.

  Over the next hour or so, she tried again with a few other people, with similar, if a little less violent, results. It turned out everyone pretty much thought everyone else in Blackbriar was crazy, so Neve’s claims were taken as the insane ramblings of, well, a mental patient.

  It was when she was talking to Peter that she had an idea. The man was basically ignoring her as she told him about the basement and the experiments, and Neve let out a dejected sigh, staring at the top of his head as he flipped through a year-old car magazine.

  She chewed on her lip with frustration, then narrowed her eyes and thought believe me.

  Believe me. Believe me. Believe me.

  Suddenly, he looked up, his eyes a bit vacant but a little frantic. “We need to get out of here.”

  Neve blinked. She hadn’t really thought it would work. “We will.”

  “No, we have to get out of here now!” he shouted, jumping to his feet. “They’re going to kill us!” he screamed.

  “Peter, don’t,” Neve hissed at him. “Sit down. They’ll hear you.”

  “Oh no!” Tears filled his eyes as he clamped his hands over his mouth. “They’ll hear me, then they’ll kill me!”

  “No, that’s not going to happen.”

  “What am I going to do?” he moaned. “What am I going to do?”

  Neve didn’t know, but she did the only thing she could think of.

  Forget what I said. Forget it. Forget it!

  Peter stiffened, as if he’d been slapped in the face, then sat down and turned a page in the magazine.

  Neve’s hands were shaking. She couldn’t believe what had just happened, couldn’t believe that she’d actually manipulated someone like that. It made her feel ashamed, dirty . . . sick to her stomach.

  She was so absorbed in her remorse that she didn’t hear the rubber-soled footsteps coming her way, didn’t realize Calum and Angelica had even noticed the interchange until they took her by each arm, pulling her to her feet.

  “The doctor wants to see you,” Calum said with a sneer, and Neve was too stunned to even try to argue.

  They took Neve to her room, and her mind raced as she tried to think of what to do. She knew now that there was much more to her ability than simply being able to hide things. She could make people do things. Believe things. But with the cameras, and the staff wandering the halls, in addition to Calum and Angelica, she didn’t think she had the power to deal with them all.

  So she went along peacefully, sitting on the bed when directed, and waited.

  After about five minutes, Doctor Alberich came into the room. He seemed a bit harried and distracted, hissing a quiet order at Angelica before turning to Neve.

  “It seems, Neve, that you haven’t been completely honest with me.”

  She tried to look confused when all she felt was panic. “What do you mean, Doctor?”

  “What do you mean, Doctor?” he mimicked, and she knew all bets were off. “I mean,” he said, “that you’ve been spreading vicious rumors among the residents here at Blackbriar. That you’ve been snooping around in restricted areas. And that you’ve been trying to organize an escape, of all things.”

  There was no point in denying it. “Well, they need to know what you’re doing down in the basement,” she all but snarled at him. “You’re hurting people, not helping them. What is it, some kind of illegal drug trial? Black market organs?”

  The doctor laughed. “You watch too many movies.”

  “What is it then?” she asked.

  At that moment, the doctor’s smile twisted into a grimace. “You’re sick, Neve,” he said. “We only want to help you.”

  Angelica walked into the room holding a hypodermic needle. She handed it to the doctor.

  “This will make you feel better,” he said, flicking the syringe with his finger before he pushed gently on the plunger until a drop of fluid escaped. “Push up your sleeve.”

  Neve did not want that medication. At all. She focused on Doctor Alberich’s black eyes and pushed her thoughts at him as if she were shouting.

  Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t do it!

  He looked surprised for a second, then a slow smile lit his face. “Ah, so you do remember a few things,” he said, and Neve’s stomach twisted in fear.

  He knew.

  In a flash, he’d grabbed her arm in an iron grip and injected the drugs before she even realized what had happened. The room began to blur around the edges, and she couldn’t resist when Angelica eased her back onto the bed.

  She thought the doctor whispered something to her right before the blackness claimed her. She couldn’t have been sure, of course, everything was a bit fuzzy and surreal. But she thought he leaned in with a wicked little smile and said, “Your little tricks won’t work on me, witch.”

  It all seemed like a dream, though, and when she woke in the morning her body still felt heavy, her head muddled and thick. She tried to rub her bleary eyes, but she was tied down again, wrists and ankles in tight restraints. An I.V. had been set up near the bed, the needle piercing a vein on the back of her hand. She tried to read the label on the bag, but it was turned away from her.

  “Great,” she muttered. “Now what?”

  The door clicked and she closed her eyes, evening out her breath as if she were sti
ll asleep.

  “You sure you can do this?” Calum asked. “The doctor said he wanted to handle this personally.”

  Angelica laughed. “She’s asleep. It’s not like she’s going to do anything.” Neve could feel her move into the room and cracked her eyes to get a peek at what was coming. Angelica held another syringe in her hand and approached the I.V. bag. She injected the drugs into a port on the bag and turned back to Calum with a victorious smile.

  “Told you,” she said.

  “Whatever,” Calum muttered. “I’ve got other stuff to do.”

  He left the room, and Neve knew she didn’t have much time. The drugs were easing into her system, her mind already starting to spin, but she’d explored the tether to Angelica many times before. Although it was a little harder to access with her muzzy mind, once she was able to connect, it was strong and sure.

  Remove the I.V. needle.

  Angelica froze, her eyes going vacant.

  Remove the needle.

  She turned and peeled off the tape over the needle in the back of Neve’s hand. She pulled it out and pressed a piece of gauze to the spot.

  Hide it. Neve didn’t even form words now, instead picturing what she wanted Angelica to do. Tape a piece of gauze down over the I.V. wound. Put the needle back, flat against the gauze. Tape it down so it looks like the needle is still in place.

  Angelica did everything, then stood, blank-eyed as if waiting for instructions.

  Neve considered her options, but it only took a moment to show her that there weren’t many, at least not yet. She could get Angelica to release her, but then what? She still hadn’t figured out how to escape with the other patients. And Alberich was on to her, so that was an added complication.

  She couldn’t influence him, for some reason. Maybe he had an exceptionally strong mind, or an ability of his own.

  These were all things she needed to know if she was going to stop him.

  As she had the thought, she realized the truth of it. It wasn’t only about saving the patients at Blackbriar, even more, it was about stopping Alberich. He couldn’t be allowed to keep doing whatever he was doing. And if that meant she had to spend more time tied to a bed, so be it.