Chapter 43 #2
“You don’t need to make such a fuss, Kay.
You’ll only be away until tomorrow. They’re calling in a criminal psychic to handle this.
Her uncle just delayed the process, but tomorrow at lunch the specialist will probe both your minds and everything will be cleared up.
If it wasn’t you, we already know who it was, don’t we? ”
I froze.
“The psychic is going to probe our minds?” I asked, my legs already turning to jelly.
“Yes,” Ambrose said, unconcerned, with the tired look of someone who just wanted this to be over. “But it’s quick and painless. He’ll just look at your memories from Saturday.”
That was it. I was neck-deep in shit. There were dangerous thoughts, Zion’s secrets, and information that could never fall into the wrong hands.
When Ivanov had entered my mind, I hadn’t known what Zion did outside the walls, but now my mind was dangerous.
And to make matters worse, there was still Serguei’s barrier.
Of course it would look suspicious if the psychic tried to enter and ran into that protection.
“Kyller?” Ambrose called out, and I looked at him in surprise. “Is everything okay?”
I pulled myself together and grabbed my bag from the armchair.
“Everything's fine, Am. I'm just worried about this whole situation. What's going to happen to Adele when they find out she's the one who stole the vials?” I tried to steer my thoughts away from the problem. As soon as I left that room, I'd call Zion to see what could be done.
“There are three possible punishments. She can be expelled, sent to serve as a temporary donor for the gorgons, or she can avoid both if she has enough money and influence to pay the fine.” He shrugged. “Knowing Adele, she'll probably just pay the fine, like she did last time with the director.”
“What a mess.” I ran my hand across my forehead, feeling helpless.
“Are you worried about Adele? I noticed she wasn't doing well today either. I thought it might be a morphine addiction, but now that they haven't found anything, I'm worried too.”
I blinked a few times, trying to think of a half-truth, but he looked at me like he already knew me too well, so I gave up trying to lie.
“I am worried, Am. Actually, I need to go talk to her right now,” I exclaimed, standing up.
“Talk about what?” He gave me a suspicious look. “You two can't stand each other.”
I hurried to the door so he wouldn't have time to ask more questions. I didn't want to lie to Ambrose.
“Just to talk, Am. I have some things to ask her.” He looked confused as he followed me to the doorway. “Trust me.”
The doctor looked at me curiously and held the door as I walked through.
“Just don't get into trouble, okay?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” I saluted. It was our little joke, from back when Ambrose was still my professor in college.
He just pursed his lips in disapproval.
Δ
I searched the entire hospital for Adele, and finally, just when I'd given up, I found her in an outdoor garden near the exit to the parking garage.
Adele was wearing an enormous fur coat, and underneath you could see she had on layer after layer of clothing.
She was smoking a cigarette. Everything would have seemed perfectly normal if I were dealing with an Interian, but she was from Yonser, and Yonserians don't feel cold—in fact, they love showing that off to the world.
“Haven't even graduated yet and you've already picked up the doctors' vice?” I asked, approaching.
She jumped at the sound of my voice, and when she composed herself, her gaze held nothing but coldness and disgust. She turned to face the empty, dark parking lot in front of us.
Above our heads, a skylight cast its weak light across the simple garden, giving Adele an ethereal appearance, her white hair with pink tips even more brilliant.
She had a cold kind of beauty, but it wasn't like watching the first snow of winter touch the ground. Adele was a violent blizzard.
After a few seconds, I realized she was just ignoring me. Smoke drifted from her lips slowly, as if she didn't want to finish that cigarette. I cleared my throat, feeling a bit foolish for being ignored like this.
“I need to talk to you.” I moved to stand beside her, trying to get into her line of sight.
“Leave,” she said, blowing a puff of smoke toward the sky. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. I needed to remember to be patient.
“No. I said I need to talk to you, and if you don't want to talk, that's fine, but you're at least going to listen to me.”
She shot me a sidelong glance and laughed scornfully. She threw her cigarette on the ground and crushed it under her foot.
“I don't talk to losers,” she mocked, taking a step away.
I grabbed her wrist, which made her stop. Her nostrils flared with hatred.
“What's going on? Who did that to you?” I matched Zion's tone, because being patient never solved anything with Adele.
Her grayish-blue eyes shone with absolute insanity as she stared at me.
“I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't give a damn either. Let me go!”