17. Chapter 17
Maryn
Isqueezed my hands into fists at my sides, staring at the solid metal wall stretching into the dark corridor. I looked right, into the mirrored darkness, and my gaze snagged on the guard standing at attention.
I’d only ever seen them standing at the wall before. I didn’t delude myself into believing they were here for my safety.
Beside me, Phoebe coughed politely, and I glanced at her under my lashes.
Her palms were flat against the chair arms, and she stared straight ahead. Her flaxen hair was braided down her back, and the white garment she wore was even baggier than mine.
The door across from her banged open, and Beth stumbled out. I stiffened, but she caught herself, staring at the floor.
My pulse jumped as her shoulders straightened, and she marched down the hall the way we'd all come in that morning and disappeared.
Phoebe stood, glancing at me before going in. A guard stepped forward, closing the door behind her.
I ran a hand over my thin cotton gown. The biting cold in this sterile place made goosebumps rise hours earlier; I feared they may now be permanent.
The door across from me opened slowly. I got to my feet. Abi's fingers trailed the wall as she crept out, leaning against cold steel.
I moved toward her, but the guard standing closest to us cleared his throat to stop me.
She looked up and, gaze unfocused, slid her shoulder along the wall, easing slowly toward the exit.
My stomach dropped.
I watched her go, then stepped inside.
At the center, a flat metal table was flanked on all sides by trays of instruments and objects I had no name for.
Behind it, a semi-sheer screen hung from the ceiling.
Men in coats stood around it speaking softly.
I cataloged everything—slowly, deliberately—because if I let myself feel it, I wouldn't move.
“Maryn Veil, daughter of Joel Veil?”
I cleared my throat. “Yes.”
“Come.”
A nurse in brown motioned me forward.
“Lay down, please.”
The men on the other side of the room ignored us as I nodded and sat. My gaze shot to a jar filled with liquid and black creatures that glowed slightly at the edges.
“What are those for?”
My heartbeat was loud in my ears as the nurse ignored me, touching my shoulder to guide me backward onto the table.
I complied, staring up at the stark gray ceiling. As I turned, one of the creatures pressed itself against the glass. A violent shiver rolled through me before I could stop it.
She stood over me, sliding the strap of my dress to the side, and my gaze shot to the men behind her. One of them laughed, swiping up on his screen and they all continued speaking quietly.
I made myself look away.
Something cool suctioned against the skin below my collarbone and I winced. Cold metal slid over my pointer finger and tightened.
I inhaled a sharp breath, found a small stain on the ceiling, and focused on it.
“I’m going to ask you a series of questions. Do you understand?”
I nodded.
“Speak your answers.”
“Yes.”
The nurse moved away from me, her skirts swishing. “We’re ready here.”
Feet shuffled, but I kept my gaze pinned on the dark spot.
"Have you eaten or drunk anything that might impair your judgement in the last twenty-four hours?"
I shook my head.
“No.”
Lights flickered on the screen across the room.
I stared at the spot.
"Has anyone you know ever participated in Trial Five?"
“Yes.”
Pens scribbled as a shoe tapped against the floor.
“What was her name?”
“Vera Holt.”
More pens scratching over paper. I hadn’t seen actual paper since the day we visited an Upper-Middle museum of pre-war artifacts in school. The urge to turn my head and look clawed at me.
“"Have you been advised what you are being tested for?"
“Yes.”
The scribbling increased, and couldn’t help but glance over then. All three men with pads were writing furiously, none of them watching the screen now.
“What did you learn?”
“That I would be tested for my loyalty.”
Silence.
The shoe stopped tapping.
"Who told you that?"
I kept my eyes on the spot. “The message on my tablet said to come prepared to answer questions honestly.” I paused. “I inferred.”
When pencils finally stopped scratching, the nurse approached the table beside me. I tracked her movements as she reached for a pair of metal tongs, unscrewed the jar and reached inside. Metal squeezed a fat glowing, wormlike creature as she pulled it out.
“Gentlemen.”
Shoes moved, and I swallowed.
I stared up at the ceiling, finding my small brown stain.
“Are you ready?”
More shoes scraped over the floor. I focused with all my might on the small spot, holding my breath as shadows fell over me.
A drop of icy liquid splashed my cheek.
“Hold still.”
I stared at the stain.
Something cold and wet was forced up my nose. I gagged on the putrid, metallic taste running down my throat. Pressure built in the corner of my eye, and it watered as it increased.
The dot on the ceiling began to swim, its edges blurring.
“Radioactive leech inserted,” a voice said in the far reaches of my mind.
***
"You look beautiful."
I blinked. The ceiling was gone. Elias stood in front of me, hand outstretched, and the evening air was cool on my bare arms. I looked down at my dress—not the cotton gown. When had I changed?
"Get in, Maryn."
I looked up. "Where are we going?"
He smiled. “It’s a surprise.”
My lips tugged up. “Okay.”
I took his hand, and he led me to a black car parked outside the house I’d moved into in the center. I climbed into the car, and he closed the door behind me.
The driver’s door opened, and Elias slid inside. He looked over, taking me in; my cheeks heated.
“You look beautiful,” he repeated, touching the screen, and the car rolled forward.
I glanced over at him. His bright blue eyes met mine and held them.
“You said that already.”
His gaze never wavered. “I meant it.”
“You really won’t tell me where you’re taking me?”
Elias reached for my hand, tugging it from my lap and lifted my fingers to his mouth. “It will be more fun this way.”
A thump sounded, and we jolted to a stop.
I yanked my hand from his grasp, heart in my throat as I searched the road in front of us illuminated only by the low yellow beams of his car. “What was that?”
Faster than I could think, his car door was open and he was out. Quickly, I came around to his side.
I froze.
“Mother above. Shit.” Elias’s hands were on his head as he paced.
He looked up. “Stop.”
But it was too late. Pale skin, exposed beneath rapidly darkening fabric, was bent at a strange angle.
My stomach lurched.
I moved, crouching beside the woman still half-obscured by his car. Something raw scraped against my insides. A woman, cut down in the street by a man.
I stretched my fingers toward her.
“Don’t!”
I jumped, my pulse thrumming.
“Don’t touch her.”
I looked up into his wild eyes, hair stuck out at odd angles from running his hands through it.
Elias crouched beside me, looking between the woman he had run over and me.
“I… We can’t…”
I glanced around the darkened street, then at Elias’s trembling fingers tugging at his collar.
I touched his arm. He stilled, eyes meeting mine.
“We can’t leave her like this.”
A look of blind terror washed over him. Then he swallowed. Nodded.
“Can I have your tablet?”
He stared down at the woman’s exposed leg, slowly fading to a mottled shade of gray. “I don’t…”
My back stiffened, my grip tightening on his arm. “Elias, give me your tablet.”
He nodded, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out the sleek black device.
“Touch the screen.”
He did, and it came to life.
I tapped the emergency button and the screen flashed red.
REMAIN WHERE YOU ARE.
The words blinked in rapid succession.
HELP IS EN ROUTE.
A red bar surrounded the screen.
REMAIN WHERE YOU ARE.
“Fuck.” Elias stood, backing away from the device. “This will ruin me.”
I swallowed the acid taste rising up my throat and pushed to my feet while Elias mumbled curses, running his hands through his hair again and again.
A drone dropped from the sky, scanning the area.
“Statement required,” blared from the round metal object.
Elias fumbled in his pocket. I stepped toward the drone and held my pin out. A light flashed on, scanning.
“Maryn Veil. Match of Elias Hale. Confirmed. Provide your statement.”
I swallowed, glancing at Elias. In the low headlights, he was deathly pale, his eyes seemingly entirely white.
Loyalty.
My hands steadied at my sides. “Elias was teaching me to drive.”
Elias went still.
“I didn’t see the woman. She ran across the road too fast.”
The drone’s red light clicked off.
“Statement filed, Maryn Veil, Match of Elias Hale.”
It zipped into the air.
***
I sat up, gasping and stared blurrily around a stark metal room. Beside me, a slimy black creature lay on the low table, a smear of red on the tongs beside it.
The room tilted, and my hand landed hard on the table.
The nurse was gone, the men in coats staring at a screen replaying the images that had lived in my brain only moments before.
I sat, waiting for instructions.
They ignored me.
When enough time passed that I thought I could walk, I slid off the table, staggering toward the door.
No one tried to stop me.
I held a hand out, my fingers shrinking and growing as I tried to gauge the distance to the door. It seemed to stretch, then zoom toward me before my outstretched palms slammed against cold metal. I exhaled a slow breath.
Behind me voices continued murmuring to one another, and my own voice played back: “Elias was teaching me to drive.”
***
The driverless car pulled up to my new home, and I slid out. I could still feel the jolt of the car, picture Elias's wide eyes in the headlights.
I shook my head, tugging the large wooden door wide and moved a little unsteadily up the stairs.
“There you are. Mother Damn, you took forever.”
Vera stood at the top of the stairs, hand on her hip as she took me in. “You truly live to make my life one impossible challenge after another, don’t you? I have an hour—one hour—to get you ready.”
Her gaze slid to my hands, and I curled my fingers to hide my nails.
She turned, moving down the hall ahead of me. I watched the back of her head a moment before following.
I reached my room and stepped inside, crossing and sinking onto the bed, face down.
“Absolutely not. Get up. Shower.”
I lay buried in the blanket, head covered. A pale leg flashed in my mind, forcing my eyes open. I pushed up and exhaled a long sigh.
An hour later, I stood in the foyer, tugging my low silk gown up for the third time.
Vera had worked efficiently, combing out my hair, then piling it atop my head in styled waves. Would she have been so gentle if she’d known I gave her name so easily during my trial? But she must know; she had been through it already. Knew the questions they asked.
A knock sounded at the front door, and I stepped forward, pushing it open.
Elias beamed at me, eyes sparkling. “Maryn.”
He held out a hand, and I glanced down at it.
His smile faltered. “Everything okay?”
I looked up. Words, Maryn.
“Yes. I…” I slid my gloved hand into his outstretched one.
He turned, not waiting for me to say more, leading me down the stairs. We reached the bottom step, and I looked up, halting.
He reached for the door to a black car, the same black car, and held it open.
I exhaled through my nose.
“I have a surprise for you,” he said. “Do you like surprises?”
I took in his relaxed expression, the smoothness of his brows.
“Yes.”
He nodded, tugging me closer and I glanced inside the car. The interior was exactly as it had been in my trial.
He waited, watching me more closely now. “Maryn, are you well?”
I looked up. “What if we just talk out here?”
His gaze raked over my thin dress. “In that?” He laughed. “You’ll freeze.”
I nodded, goosebumps rolling down my exposed back.
“I’m an excellent driver, Maryn. I promise.”