59. Jack
FIFTY-NINE
JACK
“I secured bedrooms for you in the palace on the same level,” Sloan explained as she showed Jack, Aareth, Abigail, and Elizabeth to three side-by-side rooms. “I hope you don’t mind. I imagined you’d want to share with your sister.”
“No, that’s fine. Thank you, Captain Sloan,” Abigail said.
“Of course, dinner will be served in the hall. You are free to come and go as you please.” Sloan held Jack’s and Aareth’s gazes for a moment longer. “Sleep well. I have to ensure the guard is doubled for the Queen. We’ll start our investigation tomorrow morning.”
Jack held his tongue. He wanted to start now. He knew sleep would be far from him this night; he wanted to begin searching for his father’s murderer immediately, but he held these feelings in check, remembering Sloan’s words at the funeral.
Aareth’s face told Jack his mind was a hundred miles away. He gave Sloan a grunt of agreement before disappearing into his room in a very unlike-Aareth way.
“If you need anything”—Sloan began to walk down the hall—“just ask a servant or guard. They’ve been instructed to assist you.”
“Thank you,” Jack and Abigail said together.
A second later, Sloan was gone.
“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said. “I mean, about what happened to your dad.” She had been so quiet over the course of the day; Jack had wondered how she was coping with all of the events.
“I know what it’s like to lose a father.
You were lucky to have had him in your life.
From what I saw, he was a great example of what a father should be. ”
“He was.” Jack stared down at the red carpet lining the hall. “Thank you, Elizabeth.”
“Are they going to experiment on me again?” she asked, changing the topic as if she were asking about his thoughts on the weather.
“What?” Jack’s neck lifted so fast, it almost gave him whiplash.
“Yeah, I wanted to ask before, but it seemed selfish.” Elizabeth moved a long cord of thick, red hair from her eyes to behind her ear. “So what’s it going to be? Did you bring me to New Hope because I’m a freak?”
“Um …” Abigail motioned with her chin to a servant who had appeared down the hall. “Perhaps we should have this conversation in private.”
Jack looked bewildered, but nodded along with her suggestion.
The trio entered the girls’ room, and Abigail closed the door behind them.
The floor plan was a single, large square.
A window opened up to the rear garden, and two large beds stood side by side with a nightstand between.
A pair of dressers and a door leading to the lavatory rounded out the room.
Elizabeth wasted no time, running to a bed and throwing herself atop the fluffy cushions. She rolled onto her stomach, both hands supporting her chin.
Abigail was more reserved as she stood next to her sister, her arms folded across her chest. A look of apprehension touched her eyes as Jack took turns staring at them both, wondering who was going to speak first.
The journal they had found in the cave laboratory, the one written by the scientist named Aaron Jebson. He had referred to two experiments. Was Elizabeth one of them? Jack wondered as he waited for someone to break the silence.
“When the memories first started coming back to her,” Abigail said, her voice shaking, “we thought they were dreams or something else. I mean, how could she not remember?”
“The memories are like nightmares,” Elizabeth said, echoing her sister’s words. “I’ve always been a bit off, but … but it’s been getting worse. I think they found me in the woods one day. I think they experimented on me.”
“Who?” Jack tried wrapping his mind around the idea of anyone experimenting on another person. “Who would do something like that to a young girl? How long were you gone?”
“They were men in long, white coats.” Elizabeth shivered as she spoke. “I don’t remember much, but I remember the cave laboratory and … I remember being in pain.”
Elizabeth paused as her skin paled. Her eyes were huge as if she were reliving the horrible events of the cave that very moment.
“They would have had to capture her, do their experiments, and erase her memory each day.” Abigail swallowed hard. “She was never missing. We lived in Burrow Den. It was the quietest city in the Outland before … before the attacks started.”
“In the journal we found,” Jack started, deciding to tell the sisters what he knew, “there was mention of two successful experiments outside of the beast. They were codenamed ‘R-10 Banshee’ and ‘R-19 Night Walker.’”