"So this Omnis thing," Faye asked, looking as Amelia toyed with her wrist. "You said his was flickering?"
Amelia nodded, not taking her eyes off her skin. "I think he's being watched. Controlled. Something."
"I'm sure we're all being watched."
"Yeah." Amelia raised her eyebrows, then let them drop. "But something's not right." Her eyes drifted back over to her sister. "Maybe I was wrong about him. Maybe this is more complicated than I thought." She felt stupid. Betrayed. She felt like she was letting her sister down.
"I could use a drink," Faye commented, squeezing her eyes shut. "A smoke. Anything."
Amelia thought of the pills that had been in her purse that had gone missing. She found that she was glad they were gone. "I know."
Faye smirked at her. "So what do we do? Migrating or dying aren't our only options. Come on. There's always another way."
Amelia paused, rolling what she was about to say over on her tongue. "We should talk to Lucy."
"The redhead?" Faye raised her eyes in suspicion. "You think the offer's still on the table?
Amelia shrugged.
"We can ask her. Worst thing she says is no and then we're right back to where we started."
"Or she goes to Seraphine and they just decide to kill us."
"Maybe," Faye said thoughtfully. "But it doesn't seem like those two have the best relationship. Didn't she tell you we can escape and disappear? That'd be easy for us. We can go to Mexico. Europe. Live off the map." She grinned at her sister. "Sounds like a dream come true, doesn't it? Remember?" She early leaned forward on the bed. "We used to talk about doing that."
Amelia thought about it for a moment. The idea of living off the grid had always been appealing, though they'd never had a reason to. Money had always been an issue, though they'd talk about it, late at night.
"We could explore the world," Faye would exclaim, rolling onto her side, her face illuminated by the moonlight. "We could go anywhere."
The concept of it seemed so extraordinary, so thrilling that Amelia would get lost in thoughts of it. Floating away to new places in her dreams, places that had only existed in story books.
"Okay," Amelia agreed, her eyes meeting her sisters. She felt the spark of excitement ignite again.
It took Amelia quite some time to find Lucy's door. Everything looked the same, though she was becoming more familiar with the hallways that always seemed to rotate. She and Faye came out of the hospital room, like two little girls, sneaking down the hall in their pajamas while they were supposed to be in bed.
As they came down the hall, a door opened almost immediately like Lucy had been waiting for them. She wore white pants and a tank top shirt, her hair wrapped up in a bun on top of her head. Her cheeks were flushed, as though she had just been angered by something, but she smiled at them nevertheless. "Well, this is quite the surprise," she said, not sounding surprised at all. "Do you want to come in?"
"Yes," Faye answered.
Lucy moved to the side to allow them into the room. The room had the same layout as Amelia's, though the bed was slightly different and there were clothes all over the floor. At the end of the bed sat Cheyenne, who had a small gray screen in her lap. She pored over it, barely looking up as they came into the room.
The two girls walked in, keeping their backs against the wall until Lucy turned to face them. "What brings you here?" she asked, raising her eyebrow delicately.
"We want your help," Amelia heard herself say before Faye got the chance to. "We want to get out of here."
Lucy cocked her head to the side, then looked behind her at Cheyenne, who'd taken a sudden interest in the request. "Changed your mind?" she asked Amelia.
Amelia glared at Lucy. "I told you. I wouldn't leave without my sister."
Lucy smirked. "Fair enough. Well," she said, sighing as though this request was a minor inconvenience. "We can help you. But it has to be now."
"Right now?" Faye asked.
Lucy nodded. "Like I said, your window gets smaller by the minute."
"But Seraphine," Amelia protested. "Won't she know?"
Amelia seemed to have reignited Lucy's anger, because the woman's nostrils flared and her face flushed again. "No," she said exasperatedly. "Seraphine is not who you think she is."
"Wha—?"
"Now," Lucy continued, cutting her off. "I can tell you exactly what you need to do to erase yourself so they can't find you in this time. But you need to follow the instructions very carefully. And you need to trust me." Her eyes flickered back and forth between her and Faye. "Can you do that?"
Faye nodded, then looked at Amelia, who gave a more hesitant nod.
"Good. Come here."
Lucy turned towards what Amelia knew was the bathroom. It was also a mess. Clothes and towels littered the floor.
At the counter in front of the mirror, Lucy had a few glass jars set up - tweezers, nail scissors, hair brushes, cotton balls, and all sorts of different types of things any woman might find in her bathroom. Amelia felt, for some reason, that it calmed her.
"I need to cut and pull the Omnis out of your arms," she told them. "But once I do that, we'll need to leave. The Omnis picks up on your heart rate, so once it's removed, Seraphine will realize something's not right and send Ben or Esau to check on you."
She looked at Faye, who held out her left arm, wrist upwards, at Lucy. The small indentation where the incision had been made to insert her Omnis was barely visible—a small white scar that would have disappeared in another day's time.
"Do it," Faye told her, forcing her arm towards her. "Take it out."
"Are you sure?" Lucy brought her hands up to grasp Faye's forearm.
"Yes," she said, then looking over her shoulder. "Right?"
Amelia nodded, trying to force Ben out of her mind. Unwanted guilt still lingered. She hated herself for it, but she couldn't put her trust in Ben anymore. The mere thought of time traveling to an unknown time was terrifying. If there was another way out of this mess, she was going to take it.
Still, the guilt hovered. But she shook it with the nod she gave to Lucy and Faye. Lucy grabbed a pair of the hair scissors she had in the jar, running it quickly under running water.
"Cheyenne?" Lucy called out of the room. "Can you bring me the alcohol please? And the wrapping gauze?"
A moment later Cheyenne came through the door of the bathroom with a large bottle of Absolut Vodka and a roll of gauze. Lucy took it from her, placing it with a clink on the countertop, unscrewing the top, and pouring the liquid over the scissors.
Before she could place it back down on the counter, Faye took it from her grasp, bringing it to her own lips and taking a swig. Lucy gave her a wide grin.
"Sorry," Faye hissed from the burn of the alcohol in her throat. "I'm squeamish around blood."
"This will be quick." Lucy pulled over a few of the white washcloths that sat on the countertop. "Just close your eyes."
Faye did as she was told and Amelia watched as Lucy dug the scissors into her skin, pulling it apart, blood escaping from the small wound. Her stomach heaved as Lucy dug in with a pair of tweezers, pulling out a small silver sliver through the hole in her skin.
"Quick," Lucy told Faye, placing a washcloth over her fresh wound. The cloth ate up the blood instantly, coating the fibers in a rich red. "Cheyenne, wrap her up."
Amelia didn't have time to process any of it before Lucy was tugging on her own arm. "Come on, Amelia," she said to her. "You're next." The woman carefully found the invisible scar on her arm and, without warning, opened the skin there, too.
The initial pain was momentary, but as she inserted the tweezers and pulled, Amelia saw stars and swayed on her feet. "Amelia," she heard Faye say beside her. "You okay?"
"Don't faint on me!" Lucy exclaimed, holding the Omnis between her fingers, coated with blood, looking proud. She pressed a new washcloth to her arm, and Cheyenne came to her aid obediently, wrapping her forearm with gauze.
"What now?
" Faye asked, looking no worse for wear.
"Let's get moving," Lucy said. "Hurry."
CHAPTER THIRTY
They ran down the hall, high on adrenaline, struggling to cram together in the small elevator. Amelia had the urge to ask Lucy why she was doing this, why she decided to help them, but like many other things in the past few days, she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer. Another wave of guilt hit, urging her to run back, to find Ben, to reason with him, to explain why they couldn't go with him. But they had made their choice. There was no turning back now.
"I can't let you take a car," Lucy explained as they exited the elevator, heading towards the garage. Amelia wondered how the woman wasn't even remotely short on breath, hurrying to keep with her stride. "But I can drive you to somewhere you can catch a ride."
"Can't they track the cars?" Amelia asked.
Lucy nodded. "They can. But if we move quickly enough, we have a chance."
A chance. Amelia should have been worried more about the words, but at the rate they were moving, she didn't give it much thought.
She selected the same car Ben had taken Amelia in when she'd first met Lucy and Cheyenne. She felt conflicted now, the what if holding her back like invisible arms. Maybe it was wrong to leave. Maybe she owed more to Ben than she thought. After all, Faye was better. She was alive.
"Get in the car!" Lucy shouted, hopping into the driver's seat. There was no more time to think. Amelia and Faye scrambled in the back seat of the car, and Cheyenne in the passenger's seat before Lucy hit the gas.
The door of the garage opened, revealing a dark sky blanketed with stars. There was no denying how beautiful this place was. A bump beneath the car left the garage behind. They were back into the real world. Whatever that was, anyway. She felt a sudden sense of peace. Like everything might be okay now.
"Amelia."
Faye's voice choked back fright. Even before Amelia turned to look at her sister, she knew something was wrong.
She came into view in slow motion. Faye sat with her back against the seat, her face contorted in fear, blue eyes bulging. The car sailed across the sandy desert floor, but Amelia's eyes remained transfixed on what was happening to her sister.
Without warning, the skin on Faye's face wilted, stretched backward, sagging over her mouth, her cheeks sinking inwards on themselves. What had begun to grow back on her hairline receded, disappearing in a puff of silver, then white. Wrinkles snaked up the sides of her neck, across her mouth, down the front of her forehead.
Amelia went numb, reaching a shaky hand to unbuckle herself from the seat she sat in. Her stomach roiled, her heartbeat heavy in her ears as she struggled to make sense of what she was seeing. Faye's body wilted, not exempt from the horror, skin melting from her bones into withered leather. Her eyes sunk, lips dried up, her jaw unhooked.
Amelia gaped at her helplessly, unable to process what was happening in front of her. Her sister's body withered. Her young, beautiful sister Faye was now a fragile, unrecognizable old woman.
Wake up! You're dreaming. You must be dreaming.
Faye reached up a shaking hand to Amelia, and she grasped onto it, climbing across the middle to be closer to her, fearful of the bones she felt beneath the delicate, wrinkled, sun-spotted skin. Decades. She had aged decades in mere seconds. And it wasn't stopping.
She was dying.
"GO BACK!" Amelia heard herself scream, watching Faye melt into her own body. Her sister struggled to breathe, her gulps of air rattling in her chest, a muddy gurgle in her throat. She kept her death grip on Faye's hand. They were in this together. Always together. "Please go back!"
"What's going on?" Lucy called from the front. Cheyenne waved her arms, pointing into the back, and Lucy slammed on the brakes, forcing Faye from her seat, into Amelia's lap.
Faye's body felt impossibly fragile. She was nothing more than a skeleton with a thin coating of skin that seemed to get thinner by the moment. Delicately, Amelia turned her sister's face in her lap, and she looked up at her, eyes pleading for help. She was trapped in a decaying body.
No.
"Faye." Amelia was breathless. Her arms wrapped around her sister's body, trying to keep her together. It felt like she was going to fall apart. Oh god. Oh god.
"Please Faye, hold on. We're going back. They can still help you."
"Amelia." Her voice was barely audible, hoarse with pain. "I can't."
"Please," she begged. "This isn't it, Faye. You don't do this to me. You can't do this to me."
"I'm sorry." Her sister closed her wrinkled lids and slowly let out her last breath.
"Faye!" Amelia cried, trying to look out of the windows of the car to see where they were. Lucy had, by some stroke of luck, gotten them back into the garage of the Compound, but Amelia knew it was too late. "Get someone!" she shouted at Lucy and Cheyenne. "Get Ben! Get Johan! Please! They have to help her! They have to bring her back! Somebody!"
"Amelia," Lucy said quietly, her eyes on Faye's still body in her lap. "I don't know—"
"Get them!" Amelia screamed, clutching Faye's head to her chest, cradling her.
Don't look. Don't look at her.
Lucy obeyed, climbing out of the car. Cheyenne stayed in the passenger seat, staring at the two sisters with pity, her face overcome with sadness. Amelia glanced back down at her sister, who was stark white, her skin sagging with age, wrinkles covering her face. She no longer looked like the sister she knew. Anguish tore at every last inch of her, an unrelenting sensation that swallowed her whole, chewed her up and refused to spit her back out. It clutched her chest, tightening it until she felt like she was choking for air. She wanted to scream.
"What happened?" Amelia choked, tears finally catching up with the emotion she felt, leaking from the corners of her eyes, down her cheeks, onto Faye's cheeks and shoulders. "Why did this happen?"
But Cheyenne would not answer. She only shook her head, her wide eyes brimming with her own tears.
"What's going on?" Seraphine's voice echoed through the garage, as she strode across the floor with Johan and Lucy on her heels. Ben followed last.
She clutched onto her sister. Faye was the only thing she had left in the world. The only person she trusted. She was her home, her family. The only constant in her life. She wasn't going to let her go. Not like this.
She hugged her body, trying to squeeze life back into Faye, forcing her eyes shut, wishing, hoping that it would all fade away. A bad dream. She could wake up in her own bed, in their apartment, all of this behind them. She asked God, who she'd given up on years ago, for his mercy. To bring her sister back. To not leave her alone in this world.
Please, please, please.
Amelia heard her heart pulsing in her ears, the voices around the car, faces staring in at her, holding Faye's body. She wanted them gone. She hated them all. This was their fault.
Seraphine was scolding, Ben was yelling, Lucy was screaming, Amelia was sobbing, Cheyenne was whimpering, and Esau finally opened the car door next to Amelia.
"Amelia," he said, placing a hand on her back.
"Don't touch her!" she screamed, frantically wrapping her arms around Faye's middle, trying to shift her so she could hold what was left of her. "Get away from me!"
"Amelia, we need to have a look at her," Esau told her.
"No!" she shouted, nuzzling her face into her sister's neck. Smelling her. The familiarity of her scent, of her body. She could never lose this. She couldn't survive without Faye. She wouldn't.
"Amelia," came a sterner voice at the car door. Ben. His face had fallen, sad, riddled with guilt. He failed her, and he knew it. "Amelia, please. Let us have a look at her. Let us help."
"You killed her!" Amelia shouted, tears running down her face as she looked at Faye. Dead. Her dead sister. "You killed her!" she shouted at him. "You killed my sister."
"I'm so sorry, Amelia. Please." Ben put his hand on her shoulder, his only show of compassion.
She shrugged her shoulder away
from his grasp with force. "Get off of me!" she screamed. She felt animalistic. Defensive, protective. Her mind spun. She needed to get them both out of here. She wanted to go home.
"Amelia." It was Esau again.
Amelia closed her eyes, memories painfully flooding through her. Sixteen, alone, hating Faye the moment she came through the door. Their first night together. The foster home, their foster parents. Not the best, but they got the job done. A new foster sibling that came and went. School. Fighting. Bullies. A night of tequila spent next to the toilet. Gossiping about boys. Lipstick, nail polish, mini skirts. Eighteen, the first apartment, medicating for the first time. The freedom. Her smile, wide and toothy. Faye promised, always, that she would take care of them both.
Her body went slack and she took a shuddering breath before she succumbed to Esau's offer.
The rest of what happened was a blur. Tears contorted her vision. Johan took Faye's body from her arms into his own. Amelia walked alongside him, grasping Faye's arm, like somehow it still held a piece of her though she knew, somewhere in the back of her mind, that she had gone.
She couldn't see straight, couldn't walk straight. The emotion weighed her down, causing her to fall a few times. Ben walked beside her, picking her up, his arms underneath her armpits, bringing her to her feet each time she stumbled. She badly wanted to push him away, but her energy had gone.
Johan went slowly, for her sake, as they all made their way down the elevator, into the hall they had so desperately tried to leave, and back down to the hospital.
Back to where this had all started.
They had traveled across the country to save her. To save them. What good had it been? Ben had failed them. Amelia had failed Faye. She was dead.
Faye was gone.
Everything moved in slow motion.
It stopped when Johan laid Faye down in the hospital, on the bed she'd spent so many nights on. What time had done to Faye was horrific. Amelia had trouble understanding it or making sense of it. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn't have believed that the body before her was Faye.
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