“S-sure…”
Dana jerked his head to one of the doors, leading to a very familiar hallway that I had come to hate. I took a deep breath and then started toward the door, glancing back at the small group of Commish Kids watching nervously. I tried to assure them with my eyes that I was alright, but I was not sure of that fact myself.
Seeing Sean following, though, did give me hope that I would walk out of the Commission that night.
I walked into the hallway first, trying not to notice the looming presence behind me.
I heard the door click and slowly turned around, bracing myself for the unknown reaction of the leader of the Commission of the People.
Before I could completely turn around, Dana’s hand was on my shoulder. He almost violently pushed me against the wall. My head connected with a thud that temporarily stunned me, but I quickly shook it off as fear engulfed me.
“Dana! Control yourself!” Sean snapped.
“You, out!” Dana ordered, pointing to the door. His voice was not angry, but it was commanding.
“No,” Sean refused, though he was hesitant in his defiance.
“I was not asking, Sean,” Dana snarled. “Out.”
Sean looked at me and then slowly backed away, opening the door and slipping out.
When the door clicked again, my eyes focused entirely on Dana, who was staring at me, his gaze intense. I was far more sensitive to the piercing glare now that I had a secret I desperately needed to keep.
I watched his face slowly approach mine, feeling his breath fan over my lips. My head was pressed against the wall, but his strong fingers on my chin kept me from turning my head as his lips brushed mine in a surprisingly chaste kiss.
That frightened me more.
He backed away and his hand moved to cradle my jaw, his thumbs brushing over my cheek as his sparkling eyes moved around my face, looking over every minor detail.
“W-what?”
“I’m just in awe…”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I tried to snarl, my voice weak.
“I am just looking at you.”
“Stop,” I growled, attempting to push him away. “You said you wanted to talk, so talk, don’t stare.”
He took my wrists sharply and pinned them to the wall next to my head.
“Don’t get testy with me, Little Lily,” Dana warned darkly. “I have had a very trying few days and I am not in the mood.”
“Well, it’s not my fault that you lost so many people from the holding cells,” I snarled. “Don’t take your frustration out on me.”
“Not just the holding cells,” Dana shook his head, releasing my hands and retreated a step.
“Sorry, and the security guards,” I added, rubbing my wrists.
“We lost experiments as well.”
Now, I really had to act.
I stilled, my eyes shooting wide as my mouth dropped open.
“What?”
“We lost experiments,” Dana repeated. I could tell he was watching every muscle in my body to spot any weakness in my stance, any movement that proved I was guilty.
But I continued to act dumbfounded, my eyes blinking and my jaw open.
“How could you let that happen?” I hissed.
“Oh, so now you’re concerned?”
“Yes!” I snapped. “You created weapons like that and now some of them are loose! How could you let that happen?!”
“I didn’t stand there and hold the door open.” Dana rolled his eyes. “They escaped. And we don’t know how.” He pointed at me. “So, I’m going to ask you what you have heard around the school and Archangel with the younger members of the Commission.”
“About a plan to sneak into the Commission, murder the guards, and break people out?” I asked incredulously. I scoffed. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“You think a Commish Kid did this?”
“I’m certain of it.”
“How?” I challenged, though I was worried that he had found some proof.
“Miranda and Julie are missing, but the other two who were in their cell are still there. They said it was a young man who broke in. But when I showed them pictures of the young male Commission members, there were a few identified as possible suspects. They didn’t get a good look…”
I tried to hide the wave of nausea that washed over me. I saw the smile that quirked at the corners of Dana’s lips and knew he could see how uneasy I was.
“But…I don’t know anything,” I said, shaking my head.
“At first, I thought it was Dean, considering his ridiculous attachment to Miranda. But…then I realized that there was no way he was intelligent enough to organize a large breakout like that.” Dana sighed and looked at me seriously. “Twenty-eight experiments slipped out of the Commission right past the guards. The cameras were down for seven minutes and twenty-three seconds. It’s really a fascinating conundrum.”
He fixed me with a hard stare.
“How did you do it?”
My heart stopped.
“W-what?”
“How did you do it? How did you manage to sneak over one hundred people out from under my nose? Tell me. I’m really fascinated.”
“I-I didn’t.” My voice was weak.
Dana’s grin widened.
“Oh, come on, Little Lily, I know it was you.”
“No, it wasn’t!” I gasped, horrified. “I didn’t do it!”
“Who else could it have been?” Dana challenged. “Now, granted, your tracers showed you were at home for the time of the breakout, but I think you could have easily removed those…”
He took my right hand, squeezing it.
“Really, I’m very curious,” Dana smiled. “I was sure that my security was fool proof, and to hustle that many people out in under seven minutes…that’s just fucking impressive.”
“I told you, I didn’t do it!”
“And why should I believe you?”
“You really think I’m stupid enough to sneak in here and let loose dangerous criminals and experiments?” I growled. “I know you would tear this country apart to find them.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Dana grinned coldly. “And you’re right, I don’t believe you are that stupid. I do, however, think that you are too caring of a person to not be involved, and considering the other young adults of the Commission, you are the most likely suspect.”
“How?”
“Because you want to stage a coup, and I am your target,” Dana stated. “And you are smart enough to organize something this complex.”
“But I didn’t!”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Well, then, what the hell am I supposed to say?!” I cried, my voice choked. “I didn’t do it!”
“Oh, Little Lily,” Dana said, looking surprised despite his amused smile, “you’re terrified. Don’t fret, don’t fret…” He stepped forward, placing one hand against my cheek. “I don’t believe you, but I have no proof that you were behind this. If you really are innocent, then you have no reason to worry. I won’t harm you.”
“Unless you can’t find anyone else?” I growled with my shaking voice. “Then, it will be me?”
“Rest assured, Little Lily, I will find who organized this, and they will pay,” Dana said darkly. “Anyone involved in the breakouts who puts up resistance will be put down, and those captured will be made to fill any missing experiment cells.”
My heart was knocking angrily at my ribs. Dana’s hand dropped from my face.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered, tilting his head to the side with a cold smile that made my skin prickle. “If you are involved, I have a special cell waiting for you…”
My blood turned cold and I shivered at the promise. My only assumption was that he had already decided what tests he wanted to perform on me. My brain automatically leapt to the conclusion that Dana had destined me to the Machine of Neutralization program.
Dana began walking toward th
e door for the meeting room.
“Keep your eyes and ears open, Little Lily,” Dana said, turning back to me as I remained frozen, leaning against the wall for support. “Let me know if you hear or see anything that clears you of suspicion.”
“W-what happened to innocent until proven guilty?” I barely managed to murmur.
“Leave idealism for movies and fairy tales,” Dana smiled sickly. “This is reality.”
He held the door open, waiting for me. I glanced at Sean, who was standing attentively, glancing worriedly between us to be sure I was unharmed.
“Come, Little Lily,” Dana called. “Mark will drive you home now.”
I do not know how I kept myself from collapsing as I walked out of the hallway and into the gaze of the concerned and frightened members of my revolution. I was brave enough to glance at Dana as I passed him.
Dana was grinning ever-so-slightly, the fire in his eyes sparking excitedly. He was thrilled, excited, bouncing and racing behind the calm exterior. He was enjoying the challenge.
Before I realized it, I was returning the same half-smile with a tense ball of excitement ricocheting around my stomach.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Sunday morning, Mykail was nervous. I, on the other hand, was extremely excited. Due to Mykail’s reluctance to tell me what was bothering him, I had given up trying to ask what was wrong. I was sure that some time in the fort would cheer him up and break the strange mood he was stuck in.
Around ten Sunday morning, Clark knocked on the front door.
“Hey, can you open the garage door?”
I quickly hurried through the house and hit the large button for the garage. As the paneled wood began to ascend, I ducked to glance through the rapidly widening gap. There were two cars in my driveway, one closer to the street. The other car’s taillights were illuminated, waiting for the garage door to open. One of our family cars had been taken to the airport for my parents’ return, so there was an empty space that the car slowly backed into.
Clark was walking around the front of the house toward the garage as Mark got out of his car and started toward the garage as well.
I turned to get Mykail only to find him standing behind me, watching worriedly, slightly pale.
“What is it?” I asked, my face falling.
“N-nothing.”
I wanted to press him further on the issue, but I knew he would not tell me. I stepped down the two cement steps into the garage just as Josh stepped out of his car.
“Good morning,” he greeted with an infectious smile.
“Good morning.” I turned to Mykail, who was standing completely still in the doorway. “Are you ready?”
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he said, glancing at Mark and Clark as they approached. Josh puffed out his cheeks, thinking of the best way to respond as he looked at Mark. The silent experiment did not make any effort to communicate.
“Uh…well, we can’t do this a lot,” Josh said awkwardly. “But today it’s okay.”
“Do you really feel that way?” Mykail near-growled, looking over Mark pointedly. I saw the muscles in Mark’s jaw tense.
“Mykail,” I said, shocked at the sharpness in his voice.
“Mykail, we want to bring you to the fort,” Josh said with a nod, worried about the way the conversation was moving.
Mykail looked around at us and I was beginning to get very worried that there was a much bigger problem than Mykail feeling left out of the rebellion. Seeing the fury of intense emotion in his eyes, I walked up to him and pushed on his chest to guide him back into the house.
“One second, please,” I smiled nervously. I closed the door, leaving the other three in the garage.
I could not help but glare at Mykail.
“Is something going on that you need to tell me about?” I asked seriously, trying not to sound indignant.
Mykail sighed and looked around the small living room, avoiding my eyes as much as possible. That did nothing to ease my anxiety. I waited for him to speak, but he remained silent, his eyes dropping to the ground.
“Mykail, seriously, if there is something bothering you, I want you to tell me,” I pressed as gently as I could considering my annoyance.
He sighed heavily again and swallowed hard.
“I’m just…” He shook his head. “There’s a lot of things going on in my head right now,” he admitted, finally glancing into my eyes before turning away, rubbing his temple.
“What kind of things?”
Mykail bit his lower lip and shook his head, avoiding me further. I did not press, knowing he was about to talk.
“I just…I’m a little afraid, okay?”
“Afraid? Of being caught? Don’t worry, Mark and Josh are really meticulous about covering their tracks.”
“They’re the reason I’m worried.”
I hesitated.
“What do you mean?”
“No, I don’t mean that they’re not trustworthy, because they are,” he assured quickly, his hands fidgeting at his sides. “But…they don’t trust me. And that scares me.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know,” Mykail groaned, closing his eyes and rubbing them with his fingers. “I don’t know. You know, it’s probably nothing, I’m just…being overly sensitive about it…”
“No, Mykail, this is really bothering you. You’ve been acting weird since Friday and I’m getting worried. I want you to talk to me and tell me what it is that has you so upset.”
Mykail shook his head.
“You wouldn’t understand…”
I felt more offended by his statement than I should have.
“What wouldn’t I understand?”
“There’s just…some things that you wouldn’t understand, okay?”
“No, not okay,” I shook my head. “I have always been very honest with you, Mykail, but now it seems like you can’t trust me.”
“I do trust you, but you really would not understand.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’ve never been on the table before,” he snapped coldly. He let out a defeated sigh and hung his head. “Relations between the experiments are complicated. You generally need to stay with your group of people. For Mark and Josh, the Eight Group is their group. And…if Mark is such good friends with Griffin and Tori, then…his group is a lot bigger…I didn’t really have a group…now, Mark doesn’t trust me. I’m an outsider on this, Lily, no matter how you look at it.”
My heart broke at the pain in Mykail’s voice. This was really painful for him, and he was right, I did not understand the norms of interacting among the experiments, but from the way he was fretting over it, I realized it was more complicated than I originally thought.
I pressed my hands to his face, lifting his head to look at me.
“Listen,” I whispered. “Griffin told me that Mark does not trust easily, but he’s still bringing you to the fort. He’s risking Josh today as well, and he is Mark’s best friend.” I looked at him seriously. “If Mark really didn’t trust you, he would have no problem refusing to bring you to the fort.”
Mykail sighed and looked back to the ground.
“Mykail,” I chuckled. “Remember how long it took for Mark to come to me and Clark? He was testing us, too. But when he saw he could trust us, he opened up. He’s giving you the chance to prove that you are trustworthy.” I smiled gently. “So, can you be a little more open to the idea? Instead of expecting him to trust you right off the bat, give him some time.”
Mykail sighed and closed his eyes, nodding reluctantly. I leaned forward, kissing him on the cheek.
“Okay, let’s go.”
I walked to the garage, keeping a hold of Mykail’s hand as I peeked around the door.
“Is it okay to bring him out?”
Mark glanced around outside to be sure no one was watching. Josh said something quietly to Mark who turned to the house across the street and studied the windows. Josh opened the back door of the car
as Clark moved to block the narrow space between me and the car, looking out the open garage door as well.
Mark nodded to me over his shoulder, so I pulled Mykail out, who ducked low as Clark did his best to block the view of the experiment darting to the car, slipping into the back seat in a crouch, his wings folded down. He maneuvered his legs into the space behind the driver’s seat and rested his head on his hands, laying down so that his wings were barely out of sight.
Taking the large tarp we had practiced covering him with, I passed it to Mykail, allowing him to take the edge and pull it over the top part of his wings as I covered the larger feathers and his feet.
When he was completely shielded from view, Josh closed the door. With the tinted windows of the Commission car, I could only make out the faint outline of something being in the back seat, though I would have never been able to think it was a person.
I walked to the front of the car and stood next to Clark as everyone looked at the front windshield to be sure that the back seat didn’t look suspicious.
Satisfied, Mark nodded to Josh, who got into the car and pulled out of the garage. After telling Clark I would meet them out front, I ducked into my house, grabbing my bag, checking to be sure that I had the container with my tracers before running to the front of the house, briefly leaning down to stroke Dex as I made my way to the front door and out into the December cold.
I hurried to the idling car, where Mark was waiting to close the door for me. We smiled at one another as I got in the back seat with Clark.
“So, is Mykail alright?” Clark tried to ask light-heartedly.
“Uh…” I watched Mark walk around the car to the driver’s seat. “Sort of…I’ll tell you later.”
Clark looked confused, and his look of confusion turned to one of concern when he saw that I was not telling him because Mark was within earshot. I smiled, trying to assure him that everything was alright. I did not want Mark to know that Mykail was agitated about not being trusted. I did not want Mark to feel any pressure about accepting Mykail and, if I was honest with myself, I was a little disturbed by Mykail’s behavior. Mark’s previous warning for me to be careful and his reluctance to bring Mykail to the fort made me wonder if Mark was paranoid, or if there was something to be legitimately concerned about.
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