“Stop it!” I scream. “Make it stop! Don’t you touch her, don’t you ever touch her!”
Doctor Wane holds up a hand. “She’s had enough for now,” she says.
Peri’s screams disappear.
I’m sweating, tears streaming down my cheeks. My whole body trembles.
“This Regulator is connected to an identical one, across the country, that is installed in your sister’s body,” Doctor Wane says. “Brings you closer together in a way, yes?”
“You’re a monster,” I whisper. “I won’t let you get away with this.” I look up at Doctor Wane. There is murder in my eyes, bloodlust seeping from my soul.
“We’ve already done it, Meadow,” she says, smiling. She reaches out to stroke my hair, her hands lingering on the Regulator. “We’ve broken you,” she whispers. “Now, you will do anything that we ask.”
CHAPTER 15
ZEPHYR
The Night Siren goes off. Rhone and Dex go out to search for Lark.
They leave me behind, because of my last episode. Instead, they tie me up in chains across from Sparrow.
We’re prisoners together. The Patient and the Creator’s sister.
I fall asleep, and in my dreams, I visit Talan.
It’s early morning.
Talan is sitting on the shore beside me, dark hair waving in the wind. Her daughter Arden runs in circles behind her, chasing a tiny crab as it paces sideways, claws raised to attack.
“I like the sunrise,” I say. “It feels like a fresh start.”
“You’re such a girl.” Talan laughs and sticks her tongue out at me.
“Real mature,” I say. “I’m being serious.”
“That’s your problem.” She leans back onto her elbows. “You’re always too serious. Life isn’t about that.”
A wave rushes up and tickles my toes. “Yeah? What’s it about, then?”
“Sex,” Talan says, and when I laugh, she waves me off. “Smiling, and laughing, and stealing from people. Putting the first bite of food in your mouth after a hard day of Collection Duty. Curling up next to your daughter at night.”
“Those are your favorite things,” I say. “Not mine.”
Talan nudges me. “It’s all the stuff that makes me feel alive, Zeph.” She lets a handful of sand run through her fingers. “Tell me about yours.”
“I don’t feel alive,” I say.
“But you are,” Talan growls.
“Fine.” I watch the waves. I hate the ocean. But I like the world above it. “The sun. The moon. The stars. Things that are far away from here.”
“There’s one other thing,” Talan says, “that makes me feel alive.”
“Arden?” I ask. “Does Arden make you feel alive?”
We both turn to look at her daughter. She’s splashing in the waves, giggling her head off.
“Yeah.” Talan nods.
But just as a wave crashes, I see her eyes turn toward me. They look different than normal. They look soft. And I swear I hear her say, “And you.”
CHAPTER 16
MEADOW
I have been a prisoner for days.
And now, suddenly, I am free.
I am sitting in a plush red chair inside of a circular room that is adorned in gold. It does not belong in the Shallows. It belongs in a storybook, far away from here.
Somewhere beautiful and new, without death and lies.
I look down at my wrists. There are no MagnaCuffs, no guards standing behind my back, tranquilizer rifles aimed at me, ready to take me out the second I make a wrong move.
Instead, there is a Regulator in my skull and my spine. The threat of my sister’s torture hangs over me, heavy as a storm cloud.
This is the Commander’s office. The man who runs the Initiative.
His portrait is across the room, hanging on the wall. Staring down at me, exactly like the one that I saw of my mother just a few short weeks ago. The Commander has jet-black hair oiled to his head. Strong bones, an angular face that is just as sharp and untouchable as I imagine his heart must be.
“I hate you,” I whisper to the portrait.
The door behind me slides open, and he walks in.
“Miss Woodson.” His voice is just as oily as his hair. I do not give him the satisfaction of turning around. I hear his boots clack-clack on the hard floor, and it takes me back to the day I found myself in the secret Initiative building in the Everglades.
The day I discovered the Murder Complex.
The day I discovered who my mother really was.
The Commander moves past my chair, takes a seat across from me on a pristine white couch. He takes a moment to sit and stare. I feel like his eyes can see through me, see everything I want to hide but no longer can.
Because he holds the key to controlling me now.
Peri.
“How are you feeling?” he asks. He laces his hands together and settles them into his lap. He could be an uncle, asking me about my day.
I want to peel the skin from his face.
“It’s quite rude to ignore your elder, Miss Woodson,” the Commander says. “I’m afraid we’ll have to work on your manners.”
He taps a silver bracelet on his wrist.
The pain comes like lightning in my veins.
No! Please, no! NO! It’s Peri’s voice again, inside of my head. I imagine her face, her wide gray eyes turned red from tears. From terror and torture and everything she never deserved.
Daddy! Daddy!
“Peri!” I scream, but I know she can’t hear me. I slam my hands against my ears, curl into myself. “Make it stop! Make it STOP!”
“Fascinating,” the Commander says. “All right, that’s enough for now.”
Meadow! I hear her scream my name just as her voice cuts off.
The pain fades. But the anger only gets hotter and hotter.
I am left gasping for air. Holding my arms against my chest like it can keep my heart whole, when in reality, it is crumbling to pieces inside of me.
My sister.
My sister.
“How does it feel?” the Commander asks. He kneels right in front of me, and I want to hurt him so badly. I want to destroy him, see him hung from his ankles, see him turn to ashes in the middle of an inferno.
But all I can do is sit silent and still.
If I move, if I do anything at all, Peri will be punished.