Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls - Jane Lindskold [76]
My words are a challenge and I know that Jersey hears it, but I let it sink without pursuit. This complex is a sealed world, just like the first place, and neither Abalone nor anyone else will be able to see in unless someone opens a window. I’ve let Jersey know that someone might hear if he called—what he will do is up to him.
Finally, we climb down and relay the information about the cards. Then we are drawn back. When I come to myself in Jersey’s annex, I realize that I am still quite weak from the accident. Still, I have enough energy left to be touched that Margarita has somehow managed to trade duty shifts and is there to take me back to my cell.
Warning me to leave the lights off when I undress, she locks the door behind me.
Although I am bleary-eyed with exhaustion as I stumble into the cell, I do notice the small hexagonal aquarium on the table. A lovely silvery fish with a luxurious fantail is swimming lazily above gently shifting sapphire glass pebbles. She darts shyly into a green crystal castle when I put Betwixt and Between on the table, but peers coquettishly out almost before the trail of bubbles from her retreat has dispersed.
Betwixt gives a low wolf whistle and Between growls appreciatively. Chuckling sleepily, I settle the disgruntled owl on the headboard and go to sleep.
Morning comes and the chunky, brown-haired woman I remember from the day my head was shaved buzzes my door to wake me up.
“Hey. I’m Holly. Margarita asked me to guard in here so we can do without taping your shower.”
She looks vaguely embarrassed.
I smile and go off cheerfully. Holly doesn’t get chatty, but I am still touched that Margarita was able to get her help—probably at some cost. Dylan must have made friends at the Institute, too. I wonder where they are.
Comp-C is empty when I arrive, but both Dr. Haas and Dr. Aldrich come in almost immediately. They are tight-lipped and dismiss Holly without a word.
Voluntarily, I take my place on the fluid plastic chair, even bending to assist Dr. Aldrich with the hookup. Conversation has become a pleasure that I anticipate and realize that I would miss if I left this place.
In my peripheral vision, I see motion from by Jersey’s chair. Something troubles me, though, and I have just realized what it is when Dr. Aldrich stands back, giving me a clear line of sight.
Jersey is nowhere to be seen; Dr. Haas is linking herself into the computer interchange in his place. I want to ask, but can only gape. Dr. Haas appears to understand.
“Wondering where Jersey is?” she says with a sweet smile. “He won’t be joining us—he was caught breaking one of the rules and isn’t allowed out of his room.”
Dr. Aldrich dismisses Jersey with a grunt. “No matter, we understand how this works. He isn’t necessary.”
The beaker is extended to me and I know that I do not dare to refuse to drink.
The mist curtain that envelopes me is a musky blue—layers of twilight sky that reach out and wrap me. I struggle through this, flailing my arms as if I am swimming. After floundering aimlessly, I let myself start to sink—although I am uncertain which way is up or down; nothing exists to give me a reference.
Then I see something white, framed in red. Eagerly, I direct myself toward it. Somehow I feel as if I am gaining velocity—a sensation like sliding down an icy sidewalk. The white resolves itself into separate blocks that at first I think are marble or ice. Then I realize that they are teeth and that the red that frames them is lips.
Too late to retreat or find a way to slow myself, I tumble out of the navy darkness into a golden void almost completely filled by the gigantic face of Dr. Haas.
She is already smiling, but the smile broadens when she sees me, slowly spinning as if weightless in the air before her.
“Hello, Sarah.”
I stretch out my arms and legs in a vain attempt to orient myself in an up and down now defined by Dr. Haas’s face. Glancing down, I see that she extends,