Waters of Lethe, Book 2

46. Proselytize

I could feel that the air was heavier as soon as I stepped into the hallway.

People were milling about here and there with solemn expressions on their faces. Arsen and Ben were in the kitchen when I walked in. Arsen looked mad, as if he would set something on fire at any given moment. Part of me wished he would. Ben just looked down in the dumps.

I went to the living room, where Addie was flipping through channels on the TV somewhat absentmindedly. She regarded me with flat eyes. I realized I hadn't seen her much since group training, where we were forced to fight each other in the name of gaining more skills. I remembered that Addie was like Ming. Both were lighthearted and liked to make jokes. Now, though, Addie looked like she wasn't in the mood for joking.

"Where is everyone?" I asked. If a few of them weren't in training, that meant the rest of them weren't in training. And something was up.

Addie looked at me again and sighed in defeat, though I didn't exactly know why she looked threatened. Maybe she was one of the people who had some memories come back to her. I didn't want to know what she remembered. "Uh..." she looked around and her eyes landed on the balcony doors. "Ming and Alex might be out there. The rest are in their rooms—"

I didn't care about the rest after she'd told me of Alex's whereabouts. He was the one I needed. "Thank you!" I called behind me as I turned from her and went to the doors.

I reached for the door handle, but Ming burst through before I could put a hand on the knob.

When he saw me, he scowled. "This is your fault," he angrily whispered. "If you didn't... If you..." I shrunk back, making him shake his head. Then he stalked past me and into the hallway, probably going for his room.

I slipped through the door to join Alex, who looked displeased with Ming. "Sorry about that," he said. "It's not your fault. It's probably a coincidence that..." he trailed off. 

I joined him at the railing but kept my distance. He looked on edge. If Ming, who usually liked me, was upset with me, there was no telling if Alex had turned against me too. The last thing I wanted was to be hurled over the edge of the balcony. "What's a coincidence?"

"You showed up and a month later we're remembering things."

"Is that my fault?" I asked in defense. "I'm sorry that you all remember the terrible things done to you to get you here. I'm sorry that you guys want to stay in the dark about it and—"

Alex stopped me by holding a hand up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not complaining, and that small fact is so irrelevant right now. Who cares that you show up around the time we start remembering things?"

"So why does Ming have a stick up his ass?" I asked.

He smiled. "It's just odd."

"Odder than everything else that's currently happening," I sighed. "Thanks, Ming."

Alex changed the subject. "They want to start brain wave monitoring this afternoon."

My eyes felt as if they'd pop out of my head. "What? How do you know?"

"Scott told me. I'm his right hand man, remember?"

I looked out over the city, how it was illuminated by the midday sun. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Alex chuckled. "Ladies aren't supposed to eavesdrop."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Yet I did," I said absentmindedly while a hundred other thoughts threatened to send my brain into a meltdown. "You're positive?"

Alex nodded. "They want to start with the oldest."

My heart beat its way into my throat. "Which would be...?"

"Deebo. Ming. Enzo. Me. You. Think about it. We're the immediate threats."

I pursed my lips, ran my hands over my face. Think. Think. What do we do? The more I thought of the different ways to escape, the closer my sanity was pushed to the ledge. I had to flat out ask him, "What do we do?"

He noted the fright in my voice, though small, and offered up a grin. "I don't know. There's no way to get out of here without weapons. No way to—"

I turned from him and walked back to the doors, sick of his excuses. Annoyed at the fact that he had no hope, that he was about to sit back in that chair when Scott called for him and willingly have his mind wiped clean again.

There was a way out, even if he didn't believe it. And he didn't believe it, though I'd told him about the phone, about the people who waited back in Maine who really, really cared for our well being.

One way or another, he was about to believe it. 

I walked briskly into mine and Enzo's room to retrieve the phone from under my bed, ignoring Enzo's questions.

My final hours in Toronto had began.