The Deathless Trilogy

1.10. Comebacks (Part 2)

                  

In the corner of the room, Phoebe and Winston sit closely on the leather couch, his hand on her knee, which he quickly removes upon seeing me in the doorway. "I'm sorry, I should have knocked," I say, unsure of where to look.

They both spring from the couch, and Winston approaches me, leaving Phoebe in the corner to monitor me from afar. Her long, blonde hair drapes over the front of her form-fitted black suit, and even in the dim light I can see she's wearing makeup around her eyes, which make them look even more radiantly blue than usual.

"Where is Alexander?" I ask.

"He's playing Captain now," Winston replies. "He mans a lot of the controls during dinner time. As you could probably tell, he's not much for socializing, which is usually what happens during dinner." He stops in front of me, suddenly distracted from whatever thought propelled him here in the first place. "Is everything okay?" he asks. "What's going on?"

I take a deep breath, but it doesn't help. I start to cry. "I went off on Nathan."

"What do you mean?"

"I yelled at him. He made fun of Declan—Dr. Kunkle—and my mom, and he was annoying me all day. So I yelled at him."

Winston smiles. "What did you say?"

"I told him he was arrogant and stupid. I told him that I was better than him... and then I gave him proof by outsmarting him in front of the whole cafeteria. Oh, and I called him an ape."

Winston throws his head back in laughter and takes a seat at one of the chairs around the table. Phoebe approaches us smiling, though I think it's more at Winston's reaction than my story. "Good for you," Winston says, catching his breath. "Unfortunately, you are scheduled to begin your combat training tomorrow, and guess who is set to train you."

"Oh, please no," I beg.

Winston laughs. "I'm sorry. Our soldiers are at the refugee camp, and Nathan came to us with skills in combat. He's the best we have on the Immortal."

"You're sure there's no one else? No other soldiers? You have to have someone else here. It can't just be Nathan."

Winston shrugs again. "No need for soldiers when you have a fortified tank and as many weapons as we do."

I swallow hard. "He's going to beat me up."

"Don't worry about Nathan," Phoebe says, finally approaching me with unexpected kindness. "I will monitor your training session to make sure he behaves."

I want to tell her that's not exactly comforting, but I keep that thought to myself.

"Besides," Phoebe continues, "you just leveled the playing field. Scientists can be very proud people. We create life where there shouldn't be, we make monsters out of metal, we manipulate space and time. We need to be reminded that we aren't Gods every now and then," Phoebe assures me, placing her hand on my shoulder the way Eleanor used to when I'd get in trouble with my parents.

Finally, this is the woman who pulled me from the Prowler. Maybe she just needed some time to warm up to me, I think; but then she leans toward me and I smell something on her breath. When I see the bottle on the table my suspicion is confirmed: wine. That explains her sudden kindness.

"Feel better?" she asks.

"Yeah, kind of," I say, though I don't tell her it's because I'm relieved to finally catch her with her guard down. "But now I feel like I've completely made a fool of myself."

She swaps away my comment. "Dr. Patel's inflated that kid's ego to the point where he needed to be knocked down a few pegs. Just go in tomorrow confident and strong, and don't show him any weakness. Stay focused on your studies, not on silly boys." She takes my arm and guides me to one of the burgundy arm chairs in the corner. "Now to the reason you're here. Isla, we need to ask you about the soldiers you saw outside your home," she says, and we sit in separate chairs. Winston joins us with a short crystal glass of honey liquid, like Alexander had the night before.