Escaping Elysia

Chapter 14 - Not That Easy

He deactivates the alarm and pulls me through the doors, then drags me to Sheer's office and shoves me inside. Sheer and Dr. Ellis talk in low voices, their heads bent close together. Dr. Ellis looks up at our entrance and hands something to Sheer. He whispers to her and she nods, then he leaves. He doesn't look at me as he passes.

Sheer smiles and gestures to a chair. "354. Please, sit." Brandt grabs my arm again but I yank it out of his grip as Sheer raises her hand. "Malcolm, there's no need for that. The girl can sit just fine without help. Why don't you wait in the hallway." It doesn't sound like a question.

He crosses his arms. "She tried to escape, Evelyn."

"I'm aware of that. I'll take care of it." Her tone doesn't leave room for argument. As he strides to the door she calls after him, "And clean yourself up."

Brandt leaves the room, slamming the door behind him. The skin on my arm crawls where he touched me.

Sheer takes a seat behind her desk. I pull out the chair she gestured to, my hands shaking slightly, and take a seat. This feels eerily like the last time I was in her office, in downtown Sanzha. Except plants and sunlight surrounded me there. Here, the interior is dark and drab. The only furniture in the room is the desk, the surface of which is bare except for a tablet, and some chairs. A door, behind Sheer's desk, is closed.

I do notice one similarity to Sheer's other office. There are still no pictures of a husband, or children. Not even a cat.

Sheer folds her hands on top of her desk, and the longer she sits, studying me, the more dread wells up in my chest. I imagine Brandt throwing me into a cold, locked room, alone. Then I think back to what the woman in the meeting said. Do what needs to be done. Perhaps I won't make it through the night. I should have left when I had the chance.

Sheer clears her throat and I snap my head up. "Evita, Evita, Evita," she murmurs. "Who knew you would be so much trouble? I had hoped you would be content to do what you were told." She sighs. "I even made sure they placed you in the blue trial."

I frown. Was that supposed to be a good thing? I think back to the procedure yesterday and shudder. Still, it could be worse. I'm sure Nadya would give anything to switch to blue.

Sheer waits, as if she's expecting me to thank her. I continue to stare, and attempt to keep my face expressionless. I don't want to let her see how terrified I am.

"What were you thinking? You must have known it's not that easy to leave Elysia." She shakes her head and despite the fear coursing through my veins I blush. "I know you were listening at the door there. I saw you peek in."

My cheeks burn hotter. And I thought I'd been so subtle. I can't believe my stupidity. I want to melt into this chair and disappear.

Sheer continues, "You must have heard the predicament we're in."

I hope she doesn't expect me to feel bad. "Yeah, I'm so sorry your experiments aren't working. Guess you'll have to stop sticking us all with needles," I say.

She frowns. "You should be sorry. It affects you too." She pulls a small bottle out of the pocket of her lab coat and sets it on the desk between us. Large, green capsules fill the bottle. Sheer watches me, as if expecting me to ask what the pills are for. When I don't, she tells me anyway.

"This is a new formula." She opens the bottle and takes out a capsule, turning it over and over in her fingers. She holds it up to the ceiling and the green looks brighter as light shines through it. "Dr. Ellis and I are sure this one will work, but the board won't let us test it. They think the entire experiment is a failure."

"So?" I ask. What does this have to do with me trying to escape?

"So," she says, dropping the pill back into the bottle and replacing the cap. "You're going to give them to someone. The board will never know. Then, when the formula is successful, as it will be, the experiments will continue. Only this time, we'll have the answer."

I frown, knitting my eyebrows together. She expects me to slip these to another person, without them knowing? I wonder where she got the idea that I would agree to that.

She seems to notice my hesitation. "If these pills work, things around here will go back to normal. You may just save your friends' lives." I look up at the word friends, and she laughs. "You think I haven't been watching you? I know who you've gotten close to."

That doesn't surprise me. I figured she had someone keeping an eye on me. I'm only surprised that others would consider them my friends.

Sheer leans forward, making eye contact. "If this formula is successful, I have a job waiting for you in soil fertility research."

My heart jumps. This is what I've been working towards for the past three years, and now she's dangling it in front of me like a shiny new screen. But at what cost? Dooming some innocent person to life as a science experiment?

"However if it's not successful," her eyes gleam, "I guarantee you'll never leave."

I freeze, finding it impossible to tear away from her gaze. I swallow. "Who do you want me to give them to?"

"The person you have the most access to, of course." Her mouth sets in a thin, firm smile. "Nadya."