Dale
The handle of the lift pokes into my back as I lean against it, waiting for Evita. She promised she would meet me here to plan an escape. My pulse jumps, thumping against my chest like a child beating the ground with a stick. What if she doesn't show? It seemed like she'd forgiven me, but I never can tell with her.
The door swings open and I stand up straight. When she walks inside the late afternoon sun bounces off her hair and she ducks her head, raising her good hand to shield her eyes.
I move forward to greet her, the corners of my mouth tugging upwards, when Nadya walks in behind her. I freeze. "What are you doing here?"
She ignores me and walks to the center of the room, then leans her head back so that she's staring up at the skylight. I've brought Nadya in here a few times, but the view never fails to captivate her.
Evita shakes her head, and crinkles form at the corners of her eyes when she smiles. I get a sudden urge to smooth them away with my thumb. I press my hands to my thighs instead.
"She wants to help." Evita takes Nadya's hand and pulls her gently over to where I'm standing. She sits down, guiding Nadya down with her, and looks at me. I study the two of them. Nadya, now laying on the floor and gazing at the ceiling, and Evita, watching me, eyes sharp, waiting for my reaction.
"Are you sure she can handle it?" I ask.
Evita smiles. "She's stronger than you think."
I nod. "Okay. I trust you."
Surprise flits across her face, but she quickly hides it. I feel a glimmer of triumph at getting her to drop her veil, even if only for a second. I join them, sitting on the floor next to Nadya.
As watch Evita, waiting, the seconds stretch and she shifts uncomfortably. "What?" she asks.
"Well, we're here to plan, right? So what's your plan?"
She frowns. "If I already had a plan, I wouldn't need your help."
I laugh. "Well, we're going to need to get past the door alarms."
Evita nods. "When I left a few weeks ago I took Brandt's badge. Couldn't we do that?"
I shake my head. "It would take too long to get everyone out that way."
Evita's eyes lose focus, like she's deep in thought. I study the lines of her face, her lips pursed in concentration, and my breath quickens. Beside her, Nadya gazes at the floor, tracing shapes on the cool tile with her finger. "Remember when the lights went out, and the alarms went off for a few seconds?"
I nod. I'll never forget the despair that gripped me when those lights turned back on.
"Well," she continues, "what if there's a place where the alarms can be turned off? Like a control panel?"
I shake my head. "I've been through every inch of the facility. There's no room like that."
"You've been through every inch of the facility that test subjects can access," she says. "What about the rest of it?"
I groan. "If it exists, we'll never find it."
Nadya looks up from tracing shapes and turns toward Evita. "Was there a room on that map?"
Evita's eyes snap toward Nadya and she gapes. "I thought you were asleep."
"What map?" I ask.
"Uh," Evita stammers, tearing her gaze away from Nadya, who's back to her shapes. "A couple of days ago I was in the library shelving books when I dropped one. A hand drawn map of Elysia fell out of it."
Blood rushes to my brain. "Where is it? Can you show-"
Evita shakes her head. "I don't have it anymore. Sheer took it and ripped it to pieces."
The disappointment washes over me and my shoulders slump.
"I did see something before she took it though," Evita says. "A room off of Sheer's office." She hesitates. "I know this is going to sound crazy but it was labeled...it was labeled 'Guns'."
Leah's words come back to me. "You're not crazy. Brandt told Leah there was an armory somewhere in Elysia. That must be it. That's where Trenton got all those guns he had in his bag."
I think back to the news report of the shooting, and I remember they reported that Evita had snuck into his bag to take the gun that killed him. At the time, hearing that filled me with rage, but now it strikes me how scary that must have been.
"That was really brave of you, by the way."
Evita frowns and tilts her head. "What?"
"Taking the gun from his bag. He could have shot you." I know Trenton would never have hurt anyone, but Evita didn't know that, back then.
"Oh." Her cheeks color. "Yeah, thanks."
My mind jumps back to the possibility of a control room. "On that map, how big was the room?"
Evita shrugs. "Pretty big. Bigger than Sheer's office."
"Big enough to house a control panel as well as an armory?" I ask.
Evita's eyes round and her mouth forms an 'o'.
Hope flares in my chest again. "I'd bet anything that if there's a way to turn off the alarms, it's in that room." A thought hits me then. "You said it was a hand drawn map? A test subject probably made it. What if they were wrong? We need to get into her office somehow and find out."
Evita bites her lip. "No we don't." At my questioning look she says, "I've already been in her office, and there's definitely a door there."
My eyes widen. "Why were you in her office?"
Evita runs her hand through her hair before answering. The motion sends a wave of the scent of her shampoo toward me and I clear my throat.
She says, "Because of the map. She wanted to know where I got it."
I raise my eyebrows. This isn't a school, and people here don't get sent to the principal's office for a talking to. Test subjects who cause too much trouble tend to mysteriously disappear the next day instead. Why is Evita getting special treatment?
She speaks again, pulling me out of my thoughts. "If that's the room, then that takes care of the alarms, right? One of us just has to sneak in and turn them off."
I shake my head. "I doubt it will be that easy. Plus, there's still the guards to think about. Yes, we'll get out of Elysia faster, but not before the guards can tase us." I sigh. "It's still too unsafe."
Evita harrumphs. "Staying here is just as unsafe. Who knows how long it will be until we wake up to find sixty more people murdered."
"I won't do this until I'm sure it's less risky than staying put. Right now, staying put is a better bet."
She folds her arms across her chest. "What do you suggest then?"
I wrack my brain, but nothing comes to mind. There's too many guards to take them all out. "I guess we need a distraction to keep the guards busy. What distraction, I don't know."
Evita clears her throat. "Leah might have a few ideas about that."
I laugh. "Leah won't help. She'll probably think I'm an idiot for even considering it."
Evita rolls her eyes. "Trust me, I know. But Leah's friendly with the guards. Plus, we'll need the other test subjects to go along with whatever plan we come up with. She can convince them to do anything."
I purse my lips but don't answer.
"It might be worth you talking to her." Evita stands up, adjusting the strap of her sling, and shrugs. "Or don't. But you said it yourself, our current plan results in most of the test subjects getting as far as they can run before a taser probe burrows in their back." She leaves the room, the smell of her shampoo trailing in her wake.
Asking Leah to help will only piss her off, but what else can I do? I turn to Nadya. "What do you think?"
She looks up from the floor, where she's outlining a star, her finger making the zig zag motion again and again. "Hmm?"
I shake my head. She's lucky to be alive. How long can I continue to keep her safe here? How long until they realize their mistake?
***
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