Page 113 of Angel Lost

I swallow. “You’ve been through this? This is what my friend was sent back to?”

“Yes, I’ve been through this but—” Kai scowls. “—no one ever needs to go backward. You’re right—they’re punishing her. And…it might break her.”

I stare at the girl behind the glass. Her head lolls sideways, eyes glassy, unseeing.

Kai coughs. “That girl in there signed up for this. Your friend did too. We all did.”

“Yeah, but why? Half the kids seem blackmailed, coerced.”

Kai gives me an agitated shrug and drags me on down the corridor. The kid in the next room is draped in a generic robe and strapped to the same machines, his mouth contorted in a snarl as Kai marches me past. We pass the next, and the next. How many of them are like this? It’s…I plant my feet firmly, jerking Kai to a stop. Pressing my face against the glass, I smack my bunched fist against the window.

“I know this kid,” I hiss.

“Shh.” Kai glances nervously over his shoulder.

“Are you sure? Normally the kids in second stage haven’t started the Gifted Academy yet.”

I tilt my head, peering at the teen. “He’s one of the missing kids. He’s a Maverik.”

Beside me Kai lets out a low groan. He leans sideways, resting his head on the sickly white wall. Then, he yanks back and violently smashes his head against the plaster.

I reach out to him, but he shakes me off.

“Knew it. I knew that bitch was up to something,” he snarls. “Should have listened.”

His face is a mask. It looks like Kai but…it’s freaking me out.

He straightens, shakes his head, and says, “This way, we get in around the back. The machines are done. His session’s finished. We can get him out.”

I follow him blindly, tripping over my feet. We take a sharp right, then right again, and slip through an innocuous door. The tiny corridor beyond is so narrow that Kai’s shoulders brush the walls on either side. He counts back our steps, pausing at a small hatch. Flicking it open, I peek inside. Yep. Same kid.

With a grimace, Kai places his hands on either side of the control panel and blasts the thing. With a metallic groan it splits in half, and the doors open a half inch.

“Very subtle.”

He growls. “You got a better idea?”

Together we haul the doors farther open, the mechanics completely fried. As soon as it’s wide enough, I slip into the room and quickly set about turning off all the machines I can find. Kai works his knife into each strap holding the kid down, sawing away at the connections until they give. The boy sits, expressionless, staring into space. I gently peel the electrodes from his head, wiping the sticky gel away with my sleeve. He blinks.

“Hey, it’s Lorelei. You remember me?” I say quietly, keeping my tone reassuring as we work to free him. “I’m Chano’s Aeternum? Chano Maverik.”

At the Maverik name his body jerks. We ease him out the chair. He seems stiff, sore, and there’s a whiff of urine. How long has he been here? He doesn’t even try to talk, and his expression doesn’t change. He follows instructions slowly, cautiously. But there’s nothing behind his eyes. With a robotic kind of shuffle, he follows Kai out of the room, and I take up the rear, knife out, senses on high alert.

“Kai?”

He grunts as we slip into the main corridor once more.

“Kai, what now?”

“The only portal open is my stepmom’s office. And we need to find someone to wipe the cameras.”

“Can’t you create a static illusion that he’s still in there? They clearly haven’t checked on him in a while.” He halts. “You cast the illusion, and I’ll manipulate the ley lines. Make it so unless people are really determined they won’t actually go in to check on him. They’ll see your illusion through the glass and be put off from going around the back by my magic. Would that work?”

Kai whirls. “Lorelei, you genius!” He grins, and a warmth settles in my chest.

It doesn’t take long for either of us to set up the magic. It takes significantly longer to drag the kid away from the window. He stands, forehead to the glass, hands flat to the pane, staring at the illusion of himself. Eventually we half drag, half carry him away.

“Quickest way out is straight ahead—next stairs, opposite exit,” Kai barks, peering at the map, suddenly all efficiency. “Less time in here, the better.”

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