Page 65 of Violet Spark
I gripped the cold can in my right hand. I’d already lost so much to the little monsters.
Alling changed his gloves before stuffing my left hand into a device like an oversized version of a fingertip pulse oximeter. The box hummed and numbers flickered across the screen. He made some excited noises that seemed way insensitive, considering I was here under duress.
My lack of response must’ve gotten to him because his smile faded, and he was so close that I was mesmerized by the flicker of violet in his eyes. “Not everyone gets the same chances with their future, Mo. I’m sure you know that better than some.”
Why? Just because I was a woman? Working a crappy job for shit pay? Trying to help a family member with a chronic health issue and disability in a system designed to make that nearly impossible?
Okay, yeah, he had a point. And it was sharper than the needle.
“Your bot bugs will change all that?”
He stuck me again, in the other arm this time. “Not everything,” he admitted, slowly forcing some other fluid into me. “And not for everyone. Even trillions of programmable, self-replicating nanobots can’t fix everything.”
For just a moment, I almost admired him for telling the truth.
Something cold as ice spread through my veins. It made my vision swimmy.
I jumped off the table. Or meant to. Mostly I just crashed to the floor. My arms were too floppy to break the fall, so my cheek smacked hard on the tile.
Fucker drugged me. At least Dane had the courtesy to catch me.
“Get her up back on the table,” Alling told Jen 2.0. “We don’t have much time.”
The goon wrestled me back on to the crinkling paper, this time with me lying down. At the end of my numb left arm, my X-marked hand spasmed, but I couldn’t lift it, could barely muster the strength to turn my head.
“It’ll be over soon,” Alling said as he brushed the hair back from my forehead. And then the restraints came down.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
IWOKEwith an all-body spasm that threatened to tear the muscles right off my bones. Naturally, I screamed.
A touch on my forehead—not the straps, but warm and soft—held me down. “Shh… Honey, I’m here. I’m right here.”
“Mom?” I croaked. My throat was raw, inside and out. That fucker had strapped me down while he…
My mind blanked again. Someone was screaming. Probably me again.
Not for long though, it seemed. Mom’s hand was still gentle on my hair when I roused. For a moment, the touch made me cringe. Alling had pushed my hair away…
No, he didn’t get to pervert my mother’s love.
I forced my eyes open. She was hunched on the stool beside the exam table, staying close to me. The seat had no back and she had to be in pain, not to mention terrified. She was still dressed up from her date, but a few strands of black hair had come loose from the pretty french braid and her peach lipstick was only a ghost of summers past. Oh, why did I think of ghosts…
She stared down at me. “Hun? Your eyes…”
Yikes, I didn’t want to terrify her…more.
I struggled to get upright, but the restraints held me down. I blinked several times, trying to clear the haze of violet. And it seemed like…my left hand was swathed in bandages so thick I couldn’t make a fist.
“Where is Alling?” The roughness in my voice this time wasn’t all pain.
It was fear.
She bit her lip, obviously wanting to be the one to ask the questions. “The other man, he brought me down here, wouldn’t talk to me at all. Mr. Alling said you weren’t feeling well. When I came into the room, he left and shut the door. It’s locked, and I can’t see anyone from the window.” She peered at me, her focus jumping back and forth between my eyes. “Honey, what is going on? Talk to me, Imogen. And no more lies.”
It was my turn to bite my lip, and I suddenly realized where I’d learned the gesture. Always trying to hold back, to not acknowledge the scary truth about how close we were to the edge. I’d lied to protect her—and maybe myself. And where had it gotten us? Here, together.
I clung to her hand. “I’m so sorry, Mom. I messed up. In a big way.”
