“I don’t,” he said, finally looking at me. “Though I’m glad to be doing this with you.”

  A shiver climbed my spine. His eyes bored into mine. “Why?”

  “So I can be with you if and when something happens.”

  I tried to ignore the ripples that raced through me with his words. I had no idea what he was talking about, but a part of me held onto the fact that he wanted to be near me. “Nothing is going to happen.”

  “Maybe not today, but someday. And I want to anticipate it.”

  I wasn’t sure how much more I could say to him. He was going to either get in trouble or kicked out for investigating this place. Selfishly, I didn’t want either to happen to him. I wanted to learn our profession together, and if I had my wish, I wanted us to be together. The second wasn’t possible, especially with Ashley around, but at the very least I wanted Ian as my friend to experience this with me.

  “If it makes you feel better, I’ll do my job until I find something,” Ian said as if he were reading my thoughts.

  I’d rather him just do his job, but I would take anything at that point. “Deal.”

  I opened my hand to him, and he took it, and we shook once. I went to put down my hand, but he still held on. His eyes pierced through me as if there was something on the tip of his tongue that he wanted to share.

  Before I could ask him, he let go of my hand and ran his other hand through his hair. “Where is Lucy, huh?”

  He went over to the door and sat down on a chair.

  I flexed my hand, still warm from his touch.

  When Lucy came to pick us up, Ian was in a better mood. As if leaving his chosen professional workstation was a relief. I hoped that would flip the more we spent up there. Unlike him, I would rather be there more than in the residence hall. At least people up there were kind and wanted to get to know me.

  The others were in the cafeteria when we arrived. Ian and I quickly got our tray of food and sat with the others.

  “Ian!” Ashley cooed. “Sit next to me. I want to hear all about your day.”

  Ian obliged her, and my chest tightened. Maybe I’d imagined the moment we had in the room upstairs. Ashley was much prettier than me, and she was outgoing. Even though she was rude to me, everyone seemed to like her. Unless they were afraid of her.

  I sat in the empty seat next to Karen. She smiled at me.

  Well, that’s progress.

  “Ian, tell me about your day,” Ashley said loud enough for the whole table to be involved.

  “We didn’t do much other than the tour of the Healing floor and the departments within. It was pretty cool.” I knew he was acting interested for my sake, but maybe he’d eventually convince himself that this place didn’t have a secret agenda for anyone.

  “Ian, do you have background with Healing?” Marcus asked.

  “A little,” he said, biting into his burger. “I spent a lot of time on Abbey’s farm as a child. Her father taught me a lot about first aid.” He glanced over at me and smiled. “And assisting with the animals helped, I guess.”

  “It seems like a gross job,” Ashley said with a pointed glare at me, then reached across the table to touch Ian’s hand. “But I wouldn’t mind waking up from a coma looking up at you.”

  I rolled my eyes. She was laying it on thick. Ian didn’t seem to be bothered by her. So he was either interested and blinded by her beauty, or he was being nice.

  Everyone continued to eat and talk about their days. When I glanced at the end of the table at Ashley and Ian, Ashley had her arm propped up on the table, and she was rubbing her wrist. It was an odd movement. She smiled at me with all her teeth, looking more like a snarl than a peaceful expression. It took me a minute to figure out what she was doing. She was taunting me about the charm. My body heated and I now knew for a fact that she’d stolen my grandmother’s charm.

  CHAPTER SIX

  For four days I tried to figure out a way to get Ashley to admit she stole my bracelet. She was on laundry duty and had admitted to bringing our belongings to the rooms. When I asked Ian if his bow and arrows were missing, he said no. Of course, she'd give those back to him. She was in love with him.

  The only time we were in groups together was during morning physical training and meal times. I spoke with everyone about my missing charm, and they all said they’d keep an eye out for it. I even gave Ashley the opportunity to admit it when I asked her flat out. But she just shrugged and was convinced that it must have fallen somewhere. Since the bracelet was intact I knew someone—her—untied the rope and took the charm before securing it again.

  Since I asked her, I noticed her smirking whenever I was around. It only took a short amount of time for me to grow impatient with her attitude.

  It all came to a head that morning in the cafeteria.

  She'd sat on the other side of Ian and was prattling on about some event at their school before we came to Edgewood.

  “Wasn't it so much fun to be honored like that?” she said with a big grin on her face.

  Ian polished off his cereal. “It was okay.”

  “That had an assembly for you?” Amy asked.

  Ashley nodded and preened at her friend.

  “All our school did was make an announcement at the end of the day,” Amy said.

  “What about your school Abigail?” Amy asked.

  “Oh I'm homeschooled,” I said.

  “How tragic is that? You missed out on so much by staying home with your cows,” Ashley said.

  The others looked at me, waiting for me to respond. I had many things I wanted to say to her but I wanted her to admit what she did to me above all else. “At least I know better than to steal.”

  Ashley’s mouth popped open in mock-surprise. “That’s rude. I have no idea what you're talking about.”

  “I know you stole my charm. For some sick joke, well it's not funny.”

  Ashley blinked innocently. “Why would I want your silly old charm?”

  “How do you know it's old?”

  Everyone turned to Ashley. She looked uncomfortable for the first time since I met her. “I saw it that first day. Lucy told you to put it in your locker, remember?”

  “And you were supposed to bring all belongings back to our rooms,” I responded.

  “Maybe it fell out on the way to the room. I don't know. I'm sure it will turn up someday.”

  “If I find out you stole it then I'm going to inform Lucy. Maybe a few more months of laundry duty would help you remember.”

  Ashley's lower lip trembled ever so slightly. I doubted anyone else noticed. “If you lie to Lucy, I will make up something about you too. I’ve come up against brats like you in school, and I know how to handle it.”

  “The only one here being a brat is you,” I said. My hands started to shake; I was so angry with her. “Everyone can see it; they’re just too scared to admit it. You may be chosen for a great career, but you’re not going to have any friends if you keep making everyone feel bad.”

  She scoffed then opened her mouth to speak but was cut off when a loud crash filled the room. We all looked around, and then the lights went out.

  Two strong hands grabbed my arm. “Don't move,” Ian said, and I nodded even though I knew he couldn't see me. Since there were no windows the room was shrouded in darkness. I couldn't even see my hands in front of my face.

  Ashley’s high-pitched screaming filled the air. “What’s going on?” she cried.

  “Ashley?” Amy called, and I heard some shuffling.

  “Ow!” Melanie said.

  Then the table moved away from me. I reached forward and tried to grab onto it. The darkness was disorienting.

  The lights came on as quickly as they had shut off. I blinked a few times at the harsh light.

  We all stared at each other.

  Ashley and Amy were huddled under the table. It was askew. One of them must have moved it when they hid underneath. And Marcus and Melanie stood on opposite ends of the room. I had remaine
d in my chair as Ian asked me to and he stood by the door, his hand on the light switch.

  “Is everyone okay?” Marcus asked.

  Ashley stood from her hiding spot. “No, I’m not okay. This place is supposed to be top of the line technology. And here we have a power outage, and no one comes to find us?”

  “Maybe there is a storm outside,” I said. We hadn’t seen the outside for days. There could be a tornado for all we know.

  I stood up and moved the table to where it had been. “And I’m sure the s will be here soon. If there was an emergency, I’m sure they are dealing with it.”

  “Where’s Karen?” Melanie asked.

  We all looked around. Several people called her name, but even after looking under all the tables, we realized she was missing.

  “Maybe she got freaked out by you yelling at me,” Ashley commented.

  I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t yelling at her. Besides, why did the lights turn off? She was sitting right there.”

  “I don't know. You were yelling and loud, and maybe it was too much for her,” she trailed off.

  The others weren’t convinced either.

  “I’m sure it was because of the lights,” Melanie said. “She seems to be afraid of everything.”

  Ashley’s flimsy excuse for Karen going missing was quickly forgotten.

  I met Ian’s eyes, and they were filled with something. Worry. His words from the other day filled my gut and weighed it down. Was Ian right about something going on here? I shoved the thought away, not wanting his conspiracy theories to change my view of Edgewood.

  “We should find Lucy and Christopher,” Marcus said. “They are our point of contacts. Karen is a rule-follower, I’m sure Lucy or Christopher will know what happened to her.”

  “Maybe she went to find one of them?” Amy suggested.

  “Won’t Karen get in trouble for leaving?” Melanie asked.

  Over the past four days, we’d been shuffled around like sheep to our assigned locations. Lucy and Christopher insisted that we didn’t move from those areas unless we were escorted. So Melanie made two good points. If Karen was freaked out by the power outage, maybe she ran out of there? It wasn’t her fault she was scared. We had to try at least to find her before alerting Lucy or Christopher. If anything, we could cover for her by saying she went to look for them after the lights went out.

  “We have ten minutes until they return, how about we go look for her? Maybe she was scared when the lights went out.” I gave a pointed glare at Ashley. If Karen were to run away from anyone, it would be Ashley’s shrill voice.

  “We can cover more ground if we split up,” Ian suggested.

  “You can’t be on her side about this,” Ashley argued.

  “I think we should at least try,” Melanie said. “What else do we have to do right now?”

  Ashley groaned. “Fine.”

  “Should we split up?” Marcus asked. “Three and three, right down the middle. We can cover more ground. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  This was the most I’d heard Marcus speak the entire time we were at Edgewood. He seemed anxious to bring Karen back into our little clique. And I agreed.

  “How about us three,” Marcus said, moving his hands to encompass his side of the room. His team included Melanie and Amy. “And you three.”

  “Fine with me,” Ashley said, smirking and looking at Ian.

  As much as I didn’t want to be on her team, I was happy to be with Ian. He was smart and had a sense about these things. Maybe it was all his time pretending to hunt in the woods by our house. He never killed any critters, but he liked to target practice with moving objects. He’d narrowly miss on purpose.

  “We have eight minutes to find her. Meet back here in seven,” Ian said. None of us had tested Lucy or Christopher yet, and I doubted anyone wanted to.

  We walked to the door, and Ian was the first to it. He took a hard right, and Ashley was at his heels. I followed a few steps behind.

  Melanie and Marcus led their group down the other side of the hallway.

  I knew we weren’t going to be able to get far, but if Karen was afraid of the power outage, then she couldn’t have gone far.

  “I don’t even know why we’re doing this,” Ashley commented. “I mean, if she’s dumb enough to run away from a stupid light switch, then she should get into trouble, not us.”

  “We’re all in here together,” I said.

  “Not by choice,” Ashley snarked.

  I rolled my eyes and held my tongue. There was no use arguing with someone like Ashley. She was selfish and always had a child-like comeback. And I didn’t want to be distracted from the mission.

  We turned right down another hallway. Ian checked to make sure the coast was clear, and it was. One of the things I noticed since being at Edgewood was the lack of staff around the areas we frequented. I’d never saw anyone outside of our individualized training. I supposed the place was so technologically advanced that there were cameras everywhere if there was an issue but it was unnerving at times with all the hallways being so empty.

  I supposed living in isolation would keep us focused, but I never realized how much I craved human contact. Was this how we were expected to get closer to each other? Everything at Edgewood seemed so purposeful and well thought out; I couldn’t imagine that this wasn’t part of the experience.

  “I think we have time for one more section before we need to head back,” Ian said.

  We didn’t have nearly enough time to search as far as I wanted. I hoped the others had better luck, but I wanted to extend the search a little more. “I’m going to head down here,” I said, turning down the left side of the hallway.

  “No,” Ian said. “We need to stick together.”

  “I’m just going down here,” I said. “You can see me from where you are. These doors have windows on them, so I won’t be out of your sight.”

  Ian mashed his lips together and nodded. “You have two minutes.”

  I jogged down the hallway and looked through the first door. I cupped my hands over my eyes and peered inside. It was incredibly dark in there; I couldn’t make out any shapes.

  I checked a few more doors, and they were all the same.

  I was about to give up when a flash of light caught my eye. It came from the last door in the hallway.

  I slowly walked toward it; warning bells went off in my head. I got to the door and plastered my back against the wall and slowly looked through the window.

  My eyes fell on a familiar face. I opened my mouth to call her name but something pressed against my shoulder.

  I whipped around, expecting to come face-to-face with one of the s. Instead, Ian’s eyes bored into mine.

  “We need to go,” he said.

  “Karen is in there,” I hissed.

  Ian and Ashley came up behind me and looked over my shoulder into the room. Karen’s head was tilted to the side, and she was laying on something.

  My entire body screamed to flee the scene but there was something off, and I had to figure out what.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Ian moved forward, pushing his face close to mine to get a better look in the room. I moved out of the way and rubbed my arms against the gooseflesh that spread across my skin from his touch.

  “She’s laying down,” I murmured. “Did she get sick?”

  Ashley pushed herself forward, pressing me closer to the door. “That doesn’t look like a nurse’s office.”

  “Something isn’t right,” Ian said. “Move out of the way, I’m going in.”

  I grabbed his arm. “No.”

  “This is the reason I came here,” he said.

  “What do you mean this is the reason you came here?” Ashley asked.

  “I can’t talk about it right now,” he said, then turned to me. “Are you coming or not?”

  I glanced down the hall, thinking of the others. They would be back in the cafeteria right now. And I bet Lucy and Christopher would be too. At this point
, we were in trouble. Could we get into more trouble by going into the room? We could always say that we were worried about Karen. And proving Ian wrong about his theories would make this instance worth it. Then he could know that nothing sinister was going on and let it go.

  “Yes, I’m coming,” I said and moved out of the way.

  “Like hell am I going back to the cafeteria alone,” Ashley said, following us. “I have no idea what the hell you two are talking about, but I’m not taking the blame.”

  Once inside, the room was much larger than I realized. I kept my eyes on Karen. Hers were closed as if she were sleeping. Two voices came from the other end of the room, and Ian pulled both Ashley and me down to the ground. We crawled across the floor and hid behind two carts stacked with medical equipment of some kind.

  “Why are we hiding?” Ashley hissed.

  Ian put his finger against his lips.

  I tried to calm my rapid breathing while we waited for the voices to go away. But they didn’t. They came closer.

  “We’re going to get caught,” I said. This was a terrible idea. Why did I come in with him?

  “No, we’re not. Just stay still,” Ian said.

  “I wished I never followed you two in here,” Ashley said. “If I get in trouble, I’m blaming you two.”

  “Whatever you need to do,” Ian said.

  I tried to focus on something other than the flip-flopping of my stomach. I looked around. The room was lined with rectangular shaped pieces. I narrowed my eyes in the dark space to make them out. They looked like wall panels but were more three dimensional. I turned around and looked beyond the sleeping Karen and saw one of the panels propped up next to her.

  “She’s prepped,” a voice said.

  I shrunk away from the voice even though I was sure we were well hidden. Our timing was perfect. If we had come in any later than we did, then we would have been caught. Now my curiosity had been piqued.

  Another voice chimed in, “The Vessel has been extracted, and the LifeAgain has been brought to core temperature.”

  A movement of electronic equipment sounded behind me. I didn’t want to know what any of those words meant, but I had to know. We were here and weren’t able to leave until those other people left. Might as well watch.