Angel's Fury (17 page)

‘No problem.’ Lizzie glanced at the card and dropped it carelessly on her workbench.

‘Lizzie, could you keep this secret?’

‘Obviously.’ She slid her goggles over her eyes.

Meaningfully I tilted my head towards the card. She snorted and slipped it into her pocket. ‘Paranoid much?’

I shuffled my feet. ‘This place is enough to make anyone paranoid.’

‘Yeah.’ Lizzie glanced at the woodshop door then rotated her
shoulders as if to shrug off some discomfort. ‘How many of these do you want?’

‘Four would be great, thanks.’

‘Come back in half an hour.’ She picked up a block of wood and prepared to cut.

Forty minutes later I was back in my room with the little wooden pieces.

When I was sure the corridor was empty I slipped one into my doorframe, thankful that the only security cameras I’d found in the Manor were in the recreational areas. My hands were shaking so much that I almost dropped it, but it fitted perfectly. I held my breath, stepped into the hall and let the door swing closed.

Anxiously I looked at the little light. It was red. The door wasn’t locked, but the system believed it was. I muffled a whoop and put my palm to the door.

Now for the real test . . . will it open?

I leaned my weight on it but nothing happened.

‘Damn.’ I couldn’t suppress the impulse to pound on the door and abruptly it gave way. I fell into my room, staggered, caught myself and did a little jig of delight.

I found a way to get around without my key card
.

I stared at the wooden pieces scattered on my bedspread. I only hoped the other doors in the Manor worked the same way.

I didn’t have the final appointment of the day, so I had to come up with a reason for going to see the Doctor last thing.

‘My head’s splitting, can I have some paracetamol?’

Doctor Ashworth lifted her head from beneath her desk and arched a flawless brow. ‘You didn’t have to come to me for that. You could have spoken to any of the nurses.’ She straightened in her chair. ‘Why are you really here?’

I tucked my hands into my sleeves.

I have to tell her something she’ll believe. It has to be the truth
.

‘I’m worried about what’s happening to me.’

The Doctor’s lips opened like the petals of a carnivorous flower. A tiny thread of spittle remained stuck between them until she licked it away. ‘Everything is fine, Cassie. You’re responding remarkably well.’

‘Pandra said one of my past lives is close to the surface. What does that mean?’

The Doctor leaned into her chair. ‘Yes, she told me about the
incident yesterday.’ She didn’t elaborate so I had no idea how much she knew. I also noticed that she didn’t answer my question.

My eye twitched. ‘Should that be happening?’ Finally I voiced my greatest fear. ‘I feel like I’m being taken over.’

The Doctor smiled widely. ‘That’s just silly. It’s your brain accommodating a lot of new information.’

‘B-but I’m forgetting things from my own life.’

The Doctor shook her head. ‘You of all people should know that you never forget anything; it’s all there, in your subconscious. Think of your conscious mind as a . . .’ She paused. ‘As a bath. Your subconscious is the water tank; your memories are the water. You only have so much room in your conscious mind, your bath, as it were.’ She smiled at her own cleverness. ‘At the moment your brain is making space for the knowledge we’re bringing out of your subconscious by letting some of the water out of your bath.’

‘My memories are getting flushed away?’

‘Well, that’s where my analogy breaks down.’ The Doctor shrugged her enormous shoulders. ‘Imagine that your bath is part of a closed system. Instead of going back out to sea, your own memories are being returned to the water tank for a while. Soon you’ll reach a balance. You’ll be able to access what you need from
the tank of your subconscious memory: knowledge and skills from your past lives, for example, without the bath overflowing.’

I dug my nails into my palms. ‘Like being able to put a gun together?’

The Doctor inclined her head. ‘Exactly. That’s one skill your mind has learned to retrieve by itself.’ She stroked her hands over the leather blotter on her desk.

‘So . . . this is just an adjustment period?’

‘That’s right.’ She gestured to the door. The interview was over.

I palmed one of the little wooden nuggets. As I left I pretended to stumble on the door jamb and slipped the wood into the gap. I almost moaned with relief when it fitted.

The Doctor looked up sharply. ‘Are you alright?’

‘I’m fine. Sorry.’ I backed into the corridor.

Now I just had to do the same to the door in the hallway. The gap seemed slightly smaller than the others, so I had to jam the little rectangle in, but when I left it seemed to be working. Luckily the only one around to spot my suspicious loitering was Seth.

‘What’re you doing?’

I pulled out my key card. ‘Come outside and I’ll tell you.’

* * *

Seth marched next to me, hands in his pockets, but otherwise apparently impervious to the biting wind. His hair, escaped from its band, slashed over his face and his scar almost glowed in the cold air.

I told him about the blockers and for a while after I’d finished speaking he said nothing.

‘Seth?’

He continued to stride wordlessly. His gaze was fixed on the new range beyond the tennis courts. It was almost finished.

Finally he stopped walking. ‘Do you really want to risk breaking into the Doctor’s office?’

I nodded. ‘I’m sure she isn’t trying to cure us. Pandra’s been here over a year and even her dreams aren’t gone. I know there’s supposed to be an adjustment period, but I can’t believe I’m meant to feel this bad.’ I held my elbows close to my chest. ‘I came here because I thought I was going crazy. I figured I couldn’t feel any worse. I was wrong. I-I’m at the point where I’d be grateful just to have my old nightmares back.’

He clenched his fists. ‘I know what you mean.’

‘Then there’s the fact that we both dreamed about each other . . . and the book.’

Seth started walking again. I jogged to catch up with him and snagged my trainers on a chunk of dirt. Seth caught my arm and didn’t pull away after I’d caught my balance, so I left my elbow curled around his and pressed the spare door blocker into his other hand. ‘You’ll need this if you want to help me.’

He dropped it into his pocket. ‘I’ll come and get you just after midnight.’

‘No . . . We should meet in the Doctor’s office. If one of us is caught getting there, at least the other might make it.’

He shuffled his feet. ‘There’s a chance this really is an adjustment period. If we’re caught, we’ll be sent home.’

‘I-I know.’ I jammed my toes into the mud. ‘Do you still want to do this?’

Seth nodded. ‘We might get away with it if we have a good enough cover story. She found you in my room last night.’

‘So?’

‘If the blockers don’t work like you think or we’re caught out in the open, couldn’t we say we were planning on meeting somewhere? It probably won’t work if we’re actually found in the Doctor’s office, but anywhere else it might get us a pass.’

I stopped walking. ‘So if we get caught we let them think we . . .’

He actually blushed. ‘They might not send us home if they think we’re just horny.’

‘My dad would kill me.’

‘It’s only if we get caught, and I don’t plan to.’

I sighed. ‘Alright . . . tonight then.’

He nodded seriously. ‘Tonight.’

I
waited anxiously as the clock ticked towards twelve. The nurses had finished their rounds long ago and I couldn’t wait any longer or nerves would wreck my resolve.

I reached under the pillow for the lump that had helped keep me awake for the last couple of hours. I’d taken Lizzie’s chisel. I hoped I wouldn’t need it but, at the same time, I wasn’t expecting the book to be waiting for us on the desk.

I slid out of bed as silently as I could, stuffed the tool into the elastic of my pyjama bottoms, padded to the door in bare feet and slipped into the corridor.

When the door thudded into place I held my breath.

I don’t care what Lizzie says about taking risks. I’m not cut out for this
.

I sped along the corridor, crabwise, as quickly and silently as I could.

* * *

I ran headlong until I reached the door marked
Treatment Area
. With barely a pause I shoved with both hands, as if the Doctor herself was hunting me. The door opened and I fell through just as a voice floated round the corner.

‘Which room is it?’

They’ve already found me out . . .

I crouched behind the door. If the blocker hadn’t worked, they knew I was out of my room, but probably not where I was. I pushed a knuckle into my mouth to muffle my own breathing.

What do I do?

If I waited until they hit the stairs, I could sprint for the rec room. It would make sense to say I was meeting Seth there, but I couldn’t move.

‘It’s the youngest boy this time.’

I struggled to understand. Then my thoughts cleared:
The nurses are going to Lenny’s room
.

‘It was that ruddy experiment. It’s the second time I’ve been called up there tonight and it’s not even midnight.’

My neck flopped as if the muscles had died and I rested my forehead on my knees.

They aren’t looking for me. At least . . . not yet
.

I sat motionless as the voices receded.

When I finally lifted my head the corridor seemed to stretch in front of me like an image in a horror film.

I pushed myself up from my hands and knees and ran, stopping only when I thumped into the seat outside the Doctor’s office.

I caught the chair before it toppled to the carpet. Tension made my head throb and distorted the door in front of me. I leaned against it for support. It gave way beneath my weight and I fell into the room with a gasp.

The Doctor’s office was dark. A glimmer of moonlight shone through the window, but it wasn’t going to be enough to see by. I shut my eyes, hoping they would adjust, but when I reopened them the desk remained nothing but a darker patch in the centre of the space. I glanced at the doorway.

‘Seth?’ I whispered. There was no answer.

I leaned against the wall and took a deep breath as I waited for my heart to slow. I was inside the office. No one knew I was there. I was safe . . . for now.

There was a blind on the window. If I closed it, then I could safely switch on the light.

I groped my way to the window and shut it as quietly as possible. Now I had to make my way back to the light switch in the pitch black. Abruptly my imagination filled the gloom with horrors and I broke into a sprint. My hip smacked into the edge of the desk and I bit off a scream as I bounced, disorientated, and staggered into a wall. Pressing one hand over the already swelling bruise and the other against the plaster I limped forward until I found the door frame.

I fumbled upwards, seeking the switch, all the time expecting something out of the shadows to grab my wrist, and the door opened next to me.

Instantly I stopped and held my breath. A figure slipped into the room. It was too dark to see who it was.

‘Cass?’

It was Seth. Relief shook my breath free as he closed the door behind him. ‘I’m here.’ Quickly I clicked the light on, desperate to expel the silent dark.

‘The door!’ Seth too was in his pyjamas. He whipped off his top and stuffed it along the crack that would show the light to anyone looking down the corridor. The curve of his back was illuminated and, spontaneously, I threw my arms around him.

‘We made it.’

‘You’re a genius, Cass.’

He turned, his arms tightened round me and I was suddenly very aware of his naked skin against my cotton sleepwear and the fact that I was wearing no bra.

‘What’s that?’ Seth had spotted the chisel in the back of my trousers. Gratefully I freed it, using the action to release him and cover my embarrassment.

He nodded approvingly. ‘Good idea.’

I handed it to him then went to sit in the Doctor’s chair. Seth looked over my shoulder. There were three deep drawers in the desk and they were all locked.

I glanced at the chisel, but he shook his head. ‘Let’s look for a key before we do any damage.’

‘Okay.’ There were no obvious hiding places anywhere in the office. Feeling dejected I fiddled with the small, shallow drawer at the top of the desk. It opened.

My grin faded when I saw that it contained only a single spiral-bound notebook, biros, pencils, a sharpener and a highlighter. With only a little hope I opened the notebook. Only blanks remained.

Seth leaned over my shoulder. ‘I had the last appointment today. She could have made some notes on the last page.’ He plucked one of the pencils from the drawer and started to rub the lead on the next piece of paper. He was curved over me like a shell, his chest pressing against my back with gentle pressure. His bicep rubbed my arm as he coloured. I forced myself to focus on the paper.

When words actually started to appear shock almost knocked me off the seat. They were mostly garbled, some had pressed through from even earlier pages, but a few things had been written with enough force to be seen clearly.

David Curtiss Stephenson, Texas.
Near success
.

Close to emergence
.

This lifetime
.

Remains best prospect for fulfilment
.

Subject 8220 as back-up
.

Natural partnership with Grand Dragon
.

I stared. ‘Does that make any sense to you?’

Seth shook his head. ‘There’s no one called David here. Subject 8220 must be a patient ID, but I don’t know whose.’

‘What’s a Grand Dragon?’

He shook his head more vigorously. ‘I feel as if I should know, but I don’t.’

‘These notes can’t be yours then.’

‘I don’t think so.’