SECRET ASYLUM, THE HOLE. SOMEWHERE IN LONDON
TIME REMAINING: 20 HOURS, 34 MINUTES
“W hat’s a cute girl like you doing in the Hole?” a male voice says.
My eyes are still wrapped with some bandana that prevents me from seeing. I can only rely on my ears and sense of smell to know where I am. But it was hard to tell in the inspector’s car. London is noisy, crowded, and I don’t know it well. I only began relying on my senses when I stepped inside what seemed like an elevator.
Now, I can feel my heart rise in my chest as we’re chugging down. I can hear the drone of a high-tech machine.
And I don’t answer whoever is escorting me down the Hole.
“We sometimes have visitors to Professor Jittery.” He sounds young. In his twenties, maybe. A nurse of some sort. “But rarely a beautiful girl like you.”
I am getting more and more uncomfortable. Having been hit on twice today is a bit confusing—I remember the lanky officer at the circus this morning. Is that what happens to all girls my age when they’re going through their days? Should I giggle and dance, happy that boys don’t realize I am insane? Happy that they think I am beautiful and cute ? Or is this the kind of normal obstacle that a girl with a mission has to face all day long? It’s as if girls aren’t expected to handle big stuff or something.
“Can I pull off my blindfold?” I ask.
“Of course, we’re almost there,” the boy in the elevator says. “Here. Let me do it for you—”
His hands touch my face. I slap them as hard as I can. It’s spontaneous. It’s instinctual. It’s what I learned in None Fu.
“Ouch!” the boy says. “What was that for?”
I pull off my blindfold, feeling the thump of the elevator stopping under my feet. Slowly, my eyes go from blurry to translucent then to normal vision. The boy’s face forms in front of me while the elevator doors open.
When I fully regain my vision, I see the boy’s hand wounded. I did that? I must be learning to fight faster, although I didn’t need to hurt him.
“Sorry. I’m not used to someone touching me, or even getting close. You’re cute yourself,” I say, not in an attractive way. “Shall we go?” I point at the door.
“You also have beautiful eyes,” the boy, who turns out to be in his twenties, with short hair and a muscular figure, says.
“I know.” I shrug, playing aloof. “But stay away. Some days I wake up crippled and insane.” I don’t have time for flirting. Incidents like these make me remember Jack. And I don’t want to remember Jack right now. It hurts too much.
The boy laughs. “Beautiful and smart.” He ushers me through a corridor of white walls and white tiles. We stop before a white door, and it takes a while before I see him insert a magnetic card into a white slot in the door. The card is as white as everything else.
How do they expect a patient to heal in here? All this white is driving me crazy.
“Take this.” The boy hands me what looks like a very small remote control with a single red button on it. “If anything bad happens, if you want to leave, press the button. I will come to you.”
I take it. “Don’t you have surveillance cameras inside so you’d know if something happens?”
“No,” the boy says. “Inspector Dormouse asked for your privacy. Unless...”
“He is right,” I say. “I better have no one watch me interrogate him.”
“Great. Would you like to go out somewhere after this?”
Wow. Where did that come from?
“I killed my last boyfriend.” I am not lying.
“So cute.” The boy doesn’t give up. “I don’t mind if you kill me.”
“Listen.” I sigh. “You look like a nice guy. Seriously, you don’t want to know me. I talk to a flower that spits on me. I have a fear of mirrors because of a large rabbit inside them. And again, some days I wake up crippled.”
“Wow.” He is admiring me more. “You’re insane.”
“There, you said it.”
“I love insane girls.”
I sigh. I don’t know how to shake him off. “No, you don’t. Like, for instance, you know Fabiola, the renowned nun in the Vatican?”
“Of course. Lovely lady.”
“I watched her kill people inside the Vatican,” I say. Strangely, this seems to offend the boy a little. “With a Vorpal Sword. She fights like Jackie Chan and slits throats like a samurai."
“You’re funny.” The boy takes a step back. His mouth is twitching now. “A little bit weird, though.”
“Haven’t I told you from the start?” I smirk, feeling like I am possessed by the Pillar. “Now, would you like to kiss me?”
The boy frowns. Totally put off by me.
“Nice.” I am happy. “Is there anything else I need to know before I enter to meet Professor March?”
"Not at all. In fact, I’m totally convinced you’re his niece now."