Lake

 

 

“You’re lying!”

“Jules, I’m not the liar here,” I say. “You lied about Marty’s writing. His Mentor never allowed him to move past the … the beginning part. The first paragraph.”

The Darwinians have to be questioning why the six of us are sitting in the middle of the crumbling outdoor track, and I doubt they’d believe we’re holding cheerleading practice. This one’s going to have to be one creative lie—which I’ll let Stryker deal with.

Jules twists her hair into a bun. “They told me they were moving Marty from our wing for observation.”

“Why would they tell you and not the rest of us?” Alex wheezes. He has a clear tube running from an oxygen tank into his nostrils, and he still got winded getting here. But at least he’s well enough to rejoin our meetings.

“Yeah, what’s so special about you?” Anna demands.

Stryker catches my eye and lifts an eyebrow to prod me. I understand how Johann Becher must’ve felt when they debunked his theory that objects combust because they contain phlogiston.

“You’re spying for them,” I accuse Jules.

“Lake, I hate to sound mean, but you haven’t exactly been thinking clearly.”

My anger grapples with gut-wrenching shame until I realize she’s purposely trying to fluster me. “It’s the only, only … explanation for why you had that key and why you’re aware of things the rest of us aren’t.”

Jules removes her glasses and wipes the lenses with the bottom of her shirt. “I can’t help it if people feel comfortable talking to me.”

No wonder it appears as if she barely eats. She’s been using food as a prop to justify the hours she spends in the dining hall, prying secrets out of us.

“It’s over, Jules.” Stryker says. “Since none of us will confide in you again, I hope for your sake you’re providing other value to the Darwinians.”

Jules’s chin juts out, and her eyes narrow, making her resemble a fox readying itself to pounce on a defenseless rabbit. “I’m more valuable than any of the rest of you.”

“Then it’s true? You’re their spy?” Anna asks, sounding more upset than I’d expect given her typical aloofness.

Jules says, “I’ve only been confirming facts so they know if everyone is telling them the truth.”

How can Jules live with herself? I grab my journal and jot down, Jules = spy!

“Traitor.” Alex shakes his head in disgust, dislodging the plastic tube from his left nostril.

“I told them I was worried about Marty,” Jules insists.

“Was that before or after … Marty’s Mentor seized his body?” I hate that I can never remember his name.

“I didn’t know about that part, honest.” Jules wipes her eye, even though there isn’t a glint of tears.

What would have happened if I’d confided in Jules about Sophie’s confusion?

Stryker says to Jules, “What I’m questioning is why they’d lie to you.”

“Sarah never lied to me about Marty,” she answers, defiantly.

“I thought Sarah is your Mentor,” Orfyn says.

Jules’s eyes widen, and she looks like she wants to be anywhere but here.

“How would your Mentor know anything about Marty?” Alex presses.

“You haven’t merged with her yet,” Stryker states matter-of-factly.

Of course. It’s the only logical answer.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Alex says.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Stryker asks.

“I’m a little behind the rest of you,” Jules answers, avoiding our eyes. “But I’m starting the first phase soon.”

Orfyn’s forehead furrows. “After what we’ve learned about Marty, you’re still going through with it?”

“My aunt isn’t like Angus Doyle.”

That’s his Mentor’s name. I jot it down in my journal.

“Sarah is your aunt?” Anna asks.

“Yes, but—”

“She’s been using us as her personal guinea pigs,” Alex accuses.

A question squeezes its way into the argument, and I document it before forgetting it.

“Sarah is very ill, but she’s waited to merge to protect me.” Jules looks at each of us imploringly. “She’s only going through the procedure to give me the chance to do great things.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Anna snaps.

“You do realize Sarah intentionally hid Marty’s condition from you,” Stryker says.

“You’re all wrong about her!” Jules cries out before sprinting back to The Flem, leaving her glasses on the ground. Was even her studious look a charade?

“She’s delusional,” Anna says angrily.

“I think Jules believes she was helping,” Orfyn says.

“Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions,” Stryker says as if it’s a Universal Truth.

I give him a questioning look.

“T.S. Eliot,” he answers, as if it explains his perspective on humanity.

“Do you think they would’ve told us the truth about Marty?” Alex asks, adjusting the tube in his nose.

“No,” Anna answers. “They wouldn’t want us to question if the same thing will happen to us.”

“Bat would never try to take over my body,” Orfyn says.

Would Sophie? I never thought I’d be consoled because she doesn’t realize she has the ability to try. What about the other Mentors? No one is jumping to their defense.

“I told Bjorn what’s been happening to some of us.” Stryker’s eyes fall on me.

I grip my journal tighter.

His eyes move on to Alex. “Bjorn revealed that the Darwinians have been working on a way to extract the second consciousness as a failsafe.”

“Are you saying they can unmerge us?” Alex asks.

“In theory.”

Could this be what Cecil was going to recommend in his notes?

“Just because they can doesn’t mean they will,” Stryker says.

Anna’s fury explodes, and not because of phlogiston. “Why the hell not?”

Stryker flings a rock toward The Flem. “They’re not going to let Angus Doyle die, and they may not want to risk implanting him into another Candidate’s body because he could take over that person, too. Their best option is to allow Angus to remain where he is and see what happens.”

“But there’s the possibility Marty won’t be the one canceling … I mean, controlling his own body,” I say.

“Think about it,” Stryker says. “Angus is one of the most influential writers of our time, and Marty is a sixteen-year-old nobody. Do you think they’d see it as a failure if Angus had Marty’s body to use for another lifetime?”

“Crap!” Alex rasps.

Anna stands and towers over us. “We have to confront them and demand they remove him from Marty’s brain.”

“That’s the last thing we want to do,” Stryker says, calmly. “One problem is manageable. Five problems would cause them to evaluate whether they should start over again with more compliant Candidates.”

“They wouldn’t dare,” Anna says, two decibels lower.

“Think about Marie Curie,” Stryker says. “She died of radiation poisoning, but millions of people have been saved because of her discoveries. Most would agree the benefits outweigh the cost of one life.” Stryker holds Anna’s eyes. “Do you want to risk our lives in order to see which of us is right?”

Emotions battle across her face until she shakes her head in resignation.

“Jules is going to tell them we know about Marty,” Alex says.

“Of course she will,” Stryker says. “And that’s why we’re going to act like we believe they’ll figure out how to save him.”

“For how long?” Anna asks.

“Until we have a better solution.”

“What if there were somewhere else Angus could live?” Orfyn asks.

“Tell us where you’re going with this, Art,” Stryker says.

“Before getting anyone’s hopes up, I need to talk to Bat.”

“Then it’s nap time for you.” Stryker stands and brushes off the back of his khakis. “Everybody, continue with your normal routine. And act like you have faith they’ll do the right thing.”

It didn’t used to be an act.

I notice my note to myself. I run to catch up to Alex, which isn’t difficult since he’s towing an oxygen tank. “You visited Mexico before you came here, didn’t you?”

“No, not since I was a little kid. Why?”

I hesitate, but he needs to know that Marty might not be the only one in danger. As I tell Alex about Jules’s lie, his breathing gets more and more labored.