Chapter Twenty

The lights in Glen’s study were dim and papers lay strewn about his desk, something unusual for a man of such orderliness. I sat across from him as he ruffled through a pile of documents. “Okay, Drew. You’re getting farther in your mission now,” he said to me. “We’re going to request that you, like we’ve asked a few others already on this mission, to start bringing people in.”

“Bringing people in?” I asked numbly, not believing my ears. Was he finally asking me to get on with the real mission? He finally trusted me? I was going to be able to be as good an android as Yvonne and Jeremy. I expected some sort of excitement, some form of elation at the fact that Glen had just bestowed upon me his confidence and support, but surprisingly, no elation came over me.

He nodded and handed me some information. “Her name is Cecelia Fleming.”

I looked at the picture. I didn't know Cecelia very well, but she was in a few of my classes at school. “Why are we bringing people in?” I asked. When Glen had ordered me to bring Marian back, the order had made sense. I was bringing her back because she was malfunctioning and the creators needed to fix her – and they did. But what did they want the humans for?

Glen smiled, although it didn’t reach his eyes. “That’s not for you to ask. You’re job is simply to bring her here.”

“How?” I asked. “And when?”

“Today. And I don’t care how, as long as you don’t cause a lot of attention to yourself and what you’re doing. Lure her here somehow. Tell her you have something to show her,” Glen suggested. “See you after school.”

I smiled uncertainly. I had been waiting for this moment for what seemed like forever, but it didn’t feel like I had thought it would. Actually, I hadn’t really thought about it for quite some time. I shrugged the thought away. I was going to do this for the creators. I was going to show them that I could fulfill the mission and that I would be good at it.

* * * *

I walked through the school hallways, still trying to think up a plan to get Cecelia to the Institution. I wondered why Glen wanted her. Didn’t he always tell me to keep what I was and where I came from a secret? Why would he purposefully want a human at the Institution? I needed the answers to these questions eventually, but at the moment, I was willing to fulfill my mission.

The bell rang for school to be over and I knew I was out of time. I had thought up one plan, hoping it would spark an idea for a better one, but I couldn't come up with anything else so this time it had to do.

I went through it again in my mind as I walked towards Cecelia’s locker. “Cecelia,” I called, and a girl dressed in a hot pink shirt, white skirt, black leggings and knee-high boots, looked up at me. She had pink steaks in her long blonde hair and thick black liner around her eyes, creating a strange gothic look.

“Hey Drew,” she said.

“I think I found something of yours. You lost a jacket yesterday didn’t you?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, that was my favorite one. Did you find it?” she asked hopefully, turning towards me with bright eyes.

“I think so.”

“Is it light blue?” she asked.

I nodded and smiled, although I had no jacket of hers. I had only heard that she had lost it the other day. “It’s at my house. If you want to walk home with me, I can get it for you,” I suggested. “It’s not a long walk.”

Cecelia looked thoughtful for a moment. “Well, you could just bring it to school tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but I’d like to get it out of my room,” I told her. “And I’m usually pretty forgetful. I’d probably end up leaving it at home.” The lie was hollow, but it would have to work.

“Oh.” Cecelia replied. “I guess I could walk home with you.”

“Great,” I said with a smile. “You ready?”

She shut her locker and we headed for the front doors. As we walked across the school grounds and along the sidewalk in awkward silence, I racked my brain for something to say. “Are you walking home afterwards?” I asked lamely, thinking of nothing else conceivably relevant.

She shook her head. “I have a piano lesson so I’ll be walking there after I get my jacket back.”

“Oh. Cool, I didn’t know you played,” I said, genuinely surprised.

“Yeah,” she smiled. “I love piano.”

I looked at her. She didn’t seem like someone who would be into something so ordinary as piano. She seemed the more extravagant type. “I never thought of you as the piano type.”

Cecelia laughed. “Yeah, a lot of people don’t seem to think I would like it at all,” she said. “But I really do. I want to major in music for college. I know I don’t exactly look like that kind of person, but I totally love classical music. Clementi’s my favorite.” She stared at me with genuine happiness.

I stared back, surprised. “That’s cool. I’ve never been able to play a musical instrument.”

“It’s actually not that hard. And super fun, by the way.” She smiled, more to herself than to me, and started running her fingers through her hair to smooth it out.

I nodded as we walked along. Cecelia hummed quietly to herself, her boots making clicking sounds as she strolled along the pavement.

I had never suspected, ever, that Cecelia would play classical piano. She just seemed like the statement-making girl in my class who always wore rocker attire. Her image warded off people. I had never suspected she had another side to her.

Suddenly, the Institution came into view and I started thinking up excuses to tell her about my living conditions. “They’re condos,” I told her, feeling the lie burn on my tongue like fire.

We walked up the front steps. “But that sign says—” Cecelia started, looking at the words painted on the Institution doors.

“It’s from the old business that used to be here,” I interrupted her, leading her inside.

Once we were in the lobby, I stopped. What was I supposed to do now? I had no idea. They had just told me to bring her here. I’d done that, now what?

Just then, David walked into the room. “Hey guys,” he said, looking at me.

I thought quickly and made something up on the spot. “Um, I put your sweater in the lost-and-found here...” I blurted out lamely. “David will show you where it is.”

“Okay ...” Cecelia said slowly, giving me a strange look. Then she eyed David suspiciously.

“Hi Cecelia,” David said with a smile so fake it made my mouth hurt. “Follow me.”

I watched Cecelia follow him cautiously through the doors at the end of the lobby and disappear behind them, leaving me alone in the silent room to deal with my thoughts. I wondered why they wanted her. Were they going to let her in on the secret of what we were? I really could think of no other explanation.

“I see you've finally figured out how to get to the next level,” came Yvonne’s syrupy drawl from behind me.

I nodded, wondering how Yvonne always seemed to show up at the worst times. I spun around. “So you’ve been bringing people in, too?” I asked.

She nodded, as though it was the most ordinary thing to do in the world.

“From your school?”

“Yes.”

We stood in silence and I stared at the double doors through which Cecelia had vanished only seconds before.

“Why? Do you know?” I asked, turning towards Yvonne.

She raised her eyebrows in an indifferent expression. “Doesn’t really matter. As long as we do what they want us to, we get what we want.” A smug smile appeared on her face.

“Huh,” I replied. “But doesn’t it bother you? I mean, they could be giving away our secret; what we are. I mean ... don’t you want to know what they’re doing?”

Yvonne looked thoughtful for a moment. “Don’t really care,” she finally said.

I gave out an exasperated sigh and started to head for my room. Or should I say my and Yvonne’s room? Because she followed me right there.

We talked briefly until we started doing our own things. I mostly thought about Cecelia. What were they talking to her about? And what was I going to tell her when I saw her again at school?