Adalyn is curled up, sobbing on the ground. Her grief is all that exists in this room. It is so immense. I can feel it trying to swallow me up too. For an instant, I’m torn between escaping through the door she’s left open and consoling her. I choose the door.
There’s a tiny hallway, no more than four feet long. The walls and floor are made of roughened concrete. At the end of the corridor are two stairwells. One’s slightly brighter than the other, so I opt for that one. I force my aching legs to run up the steps, taking two at a time. I stagger slightly at the top step, and I’m almost out when she grabs me and pulls me down.
Adalyn drags me back to the cell and flings me inside, slamming the door shut, sealing me in again. She sits on the other side of the bars, cross-legged, her back against the rocky wall.
“So you killed my baby.” Her voice is even, her face blank. Not a single trace of her sorrow remains. She’s even more frightening. “You said you were hurt when Ellis found you. What happened?”
Adalyn stares, waiting. With her long, multicolored hair draping her slender shoulders, she could be beautiful. But there’s something in her eyes that hardens her entire face and washes away her beauty. She’s calmer than before, but I know her fury is rumbling just beneath the surface. I take a deep breath and carefully answer.
“I was in an alley. There was a guy there.”
“A guy? What guy?”
“I didn’t know him. He attacked me.”
“Why? What did you do to him?” Her anger bubbles over.
I shake my head. “Nothing. He just attacked me. I think he would have killed me if Ellis hadn’t come by and saved me.”
“Oh yes, Ellis. We girls can always count on Ellis to save us.” Her lips press into a tight line. “And then what happened? He took you to see Margaret?”
“Yes. She patched me back up.”
“Did she give you some medicine to put on your stomach?”
I nod.
“And did you?” Her voice rises, as mine trembles.
“Yes, I did exactly what she told me to.”
“Then I don’t understand. What happened to the baby? If Margaret healed you and implanted my baby inside you, then she must have thought you were strong enough. What did you do?”
Adalyn is back on her feet, gripping the bars once again.
“I don’t know what happened. I was going for a walk and Fallon found me. He got angry. He was pulling me back to Ellis’s house and then … and then.” I pause and glance up, expecting to see maniacal eyes staring back at me, but Adalyn’s expression is vacant.
“And,” I press on, unsure if she’s even listening anymore. “I was bleeding. Fallon and Ellis tried to help. Margaret showed up, but she refused to help.”
“She refused? Why would she refuse? This was all her idea! Her mastermind plan to save our people.”
I have no choice but to tell her the truth. “Margaret said that I was just an extra. She had enough embryos collected and didn’t need the one inside me.”
Adalyn crumples to the ground.
“Fallon and Ellis tried to save the embryo, the baby.” I cringe at the thought of an actual baby being inside me. “But they couldn’t.”
The last of my words are drowned out by an agonizing moan. It starts low and grows until everything in the room buckles from the weight of the pain pouring out of Adalyn.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
We sit there for what feels like hours, on either side of the door. Adalyn is motionless. Her body folds over so that her face is pressed into her knees.
Eventually she straightens up and regards me with an empty expression. She rises, opens the door, and walks toward me.
“Just one more question. Who wanted to save the baby? Ellis or Fallon?”
“Both of them did. They both wanted to.”
“Okay then, let’s go.”
She pulls out a vial that hangs from a chain around her neck. It’s similar to the one Ellis gave me. Adalyn pops open the lid and a soft blue light emanates from it. She puts her lips to the vial like she’s going to drink from it, but instead she murmurs quietly and then seals it back up.
She grabs my hand when we reach the top of the steps.
“You were hidden on the way in, but I want you to see what it looks like before I cover you back up.”
Still holding my hand, she leads me through the door. Gray is the prevalent color, or lack of color. The sky is dull. The ground is brown dirt intermixed with dirty white stones.
“It’s so ugly, isn’t it? And cold.” She rubs her hands up and down her arms. “It wasn’t always like this. Even I can remember when the ground was green and the light from our sun was able to penetrate the thick fog.” She breathes in deeply and swings her brightly colored hair. “They should have listened to me. But now they will.”
She walks over to a wooden box, opens it, and pulls out the blanket, along with something that resembles a metal ruler with a drill bit on one end. She folds the ruler over so that it fits into her jacket pocket, and comes toward me with the blanket.
“Wait. What are you doing? I thought you said I could see.”
“And you did. But now it’s time to get going.”
“Are we going to meet Ellis?”
“Ellis?” She pulls out the vial from within her shirt. It’s now glowing a deep orange. “Yes, that’s exactly where we’re going.”
She throws the blanket over me, and I push it off.
“Why do I have to wear this?”
“Because we don’t want anyone to see you before I’m ready,” Adalyn says, as she readjusts the covering.
We’re moving quickly again. Adalyn keeps muttering to herself. When she finally speaks, her words are neither angry nor flat, but filled with sadness.
“I am sorry about all those women. I never wanted any part of this plan. I didn’t think it was the right thing to do.”
I push away at the top of the blanket so that I can see her face. I expect her to immediately cover me back up, but she doesn’t. Tears are flowing down her cheeks.
“Adalyn, are we still going to meet Ellis?” I take in as much of my surroundings as I can before I’m concealed again.
The sky is a blanket of gray stretching all around. Adalyn looks at me as if she’s startled by my presence.
“Not yet time for you to make your appearance.”
She covers me up.
“Please, Adalyn,” I beg. “Can you at least tell me if we are still going to meet Ellis?”
“Yes, of course. That’s exactly where I’m taking you. We should move a little faster though. They’re gathering right now.”
I feel a tiny surge of hope. Maybe she’s going to actually help. Her reaction to the loss of her child, though frightening, was normal. And her animosity toward me has passed. She’s taking me to meet Ellis. This could all still work out. I settle loosely into her arms and allow the waves of hope and optimism to wash over me.