Dyna sniffed. Feeling an unpleasant sensation running down the back of her throat, she quickly ran to the sink. After spitting, she grabbed a tissue and blew her nose as much as she could.
“My nose is bleeding again.”
“Quite frankly, Miss Graves, you should consider yourself lucky if that is the worst you’re experiencing.”
Glancing back over her shoulder, Dyna met the mirrored lenses of Walter as he stood back near the door to her temporary accommodations. Over the past three days, she had been spending all her time trapped in what was effectively a prison cell. Or perhaps a decontamination chamber was a better way of putting it.
It was a long metal box with an uncomfortable bed and merged bathroom. Medical equipment lined the walls, built into the metal box. Dyna had only just been cleared to remove most of it. Meals arrived through a small opening near the bed and Beatrice’s security cameras watched her every move.
The decoupling process was not pleasant. Doctor Cross had been correct about that her first day. Survivable, yes, but hopefully she wouldn’t be going through with it a second time anytime soon.
Walter’s face was actually the first human face she had seen since the Carroll Institute containment team arrived at the airport and ushered her into the back of a windowless van. In retrospect, Dyna was surprised she hadn’t been in an all out panic over the thought of them tearing away her memories again. She must have been too exhausted from the events of that night to have thought about it too much.
“I don’t feel very lucky.”
“No. I imagine not. The decoupling is complete, however. We would like to keep you in observation for another week to ensure that there are no lingering complications, but you will be allowed out of this chamber. The psionic shielding it provided should no longer be necessary to prevent you accidentally using the artifact.”
Dyna nodded, keeping a tissue pressed up to her face. “That’s good, I guess.”
“Oh?” Walter said, raising an eyebrow. “I thought you would be pleased to hear the good news.”
“I am. I just…” Going back out, facing the rest of the world? It felt like she was getting off too easily. “Shouldn’t I be in prison or something?”
“Would you like to go to prison?”
“No… I just…”
Walter stepped further into the room, taking a seat on the bench-like bed. “I have… issues with how the events of the evening were handled. Poor decisions ran rampant.”
Dyna winced.
“Not you. At least not wholly you. Emerald and Ruby have already received a stern talking to. Should you learn from the events, yes. But you were following along with those who should have known better.”
“Most of the ideas were mine. I pushed Ruby into going after Harold.”
“And Ruby failed to contact a superior when the situation proved to be more uncertain than originally thought. And Emerald…” He trailed off, giving a sad shake of his head. “I intend to pull all three of you into a room and go over every decision made, step by step, analyzing whether or not better options were available at each point of the night. But not until you’re feeling a little better. Again, most of the fault lies with those who should have known better. Even still, things didn’t go so poorly. The night could have been worse.”
“Harold got away. Grafton got away. Id wasn’t there to begin with.”
“You recovered a potentially dangerous artifact and prevented it from causing a large incident. Emerald recovered actionable intelligence. Mister Porter is unfortunately missing, but, and I understand that you may not have heard this during your isolation, Ruby managed to prevent Grafton’s escape. He is currently in secure holding.”
“Really?” Dyna said. She had been wondering what happened to Ruby and why she had never showed after ending the call. “How did she manage that?”
“Saw him speeding away from the airport. Engaged in pursuit. Damaged the vehicle. Captured him. He is not a physically capable man; once the vehicle failed, she had no trouble at all.”
“Did he… talk at all?”
“Not yet. He will be my next stop of the day,” Walter said, tone taking a turn downward. “I wished to ensure that you were alright and not needing anything first.”
“Ah. I see.”
“Something you wanted to get from him?”
Dyna leaned back against the wall near the sink, tilting her head backward to see if that helped at all. Though really, the motion was just to buy her time to think. Her isolation had given her plenty of time to mull over her memories and her thoughts on what happened. Even to the point where Walter’s plan of taking them into a room and going over the events of the night one by one didn’t seem daunting at all. She had already considered dozens of better options for what she could have done.
But there were things that did still confuse her. “Id,” Dyna said after a long moment. “I wonder if he knows what Id is up to?”
“That is one of the items we hope to find out.”
“I mean… She’s showed up in front of me twice now, but hasn’t done anything. She just talks about nothing, says she got what she wanted, and then vanishes. I don’t understand what she wants from me or why she keeps coming to me. Even as an artificer, I don’t feel like someone important. The mirror isn’t exactly useful and she doesn’t even ask about it. Grafton didn’t even take it from me when he captured me.”
“We have teams analyzing your transcripts of both encounters. Unfortunately, truly knowing what someone is thinking is difficult even for the Carroll Institute. At least without direct access to someone’s mind.” Walter offered a small smile before sighing. “It could be that she or another mind reader were standing around, peering into your thoughts. The conversations could just be mental triggers to get you to think about certain events, people, or things in order to more easily read such thoughts. We don’t believe at this time that you were compromised in any way. No lingering trigger words to get you to perform certain actions or anything like that.”
“That’s good, but… I just don’t feel like she’s done with me. I… She’s not going to leave me alone. I don’t know why she didn’t outright kidnap me—maybe because she keeps saying things like how she’s trying to help me. It’s… She’s trying to recruit me, isn’t she?”
It wasn’t a question, but Walter still nodded his head.
“That is one of the possibilities. I wouldn’t call invading your mind a friendly overture, but her hostility is questionable at best. What is clear is that she is attempting to subvert or undermine the Carroll Institute as a whole. And steal materials we would rather not have outside the Vault.”
That made Dyna look back down. Crumpling up the tissue and disposing of it, she did a quick check. Her nose didn’t seem to still be bleeding, though she wasn’t sure how long that would last.
“The Aztec calendar is safe here, isn’t it?”
“We have examined events and determined that Mister Porter used his authority as Doctor Cross’ assistant to remove the artifact from a testing apparatus where it was supposed to remain overnight. In the Vault, it is impossible for anyone to retrieve on their own. Both my own and Doctor Cross’ recommendation is that it remain in the Vault indefinitely given the obvious danger it presented to the general public. When testing inevitably resumes, it will be under only the strictest of guard.”
“That’s… good.”
Walter crossed his arms, hiding the red tie and vest he wore. “You don’t sound like you believe me.”
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“Not you,” Dyna said quickly. “Just… I’ve realized that I don’t know much about the Carroll Institute as a whole.”
A thin, wan smile pressed Walter’s lips into a thin line. “Ruby told me about your concerns.”
Dyna winced. So much for trusting a ten-year-old to keep their mouth shut.
“I’ll have you know that I have never ordered any alteration of your memories. Nor do any files I have access to suggest that the Carroll Institute tampered with your mind. While I do admit that there are a select few files that even I do not have access to, I took the concerns Ruby brought up quite seriously and investigated to the best of my ability.”
Dyna let out a long sigh. That was a relief, wasn’t it? At least as long as she trusted Walter. Which she was pretty sure she did. And if the Carroll Institute really wanted to erase her memories, they would have had ample opportunity over the last few days. Enough to make her completely forget that she had been worried about it in the first place.
Of course, she couldn’t prove that they hadn’t modified her memories and just left everything she could remember as a way of further distracting from what they had changed, but Dyna quickly clamped down on that line of thought. Cyclic reasoning and doubting would just lead her into another downward spiral of panic and paranoia.
That kind of reasoning had lead to the incident in the first place. Or her involvement in the incident. Presumably, Harold would have gone out on his own regardless of her actions.
Walter stood, checking the time on his smart watch. “In any case, you’re free to leave the isolation chamber. I ask that you remain within Psychodynamics for the next week and, if you have any odd sensations, feelings, or medical complications beyond your occasional nosebleed, please contact myself or Doctor Cross immediately. Failing that, should we be unavailable for any reason, check into the infirmary in Sector C.”
“The nosebleed isn’t anything to worry over, is it?”
“Not according to your scans. The doctors aren’t quite sure what is causing them, but there is no sign of hemorrhaging in the brain, which was originally the major concern. We’ll continue testing to ensure you’ll be alright.”
“Good. Thanks,” Dyna said. Grabbing a few more tissues for later and shoving them into the pocket of the medical scrubs she had been given, she followed Walter out of the small chamber.
The very first thing Dyna saw upon reaching the main hall of Psychodynamics was a little red-haired girl sitting on a chair that looked like it had been dragged over. Possibly stolen from one of the vacant offices.
Ruby popped up instantly, looking a little startled. Between her messy hair and rapidly blinking eyes, she must have dozed off. Dyna did not miss the way her hand snapped to her pocket, only to freeze. She had probably been going for a knife before she realized just what woke her.
“Are you alright?” she said as fast as she could. “Are you crazy? All the other artificers are, so it would be bad if that other artifact broke your brain. Did you get hurt? You’ve got a bit of blood just above your lip. Walter didn’t punch you, did he? I didn’t think you did that bad for your first real night—”
“Ruby,” Walter said, tone flat.
“It’s really my fault. I shouldn’t have left someone so na-scent alone. I knew Emerald would be there and she could have chased that guy while you and I dealt with the traitor but I—”
“Ruby.”
“Although I am a little mad that you lost the gun. How could you just get hypnotized like that? You should have ignored him and his words—”
“Ruby, please.” Walter’s tone didn’t change, but the third time was apparently the charm.
Ruby clamped her mouth shut, looking away from Dyna to stare up at Walter. “She’s not in trouble, right?”
“I would worry a little more about yourself.”
That got a scoff from Ruby. “I know how these things go. I can handle anything. She doesn’t and she can’t.”
“I’m fine, Ruby. Just got some random nosebleeds. Doctors don’t know why yet.”
With a long hum, Ruby looked straight up. Between her shorter stature and her step forward taking her right into Dyna’s personal space, it was like she was looking right up Dyna’s nose.
Realizing that Ruby was doing exactly what it looked like, Dyna gently pushed her back. “I’m fine.”
“Come,” Walter said, turning toward the door adjacent to the decontamination room that Dyna had just left. “You two can talk later.”
Doctor Cross sat in the next room, using an inflatable exercise ball as a chair. The terminal in front of him was covered with lines and graphs. Dyna spotted her name among the text, figured they were about her, and promptly felt too tired to try to investigate further. If there was something wrong with her, someone would presumably tell her. Until then, she decided not to worry about anything.
Of mildly more interest to her was the pedestal. Like a miniature version of the psionic vault that she stored her artifact in when doing certain tests where its interference might hamper results. Doctor Cross took one look at her, typed a few words into his terminal, then turned toward the pedestal.
The angular walls started folding down, revealing just what Dyna expected to find.
The compact mirror.
“The artifact,” Doctor Cross started without even a single ‘how are you doing, Dyna?’, “is producing constant psionic emissions. A ninety-seven percent increase in randi levels over a like period of time compared to emissions released prior to this… incident.”
Dyna started nodding her head, only to pause and shake her head. “I’m a bit tired. Please tell me what that means so I don’t have to think too much right now.”
“I believe you are aware that your artifact selection was a single-blind test. Two objects were artifacts. Two were not. Your selection was not. And yet, you claimed it produced anomalous effects. Effects we found difficult to demonstrate or analyze.” He paused, pushing back his lips into something that was either a grin or grimace. “That is no longer the case. I believe we have witnessed first-hand the creation of a proper artifact.”
“Ah… so…”
“So!” Cross’ grin—or grimace—widened further. “Artificer, I want you in my laboratory first thing in the morning—”
“I am mandating rest and relaxation,” Walter said. “A minimum of one week.”
“A week? A week!” Cross stood, planting his hands on the desk beside his terminal. “There is science to be done! She has rested for three days. Long enough! We must analyze every aspect of the events, going over each instance where the artifact activated in an attempt to determine exactly—”
“Rest, Doctor Cross. If she wishes to answer questions, that is her prerogative, but you will not be throwing her through the grinder to get a few data points.”
“It’s fine, really,” Dyna said quickly, eying her compact mirror. Something had changed with it. She wasn’t quite sure when it might have happened, whether while she was in isolation or perhaps during the night, but she could feel something different about it. “I’d rather be doing something anyway. I don’t like to be cooped up with nothing to do.”
Staring at it, she felt… calm. Content.
And exploring it? That sounded good to her. If she was trapped down here for a week anyway, might as well get some good out of it.
Cross, apparently pleased with her response, simply sat back down and started staring at the terminal once again. Walter, she noted from the corner of her eye, was staring at her. He didn’t say anything for a long moment. He ended up shaking his head before he spoke.
“Your other belongings,” he said, pulling open a drawer.
It took a mild force of will to tear her eyes from the compact mirror, but once she noticed her phone, wallet, and the little eye pendant she usually wore, she quickly reached over.
Her phone had been plugged in. Nice of them to keep it charged. Picking it up, it immediately buzzed to alert her of missed messages.
They were from her mother. A few texts and a few pictures of old scrapbooks.
Dyna immediately opened them, hoping they were what she thought they would be.
Pictures of her own birthday party, a few months before the El’s water park birthday. Although she couldn’t remember their faces clearly from the hypnotism session, the picture of the six of them sitting around a birthday cake was crystal clear. The younger version of herself didn’t have white hair, but rather a short black bob. Which made sense as she had only dyed it just before coming to the institute. Emmanuel sat immediately to her side, along with three other boys that she could only vaguely remember.
The last person, a little girl with long dark hair, didn’t look familiar at all. Dyna tried to think, tried to remember, but came up blank. If she had come to a birthday party, she must have been someone Dyna knew. Unlike everyone else at the table, Dyna couldn’t even scrape together a single memory of the girl. Nothing in school. Nothing from home. Although the birthday, with its baseball theme, somewhat stuck out to her now that she had seen pictures of it, she couldn’t remember the girl.
“Something wrong?” Walter asked.
Dyna nodded slowly. “Ruby mentioned my memory issue? This,” she said, turning the phone around for him to see, “is part of that. I think the girl on the end got kidnapped by a psychic when we were kids.”
Walter’s lips pressed together as he stared down. His mirrored lenses hid his eyes, but the way his eyebrows furrowed made it look like he was taking it seriously. After a long moment, he straightened his back. “Send me a copy of the images and, when you feel up to it, write down everything you can remember or think you remember about the situation and send that to me as well.”
“Okay. I can do that right now, I think.”
Walter nodded. “Then I best take care of my business before getting your report. Remember, if you need anything or feel ill, contact myself or Doctor Cross. Excuse me.”
He turned, which prompted Ruby to twist the phone down so that she could see as well.
“Which one?”
“The girl on my left.”
“Which one is you?”
“The… only other girl…”
“Huh. Doesn’t look like you.”
“My hair isn’t naturally white.”
“Huh,” Ruby said, looking between the picture and Dyna. After a few back-and-forths, she shrugged. “Huh. So we get to crack the head of some kidnapper?”
Dyna looked at the little girl with the prominent widow’s peak. She flipped through, looking at the other pictures, but none of them showed her face clearly. She was smiling along with everyone else in the picture and yet, Dyna couldn’t even remember her name. None of the pictures were labeled, unfortunately. Her mother’s message accompanying the pictures simply said that this was the only birthday of the year that made it into the scrapbook. It was a bit disappointing that the water park events hadn’t been chronicled, but that made sense. That hadn’t been her birthday.
“I hope so,” Dyna said, slowly putting down her phone. She had some work to do. Maybe this girl was still out there. Maybe not. “I hope so.”