September is almost over. Another week has gone by and following Joshua Roberts hasn’t provided any new information.

For a few days now, except on Fridays, Rachel has a company working out early in the morning, while everyone else slept.

“Oh, I can come back later, it’s okay…” Abigail says on the first day.

“There’s enough room.” Rachel smiles and waves her hand around.

Abigail’s tongue clicks and she ventures inside. Seeing the weights organized on a shelf, a few rugs stacked on a corner, a treadmill and something that catches her eyes. It’s a robot with a humanoid figure.

“Sorry, how does… this… work?” She points to it.

Rachel puts down her weights and comes closer to them.

“Ánh built it. You define your profile, so it will know that it’s fighting you and not me, for example. It learns from each interaction.”

“Fun,” Abigail raises her eyebrow, “can you show it to me?”

Rachel nods and puts her hand on the robot's head. It turns on and says Rachel Moore, it begins with a countdown from three and Rachel starts mostly avoiding its punches and kicks. It moves surprisingly fast and with a final sweep kicks Rachel’s ankle and makes her trip to the mat.

“Done,” Rachel says, and it shuts down.

Abigail gives her a hand and helps her get up.

“You two have quite the relationship, uh?” Abigail’s green eyes glow.

“That’s one way to put it.” Rachel chuckles, “just place your hand there.”

“Where?” Abigail comes closer to her and the robot.

“Here,” Rachel grabs Abigail’s right hand and places it in the robot’s chest.

“New profile. Name.”

“Abigail Parker.”

“Abigail Parker. Ready?”

“Done,” Rachel says.

The robot's lights dim.

“You'll win initially, but it will adapt for the next round. Don’t underestimate it, trust me.”

Rachel turns around and goes to the treadmill.

***

The group meets in the basement. Everyone is there, except for Emily.

“Nothing, Rachel,” Diego reports. He followed Joshua Roberts just the day before.

“The boy leads an uninteresting life. Works at his mother’s office and then spends the evenings drinking with some equally boring people,” Alex continues.

“Movements online and on his cards are normal,” Ánh adds.

“How is that possible? When I followed him, he was shooting bodies from deviants that were clearly taken and experimented on the secret lab you’re searching for.” Abigail pushes her hair back.

“Well, that sounds wonderful, dear, but we haven’t seen anything like it,” Alex shows a half smile.

“It’s useless to keep following him. It’s a dead point,” Diego says.

“End… dead end… well, Megan. You’ve seen already some of the buildings. Anything popped out?” Rachel asks.

“No,” only you killing yourself with drugs.

“Ánh… Marianne Olsen.”

“Nothing on the cameras in her house, nothing on the cards. She doesn’t exist.”

She does. Megan steps away from them and goes to the farther corner, sits down drawing.

“Okay, everyone, let’s put a stop to this Joshua Roberts nonsense. Keep focusing on the buildings, something will happen soon. We’ll see. Good work, everyone!” Rachel starts to get up.

“What if,” Abigail begins and everyone looks at her, “we infiltrated the Institute? My parents are the biggest sponsors. We know that the Roberts have control, so maybe, if I go back,” she scratches her forehead.

“What?” Rachel’s mouth opens and her eyebrow raises.

“You,” Abigail points to Alex, “could erase or hide the memories that I have, and we’d find a way to have me remember safely later.”

"What's the point?" Rachel scoffs.

“I’d try to see if Madeleine Clark or my parents say something. Also, we could ask for a ransom from my parents. That’s money you could use as well.”

“My dear, what a surprise!” Alex smiles widely.

“The plan has some flaws that we could work on, but running the odds, so far…” Ánh says.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“It makes sense,” Diego nods.

Megan continues drawing without even raising her eyes from the tablet.

“No,” Rachel’s voice cuts through like a knife.

Megan raises her head and watches.

“No…?” Abigail asks and Rachel refuses to face her, instead she bites her tongue without hurting herself.

Everyone’s eyes go from Rachel to Abigail and back to Rachel.

“No. We’ll keep doing what we are doing. That… plan,” she gestures, “is not going to happen,” her voice sharpens, “everyone, get to work.”

Ánh shakes her head looking at Abigail, Alex laughs, and Diego goes to his laptop.

“But…?” Abigail gets up and takes a few steps closer to Rachel. Facing her.

“I said no.” Rachel stands up and leaves the room.

Diego keeps tapping while observing Abigail. Megan goes back to her drawing and Alex takes a seat, setting in the map Joshua Roberts’ position.

Ánh grabs Abigail’s hand and leads her upstairs, back to the kitchen. Rachel isn’t there. They start preparing lunch.

“I’ll bring some to Emily after we eat,” Abigail says in a trembling tone.

“Is she… getting better?”

“I don’t know, Ánh… Whenever I think I see some improvement, it’s like two steps forward 100 back. I… don’t know what to do anymore.”

“She’ll get back on her feet again.”

“Rachel’s reaction was…” she sighs, “something.”

“I’m sure she has her reasons, Abigail,” Ánh prepares her salad, keeping the counter perfectly organized while doing it.

“On your computer, I noticed Marianne Olsen’s photo. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her at the Institute.”

“She was a professor at the university. But she has retired a few years ago, and she’s nowhere to be found ever since.”

“How can someone just disappear?”

“She doesn’t want to be found. But we will find her… Đi đêm lắm có ngày gặp ma.”

“I think you’ve told me that one before. What does it mean?”

“If you keep going out at night, you’ll find ghosts. Megan seems to think that her mother is connected to this. Megan knows her, we don’t. If she hasn’t mended her ways, if she’s still the same person that Megan knew, then we’ll find her when we find this lab.”

“Is she from Norway?”

“You saw it on my computer?”

“No, but I’ve seen Megan painting, and the paints on the basement are landscapes from Tromsø. Maybe the ghost is hiding there.”

“There are no records of her flying anywhere, but I can search there too. I wish she was there, really.”

“Why?”

“If she’s there, then she’s away from all this, then she’s not part of it. And if she’s away, Megan won’t see her again.”

“Are you feeling sorry for her? Are you afraid for her life? Afraid that Megan kills her?”

I’m afraid for Megan.

“Where is the other ghost now? If you had to guess?” Abigail asks and realizes that Ánh isn’t understanding her, “Rachel.”

“Gym. If you want to…” Ánh smiles, “clear the air with her, I can hand this to Emily,” she grabs the plate, “good luck.”

***

“Done,” Rachel tells the robot, and it shuts down. The door creaks while it opens wide. Rachel looks over her shoulder, “I’d rather be alone now, Abigail,” Rachel refuses to turn around.

“That’s not how things work, Rachel. You can’t just shut down a plan without giving it some thought. You can’t,” she raises her voice and curls her hands into a fist, “cut off a conversation just because you don’t like it.”

“I’m the leader here!” Rachel faces her now, her eyes wide. “I’m in charge. If I say that we won’t do something…” she sighs loudly, “we won’t. If I say that we won’t even consider if we’ll do something, we don’t even consider it.”

Abigail scoffs and shakes her head, biting her lips.

“It’s very simple how this house works… well… because it’s mine! The rules are easy to understand and follow, if you don’t want to, that’s fine, really, you are free to make your own choices, including leaving,” she rolls her eyes and drops her shoulders, her voice cracks, “this works because my rules exist.”

“That’s not a leadership, Rachel Moore. A leader, a true leader,” she softens her tone, “listens.”

Rachel looks away.

“What are you so afraid of?” Abigail almost whispers.

“What did you say?” Rachel faces her.

“What are you so afraid of?”

“Afraid…?” Rachel’s laugh echoes through the room.

“Yes… afraid,” Abigail shakes her head, “the way that you are acting, shutting down completely this, and now this…” she scoffs, “I don’t even know what to call it, this childish demonstration of power, I guess. What are you so afraid of?” Abigail faces her now and her eyes widen.

Rachel takes several steps closer and shakes her head.

“Maybe, Abigail, just maybe, I’m afraid that we’ll piss off even more one of the most powerful families in the country… hell, the world,” her tone sharpens, but she lowers her volume, “maybe… maybe I am afraid that your family has resources and connections that we are too limited to imagine,” she sighs, “and that these resources, these connections, are what finally brings them to our doorstep.”

She takes a few steps back and breathes in deeply, breathes out slowly.

“Maybe, maybe, I’m afraid that if we ask for a ransom, we’ll jeopardize even further our legacy as a peaceful movement,” she scoffs, “maybe I’m afraid that we’ll be caught and tortured, dissected on that god-awful place. Hell, Abigail, what am I so afraid of?” She clicks her tongue and smiles, “everything.” Her voice breaks. “Everything.”

“Rachel,” Abigail comes closer and puts her hands on the girl’s shoulders, “we’ll find a solution,” she smiles, “Alex can erase my memories and we’ll find a way to have them back at the end of the day safely.”

“Memory erasing has terrible side effects,” Rachel takes Abigail’s hands off her shoulders, “and Alex is talented, he truly is, but what if the other side has someone more talented that can bring back those memories? What about that?”

Abigail scratches her forehead, is about to speak, when Rachel interrupts her thoughts.

“Your family is so powerful, Abigail, but even them, even if they aren’t connected to this lab, even if they still see you as their daughter after you faked your own abduction and betrayed your country, even them wouldn’t be able to protect you from whoever these people are.”

“You’re right, and you make a lot of valid points, but… why can’t we just talk about it? The rest of the group seems open to it.”

“Open to it,” Rachel sighs and sits down on the floor, “Now, Abigail. Now they are. Diego is impulsive. Alex is chaos in person, and he’ll do anything to have a reaction, without thinking of any consequences. Megan didn’t say anything, and I don’t even know what she thinks most of the time. Ánh agrees now but once she truly sees the odds once she sees the failure in the plan, she’ll panic and will overuse her ability to improve something that won’t ever work.”

Abigail sits in front of her.

“Now they are all willing to give it a try. When things go wrong, I'm the one responsible for keeping everyone safe.”

“I overstepped here, clearly. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said half of what I did. Especially the leader thing.”

“Matthew said that I’d never be fit to be a leader. In his mind, a leader is the only one right. Leading through fear was his mantra, most likely. No one stood up to him, only my aunt and the leader of the Ariston community.”

Abigail looks down.

“Everyone else was either too afraid or delusional, like my mother who saw him as our savior on Earth,” Rachel shakes her head and scoffs, “The Williams didn’t say a word, no, they just agreed to whatever Matthew said until they put a knife on our backs,” Rachel pats her shoulder, “I’m thankful that you are calling me out,” she faces her.

Abigail looks up to meet her eyes, smiles and looks away.

“I’ll apologize to them,” Rachel gets up, puts her right hand on Abigail’s right shoulder and leaves.