Keenan transformed back quickly, spitting out the Essence of his three Mergers, then turning back to his human form. Sonja however, wasn't so lucky. Her talons receded with some difficulties, and she spat back out one of her Merger . . . but she couldn't retract her wings, or separate from Liam.

I kicked the side of the control panel, growling in anger. I knew what this meant all too well. It had already happened with my charges too many times, as Adam was happy to inform me this morning.

I tried to mask my emotions and reminded the others in a calm voice to get on with their duties. I told them that the medical team would be there soon to help. I told them that they might be able to separate Sonja and Liam.

All of us knew that it wouldn't happen.

I sat in my chair quietly, watching through the monitors as my assistant led the others away, as the medical team approached Sonja and fixed her broken wing, as they gave her painkillers and several types of injections. Nothing helped. The last of the injections was a plain old tranquilizer, and as Sonja fell asleep, I already knew what the verdict would be.

It happened. These things happened, and I knew it, and I knew I couldn't do anything. The Merger-project was still in its experimental phase, and sometimes things just didn't work out. The official story for the other children was that those who weren't able to transform back were relocated, to live a different kind of life. Compared to the truth, I didn't know how much better that was.

When the scientists started to do their final checkups, I shut down the surveillance cameras, turned off the monitors, and limped back down to meet them. For them, these kids were nothing more than raw data, but for me . . . it was a bit different. Teachers and trainers always got close to these children, no matter how much they tried not to. Fortunately I didn't have to explain this to the med team; it didn't take much convincing to make them leave Sonja and Liam with me. To talk to them one last time. They gave me a pair of injections to euthanize them with, reminded me about the paperwork I was obliged to fill, then left in a hurry.

Medics, always a busy bunch.

It took me some time to put Sonja on the stretcher, because her enormous wings kept getting in the way. I laid her on her back with the wings folded beneath her, then lifted Liam's limp body off the chair and put him on top of her. I activated the stretcher and it managed to lift them both, hovering waist high in the air.

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I left the practice grounds cautiously, making sure to take the least-popular passageways as I went. To my great relief, nobody stopped me. I reached the abandoned part of the facility without trouble—from then on, it was almost routine as I took corridor after corridor. I noticed that Sonja's eyes were open; the vertical pupils were watching me sleepily. I had no idea what the two of them felt at the moment—Sonja's reptilian face was impossible to read—but it was obvious that they were still affected by the tranquilizer. At least they wouldn't panic when they heard the news.

"I know that I've been often strict with you guys," I spoke, keeping my eyes on the end of the corridor. "But please keep in mind that I only have your best interest in mind. I can't help you transform back, but I can help you in other ways."

Sonja didn't really react to my speech, apart from blinking slowly.

"Normally, you'd be disposed of," I said. It elicited a hiss from Sonja, but I went on hurriedly. "That's not what I'm doing here! Don't worry, I won't harm you. I don't have the heart to do that. I can't help you, Liam, Sonja, but I can hide you. Give you a place to stay, and . . . figure out what to do."

Sonja tried to move again, to no avail. I hoped Liam could still converse with her mentally. I had a feeling he would be more level-headed about their current predicament. We arrived to the rusted door at the end of the corridor, and I stepped forward to unlock it.

"There are others here as well, similar to you two," I said as I pushed the door open. "You'll see soon enough."

As I guided them in, Sonja flopped her head weakly, but she was still too dazed to properly look around. Not that she would have seen much. The lights weren't working well in this part of the facility, though I had already fixed some; just enough so that we didn't have to stumble around in the dark. The stacks of crates and the empty containers doing nothing to dispel the eerie atmosphere, I had to admit. The storage room wasn't particularly inviting as living quarters, but I reminded myself that this was just a temporary solution.

"I'll have to leave you here for a bit," I told Sonja and Liam. "People will get suspicious if I stay here for too long, and I need to fill out the reports about you. Just stay calm, okay? If I can't make it back soon, I'll send a . . . friend. She's a red-haired girl with fair skin, called Della."

Sonja blinked at me three times, which I took as a sign that she understood. With some words of goodbye I left, locking the door behind me. I considered leaving it open, but it would have been trouble if Sonja wandered off somewhere and got caught. Better to not take any chances.