* * *

Robyn knocked on Pegasus’ door. She glanced at her watch. Pegasus shouldn’t be asleep, it was the middle of the day. As far as she knew, he had the most obnoxious internal clock out of all of them. But maybe his current debilitated state had messed it up.

She knocked again, louder. Would he find it strange if she tried the door? He hadn’t complained when he found her waiting inside his room the other day.

Her hand was already on the doorknob when the door opened.

“Sorry, I had the headphones on.” He gestured she come inside.

Various files were spread out along his desk. He’d obviously been working.

She’d always thought it weird that Pegasus preferred printouts of the stuff he had to look at.

These all seemed to be related to Sarah. “I’ve got some time, so I was wondering if we could go over your plan for my sister.”

“Sure, let me pull up what the doctors sent.” He sat down at the computer. “Have you talked to her?”

Robyn shifted uneasily. She couldn’t lie about that.

“You promised you’d talk to her yesterday.”

“I know.” But then she’d gotten busy and then she’d gotten scared again. And in the end, she hadn’t spoken to Sarah in almost two days.

Pegasus turned his chair to face her. “Dragon, you asked for a day, I gave you a day. Now get over there and talk to her.”

He wouldn’t let her postpone it any longer, she was sure of that. “Did Unicorn find out anything else about Gellman’s cell?”

“Last I heard, we have that cell mapped out, but the orders to kill Sarah seem like they came out of nowhere. It’s what you’d expect from their puppeteers.”

Robyn nodded to herself. Some orders were like that. They came from somewhere so high up, it was impossible to follow them to their source. This would be such a case.

Which meant there was no way for them to know if Sarah would be safe at her aunt’s. She wished it didn’t feel so much like a gamble, but she didn’t know any more than they did of what would happen to Sarah.

“Do you still want me to go ahead with building her backstory?” Pegasus asked.

They couldn’t keep Sarah locked in a room indefinitely. Though that didn’t sound like such a bad idea.

There was a knock on the door. Mermaid popped her head in, smiling as she waved at them. “Our schedule was pushed up.”

“What happened?”

“We think they’re gonna be at the harbor. Might be moving the chemicals or the bomb, we’re not sure. The info came through one of Python’s old informants, but the guy isn’t very trustworthy. The specifics are on your computer,” she said towards Robyn.

Robyn nodded. They’d been waiting for this.

“Briefing’s in ten,” Mermaid said.

“Are we having trouble with the com again?” Pegasus asked.

Mermaid laughed. “Nah, Cypher was being lazy. He was talking to me while I was walking past.”

Robyn turned to Pegasus. “Could you start prepping Sarah? I’ll tell her about it now before we leave.”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

Nothing would have to be decided before she came back anyways. And this would give her some more time to think things through.

“Don’t worry about this, Robyn, none of this.” Pegasus reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Just focus on what you’re doing. No one’s gonna do anything with Sarah until you come back.”

She nodded. If only her worries were that simple. “Okay.”

His eyes narrowed on her despite the smile. “Now go talk to her. Or I will drag you down there and make you.”

She didn’t doubt he would, so she promised she’d go straight to Sarah’s room from there. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

Robyn changed her mind several times on her way to see Sarah. The thought of saying goodbye was troubling, but she couldn’t afford to hesitate. If nothing else, the imaginary clock ticking away in her subconscious kept her moving.

The last time she’d said goodbye to her sister came to mind. It was also the last time she’d gone to some strange place without knowing if she’d come back.

Her sister had been asleep then. Robyn remembered hesitating outside her room even though someone was waiting to drive her to the compound. She’d turned the doorknob slowly, willing it not to make a sound, terrified her sister would wake up. Faint light crept in through the blinds. It wasn’t until her eyes adjusted that she could see her sister on the bed, sleeping all twisted like she always did. Even then, she hadn’t been sure if she should say something.

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The look on her sister’s face had been so peaceful, she couldn’t bring herself to wake her and disturb that fragile peace. In the end, Robyn had turned around and left just as quietly. Her sister never even noticed she’d been there.

Robyn hesitated outside Sarah’s door. She paused with her hand on the doorknob. Would this be a repeat of that memory?

If Sarah were asleep, would she let peace have its turn in Sarah’s mind, at least for a little while? Or would she say what needed saying? Which one would be worse?

* * *

Sarah was wide awake, staring at the door as if she could make the thing open with the power of her mind. She didn’t have much faith in it, but telekinesis felt like the only way she was ever getting out of there. Though she’d never been claustrophobic, she would give anything to have that door at least left ajar.

Were there footsteps out in the hallway?

The steps halted right outside her door.

Sarah stared at the door, expecting it to open, but she didn’t move. Stillness felt natural, felt safe. She was afraid movement would disturb the delicate balance she’d set within herself.

Silence prolonged itself and nothing changed. Had she imagined those footsteps?

Just like she’d imagined the blood—her gaze flitted to the wall, but there was no blood there now.

Tricks of light should be fleeting, and nightmares shouldn’t endure past the hours of waking, right? But then what did it mean that she’d seen it when staring right at the wall earlier?

Maybe being stuck in that room had caused her to lose her mind. She also hadn’t completely ruled out the possibility that she was the subject of some sort of twisted experiment. If not for her sister, she would have placed that at the top of her list. But then she hadn’t seen Robyn in several days.

She’d all but forgotten about the footsteps outside when the door finally edged open and Robyn appeared.

“Hi,” Sarah said, that simple action triggering the rest. Some of the tension went out of her, but she quickly protested when Robyn went to close the door. “Can we leave it for a bit?”

“Sure.”

“I’m developing claustrophobia.” Sarah got up and went towards the door.

Nothing but the familiar empty hallway was out there. She rolled her shoulders and something in her neck popped. “Robyn, what the hell?”

Robyn’s eyes widened. “What?”

“You ran out the other day without any sort of explanation and never came back. For all I knew, you’d been abducted by aliens or something. And then I got carted off and interrogated! Where were you?”

Robyn wouldn’t meet her gaze. “Sorry, it’s been kind of hectic.”

“Oh, really?” Sarah forced herself to inhale and exhale a few times to calm down. The pain in her chest was bearable. “Can you please tell me what’s going on now?”

“Well, for one, you couldn’t convince anyone you were you if you tried.” Robyn smiled, sitting down on the foot of the bed.

“I could’ve told you that.” Sarah didn’t bother hiding her irritation. “But seriously, what’s going on?”

“I still can’t tell you the specifics,” Robyn said. “But I’ll explain as much as I can when I get back.”

Sarah froze, a sinking feeling taking root in the pit of her stomach. “Where are you going?”

“I’m heading out with some of the others. There’s something we need to go check. It’s important.”

The vagueness was not reassuring.

“Don’t worry.” Robyn’s expression softened. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

Sarah stared out at the empty hallway again. “Can’t you not go?”

The sinking feeling in her stomach was churning and morphing into something stronger. She didn’t want Robyn to go anywhere. She didn’t want Robyn out of her sight.

There were enough genuine reasons for her to worry, but the rising fear was more irrational than she expected.

It bordered on certainty.

Her breaths became shallow. Was this because of Mom and Dad? Or could be an echo of those moments when she woke up and Robyn wasn’t there.

“I’m worried,” was all she was able to say. But really, she was terrified.

Robyn laughed, dismissing her concern. “There’s nothing to worry about. We’re gonna go get some boxes, that’s all.”

Regardless of her opinion on the truthfulness of that statement, Sarah didn’t contest it. She doubted her sister would tell her the truth about this when she’d been hiding so many things.

Robyn checked her watch. “I’ve gotta go.”

Sarah stood in her way, unwilling to let her leave.

Robyn placed her hands on Sarah’s shoulders and squeezed gently. “We’ll talk later.”

Sarah held her ground. Those sounded like empty words.

“I promise,” Robyn added.

Sarah placed her hands on top of Robyn’s and squeezed.

“Pegasus will be by later to check up on you,” Robyn said, wincing a second after the words left her. “To check if you need anything, I mean.”

“To make sure I haven’t died of boredom?”

“There are some things he’ll be needing to discuss with you.”

“What things?” Sarah asked. “More of those stupid questions?”

“No, nothing like that.” Again with the lack of explanations. “Please be patient with all this.”

Sarah didn’t say a word. Her patience was long gone.

“At least try not to give them a hard time.”

Sarah pressed her lips together.

“Okay?” Robyn insisted, pulling her into a hug.

Sarah hugged her as tightly as she could. “Okay.”

“We’ll have a long talk as soon as I get back, I promise.”

With another glance at her watch, Robyn all but moved Sarah aside and rushed out with a wave. “Don’t worry.”

But Sarah couldn’t help it. She sat down on the bed, the world slowing down around her as she imagined Robyn’s footsteps gaining distance.

The feeling of being cut off from the world suffocated her—even if the world right outside the door was an empty hallway. Somewhere deep inside, the fear grew.