* * *

Amused, Scorpion watched as the doors closed. She’d been surprised to find Sarah standing there.

Robyn raced over, but it was too late, the elevator had already started moving.

“Was I supposed to stop that?” Scorpion asked, unrepentant.

Robyn glared at her. “How long was she standing there?”

Scorpion shrugged. “Did someone let her out on purpose?”

Robyn turned a questioning look to Zeus. He shook his head.

Pegasus pressed the elevator call button when no one seemed to remember it existed. “I’m more interested in how she got up here without anyone noticing.”

“I went to get a sandwich,” Cypher mumbled. “And I was not supposed to be looking at the monitors.”

“And where are your minions?” Scorpion asked.

“Doing minion things.”

Zeus raised a hand to stop them. “Scorpion, please make sure she returns to her room and stays there. Pegasus, if you would please help Dragon finish reviewing Hydra’s notes. We’re short of time.”

Pegasus nodded.

Robyn didn’t argue, though clearly this was not the arrangement she wanted. Scorpion wasn’t thrilled with it either, but she held back her complaints.

When everyone else went on their way, she turned her attention back to Cypher. “Aren’t you supposed to go back to your monitors?” She tied her hair into a ponytail. “Go see if sleeping beauty is back in her room. I so don’t want to have to chase her down.”

* * *

Sarah pressed her palm against her forehead as she stared at a flickering wisp of light dancing on the bedroom ceiling. Just one night of decent, peaceful sleep. Was that really too much to ask for?

She shut her eyes, letting her arm drape over her closed lids, immersing her in darkness. The dark summoned a yawn and started leading her mind away. Her thoughts split between awake and asleep, as if running in two different directions, a tug-of-war that left her unable to follow either.

Just as sleep seemed to win, fear flashed through her mind. Heart racing, she opened her eyes in a jolt, pushing back the imaginary threat. The urgency, so clear a second ago, was now gone, nothing to show for it but her racing pulse.

Was that three times in as many nights now? Maybe it was the fourth. And what was she even scared of? The worst thing she could think of right now would be flunking Introduction to Statistics if she couldn’t get any sleep before the test tomorrow.

She propped up her pillow on the headrest, punching it into position though it was blameless.

With a sigh, she reached for the small notebook and opened it on the marked page. The faint glow from outside wasn’t enough, so she turned on the light.

The large lump of sheets and pillows that was her sleeping sister stirred immediately. Robyn grumbled something in her sleep and pulled her blanket over her face.

Sarah turned off the light. Her inability to get a good night’s sleep wouldn’t be such a bother to Robyn if they weren’t currently sharing the same room. Maybe they could use this as an excuse to get Dad to finally finish patching up the holes he’d left in the wall of what should have been Robyn’s actual room. But that was a separate problem. It wouldn’t help with the present issue of being stuck very much awake and in the dark because she didn’t want to wake Robyn up.

Notebook still in hand, she made her way to the door. Robyn didn’t stir once.

Sarah was surprised to find signs of life elsewhere in the house. The television was on in the living room. Mom had likely forgotten it on again after watching a late-night movie.

It wasn’t until she started looking for the remote that she saw Dad passed out on the couch, having fallen over where he sat.

Sarah dropped onto the couch next to him.

He opened his eyes, disturbed by the movement. He squinted first at her, then at his watch. “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?”

Sarah smiled. “Aren’t you?”

He yawned. “I was waiting for the game to start. Your mom didn’t feel like watching.”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Sarah looked back at the screen. The game in question was five minutes from ending. She leaned back on the couch, hugging her notebook to her like a favored stuffed animal. Something she’d written a couple of days ago had been bugging her.

“Hey, Dad, were you ever, like, a spy?”

“What?”

“You’d tell me if you were a spy, right?”

He laughed. “Of course not. Because if I were a spy, I wouldn’t be able to tell you.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “That’s not funny.”

“Neither is you asking me these strange questions at…” He checked his watch again. “Is it really 3am?”

“Yeah, but…”

He muted the television and turned to face her. No trace of his earlier smile or sleepy eyes remained. “Sarah, I am not a spy. Why would you ask such a thing?”

Sarah played with her notebook, flipping it back and forth in her hands. “Do you have a gun?”

“No.”

Was it in her dream that he did? “But you can use one?”

“Yes, of course. I was in the army. You know that.”

“Just the army?”

“Yes, just the army, Sarah.” He frowned at her, probably starting to worry that there was more to the conversation than what she was saying.

“And you really would tell me if you’d been a spy…”

He turned off the television and put the remote down on the coffee table before turning to face her. “I don’t know if you heard your mom and me talking or you saw something in the office that made you think this. But there’s nothing for you to be worried about. A very long time ago, before you were even born, I was contacted by some people right after I’d left the service. They had a good offer, and I was tempted, but then your grandpa got sick and I had to go back home and take care of him, so that was that. Never heard from them again, don’t really know if they were looking for spies. They said they wanted analysts, which is what I was already doing.”

Sarah couldn’t feel the relief she’d expected from his answer.

“Do you want to tell me why this came up?”

She shook her head, hugging the notebook tighter. “No reason.”

None that he’d believe, anyway.

* * *

Without a better idea of what to do once the elevator took off with her inside, Sarah randomly pressed buttons hoping one of them would take her back to her room. As chance would have it, the first hallway the elevator stopped at looked like the one she’d come from. Though, as far as she knew, all the hallways in this place might look the same. Still, she was able to find her room after only a couple of wrong guesses. Thankfully, typing in the wrong codes at the doors that weren’t hers didn’t trigger any alarms.

When her door opened after she typed in the code, she hesitated for only a second. She was tired, everything hurt. Grumbling to herself, she voluntarily stepped back into her cage. It wasn’t as if she was going to escape anyway, not when Robyn was so comfortable in this place.

Besides, she desperately needed to lie back down.

She went back to the bed she considered hers and closed her eyes. Maybe she could pretend it was all a dream, some twisted dream she could wake up from and find her real life waiting for her.

That would be nice.

The door opened. She readied herself to bombard her sister with questions, but it wasn’t Robyn who came in. It was the impatient blonde from the other day. She didn’t look much happier today.

“What in hell were you thinking?” the woman asked as she closed the door behind her.

She started checking the security panel, so she missed Sarah’s attempt at a shrug.

“I figured I’d stretch my legs, get some exercise, see the scenery.”

“How did the inside of the elevator look?”

“I’ve seen better.”

The blonde leaned back against the door and met Sarah’s gaze evenly. “Maybe the fall has got you all confused, but you’re not supposed to be wandering around aimlessly down here. That’s why there was a lock on your door.”

Sarah cocked an eyebrow. “Down?”

“That was not the point,” the woman complained.

Sarah plastered on her best smile. “I know, but I ignored the rest. Where’s Robyn?”

“Busy.”

“With what?”

The woman gave her an irritated look. “Ask her later.”

“So, are you my babysitter now? I thought you were some sort of errand girl.”

“Did your sister leave the door unlocked for you?” the blonde asked.

“If I have to get a sitter, can I at least have a less hostile one?” Sarah asked, trying to annoy the woman into letting something else slip.

The woman grinned. “You have no idea what you’re playing at.”

“No, I don’t. I don’t know why I’m here or where here is, but I do know something.”

“And what’s that?”

Sarah resisted the urge to wipe the sweat from her brow. “What should I call you? Besides my keeper for the time being?”

The woman looked her up and down as if examining her. “Scorpion.”

“Nice name. Really matches your personality.”

Scorpion glared at her.

“Well, whoever you are, here’s what I know: my sister’s no stranger to you.”

It was confirmation enough in her mind that Scorpion didn’t refute it. Sarah tried not to let that show, but she didn’t think she succeeded. Still, the woman said nothing. She might’ve been a statue for all the reaction she showed. An irritated sort of statue, but a statue nonetheless.

Finally, the statue moved. “You’ll be out of here and out of my sight as soon as you’re better. So rest up and get better.”

Sarah set aside her anger for a moment. “Please, I’m trying to understand what’s going on. Can’t really blame me for that, can you?”

Scorpion froze. It seemed there was something she was debating. Finally, she smiled. “You know what? I’ll be outside.” And then she was gone.

Alone again, Sarah closed her eyes. Part of her wanted to scream like a toddler until someone told her what she wanted to know. But the other part was so tired, almost too tired to care, and at least mildly aware that screaming would hurt.

She tried to open her eyes. They obliged, reluctantly.

The room was dark, but she hadn’t turned off the lights.

No one else was there as far as she could tell. A stream of light was coming in through the window, and the more her eyes adjusted, the more she could make out in the dark.

Wait!

There was no window in this place!

As she realized her mistake, her mind made the image vanish accordingly.

There was wetness on her cheeks. Had she been crying in her sleep?

The walls were marked with shadows. In the darkness, they were monsters and eyes.

Eyes that watched her.

Monsters that were coming for her.

The shadows twisted. Sarah shut her eyes, struggling to breathe through the pain.

When she opened her eyes again, the room was light, but no less scary.

The walls were stained with blood.

A crimson river flowed over the tiles she’d been counting on the floor.

Sarah tried turning away from the it, and pain shot through her.

Her eyes snapped open, and she sat up, careful of her injuries.

Had she fallen asleep?

The room was dark. Had someone turned off the lights for her? There was no glow coming from any imaginary window, nor was there blood anywhere in sight. She felt her face for tears and found none.

Sarah didn’t want to close her eyes anymore. It was just her mind playing tricks on her. That’s all it could have been, right?