Imposter (8 page)

“We pride ourselves in providing comprehensive care in a quiet, discreet manner.” He shifts his gaze toward the door again. “I really do need to go now. I can assure you you’re quite safe. Is there anything else you require?”

My eyes meet Will’s, but he’s back to ignoring me. “No. I’m sure we’ll be fine here.”

“Okay, good.” Dr. Meyers nods, more to himself than anyone else. “I hope you enjoy your visit.” He half-waves as he turns to walk out the door.

“Thank you for your help, Dr. Meyers.”

After the doctor disappears through the doorway, Carroll turns his icy blue eyes on us. His smirk sends a chill racing down my spine. “Alone at last. Most people manage to bore him in far less time than that.” Carroll cackles. “His ‘rounds’ consist of cornering dear Amy in the nearest maintenance closet so they can rut like rabbits until the next shift change.”

I grimace, feeling heat flood my cheeks. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Will’s gaze flicker from Carroll to me.

“You know what I think?” The First’s voice pulls me out of my head. It’s different now, deeper. His creepy stare makes me want to escape just like Dr. Meyers right through the double doors.

Come on, Mira. They wouldn’t let you stay here if it wasn’t safe. You can handle this.
I shift my gaze toward the double doors as Carroll shudders again.

“You know what I think?” he asks.

I chew on my lip, fighting the urge to answer him.

“I think you’ve fallen down the rabbit hole, little Alice.” His lips stretch into a feral grin. “You’ve fallen down a long, dark hole and landed in Wonderland, but you still think you’re in the real world.”

“What’s Wonderland?”

Carroll throws his head back and laughs. “It’s not a
thing
, Alice. It’s a place.”

Frustration bubbles within me. “Stop calling me Alice. I’m Socrates.”

“Liar!” Carroll crows. “You’re as much Socrates as I am. In fact…” He laughs. “I may even be more Socrates than you.” He slaps his hands on the chair’s armrests.

I flick my gaze to Will, but he doesn’t appear to be paying any attention to us. Thank goodness. I take a shaky breath and try to regain my composure. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Maybe the drugs have…”

“Bah! They’re just a minor inconvenience.” He grins and taps his head. “We’re both still in here.”

“So it’s true? You’re both Carroll and…”

“Michael,” he snaps. “I’m Michael, too, and don’t you forget it.”

“You’re crazy.”

A manic light enters his eyes. “Of course, why would we be anything else?”

A chill seeps into me, sinking deep down to my bones. “I… I think I should go.”

Carroll throws his head back and cackles. “Oh come now little rabbit, running away at the first sign of danger. I thought John would have picked someone better than you. Someone with a spine. If this is who you are, we’re all doomed.”

Just a Little Closer

Will

No wonder George Eliot asked me to come
. He really is insane. I turn to Socrates. The First appears nervous and unsure of what to do next, just like…
Stop
.

Pain lances through the hole where my heart used to be.
You can’t keep doing this. Of course Socrates looks like Mira. That’s her body. You’ve got a fiancé and a baby to worry about.

Carroll’s words draw my attention away from Socrates. The man is obviously nuts and belongs here. I don’t think anyone can survive without going crazy if they have two minds trapped in one body. A touch of relief caresses my mind. At least Mira’s not stuck in Socrates’s mind like that. 

Carroll says something else, and Socrates shakes his head. My mind wanders to the vibrant green grass outside the huge windows. A light breeze ruffles the leaves in the trees outside but other than that, the perfectly groomed yard is devoid of life. It’s as if this place is some intricately painted picture and real life things like birds or bugs would mess with the creator’s vision so they were purposefully left out.

Carroll’s voice drones on.
Do the Lifers know we’re here? Would they even care?
For all I know, James Scoffield orchestrated the whole thing. I wouldn’t put it past him or Eliot. There’s something about those two.

The crazy guy in the chair jumps again, a quick jerk of his head that looks as if strings are attached to him, moving him against his will. Something’s wrong again. I scan the room and the emptiness of the entryway beyond. Where’s that nurse, Amy, and Dr. Meyers? They’ve got to be monitoring us from afar. They wouldn’t just leave us unattended, would they?

Carroll shudders before his gaze zeroes in and pins Socrates to the chair. “Dammit, Alice,” he mumbles. “Why didn’t you listen to your mother?”

Socrates pales at the anger in the other man’s voice.

“You never should have run away from home. What a stupid, stupid thing to do.” Venom coats Carroll’s words. “You should have stayed where you belonged! It was the only way to keep you safe.” His body vibrates with anger. “But it’s all gone to hell now. We’re all damned.”

“Umm, Will?”

I put my hand on Socrates’s chair. “What do you think we should do?” I’ve never encountered anyone like Carroll before. I don’t know if there’s some sort of protocol I’m supposed to follow, or security measures to take. All Eliot asked of me was to keep Socrates safe. If it were up to me I’d leave. “Would you like to go?”

Carroll chuckles and steeples his hands in his lap. I think he enjoys the tension. His head jerks to the side once then again. He shifts in his chair and clenches the armrests so tightly his knuckles turn white. “Yes, we should go. Far, far away. Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go.” He sings the last bit, his body swaying to music only he can hear.

“I think you’re right,” Socrates says, his voice so quiet I almost miss it.

Before I can reply, Carroll shakes himself and returns his focus to Socrates. His pupils dilate into huge, dark pools that suck in all the light in the room. “You just had to stick your nose in where it didn’t belong, didn’t you?” He curls his upper lip as though smelling something unpleasant. “Getting into other people’s business. Never content with only your own life, so you had to meddle in other people’s as well.” Carroll leans forward and crooks a finger at Socrates. “You know what?” His muscles tense and coil, a snake about to strike.

My muscles tighten in response. Every nerve jumps to attention. It must be something in Carroll’s eyes or his body language, but danger fills the air. We’ve got to get out of here.

“Oh Alice, you used to be much more.” Sorrow envelopes the First’s features.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Socrates’s hands tremble.

Carroll’s left eye rolls around in its socket, but the right stays facing forward. He tilts his head to the left and lightly smacks himself against his temple. “There. That’s much better. Come closer, pretty Alice; let me tell you a secret.”

Socrates meets my gaze with one of uncertainty. Ben stands up, the hackles lining his back stiffening and a low growl rumbling from his throat.

Carroll crooks a finger at Socrates. “Don’t worry. Just a little closer.”

Before Socrates can react, Carroll springs from his chair with his hands outstretched toward Socrates’s throat.

Time stops, and everything goes still. Socrates cries out and stumbles over his chair as he attempts to escape, but he’s too slow. Carroll is so quick, it’s almost as though he’s been planning for something like this to happen. As he clamps his hands around Socrates’s throat, a manic light fills his eyes and he laughs.

Without even thinking about it, I leap forward. Before he can block me, I grab Carroll’s wrists, wrench him off of Socrates, and fling him over my shoulder. With a startled
oomph
, he crashes into the wall between the windows and slides to the ground. Ben races toward the fallen man and starts barking, the noise breaking the almost unnatural stillness.

Breath heaving in my lungs, I shield Socrates’s body from any further danger and glare at the broken man. From his crumpled position on the floor, Carroll chuckles and wheezes, holding his side as if injured.

Amy and Dr. Meyers rush into the room, followed by a pair of black-uniformed guards. They grab Carroll and shove him into his chair, and the doctor slaps another silver disk to his neck. The drugs are so strong this time that he sags in his chair almost instantly, his entire body relaxing.

Socrates shakes himself, and his normally impassive mask descends once more. He pulls himself to his feet and touches the delicate column of his throat.

Amy approaches us and touches Socrates’s arm. “Are you all right, sir?”

He turns away from me. “Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.”

“I’m so sorry.” She bites her lip. “We’ve never had anything like this happen before.”

He attempts a brave smile at the nurse. “Everything’s fine, I can assure you of that.” Ben trots up to his, hackles still raised. “Some guard dog you are.” He grins and reaches down, scratching the dog behind his ears. The canine’s tail thumps against his owner’s thigh. “If it weren’t for Will, Carroll would have killed me.”

Out of Time

Mira

“I heard about what happened.” Eliot crushes me to her chest as soon as I get out of the Jeep. After she realizes I’m fighting for breath, she pushes me out to arms’ length and checks for injuries.

“I’m fine.” I shrug her off. “Really, I’m all right.”

She reaches out to touch my neck but stops a few inches away. “I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you,” she whispers. Is it me she’d miss or the man I’m supposed to be? “Please don’t do anything that foolish again.”

“I didn’t plan on it, you know.”

Eliot loosens her grip on my arms but doesn’t let me go. “They said he attacked you.”

I shudder, remembering the almost attack. “He did, but Will saved me.”

A contemplative expression flits across her face. “I heard Carroll was unstable, but I never thought he’d actually attack you. The Carroll I knew before the procedure would never have behaved like that.” After glancing around at our surroundings, she offers her arm to me. “Come my dear, let’s talk more in the library.” Ben ambles behind us as we go inside. Eliot leads me to a low leather couch mostly hidden by a pair of long bookcases.

“Sit, please.” Eliot holds her finger to her lips as she searches the library. Once she’s assured we’re alone, she lets her smile fall away and real worry show through. “That was too risky. You could have been seriously injured or even worse, he could have killed you.”

I sit down and clasp my shaking hands in my lap. “I’m fine.” I gesture down at myself. “See?”

“I had this sick feeling all day that something bad was going to happen. I should never have let you go.”

“But I’m fine, really.”

Her wan smile tells me she doesn’t believe my words any more than I do. “You’re so important, Mira. Much more important than you know.” Her eyes get a faraway look. “I still miss him so much. We’d been together for so long that sometimes I swear I hear his voice, or smell his cologne. Sometimes I know exactly what he’d say, and I answer him.” She takes a deep, fortifying breath. “You must think I’m insane.”

I shake my head without thinking about it. “Of course not. You miss him, that’s all.”

She gives herself a quick shake. “Enough of that. We have more important matters to attend to.”

“Yeah, the Bill. The sole reason for my existence.” I can’t keep the bitterness from seeping into my voice.

Eliot pats my hand. “Stop being so dramatic.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “Well it’s true, isn’t it?”

She sits back and considers me. “I guess we’ll never know for sure. I’m beginning to think my love kept a lot of things from me, even though he had to know I would have supported any decision he made.”

“It all happened so fast, maybe he just ran out of time.”

A sharp chuckle escapes her. “That’s funny, especially coming from who you’re supposed to be. We don’t run out of time, girl. We make time. As much time as we need.”

A chill seeps through my bones. She’s right. They live forever at the expense of kids like me, like Max, and like Rosie. We’re all just different sets of clothes they can put on and take off as soon as we get old, wrinkled, and dirty.

Eliot says something, but I miss it. “Mira?”

I blink, try to focus on her and get the image of her wearing my little sister like a cloak out of my head. “Sorry.”

She closes her eyes and releases a long-suffering sigh. “Its fine, but I need you to be careful and not do anything stupid.”

I put a hand to my chest in mock indignation. “Like what?”

“Like telling Will. I can’t protect you from everything.”

“Since when have you protected me? I’ve done all this on my own so far. I don’t need your help.”

She folds her hands in her lap and sits back. “Is that what you think? You botched the assessment after the Exchange, little girl. If it weren’t for my assurances as to your identity, you’d be sitting right there next to your friend at the institution, drooling into your morning coffee every day.”

Panic takes root in the base of my spine, and I stiffen. “I wasn’t that bad.”

Eliot chuckles. “Actually, you’re right. It could have been much worse and if you’d lost it with Carroll, I couldn’t have done anything to save you. You’d never have left the institution.”

“Why would you save me? If you’d had your way, Socrates would still be alive.”

She doesn’t contradict me. “I miss him; I can’t deny that. But for some reason, Socrates chose you to carry on his legacy, and I’ll be damned if I’ll stand by and watch you fail.”