Memory Girl (39 page)

I shake my head. “But the scientists hate monsters!”

“Then why are there so many? And some look only days old.” Nate's voice is as hard as a slither's bony spine. “I always wondered why Topsiders didn't try to destroy the creatures.”

“No one can defeat them—they're too fierce,” I say, dodging the spit from a snake. “They can't be stopped.”

“That's what I thought.” Nate narrows his gaze at the creatures. “But I'm looking at the truth.”

“No! There has to be another explanation. The scientists would never breed monsters. Their discoveries prolong life, not destroy it.”

“For ShareHaven only.”

I can't bear for him to be right, yet the evidence howls around me. I point to the bottle in his hand. “You have the pills. Forget this place, and let's leave.”

He shakes his head. “I thought beasts were our worst threat, but they're only weapons.”

“Most of these are too little to be dangerous.”

“They'll grow and join the other beasts,” he says with a narrowing of his brows. “They stalk and kill us—just as the scientists want them to do.”

“Lila would never,” I argue, but my voice is lost in the growls.

“People I care about have been ripped apart by beasts. Beasts created here.” He clenches his hands to fists. “Now I understand why, no matter how many we kill, there are always more to fight. The monsters were bred to kill us. Topsiders want us dead, yet when they need killing skills, they bribe us with medicine,” he adds bitterly. “We're no better than beasts—because that's what they've forced us to be. The proof is in this room. The beasts aren't natural to our island. They're created to hunt us.”

“No! No!” I can hardly speak, horrified. “The scientists—not even Daniel—wouldn't do something so terriful. There has to be a reason, noble and scientific.”

I can't bear looking into Nate's hard blue eyes and turn away. I stare at a door almost hidden in a gap between
towering cages. Through a window, I see bursts of yellow
.
Curiosity pushes me forward.

Opening the door is like leaving a chilly day for one of humid warmth, not uncomfortable but damp, like a sunny day after rain. I blink at the brightness of golden flowers stacked in pots along a wall, lacy plastic coverings dripping inside with moisture for the blossoming flowers.

“Blooming Flowers,” I murmur, realizing this is where the life-giving flowers are nurtured and protected. Scientist Lila said they only grew in one place, and I just found it.

“What are those for?” Nate says, tapping my shoulder.

I glance up to follow his gaze to the other side of the room.

He's pointing to a large sub-temperature container like the one used for storing frozen youth DNA in vials. If I lift the lid, I doubt I'll find vials of human DNA.

Nate is right.

Monsters are created here. I frown at the frozen box, imagining droplets of liquid growing into fierce monsters, set free outside the Fence to kill Nocturnes.

I jump at a touch on my shoulder. “Footsteps,” Nate says in a hoarse whisper. “Coming down the passage!”

Tilting my head, I listen but can only hear the caged monsters.

“My hearing is sharp … from hunting,” he adds in a rush. “We must go!”

I shut out growls, snorts, and hisses and hear a distant click-click of footsteps. There's something else too, a sound like bells. Only this sound isn't far away; it's in this room. I look beyond the frozen box to a shadowed corner, where a cage is draped in black cloth. A tail whips through the
bars, pushing aside the cloth. I hear the sound again, and my heart jumps.

It can't be!

Nate calls my name, but I ignore him, reaching for the cloth. I whip it from the small cage, where a tiny scaly creature curls in a shallow bowl of water.

Petal.

I murmur Petal's name over and over, hugging her to my chest. She's beauteous and healthy, not withering to dust. She tinkles her happy sound, wiggling excitedly and giving me lick-kisses. With a shake of her feathery tail, she showers salty drops on my face, but I don't care. I love her so much.

Relief overwhelms me—yet I'm furious too. All this time Petal has been so close and I didn't know.

“My poor little one.” I kiss her bristly head. “Who locked you in here?”

Nate touches her water bowl, then brings his finger to his lips. “Someone clever enough to know she needs salt water—like a scientist.”

“Not Lila, but maybe the others,” I spit out. “Now I know why Marcus couldn't find her. She was brought here.”

“Why?” Nate shakes his head. “She's not a dangerous beast.”

“She's unique and unusually smart. They probably want to study her. But I won't let anyone put her in a cage ever again.” Petal curls her long tail around my arm, her way of hugging me back. “She belongs in the cave.”

“I'll take her there,” Nate offers. “She'll be safe with me.”

I melt into Petal's liquid black eyes, my heart breaking at her suffering. I can't leave her. Not yet.

“We'll take her together,” I decide. “Then I'll come back
and talk to Lila.”

“Will you still become a scientist?”

I can't answer his question.

Leaving, even though I intend to come back, will betray Lila's trust. And there's the risk of capture too. If Uniforms find me, I'll be the one in a cage—unless they kill me first.

How could so much change in a few short hours? I'd been so joyous at my party, surrounded by friends and excited about a future as a respected scientist. Now I don't know if I even have a future … but I have Petal.

I trail my fingers along Petal's bristly skin, and I consider Nate's accusation about the scientists. He's right; one of them—or more—bred the baby monsters. I can't believe Lila is involved. She's too kind to harm humans or beasts. But Daniel and his assistant Frost thrive on cruelty. And the evidence against them hisses, howls, and thrashes in cages.

Like a zoo,
I think with a leap of memory to a place with animals squawking, roaring, and bellowing from cages. I'm small but quick, running ahead of my mother, who pushes a stroller, and my father calls out, “Milly, come back!” I giggle and run faster, turning around a corner and suddenly looking around … to find myself alone. I turn around in circles, bumping legs and not seeing anyone I know. A lion roars so close I can almost feel its teeth sinking into me. I sink to the ground, shaking and crying for my—

Stop it, Milly!
I shout inside my head.
I don't have time for your fears. I have to be strong.

Petal whimpers, and Milly's thoughts shrink to only a buried whisper.

“You're safe with me,” I tell Petal, kissing her on her whiskery nose.

I lift her up to my hair to hide her but only feel the coolness of air on my neck. No long hair, I remember sadly. So I slip her inside my tunic, and she curls into the deep pocket. Only the tip of her dangling tail is visible.

Nate waits at the door, mouthing, “Hurry!” and gesturing for me to come on.

As we make our way through the cage room, sharp-toothed beasts growl and swipe their claws through the bars. These small beastlings will mature into killers. If ShareHaven wasn't protected by the Fence, there would be a fourth danger for Edu-Center Youths: Do not risk being attacked by flesh-eating beasts.

Nate and I hurry through the room, staying far from the cages.

“We'll make sure the hall is clear, then go to the first level,” I tell Nate. “If anyone sees us, I'll say I'm going for a cliff walk, and you pretend to be a droll.”

He rolls his eyes back and moves his arms stiffly. “Yes, miss. I'll do anything you tell me to because I am here to serve and not to think.”

“You do that too well.” I shudder. “If you ever want a new role, I'm sure Frost would gladly suck out your brains.”

“Not interested.” He scowls, adding in a hushed voice, “Even with my mind intact, I would never live in a place where science is a tool for killing.”

“The scientists gave us health and immortality,” I point out.

“They also send beasts to destroy us and destroy healthy minds to create slaves who serve them. They're the monsters,” he says angrily. “I'm ashamed I used to envy and want to be like Topsiders.”

“It's natural to want to live forever,” I say.

“I just wanted to live. Period.” He traces a mottled red scar on his forearm. “It's torture losing people I love to claws and snakes. I hated yet envied people like you.”

“And now?” My breath catches. “How do you feel … about people … like
me
?” All the beasts seem to go silent as I wait for his answer.

“I wouldn't trade my father and friends for the chance to live forever.” He stares into my face. “But I'll miss you.”

“I'll miss you too,” I tell him. “If only there was a way ….”

Nate reaches out to stroke Petal's skin, his callused fingers brushing against mine. “Come with me.”

“Underground?” I suck in a shocked breath.

He nods. “Topsiders may think of us as savages, but we're far from it. Beneath the ground we create our own light—not only in electrical devices that brighten our homes but in a joyful respect of the value of life. I can show you the tunnels, and we'll go to the sea every day and be with Petal. After evening super, we'll gather together for stellings. You'll be part of a family that welcomes all who need sanctuary—it's been our tradition for centuries. I can't promise you a forever life, but every day will be worth living.”

I imagine following him into a strange world of dark tunnels and pale moon skins that have never seen the sun. I'd like to see the electronic relics and thrill in voices from distant places. Every day would be an adventure and much more, since I'd be with Nate. I look into his blue eyes and sink into an undertow of emotions. I want to be with him, feel the touch of his scarred hand on my skin and press my lips against his.

But I shake my head. “I can't. This is my home.”

“You'd rather stay with scientists who created these
monsters?” He gestures around the room. “They locked Petal in a cage.”

“Not Lila. I'm positive she doesn't know these beasts were being used as weapons against innocent people. She'd never allow something so terriful. You can trust Lila.”

“I'll never trust a scientist.”

I cringe. Will he hate me when … if … I become a scientist?

Nate stares at me for a long moment, then sighs. “I'll check the hall to see if it's safe,” he says, reaching for the door.

But before he can touch the knob—it turns by itself. Nate stumbles as the door shoves him backward.

“You!” Frost snaps.

I say nothing, stepping back until I'm up against a wall.

“How did you get in here?” She glares at me but doesn't notice Nate, although he's standing only a few meters from her.

“I—I took a wrong turn,” I stammer.

“Through locked doors and a tunnel?” Her pale brows narrow. “You're not allowed on this level—especially in this room.”

“I'm going now. It was a mistake.”

“Your mistake.” She lifts something small and black from her pocket—the electricity weapon she used to punish the droll Carlos. She aims the weapon at my face. “I'm going to find out exactly what you're doing here, and you're not going to move until I say you can.”

“Please, just let me go.” I can't take my gaze from the weapon.

“You've compromised our secrets.” Her cold gaze sweeps past me. “Droll, why did you fail to sound an alert when you
found this intruder?”

I follow her gaze, expecting to see a droll—but there's only Nate, his face half-hidden beneath the droll cap. Nate's eyes glaze over with no life. In the dark robe with no facial expression, he looks eerily like a droll. If Frost looks closely, she'll see his battle scars and notice that his hair is slicked back, not sheared short. But like everyone else, she doesn't waste more than a glance at him.

“Useless droll,” Frost gripes. “Must I explain everything? Contain her.”

Nate grabs my arms, holding firm but not roughly. I cry out and pretend to struggle, hoping to keep Frost's gaze on me and away from Nate.

“Finding you here could work out quite well.” The half smile on the smooth side of her face is worse than her scowl. I shiver.

“Lila will be wondering where I am,” I say with growing fear. “I didn't mean to come here. I got lost.”

“This room is off limits for all but scientists and trusted assistants like me.”

“I'm going to be a scientist,” I blurt out, then realize my mistake when her cold eyes ignite with anger.

“Liar!” She raises her hand as if to strike me. “By breaking in here, you've betrayed us as you did your Family. Not even Lila will forgive this.”