Chapter 25
We eat dinner after everyone else has gone to bed. The food is lukewarm and a little tough, but it’s better than what we’re used to, and we clean our plates. Some even go back for seconds. I retreat to my room for the rest of the evening while Rabaan and five of his men take the first patrol. Keller, Rey and Tobin will relieve them around two in the morning. Braxton and Jagger elect to forgo sleep and work in the security and communications room, allowing Duren and Hera to get some rest. Lehen, Quin, and the remaining five Morrigan will patrol the grounds during the day. I’m being made to stay inside, much to my unhappiness.
Since I’m the only female in our little entourage, I’m allotted an entire living quarter to myself. I have four bedrooms, a sitting area, and a large bathroom all to myself. The room I’m occupying belongs to Saree, who works with the newborns-to-six-year-old age group. Her room is small, one window just above her built-in bed. The bed linens and furniture are uniform, probably issued by Acheron to keep conformity. Shelves cascade down on the wall next to her closet, covered in hand-made art pieces obviously done by the children, unlike the Superior’s office, which contained no personal items or mementos.
I’m in desperate need of a shower, so I discard my filthy clothes and pull on a blue cotton robe. The bathroom is blue in color much like the bedroom and sitting area. Every fifth tile has the emblem of Acheron etched in the center. I find toiletry items in one of the shower stalls, as well as a freshly laundered towel. I take the center stall, and stay in the hot water for almost an hour, letting it rain down on me as I try to cleanse every cell of my being. After drying off, I wash my clothes in the sink and then return to my room, where I exchange the robe for a pair of satin blue pajamas. I turn off the light and crawl under the soft gold blankets, burrowing myself as far down as possible.
My nightmare returns instantly.
Devlan hastily leaves, followed by Dr. Hersher. I walk over to Magda, take her hand, and stand to watch as the complex continues to implode. Another man approaches us from the inferno.
“Thatcher,” Magda calls out, “Did you find him?”
“No, the housing units are gone. I’m afraid these four are all that remain.”
A pounding outside my dream world rouses me back to reality.
I push the covers back, step out of bed, and grope my way in the dark as I haven’t turned the light back on. Shielding my eyes in preparation for blinding light from the sitting area, I open the door, but am met by a soft yellow glow instead, and Quin standing before me.
“Are you all right?” he asks, standing arm’s length away from the threshold.
“I’m fine,” I lie, “why?”
“I was coming to check on you when I heard you crying, so I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
I want to turn him away, but loneliness and loss has crept inside, so I step aside leaving the door open. I walk back over to the bed while Quin flips on the lights and closes the door.
I sit at the head of the bed, pulling my knees up tight against my chest. “What do you remember from that night at the Dormitories?”
“I was sitting in the medical wing, being treated by one of the nurses. I’d been feeling ill all day, so they kept me separated from the other boys as a precaution. The nurse was running tests on me to see why I was feeling very ill, because Antaeans are not supposed to get sick.”
Quin sits down at the foot of my bed, feet resting on the floor.
“The perimeter alarms started to sound, so the nurse told me to stay where I was while she went to see what was going on.” His gaze is unfocused as he thinks back to that night.
“I heard screaming from down the hall, so I crawled off the work bench she had me propped on and wriggled under a set of cabinets against the far wall. The screams became louder when I saw bright blue flashes erupt beyond the window of the door to the room. The nurse came stumbling in, her right side badly singed, and bleeding at the shoulder. I was about to come out from my hiding place when a man in black clothing came in and shot her in the back with a Levin gun. I watched as she fell to the floor, eyes wide open, but lifeless. I couldn’t move from that spot until the fire was practically on top of me.”
“That’s why you weren’t with Lehen and Vier when they were saved,” I say.
I let the silence settle between us, turn my head, and look out into the darkness. The snow has stopped falling, but the clouds remain as the stars are blacked out.
“Is that what you were dreaming about?” Quin finally asks, breaking the quiet.
“Yes,” I say relaxing a bit, settling my legs down onto the bed. “I’ve no real recollection of that night except in the nightmares that come to me. I doubt I’ll ever be able to remember everything.”
“I think that’s a blessing.”
I smile at his remark as my eyes begin to grow heavy. Quin gives me a hug just as he gets up to leave. I hang onto him for longer than is required, but it’s nice to see the Quin I grew to love. I crawl under the covers as the light in the room is extinguished, but I don’t hear my door open, instead I feel Quin lie down next to me, wrapping his body around me as if encasing me in a cocoon to keep the nightmares
