A hiccuping cry. A sniff.
Who was it?
She knew this girl. Who was it?
Her ears popped painfully as the vision passed, leaving Katherine sick to her stomach and dizzy.
“Professor Bassi?” Keisha was standing next to her. “Are you feeling okay?”
Katherine bolted from her office chair and ran toward the door.
“Katherine?”
She didn’t have time!
Katherine ran down the hall and out the double doors of the old physics building, into the quad that surrounded a large fountain and reflecting pool. She saw the heights of the architecture building in the distance, the modern portico dominating the face of the pure white marble building.
She had no idea how much time she had, so she ignored the crunch in her right knee and the strain in her ankle. She shifted her mind into the hyperfocus she’d once practiced during trail runs.
No trail. No track. No rules other than get from the quad to the architecture building as quickly as possible. She mentally mapped out a route in her mind as she ran across the quad. The route would take her over ten minutes at a fast walk.
She didn’t have ten minutes.
She maybe—maybe—had five.
Katherine leaped over a corner of the fountain and dodged groups of students, running as fast as she possibly could. Her lungs were burning by the time she left the quad. Treadmills and walks on the beach were not nearly as strenuous as the conditioning she used to do.
As she ran, she replayed the vision in her mind. She thought about every detail. The angle of the sun and the wind that cut into her face. The shadowed woman in the vision wasn’t clear, but Katherine was certain she knew her. There was something about her that felt familiar.
She ran past the library and the maintenance building behind it, up the steps and through the clear glass doors of the design school, down the backside, even as people shouted angry curses at her. As she beat her way through the oak grove past the design school, she heard a siren in the distance and saw a small group gathered at the foot of the marble steps.
Katherine reached the architecture building at a run; she didn’t slow, she didn’t stop to speak to anyone. She’d been on the roof before and knew how to get there. She ran up the steps and pulled the doors open, heading for the elevator and past the clutch of students who were exiting.
Two minutes. Did she have two minutes?
She hit the back wall of the elevator and turned, punching the button for the top floor. A group of clueless students tried to enter behind her.
“No!” Katherine shoved them out a moment before the doors closed.
“What the hell?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Back off!” She panted and glared at the students, who waited with annoyed expressions.
The doors closed and Katherine pushed the button for the top floor again.
In her mind, a clock was ticking. Her heart was pounding, and her adrenaline raced. She felt a strange euphoria she hadn’t felt in years.
The doors opened and she ran to the roof access door. She pulled it open and rushed up the clanging metal stairs, reaching the roof door before she’d formulated a plan in her mind.
She caught a glimpse of the woman as she stepped toward the edge of the building.
“Stop!” Katherine screamed and held out her hands. She skidded to a halt as the woman on the roof turned.
Her eyes were vacant, but her face was familiar.
“Kaylee?” Katherine walked over and reached for Kaylee’s hand. “Come here.”
She was still awfully close to the edge, far closer than Katherine would ever be comfortable with. She was also silent.
“Kaylee!” She dragged the woman back, and it wasn’t easy. Her feet seemed glued to the roof. Katherine stumbled, but she finally pulled Kaylee away.
The girl blinked, but she didn’t speak. One of Katherine’s nephews had gone through a sleepwalking phase when he was a preteen. It was the only comparison Katherine could make to the expression on Kaylee’s face.
“Kaylee Ivers.” Katherine reached up and pinched the student’s ear. “Talk to me.”
Kaylee’s skin was cold and a little clammy. Her pupils were almost pinprick small.
Katherine heard more sirens, and shouts began to drift up from the ground below.
“Kaylee.” She patted her cheek. “It’s Katherine Bassi.”
The woman finally blinked.
“It’s Katherine Bassi, Kaylee.” She pinched her ear again. “Kaylee!”
She blinked again.
Katherine was racking her brain, trying to figure out something that could snap Kaylee out of whatever trance she was in. When did Kaylee snap to attention at the lab?
She patted her cheek firmly and shouted, “Kaylee, Fred got out of his tank again! Help!”
The young woman blinked rapidly and pressed a hand to her eyes. “Oh!” She moaned audibly; then she looked down, then up. Around the roof in stark confusion. “Where am I?”
“Are you back?” Katherine heard shouting from the crowd below.
“Professor B?” Kaylee was rubbing both her temples. “What’s going on?”
“Good question.” Katherine was still trying to catch her breath, and the adrenaline was wearing off. “I saw you on the edge of the architecture building. You were walking toward the edge. What were you thinking?”
“What?” Kaylee spun in a circle. “None of this… I don’t understand—”
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Katherine sat on a marble bench under the shade cover and patted the seat next to her. “Come here. They’re going to be coming up those stairs any minute. Talk to me before security gets here.”
“Security?” She looked at Katherine, then over her shoulder at the ledge. “Oh my God, was I on the ledge of this building?”
Katherine nodded, still panting.
“Holy shit.” The gravity of the situation finally hit her. She knelt down and sat on the roof. “Holy shit.” She looked like she was going to cry. “That is like… my worst nightmare.”
“What?” Katherine’s lungs were starting to calm down, but her knee was going to be the size of a cantaloupe by bedtime, and her ankle felt like it was on
