Rose Tinted

  Against her better judgment, she stepped out of the elevator and looked around the cell. It wasn’t a particularly large room, and was therefore, easy to search. It became obvious to her after only a few seconds that Jonah wasn’t there. She let out a frustrated grunt that the one place she’d thought he would be was a dead end. She had been positive Eris would hide him in an obvious place, offering him up as bait to lure Brynn in.

  Instead, she stood alone in the white room, knowing the elevator had already locked her in.

  Though she knew she was trying in vain, she attempted to wedge her thin fingers in the small gap in the elevator door, wondering if there was any way she could possibly pry it open. It wasn’t just her life she was worried about, it was Jonah’s.

  Eris wouldn’t kill her. She knew that. She had too much information for the Angel to simply end her life. She also knew there would be true horrors in store for her when the Angel found her, but somehow the motivation to save a friend she’d left behind was much stronger than her own well-being.

  She continued to pull on the door that wouldn’t budge, letting her eyes dart wildly around the room for any sign of an air vent or weakness in the walls.

  A small hole in the wall above the door, just out of reach seemed to be the only other access to the outside world and Brynn jumped in vain to reach it, knowing there was no way it would be of any use to her, even if she could get to it.

  “I hate this place,” she said under her breath, wondering if she’d have more success if the playing field were a bit more level.

  It was easy for Eris to always win when she was always the one holding all of the cards. Still, even with the Angel in control of the entire facility, Brynn and her friends had managed to break in and escape more than once. That had to lend something to the Angel’s flaws.

  Sighing deeply, Brynn allowed herself to stop searching for a way out. It was obvious to her that she was trapped, but giving up didn’t seem like the right option. Rachel hadn’t given up. Even when she’d fallen into her fatal silence, the girl had kept fighting Eris by never saying a word.

  Brynn wondered if she really had it in her to be as calm as Rachel. Could she really mosey around the room without a care in the world when she knew her fate was on its way, ready to kill her? As hopeless as her situation seemed, she knew the only way to take control of things, was to be like Rachel.

  She could accept the fact that she was trapped and Eris would be there at any minute to take her, but it would be on her terms. It would be because Brynn had decided that she was at peace with dying if it meant her friends could live. She could find solace in the fact that she had tried desperately to save Jonah and her last act of rebellion against Eris would be her own silence, just like her brave DNA donor.

  She may have been trapped, but she was still in control of how she would take on the Angel. If the only thing left in her arsenal was silence, she would use that weapon until her last breath left her.

  Brynn was vaguely aware of a hissing noise emanating from the small hole she’d tried to reach above the door and she knew what that meant; Eris was leaking gas into her room. She didn’t smell the sugar but she knew it was only a matter of time before the scent hit her nose and her nose hit the ground.

  Taking a steadying breath and a leaf out of Rachel’s book, Brynn walked over to the bed that she had spent so many of her nightmares strapped to. Suddenly it didn’t seem quite so frightening to her. It was the place where she’d make her last stand.

  She sat on the scratchy white comforter and rubbed it between her fingers. She hadn’t ever noticed before how uncomfortable the bed was, though she attributed that to the fact that she was usually being drowned or tortured and so an itchy blanket was the last thing on her mind.

  In a state of morbid curiosity, she laid down on the bed, resting her hands on her stomach and looking up at the white ceiling, trying to channel the girl who was so much braver than her so that she could honor her memory in the only way she knew how.

  She would keep Rachel’s secrets. She owed her that much

  “This is how you spent your last days,” she said to the room, wondering if Rachel could hear her now.

  She wondered if the girl was disappointed in her for failing, or if she was proud of the fact that she had tried; despite the difficulties. In reality, Brynn had done exactly what Rachel had done. She’d tried to save her friends and she’d gone down swinging; doing the right thing in the end, even if the right thing was simply keeping secrets for those you loved.

  “You were so much stronger than me,” she admitted, finding that now that she had begun speaking, she couldn’t seem to stop herself. The time for silence would come soon enough, but until Eris arrived, Brynn would speak to her long gone DNA donor, hoping that by some miracle, she could hear her. “I promise I really tried.”

  Her mind still attempted to replay her last moments with Bennett, but she quickly blocked the fresh memory, opting instead for the feeling of Ty’s pinky interlocking with hers as they both kissed their thumbs to make a promise. It was a simple gesture they had shared a million times, but for some reason, right at that moment, the memory brought a smile to Brynn’s tired eyes.

  In her mind, she could see the freckle below Ty’s warm brown eyes as he grinned at her, his face blurry from how close they were when they’d make their promises. His cheeks would always turn slightly pink at their closeness, then he’d clear his throat and lean away from her. Always trying to be a grown-up and hide his feelings from her.

  “At least we succeeded a little,” she whispered, still smiling at the thought that Ty had escaped the facility.

  If the only good that had come from Brynn staying behind was the fact that Ty had enough time to escape, she was fine with that. He was the most genuine, kind person she knew. He put everyone before himself, and that was exactly the kind of person worth saving.

  “I think I love Ty,” she told the room, almost laughing at how trivial the statement sounded when she knew she’d probably be dying soon.

  But somehow, that statement almost made her feel more connected to Rachel than any of the adventures she’d had.

  Rachel loved Maxwell.

  She would have understood the awful feeling of never seeing him again, even though in this case, Brynn would be the one to die instead of Ty.

  “I hope he knows that,” she said, just as the elevator door slid open and Eris stepped out.

  Chapter 27: Reality

  Brynn had known she was coming. It was almost comical to see her standing there in all of her terrifying glory.

  “You’re so predictable,” she mumbled under her breath, not in the mood for their little back and forth. “If you’re going to kill me you might as well get it over with,” Brynn told her, getting to her feet and trying to be brave.

  Maybe this was how Rachel had done it. If she had been resigned to her fate and knew she had nothing left to live for, it would almost be easy to face it.

  But there was one difference.

  Brynn did have something to live for.

  She had Ty. She had Jonah that she needed to rescue. And she had friends who were counting on her. And that was the most dangerous thing of all, because a person with something to live for was a person who could be broken. Not through any harm caused to them, but through the harm caused to their friends.

  And that was why Brynn was shocked to hear Ty’s voice say, “What are you talking about?” even as she looked at Eris.

  She knew Eris was standing in front of her. She would know the Angel anywhere.

  And yet, somehow, she could hear Ty as Eris spoke to her.

  “Brynn,” he said as Eris took a step towards her.

  Brynn had been prepared to face Eris. She knew what the woman would do to her and she had come to terms with her fate. What she wasn’t prepared for was trying to decipher any possible scenario where Ty’s voice could come out of Eris’s body.

  She took a step back as Eris took a step towards her.
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  “Brynn, it’s me,” Ty said with Eris’s sharp purple eyes blinking in confusion.

  “Stop it!” Brynn yelled, moving away from the woman yet again. “You already have me, why are you doing this?” she asked.

  “Brynn, I’m not going to hurt you,” Ty said as Eris’s hand reached out to grab her.

  Instinctively Brynn lashed out, striking Eris across the face as hard as she could. The woman instantly brought a hand up to her cheek, looking shocked.

  “Brynn, what have they done to you?” the Angel asked, still sounding like Ty.

  Eris walked swiftly towards Brynn again, trying to grab her wrist. Brynn hit the hand away and backed up until she was trapped against the wall.

  “Leave me alone,” she screamed, scratching the face in front of her and leaving four long red lines on the paper white cheek she had struck.

  The walls shifted, just like they always did in her dreams and Brynn suddenly felt dizzy, falling to the floor and grasping her head.

  The lights went out before igniting once more and that was when Brynn saw him.

  Ty was on his knees in front of her, clutching his cheek that was now bleeding profusely and backing away from Brynn.

  “What did they do to you?” he asked again, fear in his eyes now. “Brynn, can’t you see me?” he pleaded.

  Brynn wanted to run to him. She wanted to apologize and stop the blood seeping from his cheek, but she still didn’t trust what she was seeing.

  Somehow Eris had gotten her to see something that wasn’t real. What if that’s what was happening still? How could she trust anything she saw?

  “Brynn?” Ty repeated. “I knew you were going to try to find Jonah so I followed you,” he explained. “Right back to the room I saved you in before.”

  “Ty,” Brynn said in a rough voice, feeling that even if she couldn’t trust her eyes, she knew that it was her friend.

  She crawled over to him quickly and brought her hand up to his bloody cheek.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said over and over, tears threatening to escape as a realization dawned on her: she wasn’t alone anymore. And that meant she had to get out.

  She was fine with sacrificing herself, but Ty was a whole different story.

  “We need to get out of here Ty. I can’t let them take you,” she insisted.

  But she was too late.

  The door was already opening and a Worker stepped out.

  “No!” Brynn yelled, trying to pull Ty away from the too graceful woman.

  Ty, however, thought Brynn was the one who needed protecting. He put his arm in front of her, shielding her from whatever the Worker might do.

  It only took a few seconds for Eris to appear next on the elevator. She had apparently sent her minion ahead of her to take care of Ty.

  “Brynn, I’m so happy you’re back,” Eris said with a smile that actually looked sincere. “Eve, will you please bring our little friend over here?”

  Brynn instinctively backed up, pushing away from the woman with her palms. But it wasn’t Brynn they were after. The woman grabbed Ty and forced him to his feet, practically dragging him over to Eris with his arm twisted painfully behind his back.

  “He’s a handsome one Brynn,” Eris said, taking Ty’s jaw between her thumb and middle finger and turning his head from side to side.

  He stared at her with more hate in his eyes than Brynn thought humanly possible, though he didn’t say anything.

  Maybe that had been Rachel’s trick; hating Eris so much that she couldn’t bear to speak to her.

  “Oh no,” Eris said with mock concern in her deep rich voice. “Look at what you’ve done to his beautiful face.”

  She turned his head to the side to show Brynn the place where she had clawed him. The bleeding had stopped though his cheek was moist with thick red blood.

  “Poor boy,” she said softly, kissing his cheek and staining her lips crimson.

  “Get away from him,” Brynn growled, her anger flaring up inside of her.

  She got to her feet and charged at Eris. She knew she was no match for her but that didn’t stop her from trying to knock the woman off balance like she had before.

  Eris was faster this time, however, and she effortlessly grabbed Brynn by the throat and forced her back down onto the ground.

  “You stay put. I’m not done with you yet,” she whispered, her eyes taking on that terrifying look she possessed when she really got angry.

  She pushed Brynn across the floor until she skidded to a stop by the wall.

  “What should we do with this one?” the other Worker asked, turning Eris’s attention from Brynn for a moment.

  She wiped the blood from her lips on her lab coat, turning the arm red.

  “What would you like me to do with him, Brynn?” she asked.

  A slow grin crept onto her features as she walked behind him, placing one hand under his chin and the other at the top of his head on the opposite side.

  Brynn’s stomach sank as she realized what Eris was preparing to do. Her whole body went numb as she watched helplessly, knowing that if she made a move towards Ty, Eris would break his neck like a twig.

  “Do you know how easy it would be?” Eris whispered, her lips brushing Ty’s ear as he closed his eyes, accepting his fate Brynn thought. She let her purple eyes flicker up to Brynn as her smile continued to grow. “Or maybe I can find a better use for you,” she said, never moving her hands from their lethal positioning. “I don’t think Brynn will tell me anything if I torture her. What do you think, Ty?”

  “Don’t touch her,” he said darkly, opening his eyes and staring straight ahead at Brynn.

  “I was thinking the exact same thing,” Eris said, slowly removing her hands from Ty’s head. “I think that’s where my big mistake was with Rachel. She didn’t really care about herself much. Humans are so silly that way.”

  “Brynn,” Ty said in a shaky voice, his expression pained, not because he knew what would be happening to him, but because he knew what might happen to her.

  “Let me guess?” Eris said, widening her violet eyes at the pair. “You love her?” she mocked. “Well that’s exactly why I need you around Ty. You see, Brynn cares about your well-being more than her own. I should have seen it a while ago but I missed it somehow. I guess that’s the only problem with not being human. I don’t have all of those pesky emotions to get in the way.”

  “Eris, please,” Brynn pleaded, knowing she had made a huge mistake the second she’d spoken.

  Confirming to Eris that she cared about Ty only put him in more danger.

  “Fantastic,” Eris said in a slow deep voice, grinning again like the happiest person in the world as her hand flashed through the air and landed on Ty’s arm with a deep, resonating crack.

  He screamed out in pain and fell to the ground, clutching his limp arm to his chest.

  “Stop!” Brynn screamed as she scrambled over to him, crawling on her hands and knees to get to her friend.

  Eris stepped in front of her before she could reach him, pulling Brynn up by her hair and walking her over to the bed.

  “Sit,” she commanded her, and Brynn did as she was told, not wanting Ty to get hurt anymore.

  Tears were now silently spilling down her pale cheeks as she watched her friend writhe in agony on the soft floor. He groaned softly and kept his eyes firmly shut against the pain.

  “You can take him away now,” Eris said, sounding almost bored.

  “Please don’t kill him,” Brynn begged as Ty was pulled out of the room.

  Eris already knew that she cared about Ty so she figured there was no point in hiding it. She had to find a way to save him, even if that meant giving Eris every bit of information she knew.

  “Killing him means I lose power over you,” Eris said reasonably, forcing Brynn to lie on the bed. “Give me your arm, darling,” she asked sweetly.

  Brynn tried to imagine how Rachel would have behaved in this situation. Would she attack Eris to try to esca
pe, even knowing it meant Maxwell might die? Or would she do anything the woman asked in order to save him?

  Deciding on the latter Brynn held out her arm and Eris stuck a needle connected to a long plastic tube into it.

  “Do you see how much easier everything is when you cooperate?” she asked her, still smiling that manic smile.

  Brynn instantly felt foggy as a warm sensation swept over her body. Eris leaned over and stroked her hair gently. Almost maternally.

  “I’ve been conducting a few experiments of my own you know,” she said like a girl telling her friends about a boy she’d just met. “I’ve learned to navigate your mind quite effectively.”

  “What do you mean?” Brynn asked, though her speech was slurred and almost impossible to understand.

  “Ever since our last meeting in this room, I’ve been mapping that interesting brain of yours. My little experiment with Ty a minute ago was actually quite enjoyable to watch if I’m being quite honest with you,” she said, still sounding much too happy. “Imagine, being able to turn you against him so easily just because you thought he looked like me.”

  “How did you do that?” Brynn asked, or at least she thought she did.

  Eris must have understood the intent behind her mumbling though because she smiled down at her.

  “Brynn you’re always such a pleasure to work with,” she said, still stroking her hair softly as Brynn’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

  “Where’s Jonah?” she asked.

  Eris laughed her deep, throaty laugh.

  “I’m just stockpiling your boyfriends, aren’t I?” she said with glee. “I think it’ll make you so much easier to control, watching them suffer. Though I can’t pretend there’s nothing in it for me. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it.”

  “Please,” Brynn managed to say, her voice almost inaudible.

  “Don’t worry Brynn. I’ll keep them alive and well for you,” she promised. “Well… I’ll keep them alive at least”

  Chapter 28: Fog