The Skylar Experiment : Dead Ending (second draft)

78. Brother,

LUC

I'D MANAGED TO SNOOZE OFF on the side of the bed in spite of concerns for Lauren's state. It had been a morning breeze that roused me awake. I'd cracked my eyes open to an unlatched window and swirling purple curtains, in a room that reminded me of a different world. 

I massaged my stiff neck. I glimpsed over my shoulder to inspect the bed behind me, only to find it empty.

Damn it!

I bolted into the hall, rushing down the stairs two at a time. The kitchen was empty. Raymond rested on the living room couch, his feet kicked up on the coffee table, typing away at his laptop. His screen profiled a flagrant pair of dark circles on his face. How early in the morning was it?

Judging by how the shafts of light bounced shyly off the furniture, it felt like break of day. And Lauren was still nowhere to be found. 

Raymond seized me in the hall and he stopped typing. He brought an index to his lips, then pointed at the armchair with its back to me. A dark blonde ponytail dangled down from one of the arms. I moved toward it to see Riley from above. Of course, she was sound asleep at this hour, lying crookedly and with a fist tucked under her freckled cheek. 

Now was not the time to have a field day with it. I mouthed my sister's name to Raymond. He wouldn't have noticed her disappearance and stayed calm about it. 

He jerked his chin at the entrance door and nodded back to me. 

A gust of anxiety swelled in my chest as I rotated the doorknob, preparing to leap into a run when I discovered her sitting on the top porch stairs, her back to the house. I closed the door, but felt trapped in my spot. 

She twisted unflinchingly at the sound of me. The rising dawn illuminated those ashy green eyes, pink and humid at the rims. She'd tied her hair loosely, clearing up her features. The blood smears from the night before must have been washed off. 

Why didn't she flee?

I gestured at her whole appearance. "Do you get that often?" 

Her lids fluttered wearily. Her eyes glimmered as the sun began peaking through the trees with an orange glow, rupturing the nightly blue of the sky. Any sign of smoke and storm seemed to have washed away, except for the excessive dew in the driveway. 

"I'll have it for the rest of my life whenever I overload my abilities." A cynical smirk swept across her lips. "It could've been worse, last night."

I pushed my legs out of their trance. My steps echoed on the wood, and I settled on the stair by her side. A new awareness kicked in, like I was coming to terms with the fact that this wasn't a dream. . 

Lauren fronted the sun again, rubbing her shins. The inhibitor was still wrapped around her wrist, unblinking. "You want answers. I guess I can give them to you, and there's a lot to cover, but you won't like it."

"I wasn't expecting to."

She gathered her thoughts for a moment, looking like she didn't know where to start. 

I began, "I'm going to tell you all I know, and I'll let you fill in the blanks. We put all the cards on the table. Sound good?"

Her lack of response passed as an approval, so I recounted every bit of the puzzle I'd assembled, starting with the day Riley and I first visited Freecore. I explained what Caldwell said of her when we spoke in the SUV, about the great work she did for NIO and that it was her idea to play dead, even though Micheal gave her away. The last part stung.