Chronological Chaos - Temporal Tides

•eleven•

In a hour, Sybil was back in her street clothes, had a new permanent bracelet attached to her left wrist, and was thrown back into the car with Mr. Kendall. She was completely silent on the way back.

As soon as they entered the city limits, Mr. Kendall commented on the complete personality change.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Sybil imagined he was looking at her through the rear view mirror, eyes hiding behind the sunglasses.

"Yeah, I'm all good," she said with a slight sigh. She looked down at her watch: 5:20. She wondered if her parents even realized she was gone. There were no alarmed text messages so her trip must have been a success.

"Will you continue working with us?" Mr. Kendall asked.

Sybil looked out the window, which had been recently uncovered. "I think so. Do you trust Dr. Wren?"

There was no answer.

"Are we doing this again?" Sybil said, disgust tinging her voice.

"She is my employer," Mr. Kendall said, voice calm. "I respect her."

"Hm."

And that ended the conversation for the rest of the drive. They passed by familiar buildings until they arrived at the bus stop. Sybil tried to let herself out, but Mr. Kendall must have turned on the child locks. She flopped back into the seat, arms crossed.

Mr. Kendall opened the door and she stared at him. "I'm not a kid," she said.

"Doors are also opened for royalty," was all he responded with. Sybil rolled her eyes and slid out of the car.

"This is for you," Mr. Kendall said. He reached into his duffel bag sized pocket and handed her a flip phone. "This is how you'll keep in contact with us. There is only one saved contact. Call us using that one. We will be contact about your next assignment."

Sybil took the phone and put it in her pocket. "Thanks for the ride," she said, backing away.

Mr. Kendall nodded and closed the car door. He ducked back down into the driver's side and drove away, back down the road they came. Sybil watched him disappear down the road and returned to her own car, not sure what to make of what had just happened.

***

The hospital was just the same as she had left it. It was as if no monumental experiment had just happened. Her parents weren't in Maeve's room, however. A single nurse was checking a bandage on her sister's forehead.

"Where are my parents?" Sybil asked the nurse. "That's my sister," she added, nodding to Maeve.

"I believe they went down to grab some food," she said.

"Thank you." Sybil turned to walk away and then stopped to look back at the nurse. "Has anything changed?"

"I'm... not at liberty to say," she said, apologetic.

Sybil nodded and continued walking towards the elevator.

The elevator doors opened and Grayson was standing there, smiling sheepishly when he saw Sybil. "Hey," he said.

Sybil gave him a tight smile and stepped onto the elevator.

"What floor?" he asked.

"First. The cafeteria."

He pressed the button and the elevator began to hum as it descended.

"Sybil," Grayson said, taking a deep breath, "I am so sorry what happened. I have no idea what you're going through. I just want you to know you have a friend to talk to, whenever you need?"