Threshold (Old Version)

Chapter Thirteen

“Where were you yesterday?” I asked after clarity flooded my dream, a shady forest materializing around me.

“Awake.” Malachi growled. “You’re lucky I’m asleep now.” It’d been two days since Malachi had been poisoned, and my second day in the lab hadn’t been any more exciting than the first.

“Awake? You mean they woke you up?”

“Meaning I felt the drugs wearing off and woke myself up.” Malachi waved forced his hands into his jean pockets and stared down at the forest floor. “I may enjoy my life in the dream world, but being disconnected from my body is only okay for so long. There’s a point where I’d rather know what was happening.” A moment later a bean bag chair materialized behind Malachi and he took a seat.

“Are you okay? Your—um—physical self, that is.”

“Everything hurts, my brain feels like it’s trying to pound its way out of my skull, but better than I was. Yesterday I could barely open my eyes, much less move anything else.” He reported the details like it was a shopping list, not a determination of his own health.

I shuffled my feet, kicking at the pine needles covering the ground. From some dark corner of my mind came the word “deciduous,” but I shook away the memory. After a moment, another bean bag appeared, and I settled into its squishy depths.

“So you were awake today too?” It surprised me that I hadn’t heard. But, then again, it didn’t.

The question hung unanswered, although the answer was obvious.

“I’ve been learning a lot. I think it’s starting to make sense… what they’re trying to do. And why it’s not working.”

“I’m so happy for you,” Malachi growled.

I stared back, losing a few moments before I could finally find words. “You told me to do what it took, to look like I was on their side!”

I watched anger then guilt color his features. “Yeah, I did.”

“Okay, I get that it’s not exactly something you want people figuring out, but maybe there’s a way to help you in it all.”

“I get you’re trying to help, but it’s me you’re talking about. I just… I can’t. I can’t act like it’s all a big puzzle, or a science experiment.”

Even though he looked away, he couldn’t hide the pain so clearly written on his face. Despite all of the rough and toughness, I began to see how close he really was to breaking.

“Same as yesterday, Dr.?” I asked, finishing the last of the buttons on my lab coat as I followed Dr. McPherson across the lab.

“Actually, no. Today shall be a little different. Please offer your assistance to the gentleman managing the data readouts.”

I stopped in my tracks. Different didn’t exactly register as a good thing, and just as I began to ponder the ramifications, Tristan and his gang came stumbling through the door from Malachi’s cell. In a moment, most of the lab came to a standstill, all eyes fixed on Tristan, and the teenager being drug, struggling, behind him.

“Hook ‘m up, see if it’s finally ready to comply,” Tristan barked, motioning towards the two columns at the center of the observation area.

I scurried over to the computers that managed the data readouts, and the dark skinned man that glanced up at my approached motioned me towards the laptop on the end. I tried to ignore the commotion behind me as I familiarized myself with what I was seeing. It took a moment, but I realized the completely blank graph was the data readouts for the energy absorption.