Mission 'Don't get killed'

Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

'But you already know what kind of mindscaper I am.' I say slowly, acting as if I have no clue what he's talking about.

'That's not what I meant.' He sounds impatient. 'I know what you are and I know you are strong, otherwise you wouldn't have survived all these years. I want to test your strength.' This is code for 'I want to know if you're useful'.

'I don't know whether I can do that.' I say hesitantly. 'I mean, it's been a long time since I broke into mindscapes.' I lie. I had some training before I left here, when everyone, including me, had just found out what kind of mindscaper I was.

'Well, than it's time to see if you can still do it.' He says simply. 'If you thought I was just going to waste your ability and let you hang around here all day, you were wrong. You're going to work for me.'

'What exactly do you want me to do?' I can hear how the fear is creeping into my voice. My father can be very... creative. I don't think I'll like much of what he wants me to do.

'I want you to break into someones mindscape and give me information. Of course, I'll be breaking into the same mind, so I can see whether you're completely honest with me.' He gives me a smile. I should have been expecting this. Of course he wants to test my loyalty. But does that mean he thinks I've been messing around with my own mindscape? Because if he's onto me and my fake mindscape, then I have yet another problem. The knots in my stomach tighten and I have to swallow hard before I manage to nod.

'Sure.' I say tightly and I turn around to leave, I want to postpone this as much as I can.

My father stops me. 'I want you to come with me and do it now.'

I'm surprised that I'm not being blindfolded. It wouldn't be the first time. We walk through the building, in the same direction as where I would go in order to get to the restricted corridor.

At first I think my father is going to show me what's in that hallway, but he walks further and unlocks another door. This door descents into the basement. I've never been here, partly because I was always scared of the basement and partly because there are three big locks on the door, it's even better secured than the door I picked earlier this week.

We walk down the stairs and my father flips some switches, causing lights to flicker on. There's one chair in the basement, and there's a person sitting on it, his back to us. I can see his hands are tied behind his back and I get an awful feeling. I ignore the alarmbells in my head and tell myself that this could be anyone. There are more people out there on the streets. But then my father walks over to the guy on the chair and faces him. I'm still standing hesitantly on the last step and he impatiently waves me over.

And my suspicions and worst nightmares are confirmed. On that chair is Zac. He looks like he's either asleep, unconcious or just keeping his eyes closed. I hope he's unconcious, it would give me an excuse to bail out of this, but then he slowly lifts his head to look at us. I shake my head almost invisibly, hoping he gets the hint. And he does, he doesn't show any sign of recognition but just spits at both me and my father. Or he just thinks that I'm a traitor. I wish there was a way that I could tell him that I'm not, that I'm here to save him and Sara.

'We found him not too long ago.' My father says. 'Together with that girl you saw upstairs.' He narrows his eyes at me. 'I want you to break into his mindscape and see why he's here. If he's a spy or not. What his intentions are.' This sounds like the things I always do for Matt. I don't think I've ever been so scared in my entire life and not just only for me, but also for Zac. I know my father has already broken into his mindscape, maybe he's already been touched by destroyers even though that's not very likely. It's harder to get information from someone when their mindscape is a mess. I wonder why my father has been keeping him alive for so long. When he got what he wanted he could have just killed him.