Maya was right, they intend to test every senior in my school. The only difference is that the government will be conducting tests for the next two weeks. That means upped security, daily injections, and more than one person questioning me about my dead parents.
Maya’s father escorted me into a classroom, a smile on his face. “How are you Kendra?” He asks, sitting at the teacher’s oak desk. There is a chair in front of him and I know I am expected to sit there.
I return the smile, glad that he is going to be my interrogator today. “I’m actually doing quite well today, Mr. Blanchard,” I tell him, taking a seat opposite of him at the oak desk.
He leans forward, putting his elbows on the desk and laces his fingers together. His smile instantly turns into a frown. “Kendra, I know that you witnessed an arrest the other day on your way to the apartment. Do you know anything about the girl they arrested?” He was really asking me about Alura?
I shook my head. “All I know is that she was incredibly kind and smart. She was quiet in class but stood up for anyone who needed it. I never expected her to be a User.”
His head tilts forward slightly, closer to me so that I can hear his next words. “She was a Water User Kendra,” he whispers to me.
Was. He said she was. “Sir,” I begin. “Is Alura-”
Mr. Blanchard must have caught the distress in my voice. “She’s alive. The scientists are running tests on her while we wait for her Trial.”
There’s a knock on the door that disrupts our conversation. Mr. Blanchard causally leans backward.
“Come in,” he calls out in his booming voice. The door cracks open and a government lackey saunters into the room. The blonde woman wears a dark blue dress covered with a white lab coat and her intense blue eyes are on my interrogator. She leans close to his ear and whispers.
I try not to look like I am eavesdropping. I examine my hands, straining to hear what is being said. I can’t help but notice the amount of dirt under my fingernails.
I catch a name and it jostles me. Joshua. I know he went to the Serum Room shortly before I was pulled from the mass assembly for questioning. Could he have reacted to the injection?
The next words cause me to leap to my feet. “He has been arrested and detained,” the blonde whispers, a bit too loud. She and Mr. Blanchard look at me.
“I-I’m sorry,” I murmur. “But I am suddenly not feeling the best.” It wasn’t really a lie. I was absolutely sick to my stomach. Maya’s father looks at me with concern as I begin to walk towards the door. He knows. He knows Joshua is a friend of mine and Maya’s. I know he’s going to lie to her so I have to find her first. The door unintentionally slams shut behind me and I can hear Blanchard yelling after me.
I take off towards the assembly hall at a run, dodging government workers and students alike. When I get to the doors I’m looking for, I am greeted by four armed soldiers.
“Get out of my way please. I was sent by Mr. Blanchard to escort Maya Blanchard to him,” I lie.
“We’re sorry miss,” one of them says in an unemotional drone voice. “No one is to enter this room by order of the President.”
I can’t help but yell at him. “God dammit. If you make me escort Mr. Blanchard here, I’m sure he’ll have you tried and executed for obstruction of official business.” This seems to upset the usually straight-faced men.
They step aside and the one that addressed me before says “She is located in the front row towards the back wall. Make it fast.” Two soldiers push open the doors and I hastily walk through them.
