The Mantis Effect

Chapter Ten

For the next week we did nothing but practice our waltz. Brigadier eyed us like a hawk and made sure to correct any out of place footwork or inaccurate posture. He was a tyrannical perfectionist and it was more than overbearing.

I stood in front of a mirror examining my body.

"What are you doing?" Rodriguez asked.

I was being a dumb girl, that's what I was doing. I hoped whatever was being stitched together for me wouldn't make me look like a blimp.

"You look fine," Ward said from over her barrier of aquariums.

"I'm just nervous," I admitted.

"Don't be, trust me. You'll have to focus more on breathing than if anything is popping out where you don't want it to," Ward reassured.

It made me laugh how she was so blatant when she spoke.

A knocking came at the door and we all straitened up. Hap got off his bed and answered it. Another uniformed officer stood there with long flat boxes in his arms.

"I have attire to be delivered to Elites: Hap, Rodriguez, and Féng," he announced.

"That's a delivery for three Elites that are here. There are four of us. What about Elite Ward's order?" Hap asked as he took the boxes.

The officer turned to face Ward and eyed her in a judgmental way as he addressed her.

"Elite Ward is to report directly to Brigadier General Shepherd the night of the ball. You're required to attend a personal dressing," he said to her.

A knot seemed to stick in her throat and she nodded.

The officer clicked his heals and went on his way. Hap seemed to be royally aggravated.

"What the hell does that mean, 'personal dressing'?" He growled.

"It means I'm not as pretty as you and it gives Shepherd anxiety," she teased.

I could tell she knew there was more to it than that but wasn't telling. She turned to us.

"Well open them up. Let's see 'em," she said.

We each opened our boxes to see what had been fashioned for us. Hap had been tailored a sleek black suit with a red interior lining and Rodriguez got the same but with an emerald green lining. Ward sat down on my bed and waited for me to dig through the tissue. I pulled out a long ball gown that was deep emerald in color with gold embroidery of lace flowers at the waist. It was a beautiful gown and as I held it up to myself I realized I had never worn something so fine. It seemed befitting to look our best on our last night here.

That night we each packed our rucksacks carefully. We were gonna' make a run for it the next night. The idea weighed heavy on all of us. Hap and Rodriguez had packed their things away and gone to bed. I struggled to put away the last photo of my family. It felt so surreal that I was finally going to be able to see them again. I touched the photo fondly and to my back I heard the sound of vicious scribbling. I got up to see what it was and found Ward writing furiously on paper after paper. There must have been a pile of at least ten pages at her side.

"What are you writing?" I asked her.

She looked up at me.

"Written navigational instructions of our route. I don't want to forget them while they're in my mind; it gets cloudy in there sometimes," she answered.

She folded the papers up and tucked them inside an envelope. She got up and dug tape out of Rodriguez's drawer and taped the envelope to her Jar with other Ward inside. She carefully carried the jar over to Hap's backpack and tucked it in amongst his things. She dug into the pocket of her pants and pulled out a little bottle of the glassy blue pills that she had given Hap just a day ago and packed them away as well. I found it odd that she was packing her things in his bag and not her own.