Losing Eight Lives

17 | True Lies

Steve walked in front of me, leading the way through complicated hallways with many turns. I had a headache trying to remember where our room was.

Jace and Carter walked behind me with Marty bringing up the end. Our trip was silent, until Steve came to a pair of large dark wooden doors.

He waited until everyone caught up before he shoved the large doors open and walked right through them. The hinges created a loud squeal as they started to close.

I hesitated, but reluctantly pushed the doors back open and stepped through.

The room on the other side was huge. It had a large wooden table in the middle that matched the dark wood of the door. Chairs lined the edge of the table, and a large window took up the entire wall of the other side of the room.

Two men and a woman were already in the room when we entered. One of the men was short, with hair as black as the leather jacket and sunglasses he wore. And he looked remarkably familiar.

The other was taller. He wore regular glasses and a white lab coat over his slim figure.

The woman looked in her early forties, and her long shinny black hair fell on her shoulders perfectly. She wore a dull red business suit and heels that clicked the floor as she made her way to her seat.

The three of them were talking before we came in the room, and took their seats as soon as Marty was in sight.

"Wonderful," said the woman. "We are all here. Welcome Phoebe, Jace and Carter," she gave each of us a smile.

How she knew our names didn't surprise me at this point, but that was the farthest thing on my mind. I glanced at Jace and Carter to find both with neutral expressions. I must have been the only one who looked as happy to be here, as I looked when we reunited with Carter.

I took a seat next to Jace and looked at everyone with defiance and bravery. But somewhere deep inside me, my heart pounded and my hands trembled with nerves and fear. However, there was no way I would let them know that I was scared of them--or what they could do.

When everyone was sitting--except Steve and Marty who stood protectively behind us--the woman started again.

"I am Catherine, and my friends here are Blake," she gestured to the short man in black, "and Cole," she looked at the scientist-looking guy. Catherine looked back at the three of us, "I don't suppose you've heard of Area 51?"

We stayed silent, but I nodded along with Jace and Carter.

"Yeah, of course. Everyone has. It's the government department that works with UFOs and aliens from other planets," she paused. "But I bet you've never heard of Area 9L."

Area 9L. Realization must have crossed my face, because Catherine showed the slightest surprise in her expression. But, she quickly ignored my reaction and continued.

"The '9L,' in Area 9L, stands for Nine Life. Therefore we are really Area Nine Life, but Area 9L is what people know us by." Catherine looked at Cole expectedly.

"See, you are currently in our top secret facility. That's why it looks like we are in the middle of nowhere." Cole paused, and took a moment to swallow. "Here in Area 9L, we run experiments to help the human being live longer. We tried many different theories that didn't go quite right, but suddenly one came to mind that seemed brilliant." He leaned closer for a dramatic effect. "And it was," he leaned back and was about to continue when Catherine cut him off.

"Phoebe. Jace." she looked at each of us when saying our name. "You both died in that fire."

I just stared at her. Words didn't begin to describe the amount of questions that spun in my head. My mouth opened slightly to say something, but I forced myself to swallow the words, and I closed my mouth again.