Hidden Abnormality

Prologue

Prologue
         

  "How do you figure them out so easily? It takes me months to just craft them."

  The girl shrugged. "I... take." She tapped her temple softly. "You... learn."

  Her voice was soft but the way she spoke was as if she had learned how to form and voice the English words this morning. It was toxic. It was beautiful.

  "What do you mean?"

  She took a deep breath. "You learn... from way I do things. I... I take things... and break them."

  I tilted my head to the side. "Break them?"

  She gestured to the latest puzzle on the table. "Broken."

  I frowned. "No, no. Not broken. You just solved it."

  She hissed at me, frustration clear on her dark face. "Broken."

  I grabbed the pieces of the puzzle and started to put them back together. She gasped and started to run at me. The guard by the door reached for the toolbelt around her waist.

  I held up my hand. "No. Leave her be." Her hand relaxed and she became stone-faced once again.

  The girl clawed at my wrists. "What you doing?" she asked quickly as a whip.

  I continued to fit the pieces back together. She settled down and watched, transfixed. Once it was complete, she ripped it from my hands.

  "Fixed?"

  "It was never broken. You mean they never had you do this? You never put them back together?" I looked at the guard by the door. "They never had her put them together again?"

  The woman shrugged. "I don't know, sir."

  The girl shook the puzzle roughly. "You... fixed." She ripped the pieces apart delicately, just as she had the moment it was placed in her possession. "Again," she growled, shoving the pieces in my face.

  "Gather all the puzzles she's ever done before! I want them all back in here, you understand me? She will take them all apart and piece them back together."

  The guard saluted me and unlocked the door to leave, following my order.

  The girl snapped her fingers at me. Regaining my attention. "Again," she repeated.

  I crossed my arms. "No. You do it."