Book II - ch 4: Phoenix Risen

* * *

“You wanted to see me?” Pegasus asked when he got tired of waiting for Zeus to speak.

Zeus had one of his poker faces on—he had several. Pegasus was pretty good about telling most of them apart. There was the one where he didn’t want to give an answer he had, the one where he was trying not to look upset when he really wanted to strangle someone, the one where he held back his laughter when Scorpion was being contrary, and so on.

Pegasus wasn’t sure which one this one was, but he knew Zeus well enough to know something was going on. When Zeus shrugged, a hauntingly similar movement to his own, he was not deceived.

“I thought you might want to play guide when Sarah gets here.”

Pegasus narrowed his eyes. “And?” A note of challenge crept into his voice.

“And see what you think. Her test results all look good, but I hear she’s tired a lot and often has nightmares.”

“Why shouldn’t she have nightmares?” Pegasus asked.

Zeus met his gaze. “You spent more time with her than anyone here. All I’m asking is that you keep an eye on her, make sure she’s okay.”

Pegasus didn’t back down. “Okay or functional? Because, as most of us can attest, that’s not entirely the same thing.”

* * *

Sarah drew in a shaky breath, but didn’t dare get any closer. Her bag slipped from her hand. She wasn’t sure why she was there. She’d just started walking… and there it was.

The hallways all looked alike, but she knew this was it.

She slowed her breaths, fighting against the unexpected tidal wave of emotion. It had been a year after all. She’d fooled herself into believing it wouldn’t hurt as much.

Sarah glanced surreptitiously at the ceiling, sure the cameras would catch her if she broke down in tears. The emptiness of the corridor was nothing if not deceiving. The next second revealed how right she was.

“Sarah?”

She almost jumped out of her skin.

“Cameras,” Pegasus said before she could ask if he’d followed her.

She turned back toward her old room. “It’s just a hallway, isn’t it? A carbon copy of the rest. So why does this one feel different?”

He didn’t answer.

It was, after all, the place where Robyn had died. One of them.

“You’re late,” he said when she said nothing else.

“I was listening to the recordings from that day.” She didn’t have to say what day. What other recordings would have occupied her mind than the ones from her last conversation with the other Robyn? “Forgot to set the alarm.”

“I’m sorry the higher-ups didn’t let you listen to them sooner.”

It wasn’t his fault. He’d petitioned them to hand her a copy of the recordings and apparently even Zeus had agreed to it, but was overruled. Since she’d been there in person, it never made sense to either of them that she hadn’t been given access to them—not until she graduated.

“It sounds so different now that I know she wasn’t really my sister.”

“I imagine it would.” He picked up her bag and slung it over his shoulder. “I’ll show you to your room before we head back up.”

Her gaze lingered on the spot where the blood had been. She could almost convince herself there was an enduring stain.

“How many times did you listen to it?” Pegasus asked once they reached another one of those similar grayish corridors.

“More than I care to admit.”

There was something about hearing her sister’s voice, even under the circumstances, even though it wasn’t really her but some distorted duplicate. The recording had been done on Pegasus’ end, which meant they only had the parts he’d been listening to.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Sarah had already given them whatever it was she remembered of the rest, but it hadn’t been much. Between the confusion and her sister pointing a gun at her, she was surprised she remembered anything at all.

Thinking of some of the strange things Robyn had said, she slowed her steps. “What did she mean when she said that was all you would have been?”

Pegasus shrugged a shoulder. “She called me by my last name.”

By the ease with which he replied, it was easy to assume he’d also listened to those recordings more than once.

“If my parents hadn’t taken the bridge, they wouldn’t have died and we would’ve moved away from the city the following week. That was the plan. We were going out to the country. If not for their accident, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be Pegasus.”

Why would the impostor have mentioned that? Was it part of some truncated conversation she had with her world’s version of Tobias?

Her thoughts were interrupted when he stopped in front of a door—another grayish door in that grayish hallway that looked like all the other doors in all the other hallways.

“Ah, there it is: home sweet cell.”

Pegasus laughed. “Hey, at least this time you get to pick the lock code.”

“Good point.” How much of a cell could it be if she was the one who could open the door? Or maybe this entire place was one giant cell and she just didn’t realize it. That would mean they were all prisoners, locked up in this underground bunker even though they were the ones with the keys. Depressing, but probably more accurate than not.

“What is it?” he asked.

She shook it off. “My mind was running away with me again. Nothing to worry about.”

He opened the door and led her inside, leaving her bag on the center table. The room might have looked the same from the outside, but the inside was an improvement.

It was slightly bigger, with a larger table, a desk in the corner, a couch and a couple of armchairs that didn’t look that uncomfortable. She looked around a bit while Pegasus tested said chairs by slumping into one and closing his eyes.

The bathroom was pretty much the same as in her previous room, but the bed was larger and nicer. She started when she saw the mirror hanging right in front of it, caught off guard by her own reflection. She checked that Pegasus still had his eyes closed before regaining her composure.

“I hope you’re not creating an escape plan,” he said, still looking asleep. “That’ll be counter-productive since you can leave any time you want.”

“I can?” She feigned surprise. “I don’t remember that in the company brochure.”

The corner of his lips twitched and he jumped to his feet, gesturing towards the door. “Yeah, they don’t make a big deal out of it. They figure the fewer people who know they can leave, the better. That’s also why we don’t have marked exits.”

Sarah followed along as he gave her a quick tour of the normal places she hadn’t thought of before, such as the kitchen and the recreation room. She remembered he had been banned from the latter during her last visit—if she could call it that.

“You’ll get a code granting you access to the garage as well within the next few weeks. You’ll be able to take any of the regular cars out, all you need to do is log it in. It’s procedure to review each trip you take outside, so just keep that in mind.”

“No running any red lights then. Noted.”

“If you get any tickets, your driving privileges can get revoked unless you have adequate justification.” A mischievous smile emerged. “Make sure you have a good story ready, just in case.”

Sarah hid a smile.

They encountered several other people on their way back, contradicting her previous illusion that there was nobody ever there. They must’ve all been hiding in this particular area.

“A lot of us live here,” he said as if he’d guessed her thoughts. “Scorpion, Cypher, Unicorn.” He pointed at each respective door.

“How many is a lot?”

“A reasonable amount, but some have temporary housing, so to speak. They have a place to live on the outside as well.”

Like Robyn did.

“That’s Griffon, that’s Mermaid, and this is me.” He knocked on his own door for effect.

Sarah was sure she wouldn’t even remember how to get there, much less which room was which. She was still replaying their path in her head when she found herself back at the Comm area.

“And there’s your supervisor.”

Sarah followed his gaze, hoping she wouldn’t find a scowling Scorpion waiting on the other end. Thankfully, she was met with a much friendlier—if slightly less familiar—face.

“Ah, you’re the one who stole my newbie.” The woman scolded Pegasus, but the smile ruined it.

Pegasus wasn’t even fazed. “You remember Unicorn.”

Sarah nodded once. She’d been introduced right after Robyn’s death.

Pegasus nodded towards Unicorn and stepped back. “I’ll leave you two to get better acquainted.”

Sarah forced herself to smile. Unicorn was smiling so brightly. Such an odd fit for this place.

“Have you seen your room yet?”

Sarah nodded.

“So, you’re probably wondering how you got assigned to me.”

“Uh…” Sarah didn’t know anything about how supervisors were assigned or even that Unicorn was her supervisor until a few moments ago.

“Because familiarity is taken into account to ease the transition, I figured you might’ve been expecting to be assigned to Scorpion or Pegasus. Though Scorpion would rather throw herself into an open flame.”

Sarah suppressed a laugh. The feeling was mutual.

“I love her, but I know she has zero patience for… several things. And I’m sure Pegasus is shirking paperwork. By the way, please keep your shenanigans to a minimum, I’m not that fond of paperwork myself.”

“Okay. I can definitely try.”

Sarah wondered if the woman was always like this. She didn’t fit the austere atmosphere of the place.

“I doubt Zeus pulled my name out of a hat though, so don’t worry. I’m not sure if you know this,” she continued, the smile somewhat lost as if behind a patch of rain clouds. “But I was your sister’s sponsor when she started training.”

Sarah let out a breath. One more thing to remind her of Robyn—if there were ever the risk she could forget.

“Sorry, I’m chattier than usual today. It’s a temporary condition, more or less. My niece was born today so I’m just…” She laughed, sunshine once again brought to life on her face.

Sarah couldn’t help a smile. Unicorn seemed nice, if very talkative, but she liked it. And yes, it was better than Scorpion.

“Oh, and me yapping all over the place, I completely forgot.” She straightened herself, assuming an air of gravitas that made her look older and fitting for that place now. Unicorn smiled, a subdued version of her previous exuberant joy, but that was also more adequate. “Welcome home, Phoenix.”