Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things Novels #1)(43)

The little girl shook her head. “I don’t think so. I might be able to help you, though.”

A field of yellow sunflowers grew up around them. A rainbow arcing over the golden tops.

“It’s beautiful,” Terry said. She got up and turned in a circle, smiling. “How?”

She looked over at Kali as the girl reached up to wipe away blood from her nostril. Kali squeezed her eyes shut.

The sunflowers began to whip back and forth. The rainbow hurt Terry’s eyes.

“I’m going to hurt you,” Kali said on the heave of a sob. “I have to go.”

Terry lifted a hand to shield her eyes as the light brightened. Her heart thumped in her chest. This was unreal, but she knew it was happening. “It’s okay. What is this? How can you do that?”

“It’s easy to do, but not to make it stop,” Kali said. “I have to go now.”

“Wait!” Terry reached out for her.

Kali pulled away, trembling, shadows replacing the bright lights. They crept around Kali and Terry, formless dark.

“No,” the girl said.

Terry could see in Kali’s eyes that she needed to go.

“I can help you,” Terry said, no longer sure.

Kali closed the door to the hall behind her.

The shadows went with her.





4.


Brenner stood on the other side of dark glass and watched Eight with Terry. The sunflowers were a sentimental touch on Eight’s part. She could pretend she wasn’t drawn to Terry, but she’d revealed the crucial fact that she liked her with that one simple gesture. And then it had escalated beyond Kali’s control, as it always did.

He had no better diversion to keep Eight occupied than this. In some ways, Terry had done him a favor…He’d let it play out as long as the benefits outweighed the risks. The children who were exposed to each other did much of the work of entertaining themselves. Eight, isolated, wanted nothing more than companions, a family. He’d promised her that.

Brenner didn’t understand children, because he didn’t feel like he’d ever been a child.

He’d considered kicking Terry out. But he’d invested too much effort and already she seemed more malleable, the boyfriend soon to be off to war courtesy of the man in D.C. It’d be much more satisfying to break her when the time came. So instead he’d given her a new truth serum compound with her dosage today, to go with his quiet revelation that he’d been involved in Andrew’s drafting, and the mental push that she’d not deal well with her beau’s departure. Then, with some surprise, he’d allowed the visit from Eight, who’d snuck away from her minder. Again. He’d been alerted as soon as it was discovered, of course.

A knock on the door behind him, and his orderly entered the small observation room. His bright eyes and the sheet of paper he carried telegraphed that there was some news.

“What is it?” Brenner asked.

“You’re not going to believe this.” He passed over the sheet.

Brenner skimmed the results of Terry’s bloodwork. Everything looked normal; slightly elevated blood pressure, to be expected…

Then he saw.

“She’s pregnant,” he said with genuine wonder.

And this is why you didn’t make hasty decisions like kicking someone out for showing the same spirit that made them a good candidate for the experiment in the first place. Now she might develop into a golden goose, in more ways than one.

He congratulated himself on already having the father out of the way. Tonight he’d bring Eight a piece of cake. He’d tell her that his promise was going to come true. He was finally working on a friend for her. A special friend.

His theory had always been that exceptional abilities could be encouraged under the right conditions. But he’d always had to work with available subjects, none of them clean slates. This child—he could start encouraging the development of this child’s abilities now. In utero. Every day of her life. He’d make sure she was special.

“Will she have to leave?” His orderly was a good soldier, but not the smartest person he’d ever met. Potential: mediocre at best. But he did what he was told without question.

Surveillance said the four adult subjects were getting closer, and that would bear watching. Alice would stay here eventually, when the electroshock reached a point of no return. He wasn’t sure about Terry and the others…But he’d never let the child go.

“The opposite,” Brenner said. “We’ll want to increase her protocols next week, and every week after. We need to keep her close. Tell no one else of this.”

“Yes, sir.”





5.


Terry knew something upsetting had happened to Alice, too, the instant she saw her. She had a fidgety way about her, all wound up. She’d mess with the straps of her overalls, only to stop and stare down each hall they passed on the way back out to the van. It was late. Their trips had left them tired and reserved, all except Alice.

“What’s up?” Terry asked her, keeping her voice down. She couldn’t wait for her feet to hit the ground outside. Even surrounded by chain link, she’d breathe easier once they left this place. An image of sunflowers and rainbows—and grasping shadows—came to her. How had Kali done that? And what was that dark place she’d somehow visited? The part of her trip that felt both impossible and real.