Siege of Shadows (Effigies #2)(16)

“We only want to measure your brain waves and spectrographic signature as you scry. It should not take more than a few hours.”

“But the whole point of this is to see what happens when one personality takes over the other. Like Alice did with Nick.” The implications of everything tore through me like a scream. I felt numb from the neck down. “You want the same thing to happen to me.”

“Natalya,” Belle said with an odd, wistful quirk in her voice. It sent a violent shudder through me.

“No. No, no, no.” My head was shaking side to side with each “no.” “She took me over the last time. Do you understand what that means? There’s no way—”

“We will be monitoring you precisely to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Chafik looked sincere enough, the seriousness in his small, dark eyes easing a little as if it’d make the blow any softer. “We want you because of the instability of your scrying. We see you as a closer estimate to Saul’s own psychic battles than, say, Belle, who’s studied and practiced the skill over a period of years.”

My mind was a better measure to figure out what was happening in Saul. We were alike. Nick and I. Unlike Belle, we’d both experienced the horrors of having someone move your bones and stretch your limbs without your say-so. But this was still too dangerous. I didn’t . . . I couldn’t.

I looked at the other girls for help, and thankfully, Lake and Chae Rin looked just as skeptical as I did. Belle, on the other hand, had a pensive tilt to her head that told me she was mulling it over.

“It may be of help to us,” Belle said. “We need to figure out the nature of Saul . . . and the soldier. This could be a crucial first step. And perhaps understanding the pattern behind Saul’s frequency can give us a way to track and capture him.”

“She . . . has a point, kid.” Chae Rin gripped my shoulder. “I’m not totally sold on this, but there are questions that need answers.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Shrugging off her hand, I wrapped my arms around my chest. “You and Lake have never even had to scry before, so how would you know? And none of you know how horrible it feels to . . . to . . .” To have your body taken over. I shuddered.

“No, we don’t,” Chae Rin replied coolly. “But what other options do we have?”

“This is kind of an urgent situation,” Lake chimed in.

I knew it too. But I didn’t have to like it. With a heavy sigh, I looked up at Chafik with my teeth gritted. “You’re one hundred percent sure you won’t lose me in there? Ten hundred percent sure?”

Chafik nodded. “Don’t worry. Our technicians will do everything in their power to make sure you are safe and secure. We already have a lab prepared in the Research and Development wing. Like I said, we will be monitoring you carefully to make sure there are no accidents. We only want Natalya’s consciousness to graze the surface. We want to see what happens when your minds interact. We won’t let it get beyond that.”

“Don’t worry . . . um . . . we’re all here,” Lake said reassuringly, though she didn’t seem too sure if it was worth anything. “It’ll be fine.”

“You say that now. Just watch. In a few hours you’ll have Natalya as a roommate instead of me.”

Lake thought about it. “Well, then, hopefully she won’t snore as badly as you do.”

She waited for me to catch on to her smile, but I couldn’t say I appreciated that joke. Once Lake realized her misstep, her shoulders slumped sheepishly.

Chae Rin scratched her head. “Look, kid, I get that we’re not exactly best friends or anything, but none of us want you gone. Right?”

“That’s a no-brainer,” Lake answered. “You said it yourself: We’re a team, yeah?”

But Belle took a little longer to respond than I would have liked. Her languid eyes stared off in the distance. She looked tired suddenly, as if all the energy had been sucked out of her in a moment. Perhaps fatigue had finally settled into her bones. But you never knew with Belle.

She nodded absently. “Let’s go,” she said in an almost whisper.





5



“CONSIDER IT A PHYSICAL,” I told myself as I entered the lab alone from the observatory room, but then, most of the physicals I’d had in the past were the normal kind with doctors and stethoscopes. There was indeed a doctor in the room, from what I could tell by both his long white lab coat and the way he just kind of stood around looking important. But instead of nurses, he surrounded himself with technicians tinkering with monitors and wires and all sorts of medical equipment I couldn’t name if I tried.

“Ah, she’s here,” said the doctor when I shut the door behind me. “Maia Finley? My name is Dr. Rachadi.” He was young, slender, dark, and handsome, but having a pretty face to look at made me feel only marginally better. “Have a seat over there. This shouldn’t take long.”

Before I even had the chance to follow his instructions, a couple of technicians started dragging me toward a long examination table. I couldn’t see any of the other girls or Director Chafik, but I knew they were behind the large black screen on the left side of the room, watching me as I lay down on the table, as the technicians hooked me up to a set of monitors and wrapped black straps around my arms.