Whisper (Whisper #1)(69)

Before I can get my head around that enough to reply, Kael jumps in again.

“You’ve been given a lot to think about, and I’m guessing you’re near the limit of what you can take right now,” he says. “I’m also aware that when you leave here, you’re going to see the happy, smiling faces of your Lengard buddies, and you’ll start doubting everything I’ve said. So instead of me telling you anything more, you’ve reached the part where you need to see proof for yourself.”

He leans into me anew, close — way too close — and my lungs constrict when I fail to offer them more oxygen. But all he does is knock twice on the door beside my head. He pulls me toward him when it opens outward — saving me from landing on my backside — and the others stream back into the room.

“Dora, you’re up,” Kael says to Pandora, as if she’s supposed to know exactly what he’s talking about.

“Hmm,” she says, walking over to the center of the room. “Let me see what I can find in my little box of goodies.”

Dante groans. “Seriously, how many times do we have to hear the ‘Pandora’s box’ gimmicks before you realize they’re not the least bit funny?”

“We have new ears,” Pandora says, motioning to Sneak and me. “Let me have my moment.”

“Dora, we’re tight for time here,” Kael says, reminding me that soon we will be returned to the surface.

“All right, all right,” she snipes, reaching for a box hidden beneath the semicircled bench. She rifles through it and pulls something out, then passes it to me.

I turn it over in my hands and say, “It’s a glove.”

“Ten points, genius,” she responds with a snicker. “We’ll work on identifying socks next.”

“What I meant is,” I say through gritted teeth, “why are you giving me a glove? And just one?”

Pandora flicks her purple pigtails over her shoulders and eyes Kael furtively. “Didn’t you tell her anything?”

“I told her enough,” he says.

“Clearly,” Dante mutters, amused.

“Here’s the dealio, Lyss,” Pandora says.

I jerk violently at the nickname.

“I have a Speaking ability that allows me to infuse — or transfer — matter into other objects, such as replicating a certain director’s DNA and handprint particulars into a glove just like the one you’re holding.”

My eyes light with understanding when I realize she’s just given me an all-access pass to Lengard. All except for —

“And here, you’ll need these, too,” Pandora adds, handing me a pair of gaudy, purple-and-pink-framed glasses. “Put them on and they’ll help you cheat the retinal scanner. The infusions will only last three days, but you’ll be able to go wherever you want in that time so long as you don’t get caught.”

“But where —”

“Falon has a hidden doorway in his office,” Kael says. “Did you know that?”

I nod, fiddling with the objects in my hands. “When he first took me down to the real training rooms and told me all about Speakers, we went through that door and along a hallway until we reached a secret elevator.”

“That’s where you need to go,” he says. “Slip through his office and get to that elevator, but instead of going down, go up. It’ll take you directly to Vanik’s hidden lab. It’s there you’ll find evidence that we’re not the terrorists in this equation, and you’ll see you can trust us with whatever comes next.”

“I thought you said Falon doesn’t know what Vanik’s doing,” I say, ignoring his comment about trust. Evidence or not, that will still need to be earned. “How can that be true if all he has to do is take the elevator to the lab and see for himself?”

Kael shakes his head. “I didn’t say Falon doesn’t know — I said he doesn’t realize.”

“We think Vanik has someone who can modify memories,” Pandora explains, noting my confusion. “Someone he keeps handy for any … unexpected visitors.”

Dante jumps in. “That’s how we think he’s kept Falon in the dark for all these years. Because while the director certainly has his faults, he’d never allow Vanik to carry on his experiments if he knew how far he was really going with them still.”

I wait for someone to tell me more, but no one offers anything else, so I say, “I’m sorry, but if Vanik has access to a Speaker with that kind of ability, what’s to stop him or her from modifying my memory?”

Pandora snorts. “You’re a Creator. Be creative.”

Looking around at the faces all watching me — and with expectation — I realize they have a lot more faith in my ability than they should.

“I may be a Creator,” I say slowly, “but my control is scattered at best. I’m certainly not competent enough to go up against another Speaker and be creative enough for us to both come out in one piece.”

With a laugh, Pandora says, “Don’t be ridiculous. Kael, tell her.”

I turn to Kael, fully expecting him to back me up, since he’s had to destroy the power of my words the whole time I’ve been down here.

“Dora’s right — you’ll be fine,” he says.