Shattered Girls (Broken Dolls Book 2) (10 page)

“ELLA!” Gabby thunders down the stairs, reaching for me as soon as Officer Bloom steps through the door. She brings me to her chest and squeezes me as tightly as humanly possible. “I’m so sorry! I should’ve listened to you! I don’t know what I would’ve done if you never came back!”

“What
happened
?” I ask, too bewildered to appreciate her embrace. “You were as good as gone!”

“The police were outside the carriage! Thank God someone called them! Ella, it was awful. The imposter ripped out a chunk of my hair, look.” She turns her head to show me the bald patch near her ponytail. I notice the bruises on her wrists and furrow my eyebrows. “Yeah, a few bruises too, but nothing major. The cops tackled him, and he banged his head on the ground really hard. Then he just… stopped.” She doesn’t continue. Instead, she looks vacantly at Officer Bloom.

“Do you mean surrendered?”

“No, just stopped.”

“Gabby, that’s not helpful. Are you telling me he’s dead?”

She shakes her head. “No. He was never alive in the first place. He didn’t have any blood. They’re doing an autopsy, but Officer Bloom said that he doesn’t believe he has any organs either.”

“So… the professor is a robot?”

“The
imposter
is
seemingly
a robot, yes. The only thing is, he doesn’t have any wires either. He was just a big… doll.”

Officer Bloom clears his throat. “Gabby, I believe you have to finish an assignment.”

I turn my head, not my neck, a full 360 degrees to face him. “Officer Bloom, with all due respect, I think Gabby needs a moment to regroup. She was almost abducted, and her parents are missing. The last thing she needs to worry about is a silly group project.”

I’ve never seen Officer Bloom so tense. His jaw locks, his eyes are squinted, and his mouth keeps twitching. “Ella, take note of this. I will not let
my daughter
fail due to someone else’s crap. Pardon my French. Gabby
will
complete this project before she goes home today.”

Gabby and I roll our eyes in unison, not particularly fond of being held captive for a school assignment. With an air of defiance, Gabby turns her nose up and carries me upstairs.

Second one on the left past the landing, Devin’s room is extraordinarily bland. The walls are peach, the carpet is cream, and the bed is white. The wardrobes are inbuilt, and a white desk sits against the window. Talk about decorating skills!

“Hey, Devin,” I say through gritted teeth. I play it cool, but deep down I still resent the girl. Sure, her video made it possible for me to be seen in public. But she hurt Gabby, and I can never forgive her for that.

Devin jolts when she hears my voice, her dark eyes watery. She looks fragile, with her twig-like limbs and sad eyes. Gabby and I haven’t really spoken to her since the whole Brenda thing and we were only paired up by default in our science class.

“Hey, Ella,” she says, her legs crossed on the chair. “It’s good to see you. I’m glad you’re okay.”

I don’t reply. I just glare as Gabby sits me on the desk and takes her place next to Devin on a chair that looks to be borrowed from downstairs.

“This is stupid,” I say when Gabby picks up a pen. “You should be with Sianne, resting!”

“I don’t have a choice,” Gabby mumbles. “It’s due Monday, and Officer Bloom… well, you saw. It’s a good distraction, anyway. It kinda normalizes everything.”

“What’s the project?”

“Don’t you listen in science?”

“No. As you can see, biology doesn’t really apply to me, does it?”

“It’s Natural Selection. Do I have to explain that to you?”

“Nah. Sounds boring. I’m going to have a look around. Do you have any cats, Dev?”

Dev shakes her head. “No dogs, either. You can play with my little brother across the hall, if you’d like. He likes dolls.”

“Okay!” I jump from the desk, my hinges squeaking when I hit the floor. Gabby and Dev mumble something incoherent, so I make my way across the hall and into a room that has stickers of planes plastered on the walls. There’s a little boy with jet-black hair sitting in the center with a toy soldier in his grubby hands.

“Hey.” I curtsy politely. “May I come in?”

His eyes light up. “Oh boy! Another talking doll! You can play with Alex! Come in!”

I smile at the warm greeting and stand next to the trucks and cowboy doll, craning my neck to study Devin’s brother, who must be seven or eight. “What’s your name?”

“Chase. Yours?”

“Ella. Which one is Alex?”

Instead of picking him up, Chase points at the cowboy, all dolled up in his hat and spurs and holding a whip. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something strangely familiar about him.

“Howdy!” he bellows when I step closer to examine his blank face.

I yelp and fall on my behind as the cowboy adjusts his pants and winks. “What?! You’re
real
?!”

“He’s a robot.” Chase twists the sheriff badge on his vest. “I just got him. Alex is awesome, aren’t you?”

“Sure try, Chase!” The cowboy drawls. His Texan accent is about as believable as mine.

I stare at Alex with disbelief as he cracks his whip and tilts his head at Chase, then climbs one of the toy horses and pretends to ride it. “C’mon, Vixen! Gots to go get that evil Lord Jonathan for taking our wimmin!”

“You’re real,” I whisper. If my heart could beat, it would race. “
How
are you real?”

“What’s that, ma’am?”

I sidle up to the horse and prod Alex’s leg. “You’re human! I mean, you
were
human before you were a doll, weren’t you?”

“What’s she talking about?” Chase sits back to enjoy the show Alex is putting on.

“No idea, chicken,” he says, lassoing me. “Ma’am, please elaborate.”

Disgusted, I wriggle out of the rope and raise my voice. “You’re like me! We were humans, once! Don’t you remember anything from your past life?”

“No ma’am, this is all I’ve ever known. One day I woke up, and that lovely Officer Bloom brought me to this young man, here.”

“Dad says he costs a lot of money, but we got him for free,” Chase chips in, moving the horse for Alex.

“What do you mean ‘costs a lot of money’?” A light bulb switches on in my mind, and I have to refrain from using my first-ever swear word. “
Whoa
. Hold up! Are they
selling
dolls like us, now?”

“You’re robots!” There’s a hint of anger in Chase’s voice. “Only rich, important people can afford robots like Alex, which is why
I
have one.”

My head spins. What on earth has the professor done? His experiment was to help those who were sick, transferring the consciousness temporarily so that the body could heal. Now he’s sold out, turning humans into dolls for profit… wait. “Oh crap. Oh crap, crap, crap, crap,
crap
!”

I bolt from Chase’s room and burst into Devin’s, where the girls have their heads down, feverishly writing something. I jump up and wave.

“Gabby, Gabby, Gabby! I need to speak with you!”

“I’m busy, Ella. One more hour, and we can go home. We’ll dissect everything then, deal?

“No! No, I need you
now
! It’s important!”

Gabby simultaneously slams down her pencil and sighs. She stands and picks me up, heading out into the hallway. “What? What’s so important? I want to get out of here! I’m
this
close to losing it!”

“Well, this isn’t going to help. Devin’s brother has a doll!”

“…so?”

“No, not like a doll! I mean a doll like me! He said they’re
expensive
!”

Gabby stops breathing for a moment. Instead of answering, she barges into Chase’s room and stares at Alex who trundles around like he has chafing.

“Hey, Gabby,” Chase says politely, but keeps his eyes on Alex. “How’s the assignment?”

“Peachy.” She towers over the boy and his toys. “What’s that?”

“Who? Alex? My new robot doll!”

Alex cracks his whip. “Howdy, lil’ lady!”

“Hey,” Gabby replies uneasily. “He does seem robotic. I mean, he’s stiff and speaks in a monotone.”

“That’s just cowboys!” I tug on Gabby’s sleeve, indicating I want to be brought closer to whisper. “What if the people who are going missing are turned into dolls?”

Gabby scoffs. “That’s ridiculous. Why would anyone do that?”

“Duh! For money! And maybe… maybe…” I gasp. “Imagine a perfect world. A world dominated by intelligent, rich people. Doctors and―heaven forbid―lawyers. That’s what they want. They’re abducting people they don’t deem smart enough to be in our society. That’s what that professor clone was talking about… Oh my God, that is
beyond
rude. It’s… well, it’s ironically stupid.”

“Are you calling yourself dumb?”

“Gabby, you and I both know my circumstances are different. I can’t remember what’s wrong with me, but I know it’s health related. That’s what the professor originally designed us for. Now
this
happens.” I motion towards Alex. “Oh, come on! You gotta believe me! I haven’t even told you about the dozens of professor clones on the train!”

“
SHUT UP
!” Gabby yells, covering her ears with her hands, fighting back tears. “I can’t take this!” I hold on for dear life as she runs downstairs, then straight through the front door.

“Hey!” Office Bloom yells from the living room. “What about your assignment?”

“Fail me!” Gabby slams the door behind her.

Instantly, the days I spent alone in an attic seem far more appealing than this wretched week.

ust so you know, I don’t feel comfortable walking after everything we’ve been through,” I say, frantically trying to steer Gabby closer to the streetlights.

“No mugger or murderer will dare mess with me,” she grunts, powering down the street. “I’m
sick
of this crap. Aunt Sianne can call the professor again. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

Gabby’s phone rings, but she doesn’t reach for it.

“Gabby?” I say. “Maybe you should…?”

“Yeah, yeah!” She reluctantly grabs her phone. “It’s a private number.”

“So? Answer it.”

“I don’t answer private numbers. They can leave a message.”

“Gabby! Just answer it.”

She huffs and rolls her eyes, but pushes the “talk” button anyway. I really hate it when she rolls her eyes. One day they’ll get stuck. “Hello?”

I can’t hear anything on the other end, so after I frantically gesticulate, ineffectually pulling on my plastic ears, she puts it on speaker for me.

There’s a crackle, but nothing else.

“Hello?” I ask.

“Ella?” the voice says. “It’s Daniel.” The connection breaks as if he’s going through a tunnel. “Get out of town! You have to get out of town!”

“Grandpa?” Gabby’s voice is tight. “Is that you? Why didn’t you meet us at the station?”

“
BACK OFF
!” the professor suddenly yells. There’s a loud crash and grunts. “Gabby, get out of town! I’ll fix this! Somehow I’ll fix―”

The connection is lost. Gabby and I stare at the phone, waiting for something to happen.

“Do you think…?” she begins.

“I don’t know…” I say. “But I’m getting the feeling that it wasn’t him we were speaking to yesterday.”

Gabby’s face drops as she slowly puts the phone back in her pocket. “Me too, Ells.”