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After helping myself to scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, and fruit salad, I sat down beside Iggy. I looked at Wesley and nodded. “Good morning, Wes.” I didn’t want to be his enemy. I didn’t want him to hate me because he thought I’d make Iggy weak.

He didn’t return my greeting, but fired a question at me instead. “Why were you called to Jensen’s office?”

“He wanted to explain things to us,” I answered simply, then dug into my eggs.

Brian and Pippa took seats next to each other at our table. Brian added, “Dr. Jensen told us why he’d brought you all here and what his plans were. He told me, Cael, and Shayla what are roles here are, and then he gave us the choice to leave or stay.”

“He said he’d let you leave?” Wes’s disbelief was evident on his face.

Beside me, Iggy clutched her fork in a white-knuckled grasp and looked up at me. “What did you tell him?”

I offered a small smile. “I’m not going anywhere.” I caught the sadness in her eyes before she faced her tray and concentrated on eating.

Wesley yanked the tines of his fork out from between his teeth with a loud scraping sound. “He wouldn’t let you go, anyway. Everything that comes out of that man’s mouth is a lie.”

Brian stuffed a fork full of pancakes into his mouth. “He seemed genuine.”

Wesley rolled his eyes and muttered something I couldn't understand.

“Of course, he admitted that he has to make you guys do stuff you don’t want to do, but he’s ultimately on your side.”

Wes held his fork out like a weapon. “Say that again, and I’ll stab you through the eye.”

Iggy placed a hand on his shoulder. “Chill out, Wes. They’ve never worked with Jensen before. You know how convincing he can be.”

“Oh, he’s good,” I confirmed. “He said all the right words.”

Brian’s brow wrinkled. “You mean that whole speech was a lie?”

Pippa squeezed Brian’s forearm as it rested on the table. “I’ve never worked with him, but I know the staff in Denver got really nervous when Dr. Jensen visited. He was respected, but not liked.”

“I don’t recognize any of the people in here, so none of them must have lived in the Atlanta facility,” Iggy said. “Atlanta is Jensen’s home base, so no one here really knows what he’s like other than me and Wesley. And believe me when I say the man is a monster.”

I stabbed a grape. “That must be why everyone else agreed to come here. They don’t have any idea what kind of existence they just committed themselves to.”

“These guys
wanted
to come?” Iggy paused with the fork midway to her mouth.

Brian looked at her. “Only you, Wesley, Pippa, and Ibram had to be taken by force. Maybe getting paid every month is enough incentive for everyone else to volunteer.” His arm froze on the way to lifting a bite of sausage and his head snapped up. “Wait a minute. Do you think Jensen also lied about paying us?”

“That was not a lie,” Wesley answered. “You’ll get paid.”

Brian relaxed and resumed cutting. “Good. Because I was the main support for my family. My mom works, but my dad is disabled, and my brother is too young to get a job.”

“You don’t have to worry, then,” Iggy assured him. “It’s a good salary.”

That started a conversation about Brian and Pippa’s jobs. They’d met three years ago while working at a chain restaurant in the food court of their local mall. Neither of them worked there anymore, but they always went to that same place to celebrate their anniversaries. Their story was very sweet and very normal, and I wondered what Iggy thought about it. When she was fifteen, she’d still been making trips to Jensen’s lab. Her life must’ve been very difficult, and she probably had little understanding of normal high school life. I wondered how many boyfriends she’d had. I had a feeling her experience was limited.

As the couple reminisced out loud, Iggy smiled at them while resting her chin in her hand, as if she was watching a romance movie. Her hair was in the double ponytails I’d seen hear wear on the farm, and she looked too innocent to be stuck in a place like this. I remembered her saying she’d rather die than be Jensen’s lab rat. Would she actually try to hurt herself? Is that what Jensen meant when he said Iggy was one of the three students who needed extra support? That didn’t seem like Iggy. The thought of her giving up when she was in a bad spot contradicted everything I knew about her. But then again, she wasn’t the type of person to say something that she didn’t mean. And I was even more determined to stay and be there for her.

She caught me staring. A smile slid across her face, and I reached out to trace the scar on her forehead. “What happened to your stitches?”

“One of the nurses came by last night and took them out.” She reached up and touched the spot. “It’ll leave a scar.”

I brushed my thumb across the pink line. “Battle scars are beautiful. It shows how tough you are.”

One corner of her mouth lifted. “It shows I’m hard-headed.”

“Yeah, well, you won that fight between you and the windshield.”

Iggy laughed softly and pushed at the food on her tray.

I whispered in her ear, “Isn’t there something I’m supposed to remind you of every day? Oh, yeah. You’re beautiful, Iggy Bennefield. And that’s not the vodka talking.”

She blushed. “Okay. I get it. I believe you meant what you said that night. You don't have to say it anymore.”

I cupped a hand around the back of her neck and kissed her forehead. She laid her hand on top of mine.

Then the moment was shattered when a female’s voice said, “Well don’t you all make everyone want to puke?”

We all looked up to see a girl I recognized from my hallway – the one with long, straight, black hair who’d been wearing heels. Today she was in purple scrubs and a ponytail. She was holding her empty tray and looking at us with a smirk.

“I thought we were here to get better and make ourselves useful in the world. Not to hook up with people. Maybe I’m wrong.” She looked at Wesley. “You seem to be the only one at the table without a partner, Blondie. If you want some fun, just let me know.” And then she walked off toward the tray return.

Pippa’s mouth was hanging open, and she snapped it shut. “What a total witch.”

I looked at Wesley, who seemed amused. Iggy, on the other hand, looked embarrassed. But then her eyes landed on the girl’s back as she walked out of the dining hall, and she had the same look on her face as when Granger had appeared at her gate and hurled insults.

The four of us stood to leave, and I hooked an arm around Iggy’s shoulders. “You mad?”

“Pissed as hell. I hate it when people stick their nose in my business. I punched a girl out my senior year for pulling that exact same kinda shit.”

I hugged her to my side and grinned. Iggy was the only girl I knew who could draw out the word ‘shit’ into two syllables. “She must be the school yard bully around here. If she keeps this up, she’ll deserve one of your punches.”

“These aren’t the kind of people who throw punches, Cael. They use something more powerful.”

I turned Iggy toward me and bent down to look right into her eyes. “If anyone uses their power on you, Iggy, you defend yourself with everything you’ve got. Do you understand?”

After a moment of surprise, she nodded.

Cael

“All students are to report to the Observation Arena. Follow the red arrows.”

I didn’t know if I was one of the students addressed over the intercom, but when my door clicked open, I assumed I was supposed to go. I strode down the hallway toward Iggy’s room, which was close to the nurse’s station. She was standing in her doorway waiting for either me or Wesley, I wasn’t sure which. When she saw me and pushed past students to get to me, I was glad that I was the one she was looking for.

Suddenly, someone bumped into her and she stumbled. The dark haired girl from the cafeteria whizzed past with a hand over her mouth. “Oops. Sorry about that. I didn’t see you.”

“What’s your problem?” Iggy snapped at her.

“I don’t have a problem. You were just too slow. And in the way.” And then she walked on, turning left at the nurse’s station.

The arrows led us past the cafeteria to the only door on the opposite side of the hall. Once we’d filed in, I saw that we were in a huge, two-story room that was half the size of a football field. It resembled a gladiator’s arena. We were on the second floor of it, and a cement walkway and metal railing bordered the sunken, oval arena. A security agent waved from the center of the area where a set of steps led down into an area surrounded by twelve foot high, cinder block walls. The only break in the cinder block was a huge observation window about twenty feet wide. Behind the window was a control room filled with computers and machinery. Jensen and several other men and women in lab coats stood talking, surrounded by technicians, military police, and medical staff.

Brian appeared beside me. “I don’t get why there are always MPs around.”

“I guess all government agencies work together here. I wouldn’t be surprised if the people in that room are from a variety of government organizations, including the army. So I suppose the military police fit right in.”

“It doesn’t make me feel better knowing that people with guns are constantly watching me.”

“I’m right there with you on that.”

Beside me, Iggy looked nervous as she and Wesley exchanged whispers. Two horn blasts sounded and we all stopped speaking. The announcer said, “Cael, Shayla, and Brian. You will wait in the observation room. Step up to the window.”

I squeezed Iggy’s hand and followed the other two. An MP directed us through a metal door and toward a row of seats set up like a movie theater. Jensen said, “Have a seat. You can watch, but you must remain quiet. You may not understand the purpose of this exercise or the role of the people in this room, but if you cause any disruptions, you will be escorted out. The students can see you, and they will need all their concentration focused on what’s going on in the arena. So it’s important you remain seated and not cause a distraction. Understood?” We nodded and Jensen returned to the group of scientists.

“Nothing’s happened yet and I already don’t like it,” Shayla said from her seat between me and Brian.

“Me neither,” he agreed.

I dragged a hand through my hair then gripped the armrests. My eyes were glued to Iggy.

Chapter 18

Iggy

I watched Cael, Shayla, and Brian take their seats and listen to a speech from Jensen. After the doctor left, Cael looked pissed. Then he looked at me and his expression changed to worry. I swallowed my nervousness and turned to watch Jensen’s group.

They were staring at us. I felt like a bug under a microscope. Again. Only this time, a lot more people were watching and I was even more nervous because I was worried about Cael.

Wesley nudged me on the shoulder. “Get your head in the game, Iggy.”

I locked eyes with him and nodded, straightening my shoulders. Wesley was a fighter and my rock. He’d gotten me through testing before, and he knew exactly what to say. Pippa sidled up to me looking as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

“Do you know what this is about?”

I shrugged. “Some kind of test.”

“Attention please.” Jensen’s voiced echoed throughout the arena. “I want to remind you that each and every one of you possesses abilities that only work on living organisms. Therefore, all test objects must be living organisms that you can manipulate. I know this is difficult for some of you, but it’s the only way to understand your abilities.” He inhaled and continued, “You are to line up on the yellow line according to the color of your scrubs from left to right as you face this window. First in line: grays. Next in line are the blues.” He paused to allow time for arrangement. “Purple and then green.”

Wesley was a purple, and I was a green – whatever that meant – so we placed ourselves next to each other with our toes on the yellow line that paralleled the window. Pippa, another green, stood beside me. We were only ten feet from the glass, so I could clearly see Cael. He looked concerned. I wanted nothing more than to be back on the farm with him, holding his hand and eating spoonfuls of peanut butter. I was constantly amazed by how much my feelings for him had grown in such a short period of time. I felt guilty because I was glad he was here. But I was also terrified of the potential problems his presence might cause. The thought of Jensen hurting Cael made me rage inside. Wesley could handle himself, but Cael didn’t have any powers, and he’d never been exposed to Jensen’s kind of evil. I had to protect him.

“An animal in a cage will be placed before each of you. All of these animals are sick and suffering. The best thing you can do for them is to give them quick deaths. Keep that in mind when you see your test object.”

A stream of people in lab coats holding cages marched toward us from a door on the left. They set a cage in front of each of us and then disappeared back through the door, slamming it shut behind them. A large, brown bunny rabbit was my test object. It had a large, furless mass on its side – perhaps a tumor – and it lay there unmoving except for the rapid expansion and contraction of its ribs.