Chapter Text
Ever since Eli’s escape from McNally Academy, I’ve waited for him to contact me again.
It’s been a month and a half.
The sensation of the vibrating phone against my pocket, or the sight of battered envelopes puts me in a frenzy as my fingers slip time and time again, my fingernails scratching the surface of the item to check who it's from.
Unless Eli has miraculously wound up in India, I don’t believe a call or letter from someone named Prince Adetokunbo Abubakar is him.
However, two people who constantly pop up on my phone include my parents. They’ve called nearly every day asking if I’ve spoken to Eli or the others with him. They’d come up with the same excuse over and over again, saying the others have run away and that everyone is desperate to find them.
Only I know the real truth.
They’re clones, and the place they came from, Serenity, was the experiment containment grounds.
I used to live there too, until my parents decided to ship me away to this school. They said it was to better my education, but after hearing Eli’s explanation, the real reason was because I was going to have a negative effect on the outcome of the experiment.
What experiment? Beats me. Eli never told me anything other than he and the others were clones, and that his dad was a mad scientist by the name of Hammerstrom. When I asked about it, they said the more I didn’t know, the better, in case someone from Serenity came and questioned me.
Which they did.
Felix Friden–Hammerstrom—according to Eli, interrogated me personally in my dorm room almost immediately after their escape.
He asked if I knew where they were going.
I didn’t.
If they told me anything odd or abnormal.
I lied and said I didn’t know.
“I want my son back. Mr. and Mrs. Laska and Mr. and Mrs. Pritel want their daughters back. Mr. and Mrs. Bruder want their son back. Do you understand, Randy?”
I understood he only wanted them back to brainwash them.
Though, I had to admit, I would have almost believed his ‘worried father’ act. I guess after lying for so long, it makes you a convincing actor.
In the end, they couldn’t get much out of me. I guess I had this big fantasy about confronting them, throwing everything I knew in their face, but at that moment, Eli’s warning about Dr. Bruder’s brain scrambling pills kept me from doing that. So, I just pretended to be the best friend who helped the runaways for a few days and didn’t know much other than that.
They didn’t believe me.
I know this because I’ve had a Purple People Eater swing by as a parental volunteer in order to snoop around my dorm during every room check. I’ve lately been leaving them drawings for them to find that have progressively gotten more cursed.
I did manage to catch Hammerstrom off guard at the end though. I asked why they were running. I could tell my question caught him off guard because of the small wince in his eyes. He replied with the ‘I Don’t Know’ card.
That’s all he could come with.
All in all, it was a very disappointing interrogation. For them at least.
I sigh, trying to shake the memory from my head.
Kevin, my roommate, sits on his bed, sharing a space with a jumble of plastic, painted figures of demons, demi-gods, centaurs, and other fantasy creatures. Cards and dice lay scattered around his pillows, and a pile of spread papers are being sorted into a small, wooden box. However, he looks up when he hears me sigh.
“You good?” he asks, taking a die and rolling it in between his sweat-slick fingers.
“Hm? Oh . . . yeah. I-I guess,” I reply, tapping the zipper on my jacket pocket, hearing the metal clink a bit. “Just waiting for room checks, you know?”
Having sorted the papers, Kevin moves onto the cards, giving a small nod. “Yeah . . . I gotta get this cleaned before they come. Will it be one of those freaky guys from the people who were with the runaways’ parents?”
“Yeah, probably,” I say with a shrug. The Purple People Eaters, or Serenity’s guards, and apparently, now Hammerstrom’s lap dogs were definitely intimidating with how big they were. And yet, they were really laugh worthy. Eli and I had made a stack of trading cards about them back before I left Serenity. I wonder what happened to them.
Leaning against the window, I glance around at my side of the room. Unlike with Kevin, there was no rhyme or reason to my mess. Soda cans litter the ground, a few droplets staining the carpet here and there. My laundry hamper is overflowing, dirty underwear collecting around the basket’s base.
“You gonna clean your side?” Kevin asks, arranging the figures within the box.
“Nah.”
“Oh . . .” Kevin wants to protest, I can tell, but after a moment, he shrugs and falls awkwardly silent.
Luckily, it doesn’t last, because my phone rings. My heart flies into my throat as I fumble to grab it, only to growl under my breath. It’s my parents. Their phone calls have gotten more frequently the longer Eli has been loose. It almost makes me smile, thinking about how capable he was until another vibration jolts up my wrist.
I punch the answer button and lift it to my ear.
“Randy, have you heard from Eli and the others?”
That was their first question; not, “Hey son, how have you been doing?” or “When are finals over?” No, their first question is of course about the precious clones.
“No, I haven’t,” I reply, a crack coming from my gritted teeth.
“Randy, please be honest,” my father scolds softly. “You know their parents are really worried about them. If they’re there-”
“I know. I’m not lying. They’re not here. They haven’t been here since Mr. H-Friden came here.” I swallow, my heart pounding, hoping they didn’t catch my little slip up.
There’s a long pause as goosebumps begin popping up on my skin one at a time. Then, my mom sighs into the receiver.
“Okay . . . please . . . please . . . let us know if Eli or any of the others contact you.”
“I will,” I say. “I promise.”
I won’t.
Satisfied, they hang up. I shove my phone in my pocket, and then turn to look over to Kevin, only to find him gone, the door half-open. I roll my eyes and shake my head, checking the clock. It is nearly dinnertime, but after that last conversation, I’m not feeling particularly hungry.
If anything, I’m feeling excited. I drew a really good picture for whatever Purple People Eater came this time.
Smirking, I plop down on my bed, patting my pillow where the slip of paper was as I wait for them to announce room checks.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, Mr. Ross’s voice comes over the intercom, announcing that room checks will commence in a few minutes as soon as all the volunteers arrive.
I look out the window, seeing a familiar SUV parked in the parking lot.
I wonder who it’ll be this time? Maybe Rump L. Stiltskin or Screaming Mimi?
A knock at the door alerts me to their presence a few moments later. I stand up and quickly dash over to it, twisting the handle.
“Hello, Mr. Hardaway.”
I stand in the doorway, a bit stunned. Instead of any Purple People I know, a tall, tan man with long, curly, black hair draped over his shoulder and dark eyes stares down at me, his lips pulled into a wrinkled line underneath a slightly crooked nose.
“Um . . . hello?” My body tenses as I stare at him. I’d never seen this man before.
“My name is Rainbird,” the man continues. His voice is low and smooth, but unique, certain syllables rising and falling and being emphasized. “I am a volunteer room checker. May I come in?”
“Sure . . .” I say, stepping aside.
I am so focused on this Rainbird man that I hardly notice the girl with him until she steps in the room with him. I had to do a double take. She is beautiful , with pale skin and rosy lips. She’s as small and frail as a porcelain doll, and I am certain if I even spoke a decibel louder than I was, she would shatter. The girl regards me with watery blue eyes, staying silent.
“Oh . . . yes, this is Iris.” Rainbird sets a wrinkled hand on the girl’s shoulder. “She’s just here for the ride. Now . . . Mr. Hardaway.”
The door shuts behind him, and I suddenly feel cornered by a predator. I take a few steps backward, bumping into my bed. “Just Randy,” I say, sucking on my teeth.
Rainbird looks at me and I immediately clam up. “You’re probably wondering who we are and why we’re here. That is understandable. You were expecting someone else, and we are not them. However, first and foremost, we want you to understand that it is not our intention to harm you or your friends here in any way.”
“Reassuring,” I mutter.
The man sighs, folding his hands over his dark coat, stroking the stitchwork absentmindedly.
“Um . . .” Iris steps forward, looking at the man with concern, glassy eyes sparkling, before looking at me. “Y-you see . . . ah . . .” Her voice was sweet and high, but had a certain whisper to it, reminding me of wind blowing through reeds of dry grass. “We were w-wondering if you’d be interested in a . . . well . . . a proposition.” As she spoke, her hands tightened around the hem of her skirt, as if nervous someone would overhear.
“A proposition . . .” I repeat, rolling the words around with my tongue. “And what kind would that be?”
Rainbird steps over to me, each heavy footstep pulsing in sync with my increasing heart rate. “It’s about your friends from Serenity.”
My heart stops beating for a moment.
“Eli . . . ?” I choke out, my eyes widening. “Is he okay?”
Is this the answer I’ve been waiting for?
“He won’t be very soon,” Rainbird replies. “He and the others have a half-hashed plan to rescue a few others from the people who run the Serenity experiment. You do know about that, I assume?”
“A little . . .” I admit, my interest peaking even more.
“I’m afraid it is unlikely the plan will succeed. There is a twenty-seven percent chance they will be able to rescue the other clones. It’s not an ideal percentage. If they’re caught, I am sure you know things will end very badly for them.”
“And that’s why we need your help.” Iris steps over to me, taking my hand in hers. Goosebumps run up my back. Her hand is ice cold.
“Why me?” I manage out.
“We need a familiar face,” she replies back, placing one hand to her necklace and clutching it. “If they end up being captured . . . we need someone who can be the bridge between us and them. I really hope that’s not the case though. I can’t imagine what would happen to them.”
“And why do you care . . . ?” I pull out of her grasp, stepping away. “I-I’ve never seen you in Serenity before. How . . . how do you even know what Eli and the others are? How do you know about the experiment?”
“I’d tell you now, but your roommate may come back at any moment,” she replies softly. “When we’re safe in the car, then I can tell you.”
“Car?”
Rainbird nods. “Yes. If you agree to help us . . . you will leave with us.”
I stare up at them, incredulous. “I can’t even have time to think it over? And what? You expect me to go with you, even though we’ve just barely met? How do I know you actually wanna help Eli? How do I know this isn’t a trap by my parents and those stupid Osiris researchers to cage me into doing something I don’t wanna do. Or worse, erase my memory? Tell me. How. Can. I. Trust. You?”
Iris gets quiet. The entire room seems to be devoid of noise. I can’t even hear chatter out in the hallways. It's as if the room was suddenly a vacuum in space, cold and silent.
Then, her expression shifts. Her mouth, once pulled into a concerned frown with pleading eyes turns into something else. Something that scares me.
“I guess that’s the funny thing about trust, isn’t it? You can’t really give it out freely in this world, can you? The same goes for truth, unfortunately.”
She stares at me oddly again, before Rainbird steps in, clasping a hand on her pale shoulder.
“What Miss. Iris is trying to say . . . you can’t. You can’t trust us. But, at this point, can you really trust anybody?” When I stay silent, Rainbird breathes through his nose. “As I thought.”
“If you truly don’t find it in your heart to trust us . . . we understand . . .” Iris shrugs her shoulders a bit, the odd look being replaced by a smile. “I guess it is odd having two strangers suddenly appear at your dorm talking about highly confidential stuff. But . . . then again . . . there weren’t very many options to get in touch with you. However, something I can guarantee you is this: you won’t have to sit on the sidelines like you are now. You can have a part in this . . . crazy story.” She laughs a little, like wind chimes ringing together. “On the plus side . . . you save your friends, have an adventure, and frankly get revenge on your parents who’ve been lying to you all your life. Now wouldn’t that be exciting!”
I perk up at this as I stare into her eyes. Her eyes that seem so sad and yet . . . held something in them. Something hidden. Something dangerous. Something playful. Something downright eerie.
Do I trust you? I think.
Weighing my options carefully, I stare around the cramped dormitory, the schoolbooks, my phone, which I can see a text message from my parents on. After a moment, I turn back to the pair.
“Alright. I’m in.”