Chapter Text
Final Assessment | January 29, 2016
The bright lights overhead did little to distract us from the fog-like scent of disinfectant. It haunted the observation room like a restless spirit, but wasn't as chilling as Overseer Catalina's presence. She looked down upon us from her place on the metal catwalk—scrutinizing not our expressions or appearances—but instead the so-called 'gifts' of wings, ears, and tails she and her fellow scientists granted us long before we were born.
Around me, I saw many kids trying not to squirm under her verdant gaze.
If they weren’t so broken, we could take her down no problem, I thought with an inward sigh. Then we could all leave together.
The loud clanking of heavy boots on the catwalk made me look up. Immediately, my face wrinkled in disgust. Spectre, the overseer's prized guard dog or wolf, in his case, had appeared. Coming to a stop at his master's side, I could feel his amber eyes boring holes into my body as he handed her a clipboard lined with papers.
Is he trying to pick a fight now? I wondered. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Gardenia sending me a few concerned glances.
"I don't know why he's glaring at me either, Nia," I told her and a gawking Ebon telepathically. "He's always signaling me out for some strange reason."
"Maybe he has a crush on you." snorted Ebon.
I scoffed, both in my head and aloud as I turned my gaze away from him, muttering, "Right, and I'm sure he'll confess his undying love for me after he rips my throat out."
I rolled my eyes. I hate that stupid mutt.
Seemingly satisfied with cowing me into submission, he leaned against the railing beside Catalina as she quietly flipped through the pages with slim fingers.
We all silently watched with bated breath. "Now I'm sure I don't have to name any names, but it looks like a few of you are failing classes you normally excel at," she said. Quiet yet fearful mutters began to fill the air as a few kids looked down in shame.
"This would normally be grounds for punishment, specifically being confined to your rooms so that you can do your work with little distractions," Catalina continued. "But seeing as your training has been amped up as of late, it's completely understandable why there would be slip-ups."
A wave of relief washed over the once-tense air. Even I had to release a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"Subject 898-990I," she called. This made a mousy-haired girl with brown tabby ears and a matching tail stand at attention. "I'm happy to see your math score has improved. Well done."
"T-thank y-you Overseer," stammered Subject 898-990I. "Y-your t-tutoring s-sessions helped!"
Ebon and a few of the more bold kids coughed out the words "kiss ass", which got Gardenia and me to snicker.
"It seems that's all I have to address, seeing as the rest of you remained at the same level you started the month with," Catalina said, turning away. "You're dismissed."
|—|—|
To anyone else, the long winding halls made of linoleum and whitewashed walls would be confusing, but that wasn’t the case for us. It didn’t matter if we were heading to class or a test or because a few interns had finally earned enough trust from the higher-ups to be enlightened about our existence, we were always paraded up and down like some pets.
At least the rooms are decent. I reminded myself as the human guards let us into our suite. It was supposed to be worthy of two stars, maybe even three, since we kept it clean, but I didn’t understand the need to rank a place you slept in. When the guards left, Mercury smiled at us.
"How’d it go?" he asked.
I shrugged, "Apparently, a few kids are failing due to training. Doesn't look like she’ll ease up on it, though."
"When has she ever been lenient with a Hybrid?" scoffed Ebon as he flopped down onto his bed. "She’d train us all until we keel over."
"Won’t argue with you there, E," replied Gardenia as she hung her legs over the bunk above him. "Who knows, maybe she’d train our ghosts too."
That got us to laugh because we all knew she and the higher-ups would be crazy enough to try it.
I hope that day doesn’t come soon, I thought. Otherwise, we’d be in major trouble.
"I got a gold star today," chimed a giggly voice. I turned my attention to the young girl surrounded by crayons and notebooks on our suite's more plush rugs. "It was for getting an A on my spelling test for third-grade words."
"That’s great, sweetie," said an older boy as he scooped the small girl up in his arms with a faint smile on his lips. Her giggles grew louder as he spun around with her. "I swear when we get out of here tonight, I’m buying you the sweetest thing I can find."
Iris's smile grew brighter when he said that. I couldn’t help doing the same. She was so smart, but then again, all of us were given the fact that we were much farther ahead in school than normal kids our age, due to how the teachers here taught us.
Mercury chuckled at the siblings. He sent me a wink as he began to waggle his finger playfully at the two. "Now Sunny, we have to get ready before we start celebrating, remember?" he tsked. "You'll have all the time to fatten the little gyrfalcon up later."
"Merc's right," agreed Magick. "We have to make the minutes between shift changes count." Nodding, we began to bustle around our room to gather up the key cards, lockpicks, spare clothes, and MREs we managed to hide from the camera's view. Once everything was placed in a pillowcase-turned backpack and Magick made it blend in with the floor, we crawled into bed and lay as still as possible.
"Remember guys," whispered Mercury. "Once Nia pins the guard on headcount duty to the ceiling, we get camouflaged, book it through the door, and don’t stop until we hit the tree line! Got it?"
"Got it." we chorused.