Rein broke the silence. “Are you doing it now?” he whispered.
“No,” Ellyssa answered indignantly.
“What does it all mean?” asked Mathew.
“You’re a prototype?” said Jordan.
Nodding, she said, “Yes. We all are. After my encounter with Jeremy, I ran across the records when I was erasing mine from the mainframe. With our genes locatable, he can isolate the coding sequence.”
Realization dawned within the older man. The whites of his eyes grew more pronounced. “He can bring them together into one.”
“Yes. A super-human able to seek you all out and destroy every pocket of resistance—hidden or not. My father’s goal has always been to accomplish Hitler’s dream.”
Jordan slouched back in the chair. The rusted springs squeaked in protest. “Human genocide.”
“Precisely.”
Looking off, Mathew pulled at his chin, his eyebrows leveled in thought. After a moment, his gaze settled back on her. “If you could read minds, why didn’t you know about this sooner?”
“It was strictly prohibited for any of us to use our gifts against Father or any of his assistants. To do so never even occurred to me.” Ellyssa flicked her eyes at Rein’s scowling face. “I am sorry I did not inform you sooner. But…” What could she say? She waved her hand in defeat. “I did not know how. I did not know who to trust.”
Jordan stood with Mathew’s help. His knees cracked. “We understand. We were as much an enemy to you as you were to us.” He started to turn, but stopped. “What made you run?”
Staring off, Ellyssa chewed on her lip before replying, “As The Center’s children, we went through rigorous programming to eradicate all emotions except anger and self-preservation. When I saw my father’s plans, not only did my self-preservation kick in, but I experienced a feeling of…wrongness, if he were to succeed.”
“How strange for you,” said Mathew, his voice barely above a whisper. “I can’t imagine how that must have felt like.”
Jordan held up his hand. “Thank you for answering our questions.”
“She hasn’t answered an important one,” Rein said, his tone clipped and seething with fury. “When, exactly, were you going to tell us?” Jordan placed a hand on his arm, but he jerked away. “No. Don’t. You just don’t get it. This confirms everything.” His eyes narrowed and fell on her. “Who’d you lead here?” he demanded, reaching for her.
Ellyssa’s quick response had her on her feet on the other side of the cot. “I did not bring others.” Although her muscles tensed, ready to defend, her voice quivered in desperation. She was suddenly afraid to lose him. A feeling of impending loneliness surfaced. “I told you they would come for me.”
“Liar,” Rein roared. “You’ve endangered us all.” Red colored his cheeks, and his fists clenched and unclenched, as if he wished his fingers were curled around her neck. He pushed past the doctor.
Unable to contain her curiosity, Ellyssa peeked inside Rein’s head. Fury, betrayal, and confusion swirled in incomprehensible images.
Somehow, Rein knew. He flipped around, the tendons in his neck standing out. “Stay the hell out of my head.” He stormed out.
Mathew and Jordan turned toward her, her hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar. Beaten, she collapsed onto her cot.
Jordan stroked Ellyssa’s hair. It felt nice, and more tears formed in her eyes. An emotional betrayal. Her father was right; emotions weakened her. Ellyssa inhaled and closed down, her face becoming an empty canvas, a veneer to cover her true sentiments. Inside her chest, though, misery twisted and seethed and clawed.
Jordan wavered for a moment, then his hand fell to his side. He looked askance at the doctor, who cocked a brow. “Don’t worry, hon. I’ll talk to him.”
Lowering her head, Ellyssa nodded. After all, she had deceived them. Even without looking into their heads, she knew they believed that. She wished she’d said something sooner.
“I am sorry,” she muttered, her voice monotone, unfeeling.
“Tsk, tsk. We’ll have none of that.”
Ellyssa looked at Jordan, and surprisingly, a toothy grin, minus the top front teeth, flashed across his dark face, deepening his wrinkles. She couldn’t understand him at all.
“Rein is right. Whether I intended to or not, I have endangered you all.”
“We were never out of danger.” Jordan’s lids lowered, not in anger, but in slyness. “You know why he is so angry, don’t you?”
“Yes. He feels betrayed.”
Laughing, Jordan shook his head. His dreadlocks swung like pendulums. “For someone who is supposedly smarter than the rest of us, you really don’t know much about this world at all.”
Not really sure if he meant that as an insult, she stared at him. Her defenses fell and confusion tightened her mouth.
Humor glinted in the old man’s eyes. He laughed even harder as he walked from the room, his thin shoulders shaking all the way.
When they were alone, Mathew hopped over and sat next to her. “Rein’ll come around, don’t worry.”
“Worried? I do not feel worry.”
The doctor, the first person who had ever showed her kindness, the first person she had ever considered a friend, placed a finger under her chin. Ellyssa met his light brown eyes, and her stoic barricade melted.
“I’m not blind. I can see how you feel,” Mathew said.
“And how is that?”
The corners of his lips tugged into a small smile. “You like him.”
“I do not deny that. I like you, too.”
“I know, but your feelings for him are more than friendship.”
What an alien notion. She’d never liked anyone before, but to like them as more than a friend was incomprehensible. To form bonds brought disadvantage, her father would say.
Ellyssa thought about what the doctor had said. Was that why she had felt electricity at Rein’s touch? Why he had warmed her? Maybe she did like him as more than a friend, but he didn’t hold the same feelings for her.
“I might not be very familiar with emotions, but I know hatred. I thrived on it for years. He holds hatred for me.”
Mathew brushed a piece of her hair back behind her ear. The gesture was reassuring.
“He doesn’t hate you, dear. Far from it.”
“I disagree.”
“If you must, but you’re wrong. Anyway, Rein and I have some business to attend to for the next couple of days. Jordan will be in to check on you, and different guards will be posted at the door.”
Ellyssa held no doubt Jason would be amongst them.
Mathew frowned. “I don’t see why we still have to go through the formalities. I’m guessing if you intended to hurt people, you would have no problem doing so.”
No problem, whatsoever. She nodded.
“As I thought.” He picked up the book. “What do you think?”
“I am not so sure about this one. Like I said earlier, the story strikes close to home.”
“You know, the thing about Frankenstein is that many people portrayed the creature as the monster. But the creature isn’t the monster at all.” He stood and handed the book back to her. “It is his creator.”
Anger carried Rein all the way back to his holey. He climbed into the cramped space with the scratchy blankets, lantern, and one of Mathew’s beloved books, and lay across the pallet. His home.
He was annoyed at how Ellyssa dominated his thoughts, no matter how hard he tried to push her out. He wondered if she could read his thoughts, right now. If she could, she’d see how much she’d hurt him by her betrayal. But why should he be hurt?