I knew I was dreaming. It was weird, but I could feel it, the darkness of the room just fading away as I slipped off to unconsciousness. Streaks of light from outside the window shot through my field of vision and a sensation of falling was replaced with a feeling of weightlessness, like the moment before you step down a stair in a dream and your heart catches and you wake.
Except I didn’t wake. I saw Reed again, those brown eyes staring, searching for me. The haze around me began to lighten. Splashes of color entered the world around me and I realized Reed was coming into focus, details adding in front of my eyes. He looked at me with confusion. “Sienna? Where are we?”
I felt a chill and looked down. There were two figures at my feet. A face stared back at me with dead eyes. “I think we’re in the parking lot of the grocery store where Wolfe found us.”
He looked at me with practiced skepticism. “What’s going on here?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
He looked at the body at my feet. “I remember going to sleep…but this isn’t like any dream I’ve ever had. In a dream, you can’t pick your words, and ridiculous things happen. Like a man with a platter of cheese slices comes wandering through, and it seems totally normal until you wake up.” He eyed me with an air of uncertainty. “Right?”
“I’ve never dreamed about a man with cheese slices.”
“But you know what I mean? This really happened, right?” He looked down at the body. “I remember this guy’s face.”
Remembering the two men who died here – trying to help me – took the thought of laughter away. “What happened to you? I woke up at the headquarters for those two clowns who broke into my house.”
Reed flinched. “Yeah, I saw them get you. I had to bail. Wolfe messed me up pretty bad or I might have tried to fight them off.”
I narrowed my eyes as I looked at him. “Are you a meta too?”
His hands fell to his waist. “Yeah.”
“So what can you do? What’s your…power?”
“The basics. Stronger than most. Nothing compared to that Wolfe guy, but I can tip over a car if I have to. I heal fast, of course. Some other stuff. Nothing major.” He looked down, eyes avoiding mine.
“Uh huh. So why didn’t you square with me when we were talking in the store?”
“It’s your first day out in the world, you’re running to escape from some guys who are shooting at you, and I get to break the news to you that you’re a superhuman. Yeah,” he said with sarcasm, “that wouldn’t have sent you running away from me.”
“It might not have.” I thought about it for a minute. “Yeah, it probably would have before I met Wolfe. Where are you now?”
He shied away from my look again. “You’re at their base?” He hesitated. “With those guys…from…”
“The Directorate. It’s what they call themselves.”
“Yeah. You’re with them?”
“Not ‘with them’ like we’re on the same team, but yeah. They want to run tests on me. Tell me what I am. Where are you?”
“Can’t tell you.” He cringed as he said it. “Sorry. I don’t trust them.”
I looked at him in annoyance. “I’m not staying here forever. I’m trying to decide if I want to let them figure things out for me before I leave. How am I supposed to find you if you won’t tell me where you are?”
He finally looked me in the eye. “Seems like you’ve found a way to contact me. So talk to me again when you’ve escaped.”
I threw my hands in the air. “Where am I supposed to go?”
He started to fade, getting hazy again, like there were gaps in his skin replaced by darkness. “Anywhere. Just get away from them.”