Seeing that dragon’s blood is the only real agent that can actually regenerate tissue, it has become clear through many trials that our triangle will only be successful in reversing Excalibur’s transluminating process if we supply the tachion engine with the receptors from the blood itself. The receptors seem impossible to synthetically produce, at least for this application. The lab rats were expendable. We can’t risk trying it on humans until we have successfully restored at least a rat, and, ideally, a higher order mammal upon which we can test memory restoration. Ashley believes that her synthetic receptors will eventually work. Time will tell if she is correct.
That was the end of the script. The next page contained just a series of numbers and labels, so Bonnie flipped the pages forward, looking for more text. After about a dozen pages of cryptic data, she found a series of block letters. They didn’t make real words, but they were separated into word-like letter strings. It started, “QRL AFXN NXC” and continued with similarly jumbled chains.
Karen whispered, “Does that stuff make any sense to you?”
“Maybe. Something about this looks very familiar.” Bonnie thought back to a time when she and her father traded coded messages, a game that allowed them to write to each other about her dragon characteristics without anyone else understanding, even if someone happened to read one of their notes. It had been more than a year since the last time she decrypted his code, and he might have come up with a new system, but she decided it was worth a try. She tore out a blank sheet from the back of the notebook and found a pen on the control board.
After a few minutes of work, she came up with a translation and whispered it to Karen. “Her idea has failed, but replacing the synthetic receptors with real ones in the presence of the candlestone has made the process work until now. I will have to let her know eventually, but as long as her grandfather improves, she won’t ask questions, and our investors will be happy. I can’t explain it to her yet. I also cannot tell her why the blood has been so readily available.” Bonnie looked up from the page. “Does that mean anything to you?”
Karen scratched her thick mane of red hair. “Well, they’ve mentioned putting receptors in my blood to see if they would work. I got the idea that it didn’t take for me, but I think it did take for Ashley’s grandfather. At least it did until recently.”
Bonnie closed the notebook and waved it toward Karen. “Well, I’m not sure how old this entry is, but it was something my dad obviously didn’t want Ashley to read.”
Karen raised her eyebrows and smiled. “So Ashley’s not the only one who’s keeping secrets, huh?”
Bonnie put her hand to her chin. “Apparently not.” She surveyed the cavernous room, looking for something—a new object, maybe another notebook, anything that might spark a new idea. She noted the banks of darkened fluorescent lights, several rows inset in drop ceiling panels. She wondered how high the true ceiling might be, but even if she were to walk to the cavern’s wall and look up, it would be too dark to tell with only a single desk lamp for light.
She scanned across the chamber to a door in the far corner and pointed toward it. “Is that the door to the monster’s cave?”
Karen nodded. “Yep. That’s the one.”
Bonnie laid the notebook where she found it and prowled toward the cave, but Karen didn’t budge.
Bonnie glanced over her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Karen scrambled off the platform but slowed as she drew closer.
When Bonnie reached the door, she noticed a strange shadow on the exterior. She ran her hand over the surface and felt the outline of a horseshoe-shaped symbol scratched into the wood. “I guess that’s an omega, right?”
Karen tiptoed up to the door and angled her head to get a look. “Yeah. That’s what Ashley told me, an upper case omega.”
Bonnie pulled out the set of keys and tried several in the lock, each one failing. With only a few left, she turned to Karen. “Have you ever seen Ashley open this door?”
Karen shook her head. “No. I’ve only seen Doc go through.”
Bonnie tried the last of the keys. “Hmmm. The things that Ashley doesn’t know are piling up.” She put her ear to the door and listened.
“Hear anything?” Karen asked.
“Shhhh!”
Bonnie detected a faint murmur but couldn’t quite make it out. “It sounds like sawing wood,” she whispered, “and then it changes to more like a train rumbling, and then back to sawing again. It’s like an old man snoring and wheezing.”
“Sometimes it’s louder,” Karen added, “more like growling or even moaning. If it’s not a monster, I don’t want to guess what else it could be.”
Bonnie stepped back from the door and frowned. “Monster, schmonster, Karen. He’s just trying to scare you.”
“Scare me? Why would he want to do that?”
“To keep you girls in line, maybe?”
Karen took a quick breath and squared her shoulders. “No way! We don’t give him any trouble!”
Bonnie gestured toward the boys’ dorm hall. “Derrick, then?”
“Not a chance. He’s real quiet and shy.”
“Does Ashley ever say anything about the growling?”
Karen looked down and slowly shook her head. “Not that I can remember. If it’s fake, she just seems to play along.”
Bonnie pressed her lips together and squeezed one eye nearly closed. “Hmmm.” She then pushed on the door with her shoulder while turning the knob, but it didn’t budge. The sound of her grunt was followed by the wail of a faint siren. She stepped back, nearly stumbling. “Is that an alarm?”
Karen’s eyes darted around. “You must have tripped something. Sounds like it’s coming from the boys’ area.”
A sudden bump and click sounded nearby. The door to the boys’ dorm swung open. Bonnie led Karen into a dark corner and whispered in her ear. “Let’s wait here. Don’t make a sound.”
“Is somebody out there?” a male voice called.
“It’s your father,” Karen whispered.
Bonnie gave her a quick “Shhh!” and crouched, pulling Karen down with her. She watched her father walk by as he headed toward the light switches, one hand in his bathrobe pocket and the other reaching for the wall. Just as the fluorescent panels flashed on, Bonnie grabbed Karen around the waist and held one hand over her mouth before leaping into the air. She flew around and above the drop ceiling toward the upper reaches of the cavern, lugging Karen like a sack of wiggling cats. Finding a stable rafter, she perched there while her father checked behind panels and opened storage closets.
Bonnie felt Karen’s deep gasps against her hand, the rushing air blowing in and out through her nose. Karen’s feet seemed secure, and they supported her weight on the rafter. Bonnie whispered in her ear, “Don’t worry. I’ve done stuff like this before.” She slowly released her grasp.
Karen whispered coarsely, “That was so cool! Are you going to fly down, too?”
“Shhh!” Bonnie clutched a vertical beam with her right hand and Karen’s waist with her left arm. She took slow, shallow breaths of the warm, stale air, barely making a sound. Beads of sweat trickled from her brow and cheeks. Nothing moved. The rocky ceiling trapped the heat and exhaust from the laboratory equipment, and no outside vents brought fresh air into the chamber.
It took a few minutes for her father to satisfy himself that all was in order. He tested the door that had tripped the alarm, finding it securely locked. With a shrug, he flicked off the lights and disappeared behind the boys’ hallway door.
Bonnie whispered. “Let’s wait another minute. I want to make sure he’s not coming back.” The seconds seemed like hours. Their perspiration dripped, falling like hot, salty raindrops to the nearly invisible floor below. When Bonnie felt the sweaty wetness on Karen’s shirt, she decided it was time to move. She released the beam and clutched Karen with both arms. “Okay. Hold your breath.”
She leaped from the rafter, throwing her wings in
to a full canopy, flapping once to catch and hold the motionless air. The girls dropped to the floor, Bonnie trying to hit the concrete surface running. Karen’s feet tripped over themselves, and the two girls landed in a crumpled heap, rolling and grunting as their momentum carried them forward.
Bonnie jumped up and helped Karen to her feet. “Are you okay?”
Karen nodded, rubbing a sore spot on her elbow.
With her head tilted to one side, Bonnie listened, ready to fly again if necessary, but it seemed that no one had heard their spill. All was quiet.
Bonnie took Karen’s hand. “Let’s get back to our rooms. I don’t think we’ll learn much more tonight.” They crossed the cavern, passing through the main lab, and reentered the girls’ hall. Bonnie relocked the door and whispered to Karen as she led her back to her room. “I’ve figured out a few things but not everything. I need to talk to Ashley in the morning, and then maybe it’ll get clearer.” Bonnie pushed open Karen’s door and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Try to get some sleep. I’ll see you at breakfast.”
Karen smiled, and the tracks of dusty sweat smearing her cheeks expanded. “Okay,” she whispered, and she turned to go into her room. At the last second she spun back around and grabbed Bonnie’s hand. Standing on tiptoes she kissed Bonnie tenderly on the cheek. As a tear formed in Karen’s eye, she said softly, “Thanks . . . For everything.” With that, she tiptoed in and closed the door.
Bonnie put two fingers on her cheek. Thanks for what? What have I done for her?
She pulled the skirt of her nightgown out and slipped her shoes and jeans off, wadding them into a bundle, and then it dawned on her. She thinks I was sneaking around for her, trying to figure out what they were doing to her, maybe find a way for her to get out. And why not? She’s trapped here like a human guinea pig in some bizarre experiment. She’s living a nightmare right before my eyes. She’s an imprisoned orphan in an underground cage.
Bonnie knew what it felt like— loneliness, hopelessness, despair. All this time, Bonnie had been thinking about finding her mother and not much else. Sure, the girls were important, but that’s not why she was skulking around for clues.
Bonnie’s lips trembled as she pictured Karen’s grimy face and sad, teary eyes. As the image morphed, tears crept into her own eyes, one already dripping down her cheek. She saw shackles on Karen’s wrists and neck, and Ashley holding a leash, smiling while leading Karen to the diver’s dome. Bonnie balled her hands into fists, her face heating up until she thought steam might spew out her ears. She threw open her door, and light from the hall poured into the room. Ashley sat up, bleary eyed and blinking at Bonnie. “What’s going on?”
Bonnie stalked in, closing her wings to get through and then opening them again in the middle of the room. She flung the keys and the wad of clothes on her bed and planted her fists on her hips, not knowing where to begin.
Ashley stared at her. “Are you okay? Are you sleepwalking or something?”
Bonnie pointed toward the hallway, passion erupting in her voice. “They’re human beings!” she cried. “Not stupid lab rats!”
Ashley jumped up and marched to the door, closing it with an authoritative click. “Shhh!” she warned while reaching for the light switch. “Do you want to wake the girls?”
Bonnie kept pointing, her arm now shaking. “As if you really cared about them. Can’t you see you’re using them? They’re people! I noticed no one ever mentioning you volunteering to get transluminated!”
Ashley walked slowly toward her bed. Her voice stayed calm, sounding almost condescending as she raised her eyebrows and chin. “I have to run the equipment, Bonnie. It would be suicide for a diver if something went wrong and I wasn’t available to fix it.”
Still fuming, Bonnie grabbed Ashley’s arms and turned them over to expose the undersides. “But it’s okay to use other people for pincushions, I see, and keep your own skin from getting gouged over and over again.”
Ashley shook Bonnie’s hands loose and pulled her arms back. “It’s the same deal, Bonnie. If something bad happened to me, who would continue the research? No one else knows how the photoreceptors work.”
Bonnie folded her arms across her chest. “Are you sure they really do work?”
Ashley’s brow furrowed, and her eyes seemed to darken. “Of course I’m sure. My grandfather is living proof.”
Bonnie moved her hands back to her hips, and her wings shuddered like they were trying to throw off a chill. “So you’re willing to take chances with these girls but not with yourself? I guess it’s okay if something happens to them, because they’re not as smart as you are. I guess they’re expendable.”
Ashley folded her arms across her chest. “Well, I wouldn’t put it that way.”
Bonnie drilled her stare into Ashley. “Then how would you put it?”
Ashley stepped toward Bonnie, gazing down at her from her two-inch height advantage. “These girls would either be dead or on their way to prostitution by now if they weren’t here. They have food and clothes, and their sacrifice will benefit the entire world.”
Bonnie held her ground. “Sacrifice?” she repeated, leaning forward and waving her arms. “You call being imprisoned and forced to be a lab rat a sacrifice? The Nazis experimented on the Jews in the name of science. Oh, those wonderful sacrificial Jews! Wasn’t it nice how they gave their lives for the benefit of mankind? And how about aborted babies? Isn’t it sweet of them to lend their bodies to scientists for stem cell research? Some day all of humanity will give thanks for their sacrifice!”
Bonnie scowled and turned her back on Ashley, folding her arms and huffing. “For being so smart, you sure are clueless, Ashley. My father’s got the wool pulled over your eyes big time.”
Ashley’s voice lowered, and she sounded more like a wounded puppy than an intimidating debater. “What do you mean by that?”
Bonnie turned back around. Pain branded Ashley’s expression, and Bonnie’s rapid boil slowed to a simmer. She didn’t want to hurt her new friend; she just wanted to make everything right—to free her mother and the girls. But she wasn’t sure how much she should tell Ashley, at least not yet.
“Ashley, there’s a lot going on here that doesn’t make any sense.” She picked up Ashley’s keys from the bed and jingled them. “Tell me. Why don’t you have a key to the Omega door?”
Ashley blinked at the key ring, as if trying to focus through sleepy eyes. “I haven’t had a need for it. Your father has the only one.”
“But you have keys to everything else, right?”
Ashley squinted and paused for a second. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Well, what could be in that cave that’s such a secret?”
Ashley let out an impatient sigh. “It’s a passage that used to lead outside, but after we brought all our equipment in here, part of it caved in during a minor earthquake. It’s too dangerous to go through anymore; that’s why we named it ‘Omega,’ the last letter in the Greek alphabet. It’s sort of like saying, ‘If you try to go through there, you’re finished.’ So, to protect the girls, your father has a continuous audio stream running on a laptop computer. It plays random monster noises that he downloaded from the Internet. He just wants to keep the kids from ever trying to go in there.”
Bonnie nodded slowly. “I figured it was something like that, but why doesn’t he want you to go in there? Maybe he’s hiding something else.”
Ashley pushed her hand through her tangled hair. “I can’t imagine what.” She pointed to her keys in Bonnie’s hand. “I guess he doesn’t want any extra keys left around for people to get ahold of.”
“Okay, okay,” Bonnie said, laughing. “I’m busted. At least you’re right about that.” Her tone turned serious again, and she gestured toward the hall. “But what about these girls, and what about Derrick? Do you really think it’s right to use human beings as guinea pigs against their will?”
Ashley shrugged her shoulders. “I guess I saw them as willing participants
. They didn’t kick or scream or anything. We give them whatever they want, within reason, of course, and they do what we ask.”
“But that’s just the point. You’re treating them like animals—you feed them, keep them warm, and clean their cages. So now it’s okay to ravage their bodies? Don’t you see that they’re real people, and they’re scared? Just because nobody loves them, you think you can use them?” Bonnie glanced upward and whispered a silent prayer. God give me the right words to say. She took a deep breath before continuing. “Well, I know someone who loves them, and He doesn’t look kindly on mistreating orphans.”
Ashley’s brow knitted three rows of angry wrinkles, and her lips tightened into two pale lines. “Is this turning into a ‘God loves everyone’ speech? Because if it is, I don’t want to hear it. Daddy kept trying to tell me that, always singing ‘Amazing Grace,’ but I asked him to quit a long time ago. If God were so amazing or so loving, Daddy wouldn’t have suffered so much, and I wouldn’t be such a Brainiac freak.” She waved her arm toward the hall. “If God loved Pebbles, she wouldn’t have been left to die on the beach, wandering in a dirty diaper and spitting sand from her bloody lips. And if God loved Stacey, she wouldn’t have been accosted by a pervert in a dark alley who would have abused her and left her for the other street predators to finish off. These kids were worthless throwaways. Nobody really loved them, and they wouldn’t have amounted to anything. But at least we’re making them into something useful, something they can be proud of.”
Bonnie put one hand on her friend’s shoulder. Ashley tried to pull away, but Bonnie held firm. “Ashley, love isn’t based on what someone can give or how much they can do. I mean, everyone loves the rich and famous, right? But it’s all fake. People just want to hang around them because they’ve got money. True love is treating bums and outcasts like they have diamonds in their pockets, even when there’s nothing there but moths and holes.”