I froze as the main door to my room clicked.
Stepping out, I almost yelped as I found myself face to face with a woman, standing right in the center of my dark room. My heart leapt in my throat. It took a few seconds for me to register that it was a familiar face. Jocelyn. Why hadn’t she turned on the light? She looked so creepy standing there so still, her arrival so unexpected. And at this time in the morning? I checked the clock. 4:13 AM.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, half tense as I noticed the large black bag she was carrying on her back, and half irritated that she would intrude on my privacy at this unholy hour.
“You informed me that you were hungry.”
I stared at her in disbelief. “Uh, yes. Dinner would have been nice.” Just thinking about food made my stomach whine. “I didn’t expect you to come disturbing me at four in the morning.”
“Well, I’m sorry for the delay, but I’ve brought you some food.”
I moved over to the light switch and flicked it on, removing the creepy shadows that had been playing across her face. This short, mousy-haired woman looked much less threatening beneath the light.
She removed the bag from her back and lowered it to the floor. I took a seat on the bed and watched as she pulled out three aluminum foil-wrapped packages. She laid them all out on my bedside table, along with two bottles of water.
“Thank you,” I murmured, eyeing the food and wondering what it was exactly. I reached out and touched the nearest package to me—it was soft and, to my pleasant surprise, it was also warm.
I glanced back at Jocelyn. Her bag still remained where she’d placed it on the floor, and she’d made not even the slightest show of leaving the room. She just stood at the end of my bed, watching me.
“Thank you,” I said again, louder this time, discarding all subtleties. “I am sure that this food is just fine.”
She smiled tersely. “Good. Then why don’t you eat? You haven’t lost your appetite, have you?”
I frowned at her, the warm food suddenly seeming less appealing. I didn’t fancy eating with this woman watching me like I was some kind of zoo animal.
“I would rather eat alone,” I said, eyeing her pointedly.
She nodded, though she still made no motion to move.
“I want you to leave.”
Again, she just nodded, blankly, even as she remained glued to her spot.
I gave up at this point. She was obviously going to stay in my room and watch me whether I liked it or not. I twisted on the bed and turned my focus on the food. I picked up the largest package first—the warm one. I unwrapped the foil to reveal a whole grain baguette. I parted it, examining the filling. It was stuffed with tomatoes, cheese, avocado and some kind of pungent mustard. I took my first bite, surprised that it tasted a lot better than it smelt.
Ignoring Jocelyn as best as I could, I finished the whole baguette in a matter of minutes and then moved on to the next item. An apple. I wolfed that down, leaving me with the final package—a tub of rice pudding. After eating that, I tossed the foil in the trash before swigging down some water and leaning back in bed.
“Satisfied?” Jocelyn asked, breaking the silence.
I nodded stiffly before sinking down into the mattress and pulling the blanket over me. I was beginning to feel sleepy again. It had taken me a long time to drift off last night and, thanks to the nightmare, I had not been sleeping long at all. Then the hot bath, combined with the meal, made me want to doze off again.
Jocelyn still didn’t take the hint to leave, not even after I turned out the light and buried my head in my pillow.
I sensed her drawing closer. “What was your name?” she asked.
I rolled over in bed to glare up at her. I wondered what made her suddenly curious to know my name.
“Alice,” I grumbled, for why should I tell the truth? Ben had used a false name when in hostile territory, and I didn’t see why I shouldn’t do the same.
“Okay, Alice. You need to come with me now.”
My face deadpanned. “Are you kidding me?”
She shook her head. “Come.” She held out her hand for me to take.
Although I was beginning to feel half-asleep, I didn’t know what else I could do than obey. I swung my legs off the bed, and stood up.
“Where do you wanna take me now?”
“Back to the lab.”
To go create some fresh material for my nightmares. Great. I gritted my teeth.
She picked up the backpack from the floor and stepped outside the room. As she led me toward the exit of the courtyard, I glanced at the merfolk in the tank—even they appeared to be still sleeping at this early hour. We left the prison area and she led me back to the laboratory. She pressed her thumb against the screen next to the doors to open them. When we stepped inside, the ground floor of the lab was dark, except for shafts of moonlight trickling eerily through the glass walls at the far end of the room.
Jocelyn’s small heeled shoes clacked against the sleek floor as she moved further inside and reached for a light switch. The lights flickered on, their stark fluorescence momentarily blinding me. As she led me toward the staircase, I expected her to stop at the same level as she had the last time—perhaps even take me to the same treatment table she’d been examining me on before. But she didn’t. She kept leading me higher until we reached the fourth floor. My throat was dry as she strayed from the staircase and entered through a glass door, emerging in a section of the lab that was entirely new to me. The center of the large rectangular room was filled with tables, like the other floors I’d seen so far, but the walls were steel and lined with doors—one of which Jocelyn began moving toward. She opened the door on the other side of the room and gestured for me to enter after her.