Talen

“Aside from the president and his aide, we’ll have six more residents coming in a few days. We need to get accommodations and labs ready for all of them.”

“I’ll make sure everything is ready, Dr. Harp.”

“Thank you very much, Ms. Landers.”

“Mark,” she says quietly as she shakes her head and smiles.

“I’ll leave you to it then, Holly. See you at dinner?”

“See you then.”

We press ourselves to the back of the alcove as Dr. Harp exits the room and saunters off down the hall, whistling. I glance at Aerin, and we nod at each other before quickly making our way back to the generator room.

“This way!” Aerin grabs my hand and pulls me to the far side of the generator where she found the console. “I want to get that map.”

“My father is coming here.” I swallow hard.

“I heard.” Aerin peers at the console and digs her fingers into the edge of the map glued to the panel door.

My stomach clenches, and my heart starts to beat faster. I try to inhale deeply, but I feel like I can’t get any air into my lungs. I slowly drop to the floor on my ass and start to pant.

What the fuck is happening to me? My heart is beating so fast, I feel as if it’s going to explode out of my chest like a second Great Eruption. I’m getting dizzy from breathing too hard and too fast, and if there were anything in my stomach, I’m sure I would puke it up.

“Talen, you need to calm down.” Aerin places her hands on my shoulders, but I can barely feel her touch.

“He’s coming here,” I say again. “I can’t…I won’t—”

“Breathe, Talen!” Aerin places her hands on either side of my face. “Just look at me and breathe.”

“Can’t.” Bile rises to the back of my throat, gagging me.

“You’re panicking,” Aerin says. “Just breathe slowly and deeply. You got this.”

She tilts my head until I’m looking into her eyes. I try to do as she says and manage to slow my breathing a little. My heart is still pounding, but I manage to force the nausea back.

“We need to get out of here, Talen,” Aerin says quietly. “Did you hear what they said? They’re sending someone to check out the room above. Our room. We have to get everything out of there before they see it.”

I nod.

“You going to be all right?”

“Just give me a second.”

“Okay.” Aerin stands up and turns back to the map. “This thing is too well secured. I don’t think I can get it off. I’m just going to study it for a minute, and then we’ll get out of here.”

I squeeze my eyes shut and try to calm myself down. My hands and feet are freezing as if all the blood has run out of them. I try to focus on the cold instead of the possibility of coming face to face with my father once again, but all I can think of is the last time I saw him.

“You came to visit.” I sneered at my father. “How sweet of you.”

“Theo, you know this had to happen.”

“Do I?” I leaned over the table that separated us, causing the chained handcuffs to rattle. “I had to be locked up to keep people from finding out what kind of a man you really are?”

“You’ve never understood the bigger picture.” My father leaned back, putting more distance between us. “There is more at stake here than a couple of hundred people living in slums around the city. Our entire society—our species—is in danger here. I’m working for the benefit of everyone, and all you can focus on is a handful of misfits with no value.”

“They are not misfits!” I slammed my hand on the table, causing him to jump. “Just because they were born outside the city gates doesn’t mean they’re useless! You know nothing about them. Nothing!”

“You are the one who doesn’t know anything, Theo.” He pushed back his chair and glared down at me. “I hoped spending some time here would change your perspective, but I can see that isn’t going to happen. We’re done here. I expect I won’t be seeing you again.”