The Cage (The Cage 1)

They’re monsters. Even him.

While the Kindred exchanged words, Cora balled her fists. If she’d had the guitar string garrote right then, she could easily have wrapped it around either of their necks and pulled. But she had nothing. She felt helpless.

Their conversation paused. The Caretaker’s head jerked toward her an inch, as though he heard her thoughts. The back of her neck went cold, and that creeping worry returned, that maybe the Kindred could read their minds. But that didn’t make any sense. If the Kindred could read minds, wouldn’t they know about her plan to find the fail-safe exit and escape?

“We will call you in numerical order to approach the table,” the Caretaker said. “The medical inspector will record your body mass and perform a series of tests to evaluate your health. This process will not be painful or unpleasant unless you chose to make it so. Boy One, you are first.” He looked at Rolf. “Remove your clothing.”

Cora’s eyes went wide. Rolf’s went wider.

They wanted them naked?

The first day in the cage, Cora hadn’t showered or changed clothes because of the black windows in the bathroom. Eventually she’d had to. But there was a big difference between stripping in front of a black window and here, with the Kindred, not to mention the other captives and the girl in the cage.

Leon cursed. “Is he serious?”

Cora kept her eyes fixed on the Caretaker. Did he understand why they were so reluctant? Did nudity mean the same thing to his people? In the cage, the human girl watched impassively, rocking slowly back and forth. Cora started to wonder if she was even human.

“In adherence with Rule Two,” the Caretaker continued, “we require you to cooperate. These tests are for your own benefit, whether your limited minds can comprehend that or not. Now approach the table, Boy One.”

Rolf went white as porcelain.

“This isn’t right,” Nok whispered. “What’ll they do to him?”

Cora watched her throwing him nervous glances. Nok might have been acting before, manipulating Rolf into protecting her with wails and tears, but her concern for him was real now, as was her fear.

Cora grabbed Rolf’s shirt and pulled them all into a huddle. “We’ll all face the wall, okay? We won’t look. We’ll give each other privacy.”

“What about them?” Nok asked. “And that girl in the cage?”

Cora turned to face the Kindred, digging her nails into her palm to take her mind off her fear. “You have to turn around too, or else we won’t do it.”

It was a hollow threat. They could make them do anything, of course.

“Your request is impossible, Girl Two.” Serassi cocked her perfectly coiffed head. “I must see you in order to perform my tests.” Cora searched for some emotion in the medical officer’s face. A human might have smirked at her quaint modesty, or threatened her, but this was none of those things. This was perfect skin and unflinching gaze, as blank as a machine.

“Well, that’s okay. You’re sort of a doctor.” Her eyes slid to the Caretaker. “But you have to turn around.”

“Very well.” He sounded amused. Serassi’s head jerked in surprise, and she said a few words in his language, but he ignored her.

“Boy One,” he ordered.

As soon as Rolf stepped forward, the Caretaker faced the wall. Cora was shocked that he actually did as she asked, as though she had a modicum of power over him. Cora and the others turned, but the caged girl kept rocking. Cora heard Rolf’s clothes pool on the floor, then a clink of equipment, and a quick intake of breath.

“Doctor,” Leon mumbled beside her. “More like a veterinarian.”

Behind them, Serassi told Rolf—Boy One—to put his clothes back on. He returned to the wall and cleared his throat. “No poking and prodding. It’s a type of sensor they run over your skin. It doesn’t hurt, but it’s quite cold.”

“And the girl in the cage?”

Rolf’s cheeks flamed. “She didn’t turn around, but she didn’t seem to care either. She looked . . . bored. I’m not positive she speaks English.”

“Girl One,” the Caretaker ordered. When Nok stepped forward, visibly shaking, he faced the wall again. The process was repeated on her, and she rejoined them.

“Boy Two,” the Caretaker said. Lucky squeezed Cora’s hand, and then his presence was gone. Cora took a deep breath. She was next. Even at Bay Pines, they’d had a small amount of privacy. They’d had shower curtains. They only had to share a room with one other girl. When they went to the facility’s doctor, they got a paper robe.

When Lucky returned, brushing the back of her hand reassuringly with his fingers, her hands shook harder. Her throat was dry. She was waiting to hear that she was next.

“Cora,” the Caretaker said.

Her tired eyes sank closed at the sound of her name. Lucky tensed beside her. The girl in the cage stopped rocking, and Cora’s eyes shot open again. Something was different.

She looked over her shoulder and met the Caretaker’s black eyes, and saw half a blink. It made him seem suddenly very human, and that terrified her more than anything. She didn’t like the idea of these creatures having lives, and hopes, and fears, and names.

That’s when she knew what was different.

He didn’t call her Girl Two.

He had called her by her name.

Behind them, Serassi spoke a few rapid, mechanical words. Cora got the sense that he was not supposed to have called her by anything other than the labels the Kindred had given them.

He had made a mistake.

“Girl Two.” The Caretaker quickly corrected himself. There was a harshness in his voice, like he was trying to make up for his slip. He faced the wall. His hands were tensing and flexing by his side.

“It’s best if you just obey,” Rolf whispered.

Cora walked to the table in the center of the room, anger braided through her nerves, her hands fluttering at the straps of her sundress. Serassi held a long and flat instrument. She didn’t blink. She didn’t offer encouragement, but didn’t threaten either. Cora tugged the dress over her head so she was in her white underwear and camisole. Her hands hesitated on the camisole’s strap, as her eyes shifted to the Caretaker.

Why had he slipped on her name, and not the others’? Why had he obeyed her request for privacy, when he ignored theirs? Why did she get so many tokens, when the others only got one? A strange sensation throbbed in her head, like eyes watching her thoughts. She shivered.