Trial X6

Exposed

  "You still never told Logan, did you?" I questioned while walking down the basement stairs to grab the rest of my things from the house while Logan was making himself breakfast in the kitchen.

  "Like I said, I tried." Alec replied as he was just a few steps ahead of me. "He really didn't want to listen and kept cutting me off."

  "It makes things between you two so tense. Almost didn't think he'd even let you inside."

  "Yeah, well, I'm not sure how to break it to him now."

  "....You wanna just let Max deal with it?"

  "Probably for the best. But if he finds out the truth before she does tell him, that's not on me." Alec waved a finger over his shoulder.

  "You know, you could've just waited outside." I stated as he stepped onto the basement floor.

  "Am I not allowed to help? What all do you have left, anyway?"

  "Just a couple of boxes since I don't need the cot anymore."

  "Hey, instead of just grabbing your stuff and leaving, why don't we mess around with the piano for a bit? I've never actually gotten to hear you play without sneaking up on you."

  "I don't know." I paused at the base of the stairs while my hand rested on the old, wooden rail.

  "Come on, show me what you've got, Shadow. Never know when you'll get to play again." Alec turned to look at me with a smile after tossing the sheet off the piano. "I'll play first if you're shy."

  "I'm not shy."

  "Then what's stopping you?" He held out his hand towards me with his other hand gesturing at the piano. I was hesitant because the instrument always made me shake, something I'd managed to hide well enough from Alec, but he just might find out now. Although, what was the harm?

  Rolling my eyes, I slid my hand into his to accept his offer. However, something seemed to spark when I saw my hand in Alec's as he was smiling in front of the piano.

  My vision flashed to a dim hallway that was all too familiar from Manticore. I saw my own reflection from how clean the metallic door in front of me was, showing my left arm was in a cast, and I was a teenager again. The cast was from an experiment to see how much pressure it would take to break my bones.

  The door opened to a dark room with a pair of chairs in the center. A man went inside before me, turning on a light that only softly lit the room, I would guess as a courtesy for my eyes that burned due to the bright lights from before. The man turned, and I saw it was Lydecker as he gestured towards the chairs.

  "You did well, 1031. I want to show you something now." His voice wasn't clear, but I could still make out his words.

  The scenery changed back to the basement again, and I grunted in pain while holding my head. Something was very wrong. It felt like a memory, but I knew it never happened. Was I hallucinating?

  "Shadow?" Alec sounded concerned as I snarled, however, I was back in that room again when I opened my eyes.

  I was in the chair now, looking through a window into the next room. No, not a window, a one-way mirror. Lydecker sat next to me calmly while looking straight ahead.

  My ears perked when I heard the gentlest sound I had ever heard before. Looking further into the next room, I saw a large, black table with a young man sitting at it. The table was thick and oddly shaped with only three legs.