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evanna

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evanna

"Tell me what you see."

"I see the city. I see a boy... who's just killed a man." The sight of the blood turning pink in the snow makes a feeling of satisfaction settle down within me.

"And what does that make you feel?"

I pick up the sound of a pen sliding wetly over a notebook, hurried yet steady. I feel exactly the same way, because the woman in the room with me is a pawn in my game, not the other way round.

"I think that he must be eliminated," I answer calmly.

"Do you understand why?" The light patter of the soles of her shoes against the glass floor ceases as she sits down quietly, crossing her legs in an elegant fashion.

"Because murderers disturb the peace of Tetrahmon." The video clip that's been on a loop ever since I've put on these glasses pauses. I close my eyes for a brief moment and lean back in my seat, my hands folded in my lap, my tattoo visible in bold ink. They made us roll our sleeves up.

"And do you know that they are the reason the Wall had to be built?"

"I do." Of course I do: it was meant to keep me out, and it failed. I should applaud Malcolm on her choice of material and quality of her workmen.

A hand gesture directs my attention to a medical bed in the corner of the room. "Please lie down." I do as I'm told. "Are you aware of Project Chrysalis?" She asks, taking my tech glasses from me.

"I am."

"What do you know about it?" Julian has warned me well enough; these compulsory appointments are simply to test our loyalty to the State. It's not quite what I need, but it's necessary. Bernard has declared it part of my training to obey every future announcement. So see I am, in the Medical bureau, listening to this moron prattling on with ridiculous questions.

"Only what was stated in the announcement."

"Do you understand that any following procedures will be linked to Project Chrysalis and will therefore be beneficial to us, as a State?" What, you want me to be your lab rat again? No thanks.

Smiling, I turn my head to her, my hair rustling against the pillow, and give a subtle inclination of my head. "Of course."

When I'm asked to recite my number, I don't hesitate. "7037Z." The soft beeping of a finger hitting a digital key on a tablet ensues, multiple times, as she keys in my digits and letter. I expect the frown, I expect the befuddled tone as she sets the tablet down and repeats my number to me. In the end I show her my forearm, tired of having to repeat the digits over and over again before she ignores the fact that my number isn't present in any of the database files of the Medical bureau. She's making me a 'new' file, and I'm almost flattered.

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