Shifters

Chapter 24

THEA

"Now, Thea, you can do this, right? We can get along. We'll have a nice girl-to-girl chat and everything will be fine, okay?" Ms. Merriweather crooned.

"Fine," I replied quietly.

"That's great! I knew you could do it! Now, it's almost time for you all to start your mission!" She smiled, but her eyes remained dull and menacing, making the expression look strange. "We have some rules to go over right now, but after we're finished, you can have the whole rest of the day to relax! Doesn't that sound fantastic?"

She paused and stared at me.

"Yeah. Sure- I mean definitely," I stammered.

She stared at me for another few silent seconds. "Definitely," she repeated. "Now, the rules are very simple-"

"What about Luke?" I blurted out.

"What about him?" Ms. Merriweather asked lightly.

"He- uh, he can't hear you."

"Oh, no, no, dear. He can hear me perfectly well. That's all he can do right now, actually. We've shut down all of his senses except for hearing for the time being."

"...oh."

"But you've been such a good girl that you've earned the full experience of these few minutes of your life."

"...thanks?"

"You're very welcome, dear. Now, I was telling you the rules. They're very simple. You are to follow every order you are given. Lack of cooperation will mean you could get seriously injured or killed, and you will lose your free will until we deem that you are trustworthy again. Nothing comes above your orders. Not your life, not your teammates' lives, nothing. Those of us here at the Facility running this operation know what we are doing and every order we give you will be critical. And, as you know, this project is for the greater good. We cannot afford to mess this up. The lives of innocent people, people like you, the Fallen, are at stake. Their lives are in your hands. Follow your orders and we will save them. Follow your orders, and we can save the world. Okay?"

"...that's it?"

"Well, yes. That's all you need to know, at least. All other rules we can enforce without your knowledge because we can control your mind. It's much easier to remember just one rule, too. We give you one rule to make sure you know we're still in charge when you're farther away, but we very generously don't give you anything more than that. There's no need to thank us, though. Your cooperation is thanks enough."

"Thanks," I said cheerily.

Ms. Merriweather's eyebrows drew together into a look of confusion and slight concern for a fraction of a second before her unnatural smile clicked back into place. "That's all! Thank you for listening so well! I will see all of you tomorrow when we get all your supplies together and then send you off! Have fun until then!"

A/N:This chapter is for @oxMadisonxo (Thanks!)