Mimic

Chapter 18

Amber

Once I leave Rocky's, I stop pretending to be drunk and walk back to UIT to report back to Dr. Young.

"Doctor Young?" I call as I walk into his office.

"Miss Armstrong," he replies as he types furiously at his computer. "What did you find out?"

"Emily met with a group of students at Rocky's. Emily brought some files and had them on the table. When I walked over, they were saying something about a poly-something omega," I inform him.

He stops typing and looks up at me. "What did you just say?"

"They were at Rocky's—"

"No, the last part."

"Emily had some files, and they said something about a poly-something-or-other omega," I rephrase.

He stands up from his desk and starts pacing the room. "I am going to bring Emily in tomorrow to start the tests that I had planned to do later this week. Make sure that someone calls down to her room tomorrow afternoon."

"Of course."

"Did you hear anything else?" he asks, wheeling on me.

"When I interrupted them, one of the girls mentioned a change of plan, but I—"

"You interrupted them?" he questions me. "Why?"

"I couldn't get close enough to hear the whole conversation without blowing my cover because my brother was in the group. I also couldn't use my ability because Emily is using her Shield to protect everyone, which by the way, I'm pretty sure she's doing subconsciously. Anyway, I had to pick a moment to get close enough to gather information. I chose the moment when they brought files out of Emily's bag and were talking about it, but I only got a few seconds of conversation."

"Well, you did your best, I'm sure," he mocks me, turning the other direction.

I roll my eyes and ignore the comment. Starting an argument will get me nowhere right now.

"You said that Emily is subconsciously using her Shielding on her friends?" he asks, sitting back down at the computer.

"Maybe?" I say, walking around the desk to see what he's typing. "That's what it seems like. Obviously, I can't be sure, but that's my working theory."

He puts a few notes on the Mimic document that I was managing up until last week.

"Do you have any other information for me?" he asks.

"No, sir. Just what I already told you. I do have a question though," I prompt.

He remains silent, which I take as a cue to ask my question.

"Do those files have something to do with the Omega virus?"

"Yes," he admits. "Those files are my and my colleagues' research on the cure for Omega."

"Why did they sound worried—not worried, scared. They sounded scared of what they saw in those files," I tell him.

"Likely, they misread the files, or they assumed the worst possible scenario before reading the whole of the research. Now, what I'm more interested in is what the group meant by changing their plans."

"I'll find out tomorrow," I say. "I plan to follow some of the others in the group to find out what their plans might be. If I'm right, I should be able to use my Telepathy once they're not with Emily."

"That's the other thing," Dr. Young starts. "I would also like a list of everyone in Miss Dawson's little group. I want to know who could potentially be confused about sensitive topics like Omega."