THE BEAST ─ five hargreeves

[ 006 ] dr. doolittle tries ditching five with a toad

VI.

d o c t o r d o o l i t t l e
t r i e s d i t c h i n g
f i v e w i t h a t o a d

—ZARA HAD NEVER really liked laboratories. She was always afraid someone might jump out and stick her with a needle, only to return minutes later with a blood sample and DNA test results proving that she was, in fact, not entirely human.

It wasn't like she had ever met her biological parents. What if they were wizards, or warlocks, or bears? Maybe that was why she could shapeshift.

Zara would rather not know.

MeriTech Laboratory, the building she and Five had just wandered into, was not exempt from her loathing of such places. It was a big, open space, with massive windows through which the first rays of morning light filtered through, white marbled walls and the occasional exquisitely manicured potted plant.

The elevator, which she was examining at the moment, was like any other elevator.

Ordinary, unexceptional, and rather questionable in terms of safety—making Zara queasy with the possibility that she might plummet to her death at any moment.

She looked over the inner walls cautiously before stepping in next to Five.

"Why so paranoid?" he asked sardonically, watching her with amusement. "Did Mommy never let you ride elevators as a kid?"

"No, actually," Zara retorted, "Why do you care, anyway? It doesn't seem to fit with your holier-than-thou attitude."

Five shifted in his spot, staring straight ahead as the doors slid shut. "I don't think I'm better than you."

Liar, liar.

"I never said you did," Zara mused, tapping her foot along to the beat of the slow elevator music. "And yet, you sure do like the illusion of being an obnoxious jerk. I don't blame you. If I was the one person who had a shot at saving the world, I would be just as arrogant as you are."

Kiki hopped between the two teenagers' shoulders, muttering quiet nursery rhymes to herself. She had taken quite a liking to Five, who took it upon himself to feed her sunflower seeds in exchange for handshakes.

Five scoffed. "You're wrong."

"Am I? It's textbook narcissism. Of course you have a superiority complex. Your siblings tried to stop the apocalypse and failed miserably. The only difference this time around is you. The fate of the world depends on whether or not you're better than the other Hargreeves. Whether it's true or not, you have to believe you are. It's not stupid, Five. It's survival."

An uneasy silence settled over the rising elevator, making it suddenly claustrophobic for Five.

He had never met anyone as peculiar as Zara. She had seemed, by all accounts, to be a fairly simple and straightforward girl when he'd first met her. He didn't know what he was expecting—maybe someone outgoing like Allison, or shy like Vanya—but she was neither, really. Beyond her odd fascination with animals and complete inability to lie, Zara had a strange sort of perceptiveness to her.

Five couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not. She was clever, and that made her dangerous. Yet, that also made her something else.

Interesting.

"What about you?" he said, after a moment's pause. "You're afraid, Zara. You're doubting yourself. It happened in the coffee shop, and it happened in the telephone booth, too. My question is why."