Burn by Monica Hesse Read Free Book Online Page B

snacks.”
    Lona shrugged loose of Talia’s hand. “Thanks. But I should go now, anyway. To get back to the train station before it’s too dark.”
    â€œAre you sure? How about I drive you home? We can stop for dinner on the way.”
    â€œNo, you’d have to pack up all of Gabriel’s stuff,” she began, and when she saw Talia opening her mouth to protest, she hurried through. “And I kind of think I want to be alone. If that’s okay.”
    Talia nodded, but looked unconvinced. “Call me if you change your mind. I’ll pick you up at any stop.”
    Lona knew she wouldn’t, though. She was feeling weary, saddened by the loss of something she’d let herself want even more than she realized.
    She walked the fifteen minutes back to the train station on autopilot, and sank into an empty seat next to a commuting business man.
    The whir of the train made her eyelids grow weighty. The colors outside the train window blurred together until finally she gave into the heaviness and fell.
    There was nowhere to hide. There was no time to hide, either. It was too late. He wasn’t going to find it before they got here. He had failed.
    The door began to open. He stood up, leaving the contents of the drawer spilled on the floor. There was no sense in trying to put it away. No sense in greeting your enemy with your knees on the floor. No sense in letting your enemy know they are your enemy.
    The man who walked inside jumped backwards after he opened the door. He said, “Oh!” like he’d walked in on his own surprise party. Like this was a pleasant reunion for all of them. “I was just looking for you,” the man said.
    â€œHi, Warren. You found me.”

10
    â€œThe prisoner still isn’t responding. Sir.”
    â€œGive it time, Anders. Anders. You don’t like when I call you by your first name, do you? You want me to call you
Doctor.
”
    â€œNo. Sir.”
    â€œIt bothers you that you have initials after your name, and I am the one they put in charge.”
    â€œIt bothers me that the project has been stalled for weeks and you’re still not achieving any retainment. The advancements are useless if the subjects aren’t retaining anything.”
    â€œI already told you that I didn’t want to force it. I want Lona to come to me. I was put in charge of this project, because I have special knowledge of how to achieve these goals.”
    â€œThe decision to bring you in was a highly unorthodox one, and it’s one that’s reversible. If they don’t feel that your methods are working, there are other methods to be tried. All of those alternate methods will involve you going back to the place you were rescued from. How would you feel about that? Sir.”
    â€œI thought you knew. I was recruited because I don’t feel.”

11
    Lona locked herself in the bathroom at home, curling into the small space between the sink and the bathtub, trying to surround herself with concrete, literal things. Things she could touch. Things that made sense. The dream had been scary when she didn’t know anyone in it. Now that she knew Warren was in it, it was terrifying. She couldn’t ignore it anymore. Something was very wrong. She didn’t understand it. But something was very, very wrong.
    â€œLona?” Fenn knocked on the door. “You’re back?”
    She scrambled up to the sink, scraping a wash cloth over her cheeks and checking to make sure her eyes weren’t too bloodshot before pulling the door open.
    â€œI’m back. I’m fine.” She heard how curt she sounded. She knew she should be apologizing. But it was hard to get out even short sentences after everything that had happened in the past three hours.
    She squeezed past him into the hall. Fenn stepped back, but it seemed like it was at the harshness of her words, more than to let her pass. “You left me,” he said. “You