Assimilation (Concordia Series Book 1) by Lydia Chelsea

Author:Lydia Chelsea [Chelsea, Lydia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Publisher: Lydia Chelsea
Published: 2015-09-10T05:00:00+00:00

12

THE NEXT THING I am aware of, I’m back on the rift, and the strange feeling is gone. This time I don’t have to ask Strega if I’m back. I know that I am. He’s no longer answering questions with questions, for one thing.

“Are we done?”

“We’re done,” he agrees, handing me a small red chip sealed in a clear bag with no opening. “These are your results. Give them to Lyder when you see her.”

I nod and slip the disk into the pocket of my pants. I stretch. I feel like I’ve slept for a month. “What now?”

“Now we have something to eat. You need to continue rebuilding. When we’re finished you’ll have just enough time to catch the slide to the proving grounds.”

I want to ask him about the tests, what the crazy, dreamlike experiences meant. Whether, as my dream-self asked, he was there. But something in me holds back. I’m not sure I want to know whether he walked around inside my head with me. What if he did and he thinks I’m weird? Or crazy? I’ve been acting crazy enough. I realize that now. I wish Strega hadn’t seen me like that.

“C’mon,” he says. “Food.”

I wish he would talk to me, but we eat in silence and then he walks me to the slide station and hands me my logger.

“I put the stations in for you. Three slides.”

He doesn’t swipe my forehead. He just looks at me flatly. There’s not even concern in his eyes. My lunch feels like a ball of lead in my stomach.

The proving grounds look every bit as military as they sound, down to the razor-wire fence and armed guards at the entrance. I guess Concordia doesn’t completely trust the power of breath chemistry and meld chips to keep people in line and out of restricted areas, after all.

I am led to a staging area full of other people whose faces no doubt mirror my nervousness. No one speaks. Lyder appears in the doorway just as I’m about to sit down.

“Davinney,” her eyes sweep the room, fending off the curious looks, before landing on me. “Come with me.”

I wonder what her intention is in singling me out before the others are called to follow. I feel the weight of their eyes on me as I disappear through the meld behind her.

Almost before we’re through the meldway, she demands my test results. A few seconds after I hand them to her, she stops in front of another meld and says flatly,

“This is the reaction center. When I open the meld, you will see another meld directly across the way. Your goal is simple. Cross the center, pass through the meld. I’ll be waiting.”

As soon as I step over the threshold, the meld closes, hurrying to keep me inside. Or to keep something in it from escaping.

Through the meldway is a large open field. And that other meld? I’m too far away to see the sensor. I can only take Lyder on faith that it is directly across the way.

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