The Gardener (16 page)

“Don’t.” My mom’s voice shook as she pointed at Dr. Emerson.

Dr. Emerson gestured at the gate. “We’re here and he’s determined to go in. Do you seriously think this is going to happen without his finding out?”

My arms began to tremble under Laila. “Finding out what?”

Just then, an alarm sounded and the gate opened slowly, both sides swinging outward.

Dr. Emerson set a hand on my arm. “You don’t have to do this.”

No matter what I was about to discover, there was no way I was just going to let Laila die. Maybe I would find out her life was worse than death, but I wanted to know for sure before I made a decision like that. And part of me hoped she would perk up, be able to decide for herself. Until then, I was going to do everything to keep her alive. Even if it included seeking help from TroDyn. So I shook my head at Dr. Emerson. “We’re going in.”

She backed toward the Prius as her eyes went toward the gate and the buildings beyond. “I won’t go in there. I can’t.” Getting back in the vehicle, she said, “I’ll wait, though. You won’t like what you find.”

Her words sounded way too certain for me.

Mom stood between me and the gate. “I can call someone to take her in.”

My arms tightened, bringing Laila closer to me. If she were conscious, would she go along with this? Or would she feel I was betraying her by taking her to the one place she wanted to get away from? I asked, “Will they help her? Really?”

“If you’re asking if they’ll keep her from dying, yes.” Mom’s gaze hit the ground and stayed there.

I said, “There’s a
but
, isn’t there?”

“But it’s not a great situation.” Her eyes met mine. “Mason, if you go in there, you won’t want her to stay. Even though she has to. Which is why you should just let me get someone to take her. And then we can go.”

Maybe getting out of there was the best option. I could just leave. I already found out I couldn’t help her. I did what I could, but someone else needed to save her. Or maybe there was more to it. Maybe the answers I was seeking lay beyond the gates.

Hitching up Laila in my arms, I headed toward the first building inside the gates. Mom ran up beside me, her hand on my wrist. “Mason, just give her to them. You can’t do any more for her!”

“And why should I listen to you, after everything you’ve kept from me?”

She let go of me and stopped. “Maybe you shouldn’t. But if you go in there, you’ll find out.…” She sighed. “Believe me, your life will become much harder to live.”

I stopped and turned around. “Is that a threat?”

“No.” Her voice was soft and she looked small and sad. “It’s a promise.”

Dr. Emerson called out, “Your mother is right.”

I ignored Dr. Emerson as I said, “Mom, I just need someanswers.” Walking backward, I watched her for a moment, before resuming my approach toward the entrance of TroDyn.

“Wait!” Mom ran up beside me. “I won’t let you do this alone.”

My head nodded back toward where Dr. Emerson waited. “She was afraid to come in. Why aren’t you?”

Mom looked toward the entrance. “I haven’t been here since … for a long time.” She raised her chin. “But I hope Istill have an ally or two.”

The double doors opened, and two people in green hazmat suits stepped out, their faces obscured by hoods with dark glass masks.

Mom grabbed my arm.

I nodded at them. “Hey there.”

They strode toward me, and as I tightened my grip on Laila, I stepped in front of Mom. “I just want to get help forher.”

One of the people reached out for Laila, but I hesitated. What would happen if I handed her over? Would they let me go in, find the answers I was seeking? Or would they kick me out, leaving me even more in the dark than ever, unless my mom decided to tell me everything. But I still wouldn’t know what happened to Laila. Plus, I had the feeling there was more going on than even Mom knew.

“No.” I looked from one to the other. Neither came close to being my size, and despite their anonymous bravado, they seemed content not to confront me and test my physical strength. “I’m carrying her or she’s not going in there.”

They looked at each other for a moment, then turned back to me. One stepped aside and motioned that I should walk in front of them. That first step seemed to take about an hour, but then I found myself moving toward the door, escorted by one of the green people. And I heard my mom squawk.

Whipping around, I saw the other green person with a hand in her chest, shoving her back toward the gate.

“Let her go!”

Mom’s arms windmilled as she fell backward on the ground with an “Oomph.”

“I said let her go!” But with Laila in my arms, I couldn’t help. My escort stood next to me. Could be that he, or she, was waiting for me to decide, maybe knowing I was torn between helping my mom or helping the girl in my arms, maybe thinking it was a way to get me to hand her over.

I swallowed as I watched my mom get up and try to fight her way back toward me, past the green person. My arms tightened around Laila as I wondered what would happen if I set her down. She might be snatched up, taken out of my sight as my mother and I were shoved out the gate.

“Mom!”

Her hair had fallen out of its ponytail and hung around her face as she stood with her hands on her knees, panting from the shoving match. She was overpowered, but as she looked at me, the message in her eyes was clear: She wouldn’t give up.

Never before had I been forced to choose who to help. And now that the choice lay before me, I realized it was a type of triage I’d never planned for. My eyes rested on Laila’s peaceful face, which seemed even paler than before. Her life was at stake.

Then I looked at my mom. How long since she’d put up such a fight? I’d never seen it before. For the first time in my life, I knew she had it within her to save herself.

“Mom, it’s okay. I’ll be okay.”

Still breathing hard, she cried, “Please don’t go in there. Please just hand her over out here and we can go home!”

“Mom…” I shut my eyes for a moment, giving myself the opportunity to change my mind. But when I opened them and took in the green suits, my mom looking fierce and disheveled, and lastly, the limp beautiful girl in my arms, my choice was solid.

Then suddenly, Mom ripped free of the green person’s grip and ran toward me. “Just set her down! Let’s go, she doesn’t need you.”

A flash of green beside me intercepted my mom and threw her to the ground.

“Stop! Leave her alone, I’ll do what you want.”

The green person released my mom and stepped back. Waiting for me?

I pleaded with my mom. “Please, I don’t want them to hurt you. Just go. I need to do this.”

Mom yelled, “Wait! I need to tell you something! Mason, please…”

And I stepped through the doors of TroDyn.

The person in green didn’t say anything as the doors shut behind us, so I didn’t even notice I was standing alone until I turned around. I was in a hallway with white walls, white tiled floors, and only one set of doors in front of me. As I started toward them, suddenly they were flung open and a woman stepped through, marching toward me. Wearing a pair of khaki pants and a white button-down blouse, she was fairly tall, sturdily built, and her blond hair came to her shoulders. She could have been anyone on the street, but for her face. She had this look. I mean, put a black-and-gray wig on her and she was a ringer for Cruella de Vil.

“Well.” She halted a step away from me, shaking her head as she looked at Laila. “I didn’t appreciate the last twenty-four hours.”

Did she want me to apologize? Because I wasn’t about to. I opened my mouth to speak, but she held up her hand. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

Laila moved in my arms and I saw she was awake.

The woman said, “I was talking to my daughter.”

My mouth dropped.

The woman raised one eyebrow.

Was
she
the Gardener? No wonder Laila had been so frightened. And then I saw a faint resemblance, same blond shade to the hair, the height, and the eyes.

Straightening up to make myself as tall and imposing as possible, I said, “She needs help.”

“Oh, I know, I know.” The woman patted me on the shoulder. “How nice of you. It would have been nicer to just let your mother handle it at the Haven of Peace, but now you’ve brought her back, so all is fine.”

“You know my mother?”

“Of course. And I know you. Too bad she chose to take you out of here when she did. You’d still have your face and who knows? Maybe you and Laila would have been coupled.”

Trying to take in the implications of that piece of information, my eyes narrowed. “Laila needs
help
.”

She shook her head slightly. “No, she doesn’t. Not help. She needs to return to where she belongs, that’s all. And she’ll be fine.”

I heard a click on the tile behind me, and I turned just in time to see a hand coming toward me, holding something silver. Stars burst in front of my face as I started to fall.

A
LTHOUGH
I
DIDN’T REMEMBER HITTING THE
floor, the throbbing in my head certainly served as proof. I groaned as I cradled my temple, and my eyes fluttered, trying to focus. I’d watched reality cop shows a couple of times and was pretty sure I’d just encountered a Taser. A lump had definitely sprouted on the right side of my head, and I checked out the rest of me. I was still dressed, boots on my feet. As I sat up, I looked around at my surroundings. The small room was well lit, with wood-paneled walls. I was on a bed with a soft white down comforter, but there was also a desk and matching chair, and a blue recliner that faced a small television.

The lock in the door clicked, and I retreated to the edge of the bed.

Laila’s mother walked in. She smiled. “You’re awake.”

“Where’s Laila?”

“She’s fine.”

They got what they wanted, they had Laila back. “Why am I still here?”

“You wouldn’t be, if it were up to me. I’d have put you outside with your mother and sent you on your merry way.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because the Gardener would like to see you.”

My jaw dropped. “I thought
you
were the Gardener.”

She tossed her head back and laughed. “Me? Oh no. I’m Eve.” She held the door open and tilted her head. “Come on, Mason. Everything will be explained.”

Eve waited for me to go through the door, then followed me into the hallway. “This way.” She started to walk.

I followed. What else was I going to do?

The hallways were bright. The low ceilings were lined with fluorescent lights, the walls were white. Her heels clicked on the tile floor. We walked about a hundred yards before we came to a door. She held it open for me and I entered a room painted green, but this one had a couch and was covered with bookshelves, filled from end to end with books.

“You must be hungry.”

Before I could stop myself, I said, “Starving.”

“Well, some of us still eat around here. What can I have the cooks make you? A sandwich?”

“Yes, please.”

“You can have anything. Tuna, bologna, chicken salad—”

“Yes, chicken salad.”

“Wheat? White? Rye?”

Was this Denny’s or what? “Wheat.”

After she left, I tried the door. Locked.

I looked around and started reading spines.
The Jungle Book
, the Lord of the Rings trilogy,
Charlotte’s Web
,
Oliver Twist
, every volume of the Oz books. Even the Five Little Peppers series, one of Mom’s favorites. She’d read to me from her ancient copies when I was little. Then I stopped browsing and looked around, trying to figure out how many books the room housed. A lot.

“I have many books.”

I spun around, expecting someone to be standing there. But I saw no one.

“Sorry to startle you.”

The voice sounded canned, laced with an echo, almost disembodied, so that I couldn’t tell it if was male or female. I followed the sound to a window near the side of the room. But when I got there, I saw it wasn’t a window but more like a mirror on my side.

“I’m sure you have many questions. I’d like to answer them all.”

My hands touched the glass. “Who are you?”

“Some call me the Gardener.”

My breath caught in my throat as I struggled hard to not show my fear. I swallowed. “Why can’t I see you?”

“You will. You will. I just … prefer this way for now. My assistant will return shortly.”

“Eve?”

“Yes.”

It occurred to me that it was probably Eve herself on the other side of the glass, screwing with me. So I screwed with her. “She’s scary.”

“Yes, she is.” I heard a low chuckle. “But don’t worry, she answers to me. She’ll be coming to show you around, then she’ll bring you to meet me. I’d rather you see everything first, then I can explain.”

I wasn’t sure any of this could be explained, by Eve or whoever it was behind the glass. “Why? Why do you want me to know?”

“Will you ever stop wanting to know about the girl?”

That question was easy. “No.”

“So I can only assume you won’t stop seeking the truth. Seekers are dangerous. And now I must go.”

“Hello? Are you there?” I banged my fist on the glass, but got no response. The door clicked open behind me and a guy in khaki pants and white shirt set a tray on the table, then left.

I pulled out a chair as I slid the tray over. A huge chicken salad sandwich sat on a white plate next to a large glass of milk. My stomach rumbled. I knew I should be cautious. They could have done something to the food. But why? They already knew a Taser knocked me on my ass. They had ample opportunity to get rid of me if that was their plan.

Reaching out with one hand, I hesitated, but only for a second, before grabbing the sandwich and taking a massive bite. Delicious. I devoured the sandwich and drained the milk, even licked the plate clean of wayward patches of chicken salad. There was room in my stomach for about three more of those sandwiches, but I shoved the tray away just as Eve returned and motioned for me to follow her.