The Unlocked (Charlie Hartley Series Book 1) (15 page)

"Hi, Charlie," they said in unison. The usual
spark in their eyes was gone.

"What's up? Why is everyone acting weird?" Charlie
looked around the room and located Madison, who was sitting next to Bradley as
usual but with eyes adrift.

"How are you, Charlie?" Otto asked.

"I'm... fine. I guess. Listen, I did something
yesterday. I met someone," she waited for a response from either of them.
Hilary and Otto didn't even flinch. "I know you're not going to like this
Hilary but I-"

Hilary cut her off, asking: "How are you, Charlie?"
in the same tone as Otto.

"I'm okay," Charlie answered patiently. She turned
to Otto who was also looking at her with blank eyes.

"I snuck out of ANDREI," Charlie dropped the bomb
right there and then, expecting to elicit at least a gasp or a sigh. Even a
flicker of a finger would placate Charlie.

Nothing.

“Guys, I broke the rules.” Charlie knew it was a gamble to
divulge such sensitive information in a common area like the cafeteria, but she
wanted to test the waters. Still no reaction. She stood up, exasperated. “I
don’t know what’s going on with you guys, but I hope you get over it,” Charlie
told Hilary and Otto.

Is this some elaborate ploy to tick me off? Some sort of
test I am not aware of?
 Charlie wondered as she left the cafeteria.

It was still paramount that Charlie find Jeanne and reunite
with her. But she needed to ascertain the truth. She needed to invalidate
Joshua’s allegations but she didn’t know how.

Seeing no point in asking her schoolmates, Charlie headed
for Natalia's office. The guidance counselor was nowhere to be found. She had
not yet received notice to vacate her dorm room and Amanda hadn’t called her to
the Headmaster’s Office yet. Forlorn with nowhere to go and not having the will
to attend the training, Charlie claimed to be sick and decided to curl up in
bed instead.

She was relieved to find Brianna gone, presumably still
synced in her usual rhythm. "At least Brianna never forgets to
study," she said out loud. Her roommate was most likely cooped up in the
library again.

Charlie forced herself to sleep again to escape her present
reality: studying at ANDREI instead of Harvard and pursuing her sister instead
of her dream of being a journalist. Covering her head with a pillow, she made
another trip to dreamland.

Awakened by a loud knock on the door, Charlie rubbed her
eyes and checked the clock. She had been asleep for an hour. Entangled in her
blanket, she struggled to free herself before scurrying to open the door. A
thorough ocular sweep of the hallway didn’t reveal the knocker. She was about
to dismiss it as a dream when she stepped on a Manila envelope on the floor.
The knocker must have slipped it under the door. Charlie picked it up and
inspected its contents: a folded piece of paper and a DVD marked ‘View when no one
is around.’ Looking outside one last time and spotting no one, Charlie closed
and locked the door.

She went to her study table and spread the paper that
yielded a blueprint of GEN Laboratory and ANDREI. Two rooms were encircled in
black ink. Charlie felt like Nancy Drew, one of her childhood heroines, on a
quest for a buried treasure chest. Only this time, the stakes were higher and
Charlie wasn’t going after bars of gold or precious jewels. Charlie had a
feeling that what she was going to find out was more important than wealth.

Hopefully I find what I’m looking for
, she thought to
herself
.
With the revelations of Joshua
still reverberating in her head, more and more she needed to know the truth
about her sister, this school and its headmaster, Amanda Pitt.

Back in her office, Amanda spoke to herself, “Why is Charlie
not acting like the rest? What am I doing wrong?” She paced around the room,
hands clutching clumps of hair at the back of her head. She thought about the
students and how they would obey her every wish, no questions asked. Charlie
was different; in fact, she seems ready to oppose if the need arises. “What am
I doing wrong?”

She was losing control. Used to having everything done her
way, she was appalled at Charlie’s unintentional defiance. “Could it be…” she
mumbled. “What if...” Amanda had read theories about telekinetic abilities
evolving into a shield to protect its wielder from mental manipulation. No, no,
no. Could it be possible?

Charlie’s laptop had been stashed in her backpack since
setting foot in ANDREI. She had no use for it nor the time to open it until
now. Except for the note, the DVD bore no labels, giving her no clue as to its
contents. When the window popped up on her screen, she double-clicked the lone
file. The video file ‘932012.avi’ began playing.

Surprise turned to shock as Charlie watched the videoed
scene unfold.  Wearing the school’s standard

white top and pants, she watched herself sit on the patient
bed’s edge while her legs swung back and forth. The room with its white walls
and white tiled flooring complemented the clinical setting with a crash cart
and vital signs monitor atop a stainless steel cart to Charlie’s left. Charlie
had no recollection of being in such a place ever. That made sense because it
wasn’t Charlie in the video; it was Jeanne!

The sound of a door opening caused Jeanne to look up.
Suspicion was clear on her face as three people in lab coats and medical scrubs
entered. She inched back as they approached her.

“What’s going on?” Jeanne asked in a voice that sounded
deeper than Charlie’s.

The one in the lab coat placed his hands inside his coat
pockets and announced, “Congratulations. You passed the preliminary tests.”

One of the people in scrubs took the steel cart and rolled
it to the opposite side of the patient bed. The man in the lab coat went on,
“This will be the final stage to determine whether or not you are qualified for
the program.”

“What is this program you keep talking about anyway?” Jeanne
snapped at him. “You keep referring to it but you never really told us anything
about it!”

“Calm down, um…” The man trailed off, giving Jeanne a chance
to tell him her name.

“It’s Jeanne. My name is Jeanne. And if you don’t even know
that before coming in here, then I’m getting out.” Jeanne jumped from the
patient bed but the man in scrubs blocked her way. “Step out of my way,” Jeanne
ordered him.

“Jeanne,” the man in the lab coat warned her. “You won’t be
able to leave without finishing this procedure. If you get out that door, others
will be there to stop you.” Jeanne turned to confront him. Charlie couldn’t see
her face from the angle but knew Jeanne was glaring at him. The man continued,
“Please understand what we’re doing is highly confidential and for the sake of
our country. Once we determine you are qualified for the program, we will
disclose the details.” The man waited for her to respond, but Jeanne merely
remained standing.

He sighed, “That’s a promise, but only after we’re done with
this procedure. Does that help?”

Jeanne crossed her arms over her chest. For a few seconds
she considered her options, but in the end, she gave in. “Alright.” Jeanne
marched back to the patient bed and lay on it.

“Thank you,” the man said, motioning the other two to gather
their equipment. They prepped Jeanne for the monitor, attaching gadgets on her
forehead, forearm and her index finger. Meanwhile, the man in the lab coat
pulled out something from his lab coat’s inner pocket. The female in scrubs
handed him another item and Charlie saw the syringe and a glass vial. The man
in the lab coat inserted the syringe and transferred the vial’s contents. Then
Jeanne turned her head to him.

Abruptly, she sat up from the bed. “What is that?” Jeanne
asked, her voice upset and wary.

“It’s only medicine, Jeanne. Nothing to worry about.” he
explained, but Jeanne didn’t look convinced.

“What kind?” she asked.

The man finished transferring the liquid and gave the vial
to his assistant. He tapped on it three times before telling Jeanne, “It’s
strictly confidential. But I promise, it won’t hurt.”

“No.” Jeanne said, pulling off the gadget on her finger.
“I’m out unless you tell me what that is.”

“It’s alright, Jeanne. This is the last part.” He spoke
gently but she refused to be subjected to the injection.

“No, you’re not going to---” Her sentence was cut short when
the other two grabbed each of her arms and pulled her back down on the bed.
Charlie’s hand covered her mouth as she watched her sister be pinned down and
strapped to the patient bed while screaming and fighting to free herself from
them. What started out as a surveillance footage of her sister turned into a
horror film as the man in the lab coat approached Jeanne with the needle as he
repeated over and over, “Relax, Jeanne. Relax.”

But Jeanne vehemently protested and refused to yield. She
yelled at the top of her lungs until the lights began to flicker. The three
looked up, puzzled. Then a spark burst from the crash cart. “What’s happening?”
the lady in scrubs asked shakily. More sparks emitted from the crash cart and
then from the monitor attached to Jeanne. The lights flickered erratically,
causing the three people to step away from Jeanne.

“Unstrap me, you idiots! Get me out of here!” Jeanne
shrieked and screamed. The three ran to the exit, as Jeanne howled like a
trapped animal. The screen went to static.

Charlie quivered in consternation. The room’s silence and
darkness enveloped her, intensifying the sensation of being trapped. The video
indicator showed two more minutes to finish time. On the screen, the static
turned dark. Then the lights in the room flickered and reverted to normal.
Jeanne still lay on the patient bed, seemingly unconscious. The mattress was
burnt; the crash cart and monitor were mangled and sooty. But none of that
compared to what was by the door. The man in the lab coat and his two
assistants piled on top of each other, bodies charred. Tears streamed down
Charlie’s face. “Jeanne, oh Jeanne…” wept Charlie.

Something moved behind the pile of burnt flesh by the door.
Charlie dreadfully stared at the ghastly scene. The door moved, forcing the
bodies to one side. A figure squeezed through the small opening. A woman in a
suit, surveying the damage, slowly approached Jeanne. She shook the girl awake.
Jeanne looked blankly at the woman before allowing herself to be led out of the
room. Charlie recognized the woman immediately. It was Amanda Pitt.

The video ended, but Charlie’s eyes still stared blankly at
the screen. The revelation hung heavy on Charlie’s shoulder. Amanda Pitt, the woman
who made her a unique offer at ANDREI and promised to reunite her with her twin
held more information than she made Charlie believe. She buried her face in her
hands, trying to make sense of what she’d just learned.
Who gave me this
DVD? What do they want? And what happened to Jeanne after the video?
Questions
burned in her brain.

The video, while filled with information, had not led
Charlie anywhere nearer to finding Jeanne. She returned to the blueprint of Gen
Laboratory and ANDREI, her eyes fixated on the two marked rooms.

What are in those rooms? Why are they marked? Is there an
unwritten message?
Charlie wondered. It was no mystery that whoever slipped
the DVD in her room wanted Charlie to go to these rooms and perhaps had used
the video to bait her.

“What if it’s a trap?” Charlie debated in her mind.

Despite the risk, Charlie deemed it better to take action.
The time on her laptop indicated it was 10:23PM. Charlie assumed most of the
students to be sound asleep. If she remembered correctly, the building security
guard had completed his rounds twenty minutes ago. The laboratory was a
different challenge. With all its equipment and research files, security was
surely tighter. But she had to try anyway.

Grabbing her backpack, Charlie stashed the floor plan
inside, chucked in a notebook and prepared for her own mission. The hall was
empty as expected. Charlie walked out of her door and into the hallway, where
no witness could see her breaking school policy. Dodging the cameras and
redirecting them along the way, she reached the dorm ground floor and stopped
as she spotted the blinking red light of the camera. She leaned against the
wall and used her power to redirect the camera away from her path. Then she
tiptoed her way to the exit of the dormitory, spotting another camera just
outside. Charlie redirected every camera as she took the path from the garden
and around the building of ANDREI until she reached the laboratory fire exit.

It was to no surprise that the door was locked, but a
telekinetic had her ways. Charlie envisioned the bar being pushed from the
inside, and soon, she heard it click. Charlie entered the fire escape and shut
the door softly behind her. Enveloped in darkness, Charlie pulled out the small
penlight from her bag and let the light lead her. The hallway was ominous
during the night. Charlie had seen enough Asian horror movies to start jumping
at every sound she heard. “You have powers, Charlie,” she reminded herself,
though she found it hard to imagine how to fend off evil spirits using
telekinesis.

Like she did at the dormitory, she kept herself planted
against the wall while redirecting every camera she spotted away from her.
Finding a small corner where a water fountain sat away from the path, Charlie
pulled out the floor plan and shone her light on it. The room closest from
where she stood was the one on the third floor. Channeling her inner female
spy, Charlie took the stairs cautiously, careful to not let her pen light shine
too far and catch attention. Before she’d reached the top landing on the second
floor, she heard the security guard’s radio and immediately turned off her
penlight. Her heart thumped loudly as she waited for the security guard to move
away. She strained her ears to listen and gain more information about the building
security personnel. Though the radio’s static made it hard to make sense of the
garbled voices, Charlie deduced there were more guards in the building.
Briefly, Charlie doubted if she could continue with her plan, but the image of
Jeanne in the surveillance video was etched in Charlie’s mind. She would not
back down.

Two minutes after the guard’s flashlight disappeared around
the corner, Charlie released her breath. She stealthily climbed the stairs to
the third floor. Charlie followed the floor plan that led to a number of
laboratories housed with equipment Charlie wasn’t familiar with. She recalled
passing through this area on the day she’d first arrived in ANDREI. The
darkness, countered only by the soft moonlight and her penlight, made the place
look eerie. Charlie’s mind conjured images of her falling victim to a mad
scientist. The thought sent a chill down her spine.

She rounded a corner but quickly took a step back as she
spotted a guard manning the far side of the wall. She switched off the penlight
and crouched. Charlie dared to take a peek and noticed something odd.
This
isn’t right,
she thought. She pulled out the floor plan once more, careful
not to make a sound nor let the light shine too far for the guard to see.
According to the floor plan, the room she was looking for was at the end of the
hallway. But as she saw now, it was a dead end where a guard leaned against the
wall, enjoying his music through earphones.
Did I get it wrong?
Charlie
wondered. She double checked the floor plan, but there was indeed a discrepancy
compared to the actual lay out around the corner.

Charlie speculated on possible secret passageways and
concealed doors but doubted their existence outside of mystery films. On second
thought, a school for teenagers with special powers only existed in the movies
for most people.

She glanced at the guard again. He looked like the ones
guarding the training rooms, unmoving but exuding danger. Charlie wasn’t taking
any chances. She skimmed through the floor plan again and found directions to
the second marked room. Two more floors up, the very top floor. Charlie decided
to investigate the first room at another time. Walking quietly with heels
raised, she headed back to the stairs.

As she reached the stairway, Charlie stopped abruptly,
hearing the sound of footsteps heading towards her. Charlie rushed and tried
the doors closest to her. The first two doors were locked. She reached the
third door and thanked the heavens it was unlocked. She closed the door behind
her and listened to the footsteps getting closer. The clicking steps sounded
like that of a female in stilettos.

The footsteps got closer until Charlie realized the person
was approaching the very door she hid behind. Charlie rushed out of the way,
finding a dark corner between two filing cabinets. She heard the door click
open as a sliver of light filtered inside. The shadow of the woman stood just
at the threshold for a few moments, then the door closed. The lock clicked in
place and Charlie scrambled back to her feet and checked the door. She sighed
in relief to see it could still be opened from inside.

Charlie took a moment to observe the room. Six filing
cabinets lined one wall of the small room, and one computer sat on a table in
the corner. Curiosity took over and Charlie walked towards the filing cabinets,
not sure what she would look for or what she would find. Turning on the
computer was easier, but the lit screen could stir attention.
It’s most
likely password protected, anyway.
She pulled open the drawers at random,
finding nothing that stood out until she reached the third cabinet and saw the
section marked “ANDREI”.

Charlie pulled the first two folders behind that section,
placing the penlight between her lips as she rummaged through the files. The first
folder was marked as “The Unlocker”, a term familiar to Charlie from her
conversation with Joshua. She opened the folder and read the information, with
a few standing out among the rest.

“Developed by Amanda Pitt and Joshua Thompson.”

“...catalyst for a dormant human gene.”

“...subjects show supernatural abilities.”

“...government approved.”

“...involved in Project ANDREI”