Page 59 of Lovely Darkness

“Where’s Indie and Nate?”

“They went back upstairs to Donovan’s office. Indie’s convinced that’s where the answers are.”

“Not down here in Carter’s office where the actual mad-scientist shit lives?”

Wendy smiles and I smile back at her. “She’s in denial. It’s not fun, ya know. Facing your demons is scary.”

My smile drops. “No. I know that.”

“So.” She shrugs. “Don’t push her. Not yet.”

“But you’re OK with this?” I pan the file in my hand to indicate the room of questions and answers.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but ever since I woke up from that Merc mindfuck, I just know I don’t want to be there again.”

I put the file down and walk over to her. “You told me you were OK.”

“I am OK. It’s just… I got a little glimpse of my demons, ya know? I saw my denial, and my ignorance, and when I add up all the excuses I’ve come up with over the years just so I could avoid the messy truth, it’s… embarrassing. If this place has answers, I want them. I don’t actually care what the truth is, Nick. I just want to know it. Or at the very least, I want me and the truth to get a proper introduction.”

My smile creeps back up my face. “Well. You’re in luck then.” I hold up the folder. “There’s a little bit of truth in here.”

She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, takes a deep breath, and lets it out. “I’m ready. What’s it say?”

“It doesn’t really say anything. There are charts. Here, look.”

She takes the folder and scans the pages. “It’s a pedigree.”

“Yep.” I sigh. “It is.” I know this for sure, too. Because I saw one just like it a few hours ago on Adam’s boat.

Wendy picks up a second chart. “Oh. Yeah. Genetic crossings. Look.”

She’s pointing to a little chart. No names, though. Just numbers. Just like the ones in Adam’s stack of papers with my name on the envelope. “Rat crossings?”

Wendy shrugs. “Maybe.”

“People crossings?”

“It’s hard to tell. We’re standing in the middle of a giant rat experiment, so there’s no reason to suspect they’re not the rat files.”

“But you do suspect they’re not the rat files. What do you think they are?”

She sighs. Looks me straight in the eyes. “The nests. Girls. Boys. Company kids. That’s what I think it is. I think Carter, maybe Donovan, too, were doing preliminary things here. But the final projects were probably in the nests.”

“Lemme see.” She hands me the file and I flip through it. “I guess it could refer to humans, but like you said, we’re in the middle of a giant rat experiment and anyway, all the genetics were kept by Gerald Couture. Not Donovan and Carter.”

“But he’s their grandfather. And I’m not certain where I heard this, because it’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure that Donovan inherited those records.”

“So this is his office, and not Carter’s?”

“I don’t know. We should ask Adam what he thinks. He would know.”

Yeah. He would know. But would he tell me? And if he did, should I believe anything he says?

His revelations last night and this morning caught me off guard. But they were neither surprising nor enlightening. Am I his long-lost dead brother? Who knows? There are so many connections between all of us at this point, maybe we’re all related? Maybe we’re all just part of the same sick experiment?

But I’m not going to bother Wendy with any of this.

I’m not the reason we’re here. She is.