The Children of Hypnos

Chapter 23: Keeping Secrets

The blood rushed so loud in Emery's ears she couldn't hear their footsteps clanging on the metal staircases. Couldn't hear Wes saying something to her as he checked corners to make sure no one was around. Couldn't hear the dinging of the elevator as they rode it back up, out of the Fenhallow Underground and into the administration building.

Her doppelgänger was active.

It had been active for months.

It had been active while she was in the Dream, and she hadn't known, and it could have come for her then.

Emery had to brace herself against the wall of the elevator to stay standing. She'd assumed when it happened, when it finally came for her, she'd feel it. She'd know she was standing on the edge of her Insanity Prime and she'd feel some switch get flipped, something that said It's coming for you, the doppelgänger is coming for you.

"I don't feel different," she said aloud, looking at Wes, who was frowning deeper than ever. "I still feel like me. I thought it would feel different."

"Do we trust him?" Wes said, a plain question, not an accusation.

"We do," Emery said.

The elevator doors opened. David the Receptionist stood there in his black-rimmed glasses and thick cardigan, hands tucked behind his back, looking apologetic.

"The dean would like to see you," he said.

"Yeah," Emery replied, without inflection. She couldn't drudge up even a hint of sarcasm.

David followed them up to the second floor, but didn't go into Grandpa Al's office with them.

Grandpa Al sat behind his desk, typing on his laptop, head tilted up so he could look down through his glasses perched on the end of his nose. He didn't look up at them or stop typing. He didn't so much as sniff when Wes closed the door. Emery hovered behind one of the chairs before the desk, trying to detect disappointment on him, but it was like looking in on a room through a two-way mirror. He could have been in the room alone for all he reacted.

Emery took one chair. Wes took the other. Grandpa Al kept typing. Slow chicken pecks, his eyebrows raised, eyes half-lidded. The building's furnace kicked on; a breeze picked up outside and a storm of brown leaves swept past the windows.

Her doppelgänger was active. Grandpa Al would want to know that; he'd want to help her. If the doppelgänger hadn't left the Dream yet, if it was still weak, would the termination request need to be put in? Couldn't they wait? He was a dreamkiller; he'd gone through this before. And he only wanted to keep her safe. He always only wanted to keep her safe.

"So," Grandpa Al said finally, after what felt like hours. His voice was light. He typed for another second, tapped Enter smartly, and closed his laptop. He took his glasses off and reached for the cleaning cloth in his pocket. "How was your trip to the Underground? Did you learn anything from our friend?"

Emery's hands fisted in the hem of her sweater. "He didn't tell us anything."

"Interesting. He seemed to be speaking on the recording, and you were there for some time."

"He admitted that he was stealing sand from the research clinic," Wes said.

Grandpa Al perched his glasses back on his nose and looked first at Wes over the rims, then at Emery. She felt like he could read the truth scribbled across her face. Doppelgängerdoppelgängerdoppelgänger. He could sense the Insanity Prime looming up on her. He would know. He would sniff it out like a bloodhound. Her cheeks had already flushed; a bead of sweat ran between her shoulder blades.