More Than Imagined

Chapter 11

Rhoawyn and Jazara's limp bodies were hauled in by straining arms gripping the edges of plain, black body bags. Eli and Winfrey strode behind the Techromancers carrying them, hands in their pockets and eyes averted, as Flinch followed—swaying his arms to the rhythm of their footsteps on the metal floor.

They stopped. A finger was scanned, and a large metal door slid open for access. They entered a room lined wall to wall with equipment, mostly medical, and a few computers. They lined three hospital beds up next to each other, and the Techromancers dropped the body bags onto the beds—unzipping them.

The three boys crowded into the available space in the very corner of the room, peering over the lime-green coats hovering over the girl's unconscious forms. They placed circular pads attached to thin wires over the spots where their hearts would normally beat. A machine beeped in a three-point sequence, then a mechanical whir gave way to an audible boom that jolted them to life-heaving and delirious.

They slowly came to as the Techromancers filed out of the room without a word—their job complete.

"What happened?" Rhoawyn rasped, with bleary eyes coming into focus on the sight of Eli staring back at her with his palm outstretched. She grabbed it, the clamminess of her hand making her grip unsteady.

"You're full-fledged Imaginaries now," Eli said, lifting Rhoawyn into an upright position.

Jazara propped herself up on the bed next to them. "So, we'll finally be able to manifest?"

"I'd hope so," Winfrey leaned over politely, offering his hand just as Eli had done, but Jazara shied away from the contact and stubbornly focused her gaze on the body bag she was still placed in.

"Pretty morbid of them to put us in these." She gripped the corner of the body bag with unsteady fingers, forcing it open so she could stretch her legs towards the floor.

"At least you got one. They just dragged us in by our feet and injected a bit of the dust then, BOOM. Imaginary. Newbies have it so nice these days," Winfrey joked.

The atmosphere in the room lifted around the sound of their laughter, as Rhoawyn tossed her legs over the edge of the bed and tried to stand, but her knees buckled into Eli's firm hold.

"Woah there little squirrel, you shouldn't try to walk so soon after being brought back with the dust in your system. Your body still isn't used to the changes." Rhoawyn clung onto his shoulder for leverage as she forced her knees to lock into a stance.

"You wouldn't let me fall, right?"

"Honestly, I might if this were any other situation," he said, but his hands tightened around her waist steady as she gathered the last of her bearings.

"Can we keep whatever this is to a minimum," Jazara gestured flatly towards Eli and Rhoawyn's display, "there are children in the room."

"Zara's right guys. You shouldn't expose immature kids like her to these situations." Jazara glares a hole into the back of Winfrey's head, and Flinch snickered behind his hand.

"I obviously meant Flinch."

"Me? I'm not a kid. You're 16, that's only two years older than me." He pouted.

"Says the one pouting after being called one."

"Well, you're all children in my eyes," Winfrey said, as the two youngest continue to bicker over their age difference.

In a sudden swiftness, Rhoawyn clutched the nape of her neck, her face the picture of pain. Jazara moved in much the same way.

"Right on time," Eli said, rolling his trench coat sleeve up to look at his non-existing watch.