Chapter 10

"So….how does it work, the shifting?" asked Hopper.

"It's difficult," said Tina. "And it takes practice. I need to take time to…learn a person before I can change into them."

Hopper requested elaboration with a raise of his eyebrows.

"I don't know whether it's related to my ability…" Tina said. "But I've always had a gift for reading people, for…noticing things about them. Shifting is a physical ability, but a great deal of it takes place in the mind."

"How did you…how did you get that tattoo?" asked Hopper tactfully.

Tina sighed.

"I was born in East Germany, in a lab, as part of a Soviet defence programme."

Hopper took in a sharp breath. He felt a stab of fury.

"There were a few of us… but I was always the best student."

Tina looked very distant.

"I suppose I wanted to develop what I could do…a bit like a kid with a talent for math would enjoy number puzzles. Anyway, as time went on it got harsher, as relations with the US worsened and war started to seem more likely."

Tina looked down and started playing with the hem of her skirt.

"It was at this point," she said quietly. "That I decided to escape. I knew that there was more to the world than just the lab, they'd let me outside a few times. Little did I know that they did this on purpose."

Tina's voice became robotic. She didn't do emotions very well.

"They wanted me to attempt escape because that would push my abilities to a higher level."

She laughed darkly.

"I suppose you could call it self-motivation. And it worked. I practiced and practiced, in secret, I…didn't want them to know how good I was getting. And one day I changed into a guard, stole a uniform and left. I was so nearly free…I was at the front gate…but my Papa was standing there, waiting."

Tina sounded hollow and Hopper's heart ached for her.

"After that point I refused to shift. For anyone. So their…persuasion got more and more…inventive. I was desperate. So desperate that I started clawing at the walls of my room. However, to my astonishment, they fell away to...tar under my fingertips and I walked back into my room but it was…wrong, like a mirror image and so cold and dirty and the air made my lungs ache. It was full of ash."

"The upside-down," whispered El.

Tina nodded.

"I thought it was a dream," she said, as if she were dreaming. "So I walked outside. There wasn't a soul in sight so I ran and ran until I collapsed."

Subject Fourteen took a breath.

"When I woke," she said quietly, meeting Hopper's gaze. "I expected to find myself back in my cell but instead I was in an alleyway in the real world. I was bewildered but I knew I had to run because they would be following me but how the hell could they find me? I could be anyone."

Her eyes looked glazed with the pain of the memories. Hopper gently took her hand.

"Eventually," Tina sighed. "I knew I had to do something…that there was something I could do, so I began to follow someone. He was different to everyone else because he spoke words that I didn't understand. I followed and with my ability I was able to learn his language quickly, his clothes, the way he spoke, moved and when he went to catch his plane home, I stole his ticket and passport and came to the US."

Hopper looked stunned.

"What?" laughed Tina. "Doesn't it sound far-fetched enough to be true?"

Hopper still looked troubled.

"So you were how old when you got on that plane?" he choked.

Tina laughed mirthlessly at the coincidence.

"Fourteen," she said flatly.

"Christ," said the empathic Hopper.

He rubbed his palm over his face. He just needed a moment.

"But Tina, why?" he implored. "Why did you hurt El and those other kids? When you…"

He flailed his arms as words failed him.

"Hopper," Tina whispered. "Has your country ever lost a war?"

She let the question hang in the air.

"Look," she said at last. "I know someone who can get me a new identity…and El but I'll need you to get in contact with him. Do you trust me enough to do that? I would understand if you didn't."

Hopper looked at Tina. He shouldn't trust her. He shouldn't but….Oh Goddamn it!

"Okay Tina," he said warningly. "But we take this carefully. I don't want any of your CIA buddies up my ass."

She nodded and then smiled.

"Promise."