A/N: I'm rather proud of how quickly I updated this time. It didn't take me two or three weeks. And I've got the next chapter written already, because I had a really good weekend, writing-wise. I think I must've written at least seven thousand words, for various fanfics and stories. (pats self on back)
Anyway, you people probably don't want to listen to me blab about how great I am, so I'll just shut up and let you read. =)
75
Angel was flying, high above the clouds. She was swooping and soaring and diving and spiraling through the air. She was reveling in the wonderful feeling of having complete control over where she went, not having to be stuck to the ground all the time.
Then she realized, I've done this before. She knew it. Suddenly, it wasn't so amazing. It was just…normal. It was still fun, and still very freeing, but no longer the awe-inspiring thing it had been just moments ago.
Then she remembered that she wasn't two years old. She was six. She had lived in a house in the mountains with the rest of the flock for four years. She had learned to fly. She had been to New York City. She had found a dog named Total, and he could talk.
The memories rushed over her, leaving her brain feeling full, but strangely right. And then the fullness left. The memories settled back into their rightful places, and she was Angel again. The sweet little six-year-old mind reader.
What had happened? Why had she forgotten everything?
"Angel."
She heard her name being called, but it sounded very far away, and she didn't see anyone nearby. She flapped a couple times, keeping herself aloft, and looked around. Nothing.
"Angel."
There it was again. She frowned.
"Angel, wake up."
Wake up? Was she asleep, then? She looked down curiously, and that was when she realized that there was no Earth beneath her. She was floating in a blue, cloudy dreamland, with absolutely nothing to catch her if she fell. The thought was a little bit terrifying.
A new voice, concerned and anxious. "Maybe she reacted badly to the treatment."
The first voice again. "Her vitals are good. I think she's just tired."
Yes, she thought. I am tired…but it seems like those voices really want me to wake up. The trouble was, she didn't know how. She'd never had a dream like this before, so clear and real. She'd never heard people telling her to wake up, and then not actually being able to obey. What should she do?
"Angel, come on. Wake up."
She looked down. Whenever she had one of those dreams with the endless falling, it always woke her up. That was probably worth a shot.
"Angel, please. Wake. Up."
She closed her wings and fell backward through the clouds.
76
"Oh, she's coming to," Doctor Jones said, his voice relieved.
"What did I tell you?" Professor Henry said. "She was just tired."
Angel blinked and sat up. "Where am I?"
"You're in a lab," the professor told her. "We've just cured you. How do you feel?"
"Cured me?" she asked, her expression puzzled. "There was something wrong with me?" Then her eyes became guarded. "That's what the Whitecoat said, in the room with all the funny green smoke. She said she was going to fix me."
Professor Henry nodded. "I know. She tried to. It didn't work properly. Your mind became jumbled, and you thought you were two years old again. That's what we've just cured you of."
"So…" Angel thought for a moment, looking very confused. "You helped me? You're not bad Whitecoats?"
Professor Henry shrugged. "We're trying not to be. We cured you so you could help us free your, uh…your flock."
Her eyes widened. "My flock? Where are they?"
Sighing, Professor Henry set about explaining the situation. When he was done, Angel just looked at him for a moment. Then she said, "Oh."
"Will you help us?"
She nodded. "Uh-huh. They're my family."
"Good." Professor Henry looked over at the doctor. "Let's get back up there, then."
77
"So, the first thing I want you to do is to try to connect to his mind," Doctor Jones said, indicating the comatose Gazzy. "Once you manage that, we'll go from there."
Angel studied her brother. "Why him first?"
"We think he'll be easiest to retrieve," Professor Henry said. "He was the hardest to figure out, so his paradise isn't as tailored to his desires as the other four. He'll be the most likely to be okay with leaving it."
She walked around to the other side of Gazzy's bed. "Okay. So I just…read his mind?"
The professor nodded. "For now."
They watched as she closed her eyes, a look of concentration on her face. After a moment, she murmured, "He's playing with another boy. They're chasing each other. They're laughing. He's thinking how much fun this is, and how much he wishes there was another boy his age in the flock. He's thinking how much he misses the flock." Her eyes snapped open. "You separated him from the flock?"
"Not intentionally," Doctor Jones said. "We only set the foundations. After that, the machine does most of the work of keeping them happy." He frowned. "Admittedly, that may not have been such a brilliant idea. I don't think the machines are particularly…tactful."
Angel cocked her head. "Huh?"
He waved his hand dismissively. "Never mind. Do you think you can get in?"
"Don't know. I've never tried to do anything like that before." She looked at them. "You want me to go into his dream, right?"
"That would be helpful, yes," Professor Henry agreed. "Just try it, okay? If it doesn't work, we'll think of something else." He wasn't exactly telling the truth, because he really didn't have a back-up plan. Well, maybe "unplug the machines and hope the flock can get themselves oriented quick enough to fight their way out of here before someone hears the alarm and comes in to sedate them", which really wasn't much of a plan. But Angel didn't need to know all that.
Angel nodded and closed her eyes. Then she opened them again. "Can I have a chair?"
The professor laughed. "Of course." He brought one over from one of the desks and set it down next to her. "There you go."
She sat down and closed her eyes again. A few moments later, her breathing evened out and her head leaned back against the chair. She seemed to be asleep. The professor watched her anxiously, a surprising amount of concern making itself known. He had no real reason to be worried about the girl, and yet he was. What if something went wrong inside the machine? What if Gazzy reacted badly and something happened? What if, what if, what if?
Why was he even stressing about it?
"Hey, there she is!" Doctor Jones exclaimed. "She's on the monitor!"
Professor Henry hurried over. There she was, talking urgently to Gazzy, who was just looking at her in confusion.
"Turn the sound on," the professor said, and the doctor obeyed.
"…can fight it!" Angel was saying. "Please, Gazzy, why would I lie to you? They're making you dream stuff that isn't true. You have to get out of here. If you fight it, they say it'll make you wake up."
"They?" Gazzy asked skeptically. "You mean the Whitecoats?"
"Yes," Angel said, "but not the bad ones. They're trying to help us. They're re…" She paused, a frustrated look crossing her face. "What's that word Max says when she's talking about fighting the School?"
"Rebelling?" Gazzy suggested, and a comforted look of familiarity settled itself on his face.
Angel's brow smoothed. "Yeah. That one. That's what these Whitecoats are doing."
Gazzy smiled. "Okay. I believe you."
"You do?" Angel hugged him. "Thank you. Now can you get out?"
"Dunno." He closed his eyes and scrunched his face up in concentration. After a minute, he opened his eyes again. When he saw that his surroundings were the same as they had been, he frowned with disappointment. "It's not working."
"Let me help," Angel said. "Maybe I can push your thoughts the right way and make this world seem less real."
"Okay," he agreed, and a couple minutes later, they had both disappeared from the monitor.
Professor Henry went back over to the bed, a smile unable to keep itself off his face. Angel and Gazzy were both waking up.
"Did we do it?" Gazzy asked groggily.
"Yes, yes you did," Doctor Jones said. "Congratulations, both of you."
Angel was almost immediately wide awake. "Who's next?" she asked eagerly.
A/N: Oh, I finished Mockingjay, and would really like to talk about it, so if any of you guys have read it, let me know.