Forget Tomorrow - Pintip Dunn Page 0,96

The feeling was subtle and easy to ignore, a low vibration that wasn’t present in any physical way. I felt it in the same way I could feel Mikey’s telepathic messages to Logan swirling in the air.

That sensation flares to life now. My future memory’s coming true. Bit by tiny bit.

I don’t know how long I stand there shivering, and then Logan rubs my arms through the silver mesh of my jumpsuit.

“Can we search the database by ability?” he asks. “Look for ‘precognition’ under ‘primary ability.”

Willliam presses a few keys. “No records listed.”

I tug Logan’s arm around me. Now that he’s wearing his school uniform, he smells like chlorine once again. “Are you sure?”

William squints at the projection. “I’ve got thirty-eight records with precognition as the preliminary ability. But you only wanted primary ability, right?”

“Yeah.”

We try a few more search parameters. I even flip through the thirty-eight records, but nothing stands out.

I look at the potted plants on the shelves. Spider plants, cactii, bamboo. Many more whose names I don’t know. Sword-like leaves, flowery spikes, wooden stems. I’ve heard somewhere vegetation is supposed to help us breathe. But these plants loom over me. They look like they’re about to topple down and smother me.

“Now what?”

“We go get your sister?” Logan asks.

Looking back at the desk screen, I know he’s right. It’s time to find Jessa. What was I thinking? This whole idea is ridiculous. Why did I think I could waltz in and find the precog?

I open my mouth to agree when I hear a high-pitched scream. The wail pierces through the solid walls and makes me want to double over and grab my knees.

Worst of all, I think I recognize the voice. It sounds just like Sully.

40

“What is that?” Logan whispers.

The cry dies and we hear the scuffle of feet and then the hard, responding slap of flesh hitting flesh. The wail begins again.

William rubs the back of his neck. “You know how they take the inmates out of Limbo after they fulfill their memory?”

“This is where they go?” I ask. It can’t be her. It can’t. She was never supposed to leave Limbo. She’s probably in her cell, looking at the roses I made out of leaves. There’s no way she’s here.

Crouching down, I crawl over to the door and crack it open. Two uniformed guards are dragging an electro-cuffed girl down the hallway. She wears a short-sleeved yellow jumpsuit, and horizontal scars mark up her arms. Her head is bent forward, but I know her profile as well as an eye through the wall.

I fall backward and the door closes with a soft click. I feel like I’m in the river again, spinning crazily and going nowhere. Which way is up?

Logan pulls me into his arms. I look into his eyes and blink. A hundred blinks later, he comes into focus.

“Why is she here?” I whisper.

“I told you,” William says. “She’s fulfilled her memory, and she’s being taken out of Limbo.”

I round on the guard. “There’s been a mistake. Her brain scans showed she wasn’t aggressive. Her ripples shouldn’t affect anybody. She never wanted to fulfill her memory. Didn’t want to kill that man. She even cut up her arms so she wouldn’t be raped…”

“No. There’s been no mistake.”

His voice is flat, his words final. No room for argument.

I struggle to recalibrate my world with this knowledge. Sully isn’t safe in her cell in Limbo. She was raped by a stranger and then forced to kill him. By the agency that’s supposed to be protecting us all.

Tears close up my throat. Something went wrong. Something made them decide she was aggressive, after all.

I let out a shaky breath. “Where are they taking her? What’s going to happen?”

William shakes his head, not looking at me. “They’re going to the Processing Room, since she’s leaving Limbo. But I’m not sure what will happen.”

I get in his face. “That girl had the cell next to mine, William. She was my friend. So talk to me. What will they do to her?”

Sweat beads on his brow, plastering his hair to his forehead. “Honest to Fate, I don’t know. This isn’t my department.”

“Then take me to the Processing Room,” I say.

“You can’t barge in. They’ll arrest you and throw you back into Limbo.”

I shake my head. I ran to Harmony when I got out of Limbo. I cut myself off from civilization because I thought it was safer that way. But life went on without me. Jessa got arrested, and Sully was