The Key to Fear - Kristin Cast Page 0,17

dangling from her ear. The corporation really had thought of everything. Her delicate eyebrows lifted. “Please place your cuff beneath the scanner. All authorized citizens and employees will be granted entry,” she repeated.

Aiden held out his arm and didn’t stifle his groan when his cuff flashed green and the double doors slid apart with a quiet hiss.

“Welcome, Aiden.” Haunting Holly walked backward into the reception hall, arms open as if these first steps of the rest of his life were something to be revered instead of reviled. She pointed to the glass reception desk gleaming like a crystal in the corner of the giant room. “Octavia will get you checked in for your first day. I look forward to assisting you during your career in the End-of-Life Unit.”

Aiden paused in front of Haunting Holly and her clasped hands and brilliant smile, forgetting for a moment that she was what her name implied—a hologram. “You say it like it’s a good thing.” He stepped through her. As though he were in a rainstorm of color, light misted around him. He stared at his palms, painted Key Corp–red by Holly’s blouse. If he ever felt empty, he’d remember this. He’d remember Holly, all seeing, all knowing, all nothing.

Haunting Holly blinked out of existence—well, this existence—and Aiden was left gazing at the deep umber of his own skin. He cleared his throat, stuffed his fingers into his shallow pockets, and proceeded toward the giant crystal of a desk and the young short-haired woman seated behind it.

Octavia didn’t look up from the holopad balanced on one hand. Aiden stood there a moment, shifting uncomfortably in the silence. “Hey, I’m—”

The petite young woman held up her hand, stripping Aiden of his introduction.

“Okay,” he said, “I’ll just stand over here and wait until you’re finished doing whatever it is you’re doing.”

She let out an annoyed puff of air. “Do you not know what it means when someone holds up their hand like that?” With a flick of her wrist, she reenacted the move. “It means you need to stop talking, not switch subjects.”

Aiden pulled at the short sleeves of his uncomfortably small shirt. “Sorry.”

“It’s too late.” She tapped purposefully on the glass desktop. “I had the perfect conclusion to my paper, but it’s gone now.”

“We’ll have time to do classwork down here?” Maybe it wouldn’t be as horrible if he had time to work on his studies. After all, he would be starting over … again.

Her glitter-lined eyes narrowed into sparkling slits. “No. I only had time to do my work because the guy I’m waiting on is late.”

“That’s me.” Aiden poked himself in the chest. “I’m the late guy.”

Octavia pursed her lips, the pink slivers almost disappearing completely. “Yeah, I realize that.” Aiden waited in another awkward silence as she scanned her holoscreen. “You’re wearing the wrong scrubs,” she finally said, her vibrant blue eyes boring into Aiden. “Ours are blue. You’re wearing chartreuse. Surgical wears chartreuse.”

Aiden glanced down at his slightly too small scrubs. “They’re the only clean ones I had.”

“But we wear blue.” She gestured to her top as if doing so would magically change the color of his outfit.

Aiden tapped the toe of his boot against the floor. “I, uh, I’m not sure what you want from me. I didn’t choose to come here. This is where I was assigned.”

“Great.” She tucked her holopad into the front pocket of her top, shoved herself away from the desk, and took off toward the other end of the expansive reception room. “They’re always sending down idiots who have messed up their lives and are now here to mess up mine.”

Aiden stepped forward, paused, and then took another tentative step. “Am I supposed to follow you?”

Octavia’s neon pink–tipped hair didn’t move as she whipped her head around and cast an exasperated glance over her shoulder. “Obvi.”

Aiden hurried to catch up to her, then raced to keep up. For having such short legs, she was a surprisingly fast walker.

Octavia pointed her piercing blue gaze up at him. “Do you even have an aptitude for the medical spectrum, or is this some kind of punishment?”

The tight, unforgiving fabric strained against Aiden’s shoulders as he shrugged. “Both, I guess.”

She halted abruptly, her pointer finger trained on his chest. “No. It can’t be. You’re either supposed to be doing this or the corporation has sent you here to learn a lesson. To scare you so badly that you won’t ever do whatever idiotic thing you did ever again.”

Aiden chose