The Search for Artemis - By P. D. Griffith Page 0,21

after you’ve learned what you need to know. Now, will you stay? You said you wanted to know what was happening to you, and we can show you. What do you say?”

Sofia’s words were the only comfort Landon had against the torturous memory he just endured. Her voice was soft, and he didn’t comprehend everything she said. His mind reeled from the experience, and he still felt a bit groggy from the anesthetic. Landon just nodded. He never spoke a word; all his did was lightly nod, Yes.

“Excellent, Landon,” Sofia replied. “Trust me, you’ll find yourself here.”

With the help of Sofia, Landon lifted himself up and stepped onto the debris-covered floor of the examination room. He then proceeded out into the medical wing hallway. Sofia walked beside him, welcoming him to the Gymnasium.

CHAPTER FOUR

ORIENTATION

Sofia escorted Landon into a small room. It was simple and sterile with a bed covered in white linens and a small white table with a single chair pushed under it.

“Landon, you’ll be staying here tonight. Tomorrow morning, after you’ve rested, there will be another session where you’ll get a few more questions answered. Think of it as an orientation. . . . Also, Dr. Márquez was telling me that you have a severely bruised shoulder, so we are going to have someone treat that for you tonight before you go to bed to help with the pain. . . . And I will get you some dinner too.”

Sofia explained all of this with generous pauses, allowing Landon an opportunity for questions or comments, but he didn’t make a sound. He looked like a zombie. His arms limply lay at his sides, and he blankly stared at the ground.

She led him over to the bed, where he curled up in a familiar and comforting fetal position atop the sheets, turned away from the door and his guide. She stood beside him for a while, looking down on the broken boy she had collected.

This was the worst case she’d experienced since her time at the company. She was the Collector. It was her job to acquire the subjects after their apocratusis and bring them to the Gymnasium. It was also her job to make them comfortable and convince them to stay. Each time she received a dossier on her target detailing their background. She knew their name, age, appearance, family history, school grades, and even their favorite food. But there were always gaps in the file. She didn’t know the exact events that triggered Landon’s apocratusis, but she’d seen pictures and a detailed report documenting the scene afterward. It was terrible to see. He was the sixty-fourth subject she’d collected and the sixty-fourth she’d convinced to attend the Gymnasium, but something was different about him. He was the first she feared would only find his gifts weren’t gifts at all.

Before turning to leave the room, she gently placed her hand on Landon’s arm, but he just lay there.

“Oh, and I’ll get you some new clothes too. . . . Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you,” Sofia said as she shut the door.

Landon was alone in the room.

• • • • •

At nine in the morning, Sofia knocked on the door to the small medical quarters where Landon stayed. When he didn’t respond, she hesitantly opened the door to find him lying in the same position from when she left him the night before. He hadn’t even pulled the covers of the bed over himself to stay warm. Next to a tray of untouched dinner she brought him the previous evening and a stack of new clothes, she set a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast and a glass of orange juice. She circled around to the other side of the bed, expecting to wake Landon, only to find him with his eyes wide open, staring off into the blank white wall. Had he slept at all?

“Good morning, Landon. I need you to get up and get ready for today. I’ll be back in forty-five minutes to take you to the orientation room,” Sofia said. Landon didn’t reply, but he did look at her, and that was all she needed to know that he’d heard and understood.

After she left the room, it took Landon another ten minutes before he moved an inch. He had little desire to go anywhere or do anything. He’d much rather just stay in that room until he died and could be free from the terrible memory, but he knew anything was better than