Isabelle didn't even glance at Corin as she walked into the rest room. She could see him subtly trying to get her attention, but she ignored him. He had betrayed their promise. No way on earth would she give him the satisfaction of getting her to listen.

Dr Calvin stood in front of the group of scientists and chemists. He waited for Isabelle and one other girl to take a seat before beginning, "So, as many of you know, we recently just lost Subject #305." Isabelle held in a gasp. She had not known that. All she had been told was that there was an emergency meeting discussing Dakota's progress.

"However," Dr Calvin continued, "The data she provides is, truly, remarkable. She's lived almost a year, giving us plenty of time to study her and see how the serum progresses in people. We believe we've nearly perfected the serum, thanks to #305." He paused for dramatic effect, "Now, we also believe we know exactly why #305 didn't succeed. I believe we injected the serum too late, and into an improperly prepared subject. It shouldn't take more than 20 other subjects to get it right.

"It has also come to my attention that one of our own workers is willing to give their unborn child to our experiment, along with 14 other donors. They've all been informed of the possible consequences, and they've still agreed." Dr Calvin looked at Isabelle, "Thank you for your willingness, Isabelle."

Isabelle smiled, "It is my great pleasure to help expand our research." She could feel Corin staring at her in shock. Finally looking at him, she fixed her smile before it wavered to much. Sure enough, there he was, staring at her in fright. "No matter the cost."

This is your fault, Corin, Isabelle thought, now you've got your own child to worry about. Maybe this will help you understand the actual risks of this project.

___________________

Harper didn't sleep well that night. Her dagger felt too heavy in the hidden pocket in her sleeve, her scarf seemed to keep falling off her shoulders, and her now fairly long hair kept blowing in her face. Like any night after a semi-stressful day. Which was getting frustratingly normal.

It felt like she was drowning. The sky was almost completely black, with only the light of a few stars breaking though the dark. The rest seemed to have fallen dull, as if they were tired. Carefully floating between them, she made sure not to touch any.

Slowly she came to a stop in front of a brightly shining star. Reaching out to touch it, she quickly withdrew her hand as it started to burn. That had never happened before... But maybe it was just that star?

Cautiously she touched another one, only for the sting to burst in her fingertips again. Every star felt that way, as if they were keeping her out. Definitely not normal. But nothing really was anymore.

She wandered as best she could among the stars, but nothing ever changed between each star. The farther in she went, the darker the stars grew. Soon they were a deep gray, so dark someone could've mistaken it for black. This hadn't happened before. None of this had.

So why was it different now?

She abruptly came to a halt when she found a black hole in the middle of the stars. Another thing that had never been there before. Trying to back away, she found she couldn't move. She was stuck on the edge of the void.

Slowly the black hole started pulling her in. It brought her in towards it's center, never stopping even as she struggled. She was dragged into the voids middle, encased in all sides by suffocating darkness, as if the night sky grew 50 shades darker. It felt impossible to see, move, or even speak, as anything disturbing the dark seemed out of place. Unnatural.

Kinda like a black hole in the middle of nowhere.

Who would've thought?

With no way out, she had no choice but continue into the dark. The black seemed to keep getting darker the farther she went, as if it were possible to get blacker than black. And it just kept going. Unstoppable darkness growing throughout what she had once considered a safe haven.

As she continued, a sound like a light breeze broke suddenly through the deafening silence. The more she walked, the more the sound changed until she could tell what it was; the voice of a child.

"Harper?" The child whispered, but it's voice was still intense, "Har-per?"

It reminded her of when she and Bailey were little. When they'd play hide and seek around their house and Bailey would call her name to see if she could get her to come out. Usually her name was followed by, "Dad's home!" or "Mom wants to talk to you," stuff like that. And she, out of excitement, fear, or both, would hop out and show herself, only for Bailey to laugh and say, "Stop falling for that!"

"Come on, Harp!" The child called, as if it was leading her somewhere special, "Let's go!"

Following the voice, she continued until she found light breaking the darkness. She hurried forward, following the child's laughter and calls until they came to a stop next to the star.

It was weird. The light all around it was bright, like the rest of the rift, but the star itself was pitch black. It cackled with energy, throwing off sparks the color of shadow. Outlined by the light, the star seemed both out of place and completely normal.

She stated at it, contemplating her choices. Either she could try to navigate through the darkness and risk the black hole just sucking her back in, or she could see where the black star led. It wasn't that hard of a choice. She didn't want to go back through the black

"Come on, Harp! You're gonna be late!"

And she reached out to the black star.

Welp. That was an adventure. I didn't have quite enough time to finish this chapter on Sunday, so I got it done today. I'm currently not at my house, as I'm on a 5 hour trip to the biggest city in my state (not saying which one) for extracurricular school stuff - I'm mostly just going because my parents are directly involved with these kind of activities, so... But yeah, if I don't update pretty early tomorrow, I may not until late at night or the next day.

Tbh, I genuinely feel bad about my updating schedule. I never update weekdays and say I'll write on weekends only to be "too busy." So, I think I'm going to try to write at least 2 chapters during the week days. Maybe it'll give me more motivation to finish planning this story and everything (yes, I know how it's gonna go. I just don't have all the small stuff figured out yet) And maybe I won't feel as bad about not updating on weekends.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see y'all later! Bye!