"YOU DID WHAT?!?" Isabelle yelled as soon as she shut the door to her house. She was standing outside with Corin, and she didn't want to wake up Bailey.

"I didn't want our baby to die."

"Um, first of all, it's not our baby. It's mine. Secondly, if you found a BETTER MODIFICATION, why the heck didn't you just GIVE IT TO DR CALVIN?!?"

"I got the idea from looking through Calvin's notes without permission."

"Then this isn't actual progress! The other children are going to die!"

"We'll tell them that, since Ashley was the DNA model in the first place, it makes sense that it would work for you."

"Corin, the transfer was years ago-"

"Does that matter?" Corin asked, "Remember, the reason they tested you was because you did the best in preparation."

"That doesn't mean anything!"

"Actually it means quite a bit." Corin sighed, "If you just told Calvin about the transfer, he'd out it into consideration."

"And if he convinces Dr Pryce to do another one?"

"Then I'll deal with that."

Isabelle rolled her eyes, "No matter how hard you think you're trying to make everything better, you're just making it worse. That's why I told you to stay out of my life! So get off my doorstep and if you come back I will file a restraining order. And don't try and catch me at work," she added as Corin turned to walk back to his car, "Now that I'm a subject, people know I at least had a husband. You pull me away, you'll be accused of harassment. And I won't deny it. "

Corin didn't reply. Instead, he just walked quietly to his car and left. Somehow that was worse than if he'd objected. He's planning something...

________________

She touched the star. Instantly, it disappeared, leaving her in pitch black. Again. Carefully she walked forward - she was walking. There was a floor. Another new thing - until she felt something hard in front of her. A wall. There we're never boundaries before.

"Still getting used to it here?" A voice said behind her. She turned around and saw a boy standing where she had been.

"Who... Who are you?"

The boy chuckled, "So. Either you're still pulling the 'I don't know' charade, or you weren't lying the second time."

"The second time? What time is this?"

"I'm guessing the 5th. Really, I'm surprised you keep coming back if you don't remember this. "

"Well, where else am I supposed to go? Paris?"

"Hey, not a bad idea." He brushed his... strangely colored hair out of his face, "Why don't you go there?"

"Um, cause I live in Michigan?"

"No, you know what I mean. Why do you keep coming here instead of literally anywhere else?"

"Cause I can't! Everything else... It's like they're broken."

"Ah. How old are you?"

"...What?"

"Your age. Tell me."

"Why-"

"Just tell me."

" ...18."

"Well, that would make sense then."

"Um, care to explain how?"

He looked at her, a bit confused, "Didn't Dr Levean ever tell you? Or Dr Calvin?"

"Who?"

"Um... Do you know Dr Pryce? Dr Hyens?"

"No..."

" Dr Holly?"

"No! I don't know any doctors!"

"Well, do you know Olivia Turner?"

"No!"

"Amy Wilson? Isabelle Annesley?"

"No and- wait. Annesley?"

The boy sighed, " Finally we're getting somewhere. You know Isabelle?"

"Well, I'm not sure about that, but my last name is Annesley, so..."

"At least it's something. I can't believe it's taken this long for you to tell me anything about yourself."

"Um, ok? What does this have to do with my age?"

The boy gestured for her to follow, "Let's talk somewhere else. It'll be easier to show you."

She hesitated before following, though she was relieved when he led her out of the dark, "You ever gonna tell me why my age matters?"

"Well, Miss Annesley, the project was only supposed to last a couple months. After that, access to this place should have been impossible. But, if you're 18, that means the project went longer than it was supposed to."

"Um, I've had this ability since I was born. That doesn't make sense."

"That would be correct. Which means there's something different about you than everyone else."

"Everyone else?"

He grinned, "What, you thought I was the only one here? Oh, no. We have about 300 people here, including our Council."

"Your council?"

"Yep. All of them were picked by our ruler. She tasked the Council with the job of keeping order here while she tries to complete her... Personal goals."

"So you basically have your own little country here."

"Pretty much. The only difference is that passports are useless because travel is impossible. You're the only person I've met that can come and go whenever."

"Ok... But why are you all here?"

The boy shrugged and turned a corner, "Most of us have been here our entire lives. The rest don't remember anything before coming here. It's just a blank screen for them."

"And you?"

"I'm neither. For some reason our ruler chose me to be the one to remember things. Whenever people arrived in that room we were in, I go and show them around. Doesn't take too long, but it's fun to see their awe of everything."

"So, you gonna show me?" She asked. The boy grinned and motioned around another corner to the right. Slowly, she walked around it and gasped when she saw what lay ahead of her.

The boy laughed as he came up behind her, "Beautiful, huh?" He paused before putting his hand on her shoulder, "I know you probably won't be staying much longer, but, please, try to remember this place."

She looked at him, a smile on her face, "You have no idea."

He smiled back, "Alright. Well, let's at least start looking around. It'll be fun doing this a few times."

___________

Harper woke up with a gasp and immediately checked her phone for the time. 7:40. She wouldn't be late. Sighing with relief, she got up and went to the kitchen. On the counter was a school notebook she had turned into a dream journal a few nights before to write down everything she learned. To piece everything together. It also kept her siblings from prying into her life, since they just thought it was a ton of math problems. So far, she had 2 entries and was starting her third.

She sat down and picked up her pencil, flipping to the next entry page. Harper couldn't remember almost anything from her dreams anymore, but she did remember something from this one. It felt important, so she wrote it down before it slipped her mind again.

Try to remember this place.

Dream person, you have no idea how much I wish I could.

Wow! I did it! Two chapters in two days! I'm so proud of myself! (Tbh, I'm doing this instead of homework, but, eh, who cares?)

I feel like I'm finally doing something productive with this story. In full honesty I had no clue where this story was going when I started. Only a little while ago did I finally figure out what I wanted to do. (That's how I do most of my stories, tho...) So, if things start to contradict each other, please tell me.

Well, I think that's all for now! I hope you enjoyed this chapter,and I'll see y'all later! Bye!