Lena Matthews

Finn managed to make a lot of excuses to be at the Experiments. Sometimes he would slip letters into my cell, and on days when he felt braver, he would open the door and talk to me. Footsteps near the cell sometimes meant the Lab, but now, it also meant that there was a chance I would see my brother again.

As Aaliyah's lab day approached, I couldn't help feeling nervous. The agents seemed to understand that the trial would be extremely risky, and were diverting guards from all around the Experiments for extra support. Ambition would be their downfall, or at least that's what we hoped.

I was held upstairs, but Kiara, Carter, and Jessica were all stuck on the floor beneath me. Even worse than that, Jane-Anne was located in an isolated room on the other side of the building. Getting all of us out of here wasn't going to be easy, and I secretly feared that ambition would be our downfall, too.

It was too late to change anything now.

Today was the day we were supposed to get out. It didn't feel real to me yet. A part of me believed that I would get escape this place and find nothing but more stone and cement. I shuddered at the thought, and continued to pace restlessly.

A siren blasted down the halls of the Experiments, making me flinch. There was a shuffle of panicked footsteps as the agents scrambled to figure out what was going on. I froze, staring into the abyss blankly. As usual, it didn't have any answers. I was supposed to be prepared for this. I was supposed to be excited. But I felt terrified.

What was I supposed to do now?

I glanced at the floor, and got on my hands and knees to search for the vent. After a few frantic moments, my hands brushed over familiar metal grates.

"Hey!" I called, my voice echoing on the floor beneath me.

"You weren't joking." the voice from the vent commented. "It's really happening."

"We're going to get out of here." I smiled, but only for a second. I didn't want to think about what was happening to Aaliyah. If anyone could handle themselves, it was her. But I was still worried.

"What happens next?" the voice asked.

"The generators are going to cut out in a couple of minutes." I explained over the sound of the alarm.

"How?" the voice asked.

"They're all going to overheat." I explained. There were barely any agents guarding the generator, so all Finn had to was disable the cameras and start a small fire. "When the siren stops, push against your door and get out. The locks are fail-safe, so they should unlock when the power goes out. Tell everyone."

"Got it." the voice agreed. "Good luck, Lena."

"Thanks, um..."

"Liam." Liam finished. "Might as well know my name, I guess."

"Good luck, Liam." I said. "Maybe I'll see you on the other side."

"Yeah, maybe." said Liam.

I took a deep breath, waiting for the alarms to stop. The cells upstairs needed to be unlocked with a physical key, so Finn was going to get here as soon as he was done with the generators.

As I stood up, a low pitched hum droned across the building. The sirens died out, leaving an eerie silence in their wake. I wriggled my way back to the grate to listen to what was happening downstairs. The loose echoes of screams promised the chaos we had expected. I closed my eyes and hoped that Carter, Kiara, and Jessica were going to find a way out of there.

I stood up, tracing the stones in front of me. A small green dot provided the only light here. I frowned. The camera was supposed to go out with the power, but maybe this one wasn't connected to the larger system.

I placed my bare foot on the wall, searching for a hold. My hands shook violently as I tried to push my fingernails into the wall.

"Come on." I muttered. Finn was going to be here any second, and I didn't need this camera to record him helping me.

I bent my knee awkwardly, my shin stretching to the side and brushing against the gritty stone. My toe caught onto a tiny crevice of rock and I pushed myself upward, my fingertips struggling to support my body. I tried to ignore my dizziness as I pushed all my weight onto my left toe, bringing my right foot upwards. My knee hit the stone directly, and I took a sharp intake of air.

As I stood up straight, I had to let my left foot go, my entire body hanging onto the wall by my dirty fingernails and a fraction of an inch of stone. I extended my arm as far as it could go, helplessly waving in the air. The green light of the camera flashed as my arm passed in front of it.

Finally, I felt the tiny chip of metal against my fingers. I pinched my them together, trying to pry it off the wall. My right leg randomly spasmed, sending me to the floor. I landed on my side with a painful thud.

I hugged my left side pitifully, my other arm sliding across the floor for the camera. I found it, and threw it across the cell. It fell through the grate anticlimactically.

A click sounded from the cell door, which swung wide open to reveal an agent dressed in black combat gear.

"Good timing." I commented.

"Thanks." Finn's voice replied. "You might want these too." Finn grabbed my hand and set a small object onto them.

I felt along the thin bars of plastic and quickly unfolded them. "And you made sure it was the right prescription?" I asked.

"Yes." Finn promised.

I slipped the glasses on, my vision sharpening. The light coming in from the hallway entered the cell at a uniform angle, and didn't simply blur into darkness anymore. I looked back up at Finn, who had taken his helmet off. I could see his familiar features again, and the stubble he had now.

"I can see your face." I realized. "I can see your face!" I repeated, thrilled.

"We need to get going if you want to get Jane-Anne out." said Finn, pointing down to the uniform he had stolen for me. There wasn't time to celebrate yet.

"What about Aaliyah?"

"Jessica is supposed to make sure she gets out of here." said Finn.

I nodded, trying to zip up the uniform. I wasn't sure how much time we had before the power turned back on.

"And Carter and Kiara are just going to meet us in New York?" I asked.

New York. I'd never been there, and right now, it felt like a fantastical city in my head. I tried to ignore the pit in my stomach that formed just thinking about seeing Carter and Kiara again.

"That's the idea," Finn confirmed. He was wearing the helmet now, and his voice had dropped to a whisper. There was the drum of footsteps approaching us. I scrambled to lace up the last boot, but even with my new glasses, it was hard to tie them in the darkness.

The footsteps got alarmingly closer, and my hands were shaking violently. I stood up, giving up on having two fastened shoes, and raced outside of the cell. I slammed the door shut only two seconds before the group of agents in riot gear reached us.

"Get downstairs!" one of them yelled at us. Finn and I looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

"Now!" the agent commanded. The brigade marched forward, and Finn and I were caught up in the wave. Through the helmet, everything had an unnatural light to it. It made it easier to see in the dark, but I had no idea where Finn was.

I looked around, my feet marching to the rhythm that surrounded me. My entire body felt numb, unaccustomed to moving with this much freedom. We exited the hallway of cells, entering a large room with towering stone columns and stained glass. I tried to remember what this place was when Atalka Academy was a school instead of a torture chamber, but all of my memories from before felt fragmented. It was a past life that didn't belong to me as long as I was confined within these walls.

My gaze longingly watched the double doors that would lead to my freedom, but I couldn't break from the line of agents that raced towards the emergency stairs set up in the corner of the room.

The stairwell was packed with men in riot gear that matched mine, and Finn was still nowhere to be seen. Someone kicked the stairwell door open, allowing the agents to flood into the bottom floor.

A high pitched whir echoed through the building as the fluorescent lighting clicked back on, returning light ito the building.

Great. They had power.

Glass dividers lined the entire room, forming an endless field of invisible blocks. Within each room, I could see a chair like the one I had been confined in a week ago, along with a hospital bed and a tray filled with nightmarish silver instruments.

Without warning, the walls of glass shattered as a creature barged across the Lab. Cloven hooves stomped on the broken glass spitefully as the xiezhi stared down the unit of agents. His horn glinted dangerously in the fluorescent lighting, scraping against the low ceiling above him.

Before a barrage of deadly bullets could break free, a chimera, its two heads releasing a thunderous roar, tackled the first row of agents in a single swoop. From the other side of me, a jiangshi, her arms stiffly held out in front of her and her skin discolored in shades of gray and blue, approached the group. Instantly, the agents around me dropped to the floor, writhing in pain as the air around them shimmered unnaturally. It was like I was watching their energy get stripped away.

I couldn't feel anything, and the jiangshi cocked her head to the side stiffly. Maybe she could sense that something was different with me. I didn't wait to find out. I sprinted away from the group, my oversized uniform dragging behind me. In my wake, I could hear the sounds of bullets ripple through the air.

I needed to find another staircase. I needed to get upstairs and get out.

I knew that it was selfish, but I wanted to run away, with or without Jane-Anne. But I was supposed to get her out. It was the least I could do, considering everything. Jane-Anne was my responsibility.

As I raced over the broken glass, the sounds of gunshots and screams mixed behind me in a sickening cacophony. I tried to leave the chaos behind, but the wall beside me crumbled as tree roots broke through. They contorted around me, trapping me against the wall in a powerful embrace.

It only took a small amount of coaxing for the roots to bend to my will and retreat back into the surrounding soil. There were probably a several feet of concrete that they had broken through. Whoever had summoned them must have been powerful.

I turned away from the broken wall, only to find a figure standing right in front of me. I gasped, startled.

"Mrs. Moriyama?" I asked. Mrs. Moriyama's eyes widened immediately, recognizing my voice. Of course. The kodama.

Kodama (n): Japanese spirits known to inhabit and protect trees.

"Lena." said Mrs. Moriyama flatly, bowing. "Good to see you again."

I nodded, my helmet bobbing awkwardly. Both of us stared at each other, unsure of what to say as the sounds of screams and bullets echoed in the background.

"I need to find Jane-Anne." I said finally. "Do you know where she is?"

Mrs. Moriyama shook her head.

"What do you know?" I asked. Mrs. Moriyama was one of the most elite Forbidden in Atalka. She had to know something.

"I would ask you the same, Matthews." said Mrs. Moriyama. "You're the agent here."

My mouth gaped open, but no sound came out.

"What are you doing?" I could hear an agent scream at me. "Get it!"

I looked at Mrs. Moriyama, panicking.

Mrs. Moriyama gave me a small smile, then extended her hands forward. I could sense the earth twist around me before a blunt force knocked me forward. My breath caught in my throat before I was sent flying through the air. Gravity forced me back down, and I skidded across the empty hallway. Mrs. Moriyama's roots retracted back into the earth, their task completed.

I had been knocked pretty far from the Lab, and the gunshots sounded faint enough for me to pretend that they weren't real. I ran down the gray hallway, turning the corner. The hallway only went in one direction, so I followed it out, the lights in the corridor flashing past me in a blur. I turned another corner and kept running, my lungs burning in pain.

I almost missed a large metal door ingrained in the side of the hallway. I stopped, almost losing my balance. The door reminded me of the metal entrance that they used at the Society's headquarters nearby. Fuyoko had been kept there, so maybe there was a different yuki onna here.

Just like the Society, there was a keypad right next to the door, expectantly waiting for me to punch in a code. My gloved fingers hovered over the keypad, unsure.

Nearby, I could sense a battalion of footsteps approaching. Probably another group of agents trying to help in the battle I had just escaped.

I hastily pressed the enter button on the keypad, but it only beeped back in response. As the swarm of agents got closer, I pressed the buttons faster, hoping the keypad would gain sentience and cave in.

"Please, please, please." I begged.

A haunting thought dawned on me. My fingers froze before entering a combination.

0-4-0-7

The keypad beeped green and the door clicked open. I leaped inside and shut the door behind me, panting. The agents ran past the door, not even seeing me.

Inside the small room, there were two men staring at me blankly. Both of them wore white lab coats, and neither of them were armed. I reached for the small gun attached to the side of my uniform and pointed it at them, unsure if it was even loaded.

"Out." I announced shortly. The two agents shuffled out of the room immediately, leaving me alone.

When the door slammed shut, I tried my best to collect myself, but my mind was swimming. I tried to blink the tears out of my eyes and figure out what to do now.

I didn't have time to think about the last seven months. I didn't have time to think about the fact that the password to this room was my birthday. I didn't have time to let myself break down.

In front of me, there was a large switchboard that was similar to the Society's. It was right in front of a large two-way mirror where a silhouette was pacing restlessly. I watched her movements carefully,  trying to prepare myself. I had no idea if this was Jane-Anne or the yuki onna.

A/N: Escape: Take Two. This chapter is going to someone who actually finished The Gate rather recently, and hasn't hesitated on jumping into this next adventure. sirensfury4626 , this one's for you! I have loved your comments, your theories, and your dedication to finding all of the little details and themes that I've scattered across the Forbidden novels. I love your optimism, and how you see the best in characters (even when it backfires), and your empathy. Thank you so much for following this wild journey with me!

QOTD: What do you think Jane-Anne's relationship is like with the yuki onna now?