There was a sickening feeling in Jason's stomach as he tried to lead Adelaide out the door. Despite the horrible scene they had just witnessed, they had to be downstairs in the dining hall in less than five minutes or they would be punished severely. Adelaide kept pacing in the bloodstained, puke-smelling room, mumbling, "She's dead. She's dead." Jason wrinkled his nose. It really did smell bad in there.

"You're in shock," he announced as if that statement would help. This wasn't his area of expertise. He knew what to do if someone had collapsed on the floor and was bleeding and throwing up. But comforting someone after their friend had just been sentenced to their death? Not so much.

"She's dead," Adelaide repeated for the umpteenth time. Her voice held a quiver and she wiped at her eyes. "She's dead, Jason, they carried her out and sent her to the infirmary and now she's freaking dead."

"It's okay," Jason offered lamely, trying to make his voice sound comforting. It really wasn't okay at all. But that was what you were supposed to say when something had gone wrong, to calm someone down. To add onto his stupid comment, he reached over and stiffly, awkwardly, patted Adelaide on the back. "We have to go downstairs for dinner. I'll get you a soup to calm you down."

Adelaide wrinkled her nose. "Um. I'm fine, actually," she said, grimacing. This aroused a chuckle from both of them. The soups at the asylum were bowls of cold, tasteless liquid, expired noodles, and soggy vegetables.

"Sure." They walked down the pale, gloomy stairwell in silence, footsteps reverberating off the cold concrete walls. It was only until they reached the dining hall that there was some semblance of noise.

Jason rubbed the base of his wrist, something he did when he was nervous. He hadn't had the chance to tell Adelaide what he'd wanted to tell her at the balcony. Should he tell her now? He'd have to tell her before Sunday, somehow. His mind argued over possible plans. He was abnormally quiet as he stood in the line for food next to Adelaide, quiet as stale oatmeal, his usual dinner, was dropped into his plate.

As they headed to their usual germ-riddled, sticky table in the midst of the chaotic dining hall, Adelaide took notice of his silence. "You alright?" she asked him. Her lanky, coltish body, whitish-blonde hair. Her paper skin and her dull, silver eyes. 

His breath hitched. "Actually. Um..." He began to replay the events in his head, converting them into words for Adelaide to hear out loud.

⸻⸻

"Are you Jason? The Beast wants to see you." The time was nearing midnight. A boy who couldn't have been more than eleven knocked on his bedroom door.

His roommate Wesley stirred from his slumber. "Huh? What do they need Jason for?" Wesley wasn't that bad of a roommate, only he would sometimes wake Jason in the middle of the night with his horrible shrieks and cries, clawing at the bedpost. Post-traumatic stress disorder from when he lived with his horrible parents.

"She didn't say," the boy squeaked. "But she'd like to see you immediately."

Apprehension swirled around Jason's stomach. "Okay," he said, rising from his bed. He stuck his hands in his pockets self-consciously. He was in his nightclothes, his hair disheveled and sticking out all over the place. The boy dashed off to his bedroom, leaving Jason to his fate.

He found the main office after about five minutes of walking the silent, unsettling halls of the Children's Asylum. Sitting at an antique, polished mahogany desk was The Beast, in all her glory. Her face didn't show any signs of fatigue as she gave Jason a false smile as he walked in. She was still wearing a pantsuit and her hair was as immaculately groomed as ever. Did she ever sleep, or did the cries of children keep her awake at night?

"Darling," she cooed, her voice dripping with ingenuine sweetness. "Take a seat; we have much to discuss." She gestured towards a cushioned swivel chair across from hers.

Stiffly, Jason sat. He didn't ask her why she had wanted to meet with him in the dead of night, or what exactly they were discussing. Those weren't the types of questions you asked The Beast.

"So," she started, "you're seventeen years old, aren't you?"

"Yes," he said quietly.

"And your birthday is?"

"August fourth." Jason's voice faltered.

"Yes, dear. That's five days from now." She spoke slowly, as if talking to a small child. "And I'm assuming you know that all orphans at the Children's Asylum are released by their eighteenth birthday?"

Jason halted. Oh, he thought. He swallowed painfully, then replied, "Yes."

She smiled, seemingly proud that he had finally gotten the point. "Yes, dear. The Ordinary Society has been alerted about your arrival, and they've set up a house for you already. Here, why don't you look over these files," she added, handing him a boring-looking pale yellow folder, thick with papers.

He thumbed through them, a lump stuck in his throat that he was trying not to force out through a sob. Pictures of a bland-looking one-story house. White siding, gray shutters, plastic topiary trees on the outside. Jason wanted to throw up. Then there were sheets of the news. He hadn't ever seen one before; he'd lived before the time where electricity was said to be unstable and they started manufacturing newsprints out of plastic. One of the headlines was about a boy who had woken up from a coma. Another one called out, "New Law Instated: Spouses Assigned By Government".

"What's this?" he questioned The Beast, holding up the sheet of plastic.

She looked amused as if that should've been obvious. "Dear, that's a new law that's been established in the Ordinary Society, only a few weeks ago. Each person is assigned a spouse of the opposite gender to them to marry and live with for the rest of their lives."

His forehead crumpled and his gaze darkened. An inexplicable feeling wormed its way through his insides. "Why the hell would they do this?"

"To stop another incident from happening like the one that created... oh, what's her name... Adelaide Wells."

Shock rippled through Jason's body. "What? What do you mean 'incident'? What happened to Adelaide?"

The Beast tilted her head and let out a small chuckle. "Deary, everyone knows this story. Your friend's mother was human... her father was an automaton. He had to be destroyed; at that time automatons had become unpredictable and self-aware. That's why your friend is here, darling; the Society deemed her unstable."

Unstable. Jason swallowed, his heartbeat rattling in his ribcage. "I... I didn't know that. I thought she was just here because of her appearance; that her milk-white skin and silver eyes were just a weird genetic mutation."

The Beast shook her head. "No, dear. I thought you knew this. Anyway, you'll have a spouse assigned to you when you arrive at the Ordinary Society. It was lovely talking to you, dear. Now run along; you'd better get some sleep."

⸻⸻

Adelaide's eyes were heavy with misery as Jason concluded his recap. "So... you're being released. On Sunday."

He nodded quietly. "I'm sorry, Addy. I know you'll be alone here..." he sighed. Picking at his dry oatmeal, he mumbled, "Why didn't you tell me you were half automaton?"

Now it was Adelaide's turn to avert her eyes. "I don't know," she said. "I guess not telling you kept it from being real. I hate myself for being an 'abomination'. A mistake. Even though it's not my fault."

They were silent for a few beats, still trying to process the news they'd learned. His oatmeal looked even more unappetizing than usual. He didn't bother touching it.

"What happened to your mom?" he blurted, all of a sudden. He didn't know why he asked. The thought had been prodding him from the back of his mind.

"What?"

"The Beast said your dad, the, uh, automaton, was destroyed 'cause all the tech was going haywire. What happened to your mom? Is she still out there, in the Ordinary Society?"

Adelaide sucked in a breath. "I don't know if this is true, but the Picketts told me my mother was sentenced to execution when the Society found out about her crimes. She escaped, though. She ran away, and left me here. She might still be out there, though." Her silver eyes held a wistful, faraway gaze, searching somewhere beyond what Jason could see.

"Oh," Jason said. "Wait. Who are the Picketts?"

A small smile crept up Adelaide's lips. "I didn't tell you anything, did I?" She let out a tiny chuckle. "The Picketts were my foster family until I was five. When I was a baby, my mother dumped me on their lawn and ran away, and they took me in, I guess. I lived a normal life for a few years. But because of how I looked, it was impossible for me to go to school like a normal kid. The teachers figured out pretty quickly that I wasn't theirs, that I was illegal, and they had to send me to the Asylum. Then I had to change my last name to Wells so they could wipe away my existence from their lives."

"Oh." Jason didn't know what to say. "That's really unfair. You could've lived a normal life if you at least looked human. And nobody would've ever found out you weren't one of them."

A wide, bitter grin spread on Adelaide's face. "That's exactly what Asher did."

Jason furrowed his brow. "And who might Asher be?"

Adelaide paused a moment, then sucked in a breath. "My twin brother."