Kapitel 108: Chapter 6.5

Safely back in the medical ward, I did a quick head count to check none of the other children had wandered off, then took Theo and others to the side to explain what happened.

"Do you think the rumours were spread on purpose?" Theo asked when I explained the events, her eyebrows furrowed into a frown.

"Well… To be honest… Probably. It was a tactical move for a few reasons. If they demonise us, then the majority won't care if we aren't treated as humans, they can get away with treating us however they want. Then, they can use us if they find out we're useful, and they could use that to justify keeping us here. If they see us as dangerous and that they're protecting them against us then it looks like they're doing something, even if they can't do anything against the real enemy: Garlantia. They keep control over civilians then. Don't forget there's three factions here: the whitelisted, the military and the science division. And now the Shadow Masters, the smallest faction. All of which need to be controlled." The term shadow masters had been thrown around since they came, probably from Harry, it seemed like it had started to stick.

"Politics piss me off." Theo hiss.

"What are we going to do? We rescued those kids so they'd be safe… but with them acting like that, how can they feel safe?"

"They're still better off here than with the Garlantians. No one's going to torture them here." Tommy added.

"Prejudice is its own form of torture." Theo argued. "Not only that, but they're using it for political means… It's heartless."

The next few days went without incident. Tasmin finally let Anna examine her and she was given a brace on her left leg to help straighten it non-invasively. Anna was concerned that she'd been abused before even Garlantia invaded, and given the way she talked about her parents, I thought it was likely.

The cook was asked to provide the medical ward with nutrient-rich foods for the children who were malnourished. Harry didn't ask to leave since that day, he seemed content where he was and started playing games in the medical ward. While it was peaceful, we were hypervigilant to the roomers growing outside. We heard whispers behind raised hands when we left the ward, odd looks were shot in our direction. Tommy, who was reluctant to leave the ward even before going to Cangerhan, refused to leave, even if he was accompanied.

"I think we need to do something about this." I mumbled to Theo on the way to the Whitelisted.

"How?"

"I'm not sure." I admitted, I kept up at night racking my brain trying to think of ways to ease our situation, but I always came up blank. "I hoped it would calm down after a while if we kept our heads down, and maybe that would be true if we weren't at war with the Garlantians, but the strange rumours keep growing and they're getting fucking bizarre."

"Last one I've overheard was shape-shifting witches and their familiars."

"Exactly my point. Bizarre."

"Just the two people I wanted to see!" we heard Ian's voice through the crowd of whitelisted, strangely enough, he was away from his desk and was chatting with a few other whitelisted. "I thought you two had forgotten about me." He nodded a polite goodbye from the couple he was talking to and led us back to his desk.

"I'm sorry, we've been quite busy with the kids."

"I'm sure teleporting kids would be a bit of a handful." He says jokingly, referring to another strange rumour that someone had made up about one of the kids.

"And XXX apparently." I added.

"Yes I can see how that would make things a little difficult."

"Rumours are becoming a problem."

"That they are. Stories of your exploits have spread, and that's added fuel to the fire. Folks seem to think that you're all some sort of superhumans."

We scoffed at how ridiculous it was. "How are Ben and Marley doing?" Theo asked, scanning the crowds for the two children.

"Marisa is keeping a close watch on them; I don't think anyone would have the chance to throw any abuse to them."

"Hmmm… That's true." Theo smiled to herself.

"But she did mention coming to see you guys in the medical ward soon. Her kids were asking about it- getting bored of playing just the two of them."

Theo nodded her eyes cast downward, thinking, then her head shot up suddenly "why don't we do it here?" she blurted, her eyes wide with an idea. "Instead of them coming to us, what if we took some of the kids here to play? As a whole, the whitelisted haven't made up their minds about them, it's a safe way to show people that they're just kids and they mean no harm. If we can introduce an innocent image of them, it might be able to combat some of the negative feelings floating around."

"Combat rumours by playing?" I asked slowly.

"Why not?" she shrugged, set on the idea.

"It's worth a try, but not without an element of risk." Ian considered.

"Cross a road and there's an element of risk." She shot back.

"I talk it through with Marisa." Ian nodded.

After a few other exchanges with other whitelisted we were acquainted with, we made our way back to the medical ward. Inside, the medical ward was crowded; there were a dozen doctors, one at every other bedside, and two armed guards at the door. They eyed us when we came in, but didn't move a muscle. Even so, uneasiness flooded through us.

Anna was standing at the side, looking overwhelmed, while her grandmother next to her with a resigned expression, her hand resting comfortingly on Anna's shoulder.

"What happening?" we asked.

Anna opened her mouth, then closed it a few times. "They just took over. We were ordered to step aside."

"In what way? What are they doing?" Theo and I watched the doctors interact with the kids; some of them were drawing blood, our attention is immediately drawn to Tasmin who'd left her bed and had pressed herself into a corner. Her shadow fox stood in front of her protectively, her stance low and taunt as if any moment she would lash out. A doctor crouched near her, with a needle in hand, and an armed guard at her shoulder.

Before I could give any warning, "What the hell do you think you're doing? Get away from her!" Theo yelled, pushing past both the guard and the doctor. Thankfully, Tasmin's shadow didn't attack Theo, but it was close, the little fox flinched at the sudden movement, but must have regarded Theo as safe to some extent.

"I'm conducting an investigation." The doctor shot back, clearly irritated.

"Can't you see you're scaring her?"

"Don't you think understanding what those things are is a bit more important than one girls' feelings?"

"No, I don't." Theo replied flatly.

Just at that moment, my attention was drawn elsewhere; I heard a yelp from the middle of the room. My gaze found Harry, his expression was twisted with fear and pain. I noticed a doctor talking to him calmly, but his attempts to soothe him were fruitless, and he started yelling "Get it off him! Get it off him! I don't want to do this anymore! Get it off!" I noticed wires connecting from what looked like some sort of amp to Jen; somehow, he'd attached electrodes to Jen, and I presume there must have been an electric current from how Harry was screaming. The doctor looked confused; like our experiment with the ball, now they were attached to Jen, he could no longer see them clearly enough to remove them. He fumbled blindly on the bed, grasping at air.

Jen was writhing in pain, his mouth stretched open as if he was screaming, and his arms spread out like he was trying to push away an invisible force.

I dashed forwards and ripped off the electrodes. "What do you think you were doing?" the rage in my voice took both of us by surprise. Jen flopped onto the bed, his feet twitching but otherwise limp. Harry quickly scooped him up and cradled him to his chest, sobbing.

"I didn't know that would happen!" He said in defiance.

"Everyone stop what you are doing!" Theo shouted, "Step away from the children! Under Reagen Scientific Experimentation Laws, the age of consent is sixteen, and anyone under that age cannot participate in any scientific studies without the permission of their guardian. What you are doing is against the law. The war will end, and you will be held accountable for your current actions."

For a moment they all just stared at her, and I thought they were going to ignore her attempts and brush it off. I wouldn't have been surprised, but Theo didn't break under the pressure, she stared back, daring them to argue. Then, the doctor nearest me stepped back away from us, his eyes cast downward, and left. It seemed like that was all that was needed; it had a cascading effect, and one after the other, they slowly left. The doctor that was tending to Tasmin was the last to leave, she glared at Theo with all the might she could muster. "Just so you know this won't be the end of it. You don't hold as much power as you think. You're clearly new to this, but the world of bureaucracy is a nasty one, it will chew you up and spit you out. There's always a loophole." She slowly rose from her position nestled by Tasmin and eyed us each as if memorising the finest details of our faces. Once she was gone, the moment of silence continued, her words held each of us in place

"I didn't know they were going to do this." Bella broke the silence, her face ashen with guilt.

"No-one's blaming you, Bella." Theo replied.

"I feel like I should have known."

"I wanted to stop them, but we were ordered to stand aside. If we didn't… Discipline is harsh in the military, even if you're medical personnel."

"Don't threat about it, child. There wasn't anything you or I could do to stop them. If we tried, we would have only got removed." Dr. Riseholme intervened, and then she turned to Theo. "Your voice is powerful. No matter what that woman said, a powerful voice and public opinion is a threat."

Theo nodded, but I can tell she was as shaken as the rest of us. Raven had made her move- it was only going to get harder from here on out.

"Where's Tommy?" I asked, scanning the room.

"He ran off when they first came in, I think it really spooked him. He probably thought they were there to take him away again."

"We should find him." I commented. I gazed across the room; most of the children were crying, some of them looked shellshocked or were hiding under their beds. All that trust and happiness that built up in the past few days were gone, their sense of relative safety, shattered. They were confused and scared; they didn't understand what was going on or what those doctors wanted from them.

Harry was bent over Jen, stroking his head and weeping into his wispy fur. Jen was non-responsive to Harry's whispers and occasionally only twitched his leg to prove that he was still alive.

"They hurt him. Why did they do that? I don't know what to do, he won't respond." Harry cried. I didn't know how to help him; Shadow had never got hurt before. I couldn't give him an answer- I didn't know what to say. Anna couldn't see him, and I didn't know how to help.