Re-Vamped! by Sienna Mercer

opportunity to steal a
backward glance. There, at the opposite end of the hall past a tall potted
plant was a dark wall with ASHH on it in enormous, luminous letters. Beside the
letters was a door, and beside the door stood the tallest security guard Olivia
had ever seen, fiddling distractedly with a walkie-talkie.
    Mr.
Daniels continued to the end of the hall, where a glistening sign read V-GEN PHARMACEUTICALS.
He turned left and stopped outside a stainless steel door.
    He
opened the door and led the way into a huge laboratory, filled with blinking
consoles and mysterious equipment. A group of people in white lab coats were
hunched around a table, arguing in low voices over some papers.
    “But
how could she have survived the hemoglobic transition?” Olivia heard one say.
    Mr.
Daniels cleared his throat loudly, and the conversation stopped abruptly. One
of the group, a woman with her hair in a bun, tried to subtly turn over the
sheets of paper on the table.
    “Lab
technicians, this is Ivy Vega,” Mr. Daniels announced as they all got to their
feet. “And this is her identical twin sister, Olivia Abbott.”
    For a
moment, the scientists just stared at them. Then one started clapping, and they
all erupted into applause.
    Olivia
grinned while Ivy shifted in her boots, uncomfortable with the attention as
usual.
    “What
am I, garlic hummus?” Brendan whispered sarcastically as the applause died
down.
    “The
occurrence of identical twins is a unique genetic phenomenon, and there is much
we stand to learn from it,” Mr. Daniels said. “These young ladies have
generously agreed to allow themselves to be subject to our experimentation.”
    Experimentation? Olivia thought uneasily.
    The
lab technicians all whispered to one another excitedly.
    “Ms.
Voxen, will you please prepare the VMG?” Mr. Daniels asked, and the woman with
the bun gave a businesslike nod before disappearing. “Everyone else to your
workstations.” The technicians scurried off in all directions.
    Mr.
Daniels led the girls past a bank of flickering screens, where two of the
technicians sat in swivel chairs, frantically turning dials. As Olivia walked
past, the technicians abruptly stood up to face her. “Welcome, welcome,” they
said nervously, weaving back and forth.
    They’re
trying to hide the screens! thought Olivia.
    Mr.
Daniels stopped in the corner, where a thick, blocky wooden chair stood on a
small pedestal. Across from it, Ms. Voxen stood behind a console. Wires extended
from the chair in all directions, and a metal circle hung above it, waiting to
be lowered onto someone’s head.
    “Olivia,
you can sit there,” Mr. Daniels said nonchalantly, gesturing with his pen.
    “You
mean the electric chair?” Olivia croaked.
    “The
what?” Mr. Daniels said. Then he laughed. “Oh, no, that’s just the VMG.”
    Olivia
looked at Ivy and Brendan desperately, but they just shrugged.
    She
tried to put on a brave face as she sat down. Ms. Voxen came and fastened
electrodes to Olivia’s temples, her neck, and each of her fingers, then secured
the metal band around Olivia’s head.
    “This
isn’t going to hurt, right?” Olivia quavered.
    “Just
relax,” responded Ms. Voxen.
    You
didn’t answer the question, Olivia thought nervously as she watched Ms. Voxen return to her console and put
on chunky sunglasses. Suddenly, Mr. Daniels and Brendan and Ivy were wearing
sunglasses, too. They looked like some sort of deranged rap group.
    “Commence
VMG?” Ms. Voxen asked.
    “Commence,”
Mr. Daniels answered, and Olivia thought she was going to hyperventilate as Ms.
Voxen reached behind her and pulled a huge red lever.
    As far
as Olivia could tell, nothing happened. But Mr. Daniels and Ms. Voxen started
to lean over the console, whispering excitedly and pointing at the screen.
    “Is
this thing even on?” Olivia asked.
    Mr.
Daniels looked up briefly. “That’s a very interesting question, Olivia.”
    Olivia
thought that was a strange response until