Sun Rose (Rose of the Dawn Series Book 1) by Ily Maguire Page A

disarmed. I don’t want to be disarmed.
    “I
was coming up to speak to Pike.” To tattle on Ezekiel , I think, but not
now that he was just entertaining Hara.
    “Oh.
He’s not even here. In Aegis,” he specifies. “Come in. It’ll take just a few
minutes. I want to clear up some things.”
    Not
this again.
    “I’m
not sure this is a good idea, JJ,” I pause as I see Ezekiel coming up the
stairs behind me. “Just for a minute,” I say and follow him into his room. What
am I doing?
    The
door closes behind me.

16
    “Okay,
so what do we need to clear up?” I don’t take the seat JJ offers.
    “Would
you like something to eat?” He holds out a plate of tiny pastries. Where did he
get these? Aegis doesn’t have a bakery.
    “No,
thank you.” It may be the first time in a long time I’ve felt hungry. I’ve been
taking these vitamins and they seem to keep hunger pangs away. “What’s this
about, JJ?”
    “I
would just like to talk to you a bit.”
    “I’m
not going to change my mind about anything, especially not what you proposed
before.”
    “No,
no, that’s not it.” He pours himself something from a teapot on a hot plate.
How does he have electricity? Am I the only one left in the dark here?
    “Well,
what is it then? I really have to find Pike.”
    “What
for? I mean, like I said, he’s not even in Aegis today.” JJ’s look is curious,
his eyes squint at me.
    He
did say that.
    This
room makes me nervous. The walls seem to shift in tone depending on his mood,
and right now they’re the deep red of a clenched fist.
    “Do
you have any more tests for me to undergo, JJ?”
    JJ
smiles and shakes his head. “Not right now. Time is a manipulated variable in
this little experiment I like to call Rosamund Campbell . We need to see
how time affects all things Rose .”
    JJ
sips his tea. I knew there would be a lapse in testing, but I didn’t realize
how long. I’ve been here at least a month now and I don’t have a solid idea of
what it looks like when all the tests are done. Will I get to go home? Do I
want to?
    “I
also asked you in here,” JJ continues.
    “To
convince me? I’m done with this conversation. Really. I’ve got to go.”
    “I
wanted to apologize for the way I pressured you,” he rubs my arm. It feels the
same as it did before. My skin crawls. “I just needed you to understand the
urgency in all of this. It really is for the ultimate good, even if it doesn’t
seem like so at first.”
    “What’s
so urgent, though?”
    “Every
day people like us get a little closer to death. We are dying, Rose. A little
more than the day before. How would you feel if someone in your family was
dying? If someone in your family died?”
    “I
don’t know. I don’t know if I would care,” I say and can’t believe that it came
out of my mouth. I try to think about Dory or little Evie and I get a tinge of
emotion, but nothing when I think of my mother or father. How strange.
    “Not
even your sisters?” He is baiting me. How does he know I have sisters?
    I
shake my head, though I think I would be sad if they were gone. I was
especially close with Dory. I do love her and Evie, too.
    “So
this is why we have to act fast? It has nothing to do with making money fast?”
I ask him.
    “Nothing
about this would make us money fast, Rose.”
    I
lean away from him. I don’t trust him. I can’t trust him .
    “What
would you suggest we do? How would you set this whole thing in motion? Would
you connect me to some sort of life-support and slice off parts of my organs?”
    JJ
laughs.
    “I
don’t think it’s funny.”
    “Rose,
you’re not some deli meat. It wouldn’t be like you described at all.”
    “Then
tell me, what would it be like?” I fold my arms across my chest.
    “The
process would begin the day before. You would have to fast for 24 hours, but you’d
be infused with various vitamins and minerals generally missing in regular
diets. That shouldn’t be a problem for you. Then we’d