There Once Were Stars by Melanie McFarlane Page B

killed the team. Nothing more.” I raise my eyebrows and nod in agreement as he continues. “We used every precaution we could back then. There is nothing to be afraid of. Do you understand?”
    I nod, and he finally lets go of me, his eyes softening. I rub my arm, trying to soothe the sting he left behind.
    “How did you get away?” I lean back in case he reaches for me again.
    “I brought back a shipment, right here to this floor.”
    “My parents worked in this exact lab?”
    “Right at this table with me.”
    I run my hands across the smooth stainless steel surface, feeling its cool metal against my warm hands. My parents were here. This is where they spent their time when they were away from me.
    “Like I said, don’t worry about the radiation. We’ll be wearing suits tomorrow as a precaution, and we’ll take a Geiger counter with us. They’ve never allowed us to use one before, but since the arrival of the Outsider, it can’t be denied there’s a possibility that the radiation may not be as dangerous as it once was. Maybe one day soon we’ll all be able to leave the dome and colonize on the outside.”
    “Leave the dome?” Those words still sound impossible. Could that really be in our future?
    “That’s always been the purpose, hasn’t it?” Waldorf’s brow shoots up. “Isn’t that why we all become scientists?”
    I never chose to be a scientist. I never asked to be here. So why am I here? If I don’t hold the secrets to my mother’s notebook, then how much longer will they keep me in this charade? I have one more question for Waldorf before we began my lessons.
    “Where exactly are we going tomorrow?”
    Waldorf looks uncomfortable. “We’re going to the meadow—the place where the last Expedition team fell.”
    I grab the side of the table, as the room begins to spin around me. We’re going to the place where my parents—I can’t bear to finish my thought. How can they take me there? How am I supposed to trust these people? Maybe that’s the point, I’m not.
    I let go of the table and fall to the ground. Waldorf’s voice cries out from above me, and the last thing I see is Evan’s face above me before everything goes black.

CHAPTER 9
     
     
    I wake up on the floor in the lab with white lab coats huddled around me. I start to sit up, but a sharp stabbing pain shoots in the back of my head. I reach for the spot and a small bump meets my touch.
    “Everyone back,” Evan calls out, kneeling next to me where he’s cradling my head in his hands. I stare up at his facial expression, serious and commanding. “Give the kid some breathing room.”
    “I am not a kid,” I say through gritted teeth.
    “And, she’s back.” Evan flashes me his mischievous smile.
    He places a hand on my back, helping me to a sitting position. I brace myself against his body, holding his arm until I regain my balance. What just happened?
    I think back to my conversation with Waldorf. My locket. It was meant for my ninth birthday as a gift from my parents. How long did Grandmother keep it from me?
    I look over at Roe, recalling the other part of my conversation with Waldorf. “When were you going to tell me?”
    “Tell you what?” She looks confused.
    “That we’re going to the same place my parents were killed.”
    “I wasn’t sure you could handle it.” She shrugs. “Obviously I was correct.”
    “Correct!” I reach toward her, trying to grab her by the front of her lab coat, but Evan holds me back. “How would you like it if it was sprung on you in casual conversation? You’ve had plenty of time to tell me.”
    “When, Greyes?” She rolls her eyes. “When I took you from your home? Did you want me to tell you then? Or would it have been better to tell you yesterday, when you were moping in your bed? Tell me, when was the best time?”
    “I didn’t ask to be here!”
    “So you keep saying. Guess what? None of us asked for you, either. Honestly, I don’t know why you were put on this