Broken Wings 2 - Midnight Flight Andrews, C. (books for students to read TXT) 📖

rewarding all of us for putting in a decent day's work. We were given a plate of cookies for dessert. Mindy, Gia, and Teal were assigned to washing dishes and silverware, and I was told to clean the dining room afterward. While I worked, Dr. Foreman reappeared. She watched me for a few moments. I had the sense she was waiting for me to say something.

I stopped working, thought about Natani's tale of the squirrel, and then turned to her.

“What is it, Phoebe?”

“I'm afraid for Teal.”

“Tonight?”

“Maybe.”

“You've done a very good thing, Phoebe.” Dr. Foreman stepped up to me and took my hands, turning them to look at my palms.

“Follow me.” She led me out of the dining room, down the corridor, to a bedroom. It was surprisingly bland and unfeminine. There were no pictures on the walls, no pretty curtains or rugs, nor any photographs of family or friends. What kind of a family did she have? I wondered. Had she ever been married? Did shehave a boyfriend, children of her own, parents still alive?

The king-​size, four-​poster bed looked so comfortable and luscious with its oversize cream-​colored, fluffy pillows and comforter, I longed to crawl into it and sleep for a week.

She smiled at the covetous expression on my face. “All good things will come to those who earn them, Phoebe. Reality checks, remember?”

I nodded and she took me into her bathroom, opened a medicine cabinet, and plucked out a jar of some skin cream. She rubbed it into my hands.

“Natani isn't the only one with miracle medicines here,” she said, smiling. “You don't want your skin to get too soft when you work a ranch, but you don't want to irritate anything and get infections either.”

“Thank you.”

She put her hands on my shoulders and looked into my face. “You're going to be one of my girls. I'm confident of that. Now return to your barracks and do your schoolwork.”

I thought I heard what sounded like someone sobbing and thought about Robin. Where could she be? Was she sent away? Wherever she was sent, it would be a blessing, I thought.

“Where's Robin?” I asked, and Dr. Foreman's smile faded.

“Robin is defeating a very bad part of herself. She will be better tomorrow. Go on.”

I left, went out, put on my shoes, and crossed the yard to the barracks, wondering if I had heard someone crying and if it was Robin. What horrible thing was being done to her? Could it be worse than being in one of the coffins?

As soon as I entered the barn, I stopped with surprise.

On my cot was a mattress, a pillow, and a blanket, and on the blanket was a pair of blue coveralls, the same white, short-​sleeve shirt Mindy and Gia wore, and a pair of panties. I was being rewarded. I was pleased, of course, but at the same time I felt a dark sense of foreboding and guilt as I took off the coarse sack dress and the oversize diaper.

When Teal, Mindy, and Gia returned, they stopped and looked at me sitting on my cot and reading.

“Why did you get all that?” Teal asked.

I shrugged. “It was just here when I returned.”

Mindy smiled coolly, her eyes small. “Sure it was. It just grew there.”

“Leave her alone,” Gia snapped. Mindy turned with surprise. “You're no angel. You have no right to judge her or any of us.”

“I didn't say that I did.”

“What does all that mean?” Teal asked. “Why are you arguing?”

“Around here, the fewer questions you ask, the better off you are,” Gia told her. “Get your work done or you'll soon be where your friend Robin is.”

“Where is she?” I asked quickly. “I think I heard her crying when I was with Dr. Foreman before. Is that where the Ice Room is? In that house.”

“You didn't hear her crying,” Gia insisted.

“I did.”

She was quiet.

“If I didn't hear her crying, who did I hear crying?”

“Forget about it. You don't want to know,” Gia told me.

“Is she in the Ice Room?”

Gia didn't reply. Instead, she turned to Teal and said,

“If you want to do your friend some good, just keep your mouth shut.”

“She's not my friend. We only met when we were brought here. We hardly know each other. I probably know just as much about you as I do her, or you,” Teal said, nodding at Mindy, “or Phoebe.”

“You're better off,” Mindy said dryly, and went to her books. Gia did the same.                   »

Teal walked slowly to her hard cot, her eyes on me. We were all like a bunch of alley cats, scratching and hissing at each other, I thought. It made me feel sick inside. If I followed Gia's advice, I would walk around with a head full of air. Teal looked like she was going to burst into tears again and have another tantrum. It wouldn't do anyone any good, least of all her.

“I can show you how to do the math assignment,” I said. “Gia showed it to me earlier.”

“I don't care. I'm not doing any of this,” Teal said, and kicked her books.

Mindy and Gia looked up and then went back to their work.

A deep sense of dread passed through me.

Where was Robin? I wondered, looking at the doorway. Why wouldn't Gia talk about her? What was happening to her?

What would happen to Teal?

And then to me?

I worked until lights out. Teal went to sleep before, her back to me.

When I crawled under my blanket, I luxuriated in the softness of my mattress and pillow. My fatigue seemed to seep down through my legs and into the bed. I drifted into my first comfortable night's sleep in a long time, and I was so deeply asleep, I didn't hear anythingaround me. When I opened my eyes, I didn't resent the morning light as much as I had the day before. Mindy and Gia were just rising, too. I sat up and turned to Teal.

Cold shock began at the base