The Sinister Shadows by Sian Webster (readnow txt) 📖

that would help us figure out the Matches of people not even born yet based on the Matches of their parents. If we could put this algorithm into the watch, as well as a way for the watch to get a DNA sample of the person wearing it, then we could create something that counts down until you meet your soul mate.”

My eyes lit up on their own accord. “DNA samples would have to come from blood so they’re strong enough for the watch to process, maybe if we were two hundred years or so into the future we would have the technology to just use skin cells, but unfortunately not. So, for now, the watch will have to prick the wearer when they first put it on to sample their DNA.”

Will nodded, opening a new document in the sea of documents before him in the Projection and began typing frantically. “How would it know how long it would be until you meet your Match?”

“Maybe… Maybe we could use like a GPS tracking system. That way it could find the location of the Match-ees and calculate the time it would essentially take to cross the distance between you and your Match. We could also somehow connect it to the nervous system so it has knowledge of your actions, like, where you’re hanging out, and then it would have prior knowledge of circumstances, say if you and your Match suddenly and unknowingly decided to hang out at the same bar or something, the watch would know and would calculate the time until you meet.”

Will shook his head. “We wanna keep the watch small, connecting it to the nervous system would need much more room, not to mention power. Maybe instead of doing that, it can have a microphone, listen to conversations concerning future locations. It could maybe work the same way.”

“Isn’t that like, obstruction of privacy laws or something?” I asked.

He shrugged. “It’s to discover your soul mate, you’d be surprised how little people would care about privacy laws. Besides, it’s not like that information would be released anywhere, it would be kept encoded in the watch. We could add some kind of log in mechanism, so that only privileged, trustworthy people can access the information from the watches, we could use DNA or fingerprints for that, any other way they could get hacked into.”

I nodded. “Okay, sounds good. Now what?”

A smile made its way across Will’s face. “Now, my friend, we draw, we plan, we experiment, we equation-ate, we build, we program, and we save the human race.”

4. The Declaration of War

 

My eyes scanned the projection in front of me, the symbols and words fading into blurs as I scrolled through the information, searching desperately for a pattern. There had to be some explanation, some particular way people were Matched. It was in our DNA; there had to be something to help me create a formula. My brain was filled with an ocean of fast moving thoughts. I needed there to be a reason. Behind me, Eli sighed loudly. I turned around, my eyebrows raised.

My older brother lay on his back on my bed, one of his knees in the air with his other leg resting on top of it. His left arm was slung behind his head, as if it were a pillow, and his right arm was in the air, throwing a red rubber ball up and down in absolute boredom.

“What?” I asked impatiently.

The ball froze in his hand. “I don’t like you hanging out with him.”

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the projection. “Everyone here is male, Eli, you’ll have to be more specific than just ‘him’.”

“No I don’t.” Eli’s voice was stern. “You know exactly who I mean.”

I sighed. “Nothing is wrong with Will, Eli. Everyone’s wrong about him.”

“I don’t like it.” My brother pressed. “Something about the guy just feels… wrong.”

I spun around again. “What makes you think that?”

He shrugged, throwing the ball again. “I just have a bad feeling about him.”

“I don’t,” I said simply. “I like him. He understands.”

Eli sat up, raising his eyebrows. “You don’t have a bad feeling about him… Do you have other feelings about him?”

“Eli, I just met the guy a week ago!” I said exasperatedly. “No, I don’t. He just understands why I don’t want to talk about things. He doesn’t want to talk about things either.”

My brother collapsed back onto the bed again, his hands over his face. “You can stop there. I don’t want to know what you guys do whilst hanging out and not talking about things.”

I looked around desperately and threw the only physical projectile around me at my brother. I didn’t think the small, metal pen would do much damage, but his body jerked and folded in on itself as the pen collided with his diaphragm. If I ignored the fact that I was aiming for his head, I could almost say it was a good shot. “We came up with an Invention, actually.”

He sat up, rubbing his stomach where the pen had landed, his gaze curious as he sent me a sideways glance. “You got a guy like him to want to save the world?”

I made a noise somewhere between a groan and a growl. “You’re wrong about him, Eli.” I said, closing the Projection and forcing my computer chair backwards. I stood, pushing the chair grumpily under the desk, and walked over to the door of my room, snatching my jacket off its hook. “The meeting, silly.” I said, replying to my brother’s questioning look.

Eli launched himself off the bed, leaving the red ball to roll around on the purple sheets. He made his way over to me and opened the door so I could leave, before following me out. I shoved him playfully into the wall of the alcove surrounding the entrance to my room and locked the door, ignoring the rattling noise my keys made. I would not. I would not have another hallucination. I would get better.

“So,” he asked casually as we walked from the apartment block to the central building of the Compound. “What’s the Invention you came up with?”

I shook my head. “It’s silly.” I admitted. “Chances are it won’t even work, anyway.”

My brother raised his eyebrows. “It must be pretty important to you,” he observed. “I’m taking a shot in the dark here and saying that whatever your Invention is, it’s what you’ve been slaving away at in front of those projections in your room.”

I sighed. “I need to find a pattern. At this rate, it looks like there isn’t one.”

“A pattern for what?” Eli’s look begged me to go on.

I sighed again, an over-exaggerated, sarcastic growling noise that time. “Soul Mates.”

 

* * *

 

The atmosphere of the meeting room was almost suffocating. It had only been two weeks since the other scientists and I had been called to the Compound, yet it was obvious people were already picking teams, sectioning themselves off from the others. I sat towards the end of the table with Eli – Mr Short had asked him to accompany me in case of another “episode” – and Andrew Scott. Will sat across from me, two chairs empty either side of him. He was completely isolated from the rest of us at first glance, but under the polished, mahogany surface of the table, our legs were entangled. The message behind his touch was clear; he wanted to be close to me, but in such close a proximity to the other scientists in the room, he stayed away, not wanting them to treat me differently because of his formidable reputation.

Two seats over from Will sat the four New York scientists. At the very end of the table sat Li Yun, a spare seat between him and Eli. It was the furthest away he could possibly be from the rest of us. At the head of the table, Mr Short had leant forward in frustration, his head flat on the table. I thought back to the first meeting we had together, when Short remarked that we could be starting the fourth world war just with the eight of us. Looking around the room in that moment, observing the alliances and other formidable individuals, I believed him.

I had been as surprised as anyone when Andrew Scott had walked into the room and taken the seat beside me. He had flashed me a small smile before holding out his hand, which I had politely shaken.

“The world needs more people like you, Codi Watterson.” He had said softly. His voice had been croaky, as if he hadn’t spoken to anyone properly since he had been rescued from the ruins of his lab.

I had smiled back; it was one of my first real smiles since my parents’ deaths that had been brought on by a person that wasn’t Eli or Will.

Now, Andrew looked over at me and sighed dramatically. A small smile itched at the side of my mouth, and I sighed back, just as Mr Short gathered up the courage to lift his head from the table and sit straight. His eyes scanned the room, helplessness seeping into his gaze.

“We need something.” He sighed. “Anything. Even if you believe it to be the stupidest thing in the world.”

A murmur ran through the group of four scientists sitting near Short, and Kato Singh stood up. “Contacts.” He murmured. ”Like, for vision? Except, you can choose what you see. Choose how you see the world. Don’t like the colour pink? Change the colour in your vision. Like blonde haired girls but fell for a brunette? Dye it, for your eyes only. Even video game simulators! You could be slaying a dragon in Central Park whilst everyone else walks to work.”

Steven Short raised his eyebrows, but didn’t question the idea. “Draw up some plans. Get a start on a prototype. Let one of the Research and Retrieval guys know what you need. Then we’ll discuss this further.”

Kato Singh and his fellow group members nodded, and Singh took a seat. Meanwhile, Short’s eyes travelled down the table, past Eli, Andrew and I. “Any ideas, Dr Yun?”

Li Yun’s eyes rose from the polished mahogany for the first time since he entered the room. His eyes were narrowed, his gaze almost scary. If looks could kill, I thought, Short would be a puddle of blood on the floor.

“I have no interest in saving this world.” Yun said simply. “If I could help it, I would not be here. Yet you not only desired, but forced me to be here. I will not help, but god forbid you don’t give me credit for my presence.”

Short merely sighed. “You have to at least pretend to do something, Dr Yun.”

But Li Yun’s eyes were down, gazing at the table again, before Short had even finished speaking. The director then moved his gaze to Andrew beside me. “Mr Scott, do you have any ideas you wish to share with the group? We would have preferred for all eight of you to work on the project together, yet at this time it may be a good idea to split you and begin multiple experiments. You could group with Codi and William if you wish.”

Andrew nodded in understanding. “I wish I had