Free Adaptation by Malinda Lo

them each a pen. “Before you leave we just need you to fill out some paperwork. It’s all basic information, and at the end there’s a nondisclosure agreement for you to sign. Basically, it says that you agree to not talk to anyone about the treatment you’ve received here.”
    Reese began to flip through the document. “Why can’t we talk about it?”
    “I’m sure Dr. Brand explained to you that you’re in a classified military facility. Neither of you is authorized to discuss anything you’ve seen here, that’s all.” He gave them a fake smile—the kind, Reese recognized, that adults give teens when they’re only pretending to level with them. “I’m sure you understand—you wouldn’t want to compromise our national security, would you?”
    The condescension in his voice made Reese bristle. “I sure wouldn’t, sir,” she said with exaggerated sincerity.
    David swallowed a snicker.
    Agent Forrestal looked slightly puzzled, but Dr. Brand leaned forward, her eyes narrowing on the two of them. “There are real repercussions to sharing your knowledge about this facility with anyone, even your parents. We’ve spoken with your parents, and they understand that they can’t ask questions about where you received your treatment. I hope you do too.”
    Dr. Brand’s tone was cool, but her words left no room for argument, and Reese was somewhat ashamed of her snarky comment. “Yeah, of course I understand,” she said.
    “David?” Dr. Brand said.
    His eyes shifted from Reese to Dr. Brand. “Yes, I understand.”
    “Good,” Agent Forrestal said. “Then let’s fill out that paperwork and get you two home.”
    Reese filled out the form—name, birth date, parents, address, school, various questions about her health—and then flipped to the last page, where there was a line for her signature above her name.
Clarice Irene Holloway.
She scrawled her name across the line and pushed the documents back to Agent Forrestal as David did the same with his.
    “Can I call my mom?” Reese asked.
    Agent Forrestal glanced at Dr. Brand. “Do you have a phone set up for that?”
    “I do. It’s just down the hall in the empty office.” She looked at Reese. “When you’re ready, I’ll take you.”
    “Is there anything else we have to do here?” Reese asked Agent Forrestal.
    He shook his head. “You’re all set. I’ll see you both tomorrow morning, bright and early.”

CHAPTER 9
    Reese hadn’t been outside in twenty-nine days. When she plunged through the door out of the hospital and into the bright morning, she was assaulted by heat. She sucked in a breath of dry desert air and raised a hand to shade her eyes from the blinding sunlight.
    She had awoken before dawn, eager to go home, but now she turned back to look at the place where she had spent almost a month unconscious. The hospital was a one-story, prefab building painted tan, with a plaque affixed to the door that read BUILDING 5—PLATO .
    That word,
PLATO
, had been on her wristband too.
    When she got dressed that morning, the bracelet had snagged on her long-sleeved T-shirt. She had forced it over her knucklesand dropped it in her suitcase along with a copy of the nondisclosure form she had signed the day before. What did PLATO mean?
    “Hey, you coming?” David called. He was waiting for her about ten feet away.
    “Yeah, sorry.” She followed him and Dr. Brand down the concrete path, dragging her bungee-corded suitcase behind her.
    Agent Forrestal was in the parking lot with the Jeep. He loaded their battered luggage into the vehicle, and then David and Reese climbed into the backseat.
    “Have a safe flight,” Dr. Brand said. As the doctor’s gaze flickered over them, Reese felt a strange reluctance to leave.
Of course I want to leave
, Reese thought, watching Dr. Brand head back to the hospital. Talking to her mom the day before—finally—had made this place feel like a cage. She had tossed and turned all night, overcome with impatience to