Free New Sight by Jo Schneider Page A

reality.
    Just before Mark got to Brady, someone in black stepped in front of him. Lys heard a twang, and Mark fell to the ground. More figures dressed in black came at them through the trees.
    People started to yell, and Lys felt Kamau take her arm and attempt to pull her away. Lys tried to move, but couldn’t. The world fractured in front of her eyes.
    Suddenly she could see everything. She could see from her own eyes, she could see herself from Kamau’s eyes. She could see all of them from above, she could see more figures in black and she could see the crumpled doorway behind them. She was flying, she was running, she was standing and she was dying.

Chapter 7
    Fuzzy gray surrounded Lys. She quickly decided she liked the black better. At least with the black she knew what to expect. The gray gave her hope that the light might come. It hurt to hope. What would she hope for? Half-remembered scenes replayed in her mind.
    “Get a net on him. This kid is going to kill us all. Cut that girl off before she goes crazy, too. Where is Mason? We’ll have to take them back to the city . . .”
    She thought she remembered being chased through the forest by people in black, but the memory wouldn’t solidify. Other voices asked her if she was using, but Lys couldn’t see the faces that went with them. Instead she saw outlines and shadows hidden in the fuzzy gray.
    She tried to get the images in her mind in some sort of order; the hospital, dreaming, the ghost, running, falling—Brady!
    That thought jolted her awake. Her eye opened. She expected to see stars, with trees overhead and dirt beneath her. Instead a sterile, white ceiling lit by a fluorescent light greeted her.
    Lys turned her head. White surrounded her—white walls, white ceiling, and white floor. She propped herself up on her elbows, even the sheets, blankets and box frame under the bed were white.
    Her head swam with the effort of lifting it, so Lys lay back down. Was she in some new part of the hospital? The sequence of events from the night before still lacked clarity. Another dream? Lys hoped so, but she didn’t think so.
    The door to the room had bars on it. A cell? How did she get in an all-white prison cell? She glanced around slowly, taking in the bed, a toilet, a sink, and about three feet square of free space right in front of the door. The bed touched three of the four walls. Why was she in prison? Surely Mr. Mason wouldn’t toss her in here for going after Brady. Especially since he hadn’t even given her a chance to explain.
    Her new clothes consisted of a shirt and a pair of pants—both white and resembling scrubs more than anything else. Thin, white slippers covered her feet.
    The slap of a foot on the floor drew Lys’s attention. She wasn’t alone. Before she could talk herself out of it, Lys sat up and swung her legs off the bed. Her head continued to pound, and her stomach objected, but she didn’t throw up or pass out. So far so good.
    “Hello?” a deep voice asked.
    “Kamau?” Lys said, rising to her feet. Having such a small cell proved to be handy. She had to reach out to steady herself as she walked to the door.
    Outside her cell lay a white hallway. The walls curved, more like a tube than a hall, with a flat spot running down the floor and the ceiling. She could see three other cell doors.
    Kamau stood at the door across from Lys. His polite mask was gone, replaced by a scowl.
    “Where are we?” Lys asked, looking around. It was like they’d been abducted and placed in some alien space ship. Or a bad reality television show.
    “I’m not sure,” Kamau said, a stony look on his face. “But I do not think we are in the hospital.”
    Neither did Lys. Mr. Mason didn’t seem the type to let them wake up wondering. He’d have someone there to tell them what was going on. Wouldn’t he?
    “Is anyone else here?” Lys asked, craning her head to try to look into the other cells.
    “No,” Kamau said. “But someone has been