Free Solstice by Jane Redd Page B

metal. Every few steps, I felt a gush of cold air touch my feet as if the floor were suspended somehow and air flowed beneath it.
    When the inspector stopped and raised his hand, a door to the side of us that I hadn’t even noticed slid open. He pushed me inside, let go of my arm, and stepped away. The door slid shut behind me, and I was left in complete darkness. Alone.

Eleven
    I stood still for several moments, waiting for some other door to open up, for another inspector to take me to the next place. I waited for a voice to come through a speaker and give me instructions, to tell me what tasks I’d be sentenced to for the next ninety days.
    But none of that happened. I was alone, with no sound or light, and no way to keep track of time.
    The chemical scent was stronger in this room, but it didn’t seem to affect me, so I stopped worrying that they were trying to drug me. Maybe I’d been sent to a facility that processed chemicals, and was going to be forced to work on an assembly line.
    I reached my hands out in front of me, hoping to see a glimmer of my skin, but there was nothing in the blackness. I took a step forward, then another. Three steps later I touched a wall. It wasn’t stone or metal, but a soft, pliable substance. I pushed my hand into the wall, making an indent. When I pulled away, it moved back into shape. I ran my hands along it, following until I was in a small circular room.
    The ground seemed flexible. Crouching, I touched the floor. It was also malleable, like thick rubber.
    I completed the circle and found the narrow door I’d been sent through. Nothing around the metal door indicated a way to open it, so I sat on the ground, pulled my knees up to my chest, and finally let the worries invade and the tears fall. There was nothing to do but wait.
    My stomach hurt. My head hurt. My heart . . . ached. I had never been this far away from my dorm or school, and it was impossible to imagine that everything was continuing on as normal without me.
    I wondered what Sol was doing at this exact moment. Was it day or night? Was he still in Detention? Or had he been released? Was he eating or studying? Was he thinking about me?
    Just as I was about to drift to sleep, the room filled with light that seemed to be coming from everywhere at once.
    I blinked against the brightness. The first thing I noticed was that I was still alone. The second, that the walls were a yellow-brown and the floor a pale blue. The metal door was the customary slate gray. I thought maybe I was dreaming, but my mouth was too dry and my stomach too empty for this to be a dream. I listened for the sound of a door opening, for footsteps, anything. Still nothing. But I sensed I was being watched.
    I stood, stretching my stiff legs. Dizziness hit me in a wave, and I closed my eyes for an instant, trying to keep steady.
    The door slid open.
    The man who stood on the other side wore a pale blue jumpsuit the same color as the floor. It was neatly creased along the sleeve and pant legs as if he hadn’t sat all day. His eyes were the brightest blue I’d ever seen—almost piercing. He wore metal-framed glasses, which was unusual in our City since eye correction was done at a young age. And although he was completely bald, he looked only about five or six years older than me.
    His eyes narrowed for an instant as he looked me up and down. “I’m Dr. Matthews.” He looked at the tablet in his hand. “Miss J, follow me.”
    I wanted to ask who he was and what I was supposed to do here, but instead I kept quiet and stepped beside him, determined to do everything I was asked. What kind of doctor was he? He didn’t stop, didn’t wait, and I propelled myself forward. The light was dim in the corridor. The floor sloped, but he showed no sign of slowing down.
    As I hurried to keep up with him, I tried to orient myself. The walls were made of the same yellow-brown padded material, and we were in some sort of tunnel. We were definitely