The Gender Lie(32)

His rolling eyes settled on me, and he snarled, causing me to flinch back. “Solomon?” I gasped, my voice tiny from the lump that had formed in my throat.

He snarled again and launched himself at the door so suddenly, I barely had a chance to take a step back before he impacted. The door shuddered in the frame, but held.

I covered my mouth with my hand, my eyes forming tears at the horror of seeing a man normally so cool and collected transformed into a monster. Turning to Owen, I breathed, “How?”

Owen’s eyes filled with remorse. He opened his mouth to respond when the door frame shuddered again, forcing him to pause. “Outside,” he said, pushing himself off the wall.

I followed him, feeling both eager and reluctant to leave. Solomon gave a low throaty roar as we departed, a crescendo of anger mingling with sadness. It felt like a knife straight to my heart, and it was with great reluctance that I continued following Owen, closing the door to the hallway behind me.

Owen was waiting on the platform, kicking his foot through a small puddle. I pushed the second door closed behind me and then sat down heavily on the steps.

“How?” I repeated, and Owen sighed, placing his hands on his hips.

“You have to understand, Violet. The pills… we were warned that there would be side effects before they were given to us.”

I gaped at him, my confusion palpable. “I-I don’t understand. Pills? What pills? What side effects?”

Owen kicked at the floor again, his lips twisting into a grimace. “The pills—the ones that Mr. Jenks invented to temporarily enhance regular humans. In the facility, our scientists, they… they refined the process.”

It took a moment for his words to sink in. Once they finally did, I found myself standing, although I didn’t remember making the motion to do so. An indescribable fury had flooded my senses and hijacked my brain. I watched myself cross over the wet floor. I felt my hand curl into a fist.

And then suddenly Owen was staggering back, clutching his jaw where I had punched him. My fist throbbed, and I shook it out, glaring at him.

“How could you?” I hissed, flexing my hand. Tears had escaped from my eyes, falling in hot trails down my cheeks and throat.

Owen stared at me, his expression infused with regret and pain. It wasn’t enough—not by far.

“HOW COULD YOU?!” I bellowed, taking a step forward and raising a fist.

He flinched back, holding both his hands up. “I’m sorry!” he said, and I froze, my hands shaking. I clenched my teeth together, torn between hitting him again and backing off. He slowly lowered his hands, and I could see tears forming in his eyes too.

Frustrated by his acquiescence, I lowered my fist and stalked backward. I began to pace, trying to calm the anger pulsing in my heart. I took a quick breath in, followed by a long slow breath out. Then another. And then another.

It took several minutes for me to find a certain level of calmness. During that time, I tried moving past my initial question to find a more productive line of inquiry that would help me understand why they had done this.

Once I was ready, I turned back to Owen, who was standing where I had left him, his arms wrapped around himself. I had seen many faces of Owen since I had met him, but this was the first time I had seen him ashamed.

“Okay. Tell me what happened,” I said, not bothering to keep the hard edge out of my voice.

“Solomon must have thought he had no choice. He had almost a kilometer to run while carrying you and your gear. So… he took the pill.”

“What did it enhance?” I asked.

“His strength.”

I nodded slowly, furrowing my brows. “That would explain his anger.”

It was Owen’s turn to nod. “Yeah. Desmond gave them to us before the mission. I swear, Violet, I didn’t know she was going to hand them out. Hell, I didn’t even know she had been experimenting with the pill. She warned us that the side effects for us would be more pronounced than they were for the boys. They were given incremental doses over time—Solomon got a massive dose all at once.” I shot him another hard, flat look, and he took a slow step back, away from me. “She told us not to take them unless it was a clear emergency.”

I shook my head, as if trying to clear it from a punch. “Those pills should have never been handed out in the first place!” I said, my nostrils flaring. “Desmond said she would destroy them. She clearly lied.”

Owen’s face fell. “No. It’s not like that, Violet. Desmond… she’s going to be devastated by this. She loves Solomon—we all do. Nobody wanted this to happen. But if she didn’t destroy them, then she had her reasons.”