Everything that just happened was inside my head. The lab is empty, my hands are still in the glove box, and Liam is nowhere to be found. I turn my attention back to the sludge in the box and it is no longer attached to me but shriveled up in the palm of my hand. I drop it as quickly as I can and when I do my eyes land on a slit in the glove. It did get through. Whatever this thing is, it was trying to get inside my head. A thought dawns on me, I fought it off, I fought Liam off. The image of the girl in the Léman sweatshirt comes back to me and I immediately pull my hands out of the gloves and bring up google on the lab computer. I debate on whether or not I really want to do this, knowing if I'm right I won’t like the answer. I bite the bullet and search up Léman Manhattan Preparatory School. The first couple of articles and webpages are for the schools website, their instagram, and tuition help. I can feel my heart sink when I come across the article I was really hoping I didn't have to see. I clicked on it and the headline read “A Female Student From Albany Academy Killed At The Age Of 16 On A NYC Subway Ride” I scrolled down to find a picture and there she was. The girl I saw. In the picture her smile wasn’t covered in black sludge and she looked so happy. I think they pulled this image from one of her school photos since she was in what looked like a uniform. I cup my face in my hands and take a steading breath. I was not prepared for this today, I’m still not even sure what it means. What I do know is that I need to talk to Melvirn.

  I get Melvirn connected into the lab via zoom and explain what the results of the tests were. They were pretty inconclusive and didn't tell us much but when I approached the conversation of what it did to me his face fell.

  “Melvirn I saw the girl that died on the train” I saw blankly

  “Raelyn, I need you to be very specific, what do you mean?” he asks almost hesitantly

  “I went to touch the samples with the gloves and when I did it's like It took permission to take over me. I thought I just passed out but it got into my mind” I take a breath remembering what happened. I left out the part of Liam being there when I share the second half of the story “When it was in my mind it made me see all these people, they said that ‘I shouldn’t get involved in things I don’t understand’ they said ‘it was too late and I guess I will have to join them’ that's when I saw the girl” Melvirn sighed

  “Are you sure it was her?” he asks questionably

  “Yes.” I say definitely

  “She caught my eye cause I thought she looked familiar, like I had seen her somewhere before. That's when I saw her sweatshirt, it said her school and I remembered where I had seen her. There was an article I read about her death, before I found out about the train” I take a second to arrange my thoughts “I thought the article seemed weird since we barely got any information about what happened, I hadn't put two and two together until I saw her covered in that black sludge stuff, she was killed by whatever this stuff is turning these people into” I say defeatedly

  “Yes” is all Melvirn says

  “Wait did you say she was wearing a shirt with her school on it?” he asks

  “Yea, it was a dark blue sweatshirt that said Albany Academy on it, I think there was an embroidery on the sleeve but I wasn’t close enough to see what it said” I say

  “Emily.” Melvirn sighs “the embroidery said to Emily” Melvirn rubs his hand down his face and takes a deep breath “that’s what she found in Raelyn. When she died that's what she was wearing” I go cold.

  “So what does this mean?” I ask unsure

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I don’t know yet, but I think this means you should come home” he answers

  “Ok i'll head home as soon as I can” I say about to hang up the phone when he stops me

  “Stay safe ok? This attack wasn't that far from you” Mevirn says as he hangs up.

  I take a minute to collect myself before cleaning up the lab and packing up my stuff. I take the shrivelled piece of sludge from the glove box and ensure I wrap it in multiple layers of biohazard bags and throw it in the incineration bin. No one else needs to get anywhere close to this stuff.

  As I am driving back to the hotel the only thing I can think about is seeing Huxley like that. This is now the second time I have and i’m starting to think that maybe it isn't a coincidence and that fact is making me sweat.

  I get back into the hotel and am greeted by Vee who is lounging in the common room watching greys on the enormous tv.

  “Hey!” she said turning around and jumping off the couch to greet me

  “How did the work stuff go?” she says curious

  “Not how I wanted it to” I say defeated

  “Wanna talk about it?” she asks concerned

  “Honestly if I could I would spill my guts to you but it's sorta a top secret project” I say feeling somewhat guilty that I couldn't talk to her about it

  “No its ok I get it, my dad has those all the time” she says waving it off

  “Wanna watch greys with me?” she asks moving back overt to sit on the couch

  “I wish I could but I have to pack my stuff, this project is forcing me home” I say honestly sad to leave my new friend

  “What!” she says whipping around

  “You can’t leave!” she says in a whine

  “I have to Vee, I would stay if i could I promise” I sigh

  “Ok well if you left now when would you get home?” she asks and I can tell she is cooking up a plan

  “Um if I left now maybe 5 or 6?” I say

  “Ok so really how much work would you really be able to get done?” she is grinning a little now

  “I guess not much” I say giving up

  “Ok so how about you come to the event tonight? Its my favorite one since there are demos and then I will personally drive you home in the morning” she says assuredly

  “Why would you drive all the way to manhattan?” I ask trying to get her to see faults in her plan

  “I have a tour for school tomorrow evening anyways, I was going to have to leave regardless. I will just shop around until I have to go” she says shrugging

  “Ughhh I hate you” I say though gritted teeth

  “YES” she squeals as she jumps up and squeezes me

  “Ok now we need to pick something for you to wear” Vee announces almost bouncing

  “Can’t I just wear the blazer I brought?” I ask confused

  “Are you kidding?” she responds

  “No?”

  “It was a rhetorical question because you definitely have to be kidding” Vee laughs

  “Ok fine” I give up

  “But I didn’t bring anything other than the red dress I wore the other night” I told her

  “Oh but honey, I brought so much more” she says leading me into her room which was packed high with bags

  “I think this is just what you need” she says holding up one of the most stunning floor length body fitted black dresses I have ever seen. It flipped over at the top and went off the shoulders. I just gaped at her.

  “You expect me to wear that?” I ask he honestly

  “You are going to look amazing so shut up and put in on” she say as she pushed the dress into my hands and leads me to the bathroom

  “Change” is all she says

  As I am putting on the dress I thought I heard Vee say “I know someone who is going to love this dress” I blush

  “Vee, did you say something?” I yell

  “Nope” is all she says while giggling