Chapter Sixteen
The Laboratory
“Getting what you want is not always the answer.”—The Apparatus of a Woman: Volume One by Legless
Ten years on
The years of Beryl walking into the laboratory and being greeted with a welcome were a distant memory. Gone were the days when the prodigies scrabbled to please her, hung on her every word. She could shout herself hoarse, pick at their work all day; it didn’t make any difference.
The prodigies were teenagers, and her entrances were greeted with silence.
Apart, that is, for Mex. She scowled.
Beryl tried to befriend them, telling the girls they were special and had a place in the scheme of things—and did it work?
They didn’t even look at her.
Beryl’s entrance had as much effect as the ex-leader had on the city, and every time she was ignored,
