ACCIDENTALLY HIS LAB EXPERIMENT

CHAPTER 21: TRAINING LOOP -DAY 1

SELENE POV

The training room was white and cold.The air smelled like metal and old sweat.

I sat on the floor with my back against the wall.

Sweat ran down my neck and under my shirt.

Virek stood in the center of the room. 7ft tall. His voice was flat and steady.

“Again,” he said.

Four hours had passed since Vant left for the Starfall facility. That facility was hours away from the hidden academy . The academy was on an isolated island.

Virek raised his hand. “Five seconds,” he said. “You will filter the noise. You will not shut it down.”

He snapped his fingers once. The sound was sharp and loud in the quiet room.

Sound exploded all around me. Twelve people were talking at the same time on the other side of the glass. Monitors were beeping in a steady rhythm. The air vents were hissing above me. My own heart was beating too fast in my chest.

The Apex inside me felt threatened by every sound. It was ready to hunt. The blue marks behind my ears started to burn. I could feel them glowing through my skin.

One second passed. I tried to sort the noise the way Cael taught me before.

Two seconds passed. I found Virek’s heartbeat. It was slow and steady. I held onto that sound. I pushed the other voices down into a smaller space in my head.

Three seconds passed. Hunger bit at my teeth. The Apex wanted more. It wanted me to kill the source of the noise. `

Four seconds passed. The blue veins showed through my skin on my arms and my neck. My skin became itchy, i could see the hair growing out of my skin for a second. My hands wanted to become claws. My teeth felt sharp in my mouth.

Five seconds passed. I could not hold it anymore. I screamed one word. “Off!”

Virek clicked a button on his wrist. The room fell into silence. It was not real silence. It was the five second sound bubble that Cael built before her .Virek still let us use it.

Virek looked at the timer on his wrist. “Three point eight seconds,” he said. His face did not change. “That is a fail.”

The door opened . Jaren walked into the room. Soft curly hair framing an innocent oval shaped face, but his powers were total opposite of him. He was the youngest amongst them all, but most times it amazes me how he acts like he's my elder, always looking after me.

He walked straight to me and reached into his pocket, pulled out a water bottle. He placed it gently on the floor next to my hand.

“Water,” he said. His voice was calm.

Virek turned his head toward Jaren. “Her break is not scheduled for another twenty minutes,” he said.

Jaren kept his eyes on me for a second. Then he looked up at Virek.“Mr Virek,” he said. “She has been in this room for four hours without stopping. Her vitals are spiking. A short break will keep her from burning out before we reach the next stage.”

Virek’s eyes narrowed slightly. He did not like being questioned. He raised his hand as the Nular collar on his wrist beeped, the colar used for restraint incase any of their powers got out of control.

Jaren took one small step back to show he was not challenging Virek’s authority. “I am not asking you to stop the training,” he said. “I am asking for ten minutes. Then we can continue with the word filtering exercise you planned. Words trigger the Apex faster than noise. If she can learn to filter words, she can improve her hunting skills and be stronger against Nolans men.”

Virek was quiet for a moment. He looked at me on the floor. He looked at Jaren standing there. Then he looked at the door like he was thinking about the risks. The Nular collar on his gaint wrist stopped beeping.

“Ten minutes,” Virek said at last. “Then we try five seconds with Dr. Vant’s voice recording. If she breaks before five seconds, the Helm goes to plus five percent. That is not a request. That is an order.”

Jaren nodded once. “Understood, Trainer,” he said.

He knelt down next to me.“You are improving.”

I picked up the water bottle with both hands. My fingers were still shaking. The water tasted like metal and cold plastic. I drank slowly.

He tapped his ear with one finger. “Five seconds of control and concentration. That is the real fight right now.”

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the wall. Ten minutes felt short and long at the same time. I missed Cael. He would have been in here with me if Vant had not stopped him. He would have adjusted the frequency for me. He always found a way to make the noise softer.

I opened my eyes and looked at Jaren. “Do you think Cael is okay?” I asked in a low voice.

Jaren’s expression softened for a second. " What was he expecting, going after Dr Vants woman." He said jokingly with a bright laugh.

" Stop it, don't call me that." I couldn't believe he called me Vants woman, or i wished i was, but alot has changed since we got to the academy, he changed.

Virek looked at us.

Jaren turned back to me. “Cael is in confinement for one more week,” he said. “He is safe. He asked about you.”

That was all he said. But it was enough. Cael was alive. He was thinking of me even while he was punished for trying to help me.

Virek walked to the control panel on the wall. He pulled up a recording on the screen. It was Dr. Vant’s voice from yesterday’s session. “Breathe in,” the recording said. “Breathe out. You are safe.”

Virek looked at me. “Five seconds,” he said. “Filter his voice. Let it be the only sound. Push everything else down.”

I nodded. My heart was beating fast again.

Virek pressed play.

Dr. Vant’s voice filled the room. “Breathe in. Breathe out. You are safe.”

One second. I held onto the sound of his voice. I pushed the beeping monitors down.

Two seconds. I pushed the hissing vents down. I kept only his voice.

Three seconds. The Apex pushed back. It did not like his voice. It wanted silence. It wanted rage.

Four seconds. My hands started to shake again. Blue marks showed at my temples.

Four point five seconds. I was almost there. My teeth hurt from clenching them.

Five seconds.

The timer beeped. Virek stopped the recording.

Silence came back. Real silence this time.

Virek looked at his wrist. He did not smile. He did not frown. “Five point two seconds,” he said. “Pass.”

My knees felt weak with relief. I had done it. One small win.

Jaren exhaled like he had been holding his breath too. “Good work, Selene,” he said.

Virek turned off the panel. “We stop for today,” he said. “You will rest. Tomorrow we try five seconds with multiple voices. You will filter one voice out of three. Then four. Then five.”

Jaren handed me a towel. “Wipe your face,” he said. “You look like you fought a war.”

I took the towel and wiped the sweat from my forehead. My hands were still shaking but less now. The hair on my skin was gone.

Virek walked past us toward the door. He paused for a second. “Jaren,” he said without turning around. “Your suggestion about word filtering was useful. You may submit a full training plan tomorrow morning. Submit it through the proper channel.”

Jaren stood straight. “Yes, Trainer Virek,” he said. “Thank you, sir.”

Virek left the room without another word. The door closed behind him.

I sank down to sit on the floor again. My whole body felt tired.

Jaren sat down next to me, but he left space between us. “You did good,” he said quietly."

I looked at the Helm around my neck. The plus one percent hum was soft and steady. It felt warm now instead of cold.

Upstairs in the observation room, I could almost feel Cael watching. Even if he was not allowed in the room, I knew he cared. More than he should,more than I deserve.

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VANT POV - CUT

Vant stood in the main lobby of the Starfall facility. The building was tall and made of glass and steel, it was hours away from the academy, across the water. It took hours to drive from this facility to the dock, then a boat ride to reach the island. But there was a secret underground passage that was shorter. The secret passage kept the academy safe.

Richard Thorn stood across from him. The man had a gold watch on his wrist and a fake tan on his face. He smelled like expensive cologne and old money or greed.

“My stepdaughter,” Richard said. He looked around the lobby like he owned it. “She is here, is she not? Dr. Vant.”

Vant did not blink. His expression stayed neutral. “Starfall facility has no Selene Thorn on record,” he said. “We are here for contract negotiations only."

It was a clean lie. Richard did not know the academy existed. He could not be allowed to find out.

Richard’s eyes scanned the hallway behind Vant. “I have heard rumors about an Apex carrier,” he said. “A very valuable subject for weapons research. I believe my daughter was a part of that research?"

Vant’s hand tightened slightly on his cufflink. “Rumors are common in this business,” he said. “Starfall deals in contracts and research. We do not deal in myths.” Vant met Richard’s eyes. “Your contract meeting is scheduled for nine in the morning,” he said. “Security will escort you to the guest wing here at the facility until then. You will not be traveling to any other location.”

He needed to keep Richard at this facility. He needed to buy more time for Selene. More time to control her powers.

Before Nolan and his monsters got to her first.

When Richard turned away to speak to his guard, Vant looked at the monitor in his hand. He was watching her.

At the academy, Jaren started the recording of Vant’s voice for the next round.

Selene flinched when she heard it. Then she took a deep breath.

Four point five seconds.

Not enough yet. But she was closer than she had been yesterday.

Vant turned back to Richard and smiled. “Shall we discuss the terms of your Starfall contract?” he asked.

While he talked about money and power, he kept one part of his mind on the monitor feed from the academy.