ACCIDENTALLY HIS LAB EXPERIMENT

CHAPTER 5: THE FIT

The building didn’t sit on the landscape. It _grew_ from it.

Selene saw it first through the windshield as the car climbed the last ridge. Starfall Facility. Carved into the spine of a black mountain like a blade pressed into stone and left there. No roads led to it.Just wind-bent pine, rock that drank the light, Remote. Hidden. The kind of place maps stopped pretending to know.

The walls were dark alloy, ten stories of no windows. Only thin vertical slits near the top that looked like the mountain had been scored with a knife. No guards visible.The quiet wasn’t peace. It was deliberate. Like the mountain was holding its breath.

“This is it?” Selene asked. Her voice sounded too small in the car.

Dr Vant kept mute. He didn’t glance at her. His eyes stayed on the road,emotionless. He punched a code into the console. The mountain in front of them trembled. A seam appeared, then widened, and the car slid into a tunnel that swallowed them whole.

Inside, the air went cold and clean. The tunnel stretched until Selene lost track of time. Then the car burst into a courtyard and she understood why they called it gigantic.

The courtyard was the size of a football field, but vertical. Catwalks stacked five floors high. Doors lined every level. Above, reinforced glass opened to the sky, but the walls kept climbing into shadow. The air smelled like ozone, steel, and disinfectant. It hummed faintly, like the building itself had a pulse.

A man waited at the far end.

Professor Rowan Kade.

The professor she was to deliver the DNA to.He was older than she last remembered.He didn’t smile when Selene stepped out. He just studied her, like she was a formula he hadn’t balanced yet.

“Dr Thorn,” he said. Careful. “Welcome to Starfall.”

She nodded. Words felt heavy here.

He turned and started walking without waiting. “The others are in the hall. Dr Vant will join you shortly.”

Vant didn’t follow. He stayed by the car, on a heated discussion over the phone. He's been acting strange since he brought her here.

Selene fell into step beside Prof. Kade. Staff moved around them — techs with tools that hummed, guards with blank insignia, a woman pushing a cart of glass vials that caught the light. No one met her eyes.

“This place is quiet,” she said.

“Sound dies in stone,” Kade replied. “We minimize stimuli for new arrivals. You’ll understand why soon.”

They passed through double doors that sealed with a soft hiss. The hall hit her all at once.

Massive. Steel beams crossed the ceiling. Training mats covered sections of floor. Targets lined one wall. Glass-walled labs ran along the back.

But it was the people that stopped her.

Eight of them stood in loose clusters. All young. All watching her.

1. *Torven* — Tall, broad, dark skin with ash-gray scars that traced his jaw like old lightning. His hair was shaved except for a ridge down the center that he’d braided with thin copper wire. He didn’t smile. He just gave her a single nod. His hands were wrapped in cloth that looked burnt at the edges.

2. *Reyl* — Lean, pale, black hair falling over one eye. He kept flipping a flat disc of dark metal between his fingers. It never made a sound when it landed. He glanced at her, smirked with half his mouth, then went back to the disc. No greeting.

3. *Mira Kade* — Short, red hair cut uneven at the jaw. Freckles scattered across her nose. She was small but stood like she’d already decided what she’d do if anyone stepped wrong. Her eyes raked Selene up and down, then she crossed her arms. “So you’re the Thorn,” she said. Not hostile. Just fact.

4. *Cael* — 6’2, tanned skin, storm-gray eyes, hair cut close. A thin scar cut through his left eyebrow and disappeared into his hairline. He had stillness to him. Not calm. Stillness like deep water. He watched her a beat too long before stepping forward. “Cael,” he said quietly. “You carry your shoulders like someone who’s been running.”

Selene blinked. “What?”

“You’ll learn to drop it here,” he said. “Or it’ll break you.”

5. *Oris* — Broad shoulders, olive skin, hair cut into short spikes that were dyed bone-white at the tips. Geometric tattoos started at his wrist and disappeared under his sleeve. He leaned against a pillar, arms crossed, eyes the color of wet slate. Silent.

6. *Jaren* — Looked younger, maybe 19. Light brown skin, curly hair pulled back, nervous energy making his fingers tap his thigh. He smiled when he saw her, quick and real, then caught himself. “Hi. I’m Jaren.”

7. *Luma* — Deep bronze skin, hair braided into thick coils pinned up. Paint under her nails in colors that didn’t exist on the official palette. She smiled wide, open, and Selene felt herself smile back before she could stop it.

8. *Serath* — Golden hair. Not blonde. Gold, like metal heated until it glowed, long enough to reach her waist in a heavy braid. Pale blue eyes, almost white. Slender, every line deliberate. She wore standard gear like she’d tailored it herself.

She didn’t look at Selene. Not at first.

Then Dr Vant entered.

He crossed the hall without speaking to anyone. His coat didn’t make a sound. He said something low to Professor Kade about “frequency drift in Sector 7.” Kade frowned and they started arguing in low, technical words Selene couldn’t follow.

Serath’s whole posture shifted. Chin lifted. Lashes lowered. She looked at Vant from under those thick lashes, slow and deliberate.

“Hey handsome,” she said. Voice quiet, sassy, not loud enough to carry. But Vant heard. His eyes flicked to her for half a second. And for just that second, the corner of his mouth lifted. Not a smile. A flicker. Gone before anyone else could see it. Then his expression went flat again as he returned to Kade.

Serath’s smile sharpened. She didn’t offer Selene a glance. Didn’t introduce herself. She just kept watching Vant like the rest of them weren’t there.

Selene felt it like a cold draft. The way Serath ignored her mid-introduction. The way her eyes stayed locked on Vant. The way everyone else was familiar with her but no one walked up to chat. Not rude. Just distance.

Maya’s warning flashed: _Be careful.

Was she imagining things? Dr Vant called her “little Thorn” with a weight he didn’t use for anyone else. He’d driven her here himself. Was it special treatment? Or just professionalism? Pity.

She felt foolish.

Professor Kade cleared his throat. “That’s enough. Vant, we need those calibration numbers.”

“Later,” Vant said. Then he turned and walked out with Kade, coat sweeping behind him. The doors hissed shut.

Silence for three seconds. Then chaos.

They moved on her at once.

“Wait, are you really the silent night mare?” Torven asked, stepping forward. His voice was low but eager.

"Dark nightmare? How did she get to have such a name when she just accidentally transformed to a monster few days ago?" Selene thought to herself.

“Can you actually hear heartbeats from across the courtyard?” Jaren blurted, eyes wide. “Like through walls?”

“I heard your last transformation registered at 9.4 on the scale,” Reyl said without looking up from his disc. “That’s insane. Can you do it again?”

“Do the ears glow first or the eyes?” Mira cut in, leaning forward. “And is it true you accidentally absorbed one of Dr Vant DNA research.

Questions hit her from every side. Fast, overlapping, excited. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

Selene’s face went hot. Her hands twisted together. She didn’t know whose question to answer first. Didn’t know what she was allowed to say. She’d only transformed once. She wasn’t a show. She wasn’t —

Suddenly Luma was there. She took Selene’s hands in both of hers, pleading eyes locked on hers. “Please,” Luma whispered, soft but urgent. “Just once. Transform for us. We’ve heard the stories. We want to see you.”

Selene flinched. Her throat tightened. “I… I only transformed once,” she said, voice small. “And I haven’t since then. I can’t— I don’t know how.”

The room went quiet again. Disappointment flickered across a few faces. Someone muttered “oh.”

Before Selene could sink into the floor, Cael stepped in. He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t have to. He just moved between her and the others, shoulders blocking them out.

“You don’t have to do Kade’s official tour,” he said to Selene, gaze steady. “I can show you the parts that matter. Where the light doesn’t hurt your eyes. Where it’s quiet.”

It wasn’t flirting. It was rescue. Like he’d seen people get torn apart by questions before and wasn’t letting it happen again.

Serath laughed under her breath at that. Still not looking at Selene.

“Fine,” Selene said, grateful for the exit. “A tour.”

As Cael led her away, Luma fell into step on her other side, squeezing Selene’s hand once before letting go. “Ignore her” Luma whispered. “ she's always like that to everyone, especially when you're Dr Vants Little Thorn, i heard that's what he calls you”Luma chuckled like a high school kid. " Words do spread fast, Serath must be so envious, seeing how special you are to him." Luma added.

“I’m not—” Selene started.

“You don’t have to be,” Luma said, grinning. “I’m Luma. And this is Mira. She’ll grow on you. Like mold. But useful mold.”

Mira flipped her off without heat.

The tour was short. Cael showed her the back stairwell where the light was softer, the mess hall when it was empty, the observation deck where wind hit the glass so hard you could feel it in your teeth. He didn’t talk much. He didn’t need to.

When they finished, Luma hooked her arm through Selene’s. “Room time. You’re with me.”

Selene’s room was small, clean, built into the rock. One bed, one desk, one window that wasn’t really a window — just thick glass showing the mountain face outside. The walls were pale gray, sound-dampening. A second bed sat against the opposite wall, already made, with a blanket the color of storm clouds.

Luma tossed her bag on it. “Don’t mind the mess. I paint when I can’t sleep.” She gestured to a corner where canvases leaned against the wall. None were finished. All were strange — shapes that looked like sound made visible.

“You sleep here?” Selene asked.

“Most nights,” Luma said. “We’re roommates. I’m friendly. She’s friendly-ish.” She jerked her thumb at Mira, who was already claiming the desk.

Mira glanced up. “Rules. Don’t touch my notes. Don’t use my shampoo. Don’t talk to me before coffee.”

“Deal,” Selene said, and meant it.

Luma smiled, wide and genuine. The kind of smile that made Selene’s chest loosen for the first time since the car ride. She smiled back, small but real.

From somewhere down the hall, Serath’s voice drifted past, quiet and sassy: “Vant’s working late again. Shocker.”

Selene didn’t react. But the doubt stayed. Maybe Maya was right. Maybe she was just reading too much into a man being kind to his best researcher.

Or maybe there was something between Dr Vant and the girl with golden hair.

She couldn’t tell yet. But Starfall had a way of making every question louder.

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