Page 46 of Her Magic Light

I slid him some side-eye. If he hadn’t gotten that sandwich from here, how had he managed it? Surely, he hadn’t gone to my favorite place to get it.

I pushed the eggs into the potatoes and mixed the two together, only half- listening to the chatter around me, and Coop stepped forward. “If you’ve eaten enough, we should head out. You still have an appointment with Dr. Anderson.”

I glanced at him.

“Shades back on,” he said.

I sighed. An appointment sounded so civilized—like I had a choice or I’d elected to meet someone, but these sunglasses were like handcuffs. Every moment I wore them reminded me I was under someone else’s control. Not my own.

I stood from the table, and Lexi patted my arm.

“See you soon,” she said.

I nodded. I had no idea when I’d see her again, but it was nice to believe that someone was at least rooting for me.

Coop led the way out, and I almost cast a glance over my shoulder, but I didn’t. I already knew Adrian was staring at me—his gaze was practically burning a hole in the back of my head. The chatter quieted as I crossed the room then escalated again as soon as we exited.

Coop made a swift return to the elevator, and I was growing used to walking in near darkness everywhere we went. So I was able to keep a steady pace with him.

We went straight to Dr. Anderson’s room with the big center table, accessing it straight from the hallway, this time.

“You’re late.” Dr. Anderson’s voice was sharp.

“She needed to eat.” Coop’s tone was sharper, and I glanced at him but he merely took up his position at the wall, and I couldn’t see the expression on his face clearly.

Dr. Anderson blew out a sigh. “Well, you’re here now. I’ll just have to push up my timeline a little.” He approached me. “I’m going to ask you to remove your glasses, and the lights will be on, but at the first sign of danger, you’ll be subdued. Is that clear?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

“Meira?”

I kept forgetting even these assholes couldn’t see in the dark. “Yes. The first moment I show a little temper, you’ll tackle me. Got it. Sure.” I blew the last word out on a frustrated sigh. What the hell did they think I was going to do?

“Good.” Then he was a shape moving through the gloom. A sharp click followed, and I blinked as a bright light flooded the room.

“Glasses off.” Dr Anderson issued the instruction as he walked back toward me.

I removed them and squinted. Holy crap. Actual artificial light. It didn’t energize me like the sun did, but it was still amazing to be able to see everything clearly. I snuck a quick glance at Coop.

Yep. Just as beautiful as I remembered. Maybe he was cheating, though—sexy shades usually added at least seventy-five percent to anyone’s attractiveness level. I glanced at mine. Except mine didn’t. I had to wear the giant kind that went over large glasses.

“The experiment today is to find out how the different lights on the spectrum make you feel,” Dr Anderson murmured. “I want you to come over here.” He walked to a large armchair in front of a large, clear crystal shape. “Sit down.”

I did as he said and stared at the crystal in front of me. Wait. No, not a crystal. “Is that glass?”

He nodded. “It’s a prism. But it’s one I can control with my computer.”

“You can what?” That didn’t make any sense. I understood prisms on a basic level and how they refracted light into the colors of the rainbow, but I didn’t know anything about the technology side of it.

He shrugged. “It’s not a widely shared technology. It has to do with vibrations. But if I explain it to you, I’d have to kill you. So I’m not. Going to kill you, that is.” His grin didn’t reassure me.

Well, duh. I was in a secret government facility. Of course they had access to weird technology.

“Just a moment. I need you to wear this.” He lowered a weird skull cap over my head. It had wires sticking out of the top of it, and they all looked like they were connected to the computer he had. Lastly, he carefully pulled the wires out of the way so I could still move. “The cap is so I can see which areas of your brain light up.”

He walked to his control table, pressed a couple of buttons, and one of the ceiling spotlights whirred as it changed direction. The prism started to hum quietly as the light hit it.

Suddenly, I was bathed in red. Irritation roared through me and I shifted in the seat, trying to get away from the glare of the color.

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