Gabriel gave him a sympathetic look. “Yeah, it is,” he said. “And I get it. I’ve been having weird dreams too. This place brings ’em out, I think.” He reached over and grabbed one of Fort’s uniforms from the bureau, then tossed it at him. “Come on, get dressed. They’ll hassle me all day if I show up to breakfast without you.”

His roommate popped back into the bathroom, and Fort sighed, picking up his uniform. He felt like he’d gotten no sleep at all, which wasn’t surprising given what he’d been dreaming about.

Maybe breakfast would help, though. If nothing else, today couldn’t go any worse than yesterday had.

He quickly got dressed, then opened the door to find a man and a woman in dark suits waiting for him. “Fitzgerald?” one asked.

“Um,” Fort said, completely panicking.

“Right, this is him,” the other said, grabbing Fort’s arm. “Come with us. Agent Cole would like a word.”

- FIFTEEN -

AGENT COLE TURNED OUT TO be waiting in Colonel Charles’s office. Unlike Fort’s escorts, she wasn’t wearing a suit but instead had a green jacket with the letters TDA printed on the back. She turned around and smiled warmly as Fort entered, extending her hand.

“Forsythe?” she said, and he nodded, trying to play it as cool as he could, considering he was about to have a heart attack. “That’s not a name you hear very often. Is it a family name?”

“My grandfather’s,” Fort said.

“That would do it. Sit, please,” she said, and gestured for Fort to sit in the same seat he had been using the night before. “My name is Christina Cole, and I’m head agent at the TDA in charge of locating our infamous two missing students. Usually, Colonel Charles or Dr. Oppenheimer would be speaking to you now, but unfortunately, both are recovering from the attack last night.”

Fort nodded, trying not to stare at the pieces of the other chair that still lay on the floor. “You want to know if I remember anything,” he said, since Sierra had told the guards that he’d been mind-controlled and had his memory erased. “Is that it?”

Agent Cole sat down in Colonel Charles’s chair and leaned back, her finger steepled in front of her. “Part of it, yes. I’d also like to know what Sierra wanted with you and Dr. Oppenheimer.”

Fort took a deep breath, trying to keep his hands from shaking. “All I remember is going back to my room after dinner last night and reading a book, then waking up in the hallway outside with Dr. Opps walking me back to bed. He told me we’d both been taken over by that girl you mentioned… Sierra, that’s her name?”

“Yes, that’s it,” Agent Cole said, nodding at him.