Page 124 of Damsel in Disguise

Only I get to say that exact phrase to Ariella. Nobody else.

I flex my hand once, irritation simmering just beneath the surface as I look at the rest of them. “Do I not look alright?”

They back off slowly, pulling their leader up on his feet and backing off.

All of them exit, but leave the door open.

I adjust my cuffs, smoothing them down with practiced precision, as if nothing just happened.

“You don’t have much time,” I say without looking at her. “They’ll come for your answer soon.”

I turn to leave, but one step is all I get.

“Option two.”

It stops me dead on track.

A slow grin breaks across my face before I can suppress it—wide, unrestrained, dangerous.

“I’ll be whatever you want me to be.”

39. CATALYST

ariella

Nothing about the name, Halcyon Institute for Neurocognitive Rehabilitation (HINR), reflects what it truly is.

It isn’t a place for healing. It’s a place designed to observe what doesn’t fit into the fragile definitions of sanity.

Everything about it—the white walls, the staff, the doctors—felt eerily reminiscent of Hawkins National Laboratory. They watched me constantly. It almost made me feel like Eleven.

Twenty-three hours. That’s how long they kept me here.

Twenty-three hours of questions disguised as concern.

Twenty-three hours of conversations carefully constructed to sound humane while they quietly dissected every word I offered in return.

Doctors with soft voices and practiced empathy sat across me, trying to extract something that would sit comfortably inside their reports.

“Do you feel remorse, Miss Keinston?”

“Do you understand the severity of your actions?”

“Do you believe you’re a danger to others?”

When Alistair walked into that room, everything shifted.

He stood like someone who had never been contained by anything—not systems, not people, not rules.

And when he looked at me, there was no curiosity in his eyes. Only understanding.

He didn’t ask unnecessary questions.

He simply gave me two options.

I chose the latter—to be his. After all, that’s what I always wanted.

Halcyon didn’t release me. They simply handed me over to Alistair Benette Hertley.