Leilani

Leilani walked through the solarium, her fingers trailing over the green leaves of the plants. The sun shone high in the sky, augmenting the heavy warm humidity. She allowed herself a faint smile as she lifted her face, her eyes closed.

She loved the solarium. It was solitude personified, especially on a late Sunday afternoon when the whole conservatory was closed to the public.

This was her favorite out of all of her hiding spots. Leilani was sure that she'd get a new favorite eventually, but this one was tops. The guards never remembered she was here, and Court had tampered with the surveillance systems so she never showed up there either.

She paused as one of the guards opened the door to the solarium and scanned inside. His eyes skipped over her as if she didn't exist, making her smile widen.

"Don't lock the door. There's no one here other us, anyway," she called.

"Shouldn't lock the door. There's no one here other than me and the other guards," the guard muttered as he stepped backwards. The door slowly closed.

Leilani giggled softly to herself as she continued her walk. Soon, the gardeners would arrive to check the solarium, ensuring the health of the various plants. She wanted to be safe in her little hidey hole before that happened.

She hadn't bothered to tamper with the gardeners after all. It took a lot out of her to do that, and while it was less effort the older she got, it was still troublesome.

Leilani walked out of the solarium, carefully closing and locking the door. While the guards wouldn't care, one of the new gardeners was a stickler for routines. She didn't want anyone to get in trouble and be replaced. Leilani so didn't feel like 'fixing' a new person.

She walked down the hallway towards the offices. The very last one was hers. There was a sign warning of construction that she ignored hanging on the door. That'd been true when she arrived, but she'd gotten others to fix it for her since then.

The room was rather sparse. There was a bedroll in one corner, along with a stuffed animal. Whatever it was supposed to be, was doomed to be unknown. It'd been one of a pair with Ella's. As far as Lucy had said, it was supposed to be a rabbit, but even now Leilani had never found a rabbit that looked like that.

A small knapsack of clothes was stowed in a corner. The curtains were drawn, the only light from a desk lamp set on the corner of the heavy wooden desk in the corner of the room. The entire room was barely eight by eight.

Leilani paused as her phone rang. She dug it out of her pocket, frowning at the display.

"Court?"

"No, Lucy," the feminine voice corrected. Over the years, it'd picked up a saucy little accent that always made Leilani smile.

"Why are you calling on Court's phone?"

"Court doesn't have a phone. He hijacked a network, that HE NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT!" Leilani held the phone away from her ear at that last. She sent up a silent prayer to Court. Hiding things from Lucy never went well. "However, I'm calling to tell you to get out. Now."

"What?" Leilani asked even as she started rolling up her bedroll. Lucy never lied.

"We think San is compromised, and you know that one of the ones anybody shady would love to get their hands on—" Lucy let the implication linger.

"Gotcha, but where am I going?" Leilani neatly stowed the bedroll on top of her knapsack and shouldered both.

"Dawnie's coming. She'll be there in a few minutes. Just go outside and wait in the shadows," Lucy said. Her voice was becoming more agitated. "Just hurry! The overlords have this weird device that opens doors between places. They might be looking for the coordinates now." There were sounds of a scuffle. "Well, I don't know how they do it. You never said," came through on a much lower, more muffled level.

Leilani eyed the phone doubtfully. From the sounds of it, both Rena and Aarti were there with Lucy which was…interesting. Those three never played well together, but woe betide anyone who stepped in thinking to gain brownie points. Still, the fact that they were arguing was a good thing. It was only when they were silent that things got really bad.

With that in mind, Leilani eased the door to the office open and stepped into the hallway. She could hear muffled shouts and gunshots in the distance. Her eyes widened. She could just barely make out that long dreaded language.

"I'll be waiting, hopefully," she told Lucy as she disconnected the call.

The trip to the back door of the conservatory was surprisingly scary. She'd never been afraid of the dark before, but every shadow seemed thick and prone to spew out someone waiting to drag her off to some lab. Leilani wasn't stupid. It wasn't just Ella that the researchers had become interested in in those last few days.

She paused as a guy swung out of the deep shadow next to the exit. He had a smug look on his face, and in his hands, he held a rifle version of the pistols the creche guards had carried.

"I knew that you'd scurry this way. Rats always take the back door," he snarled, starting to level the rifle at her.

"I saw her go this way," Leilani said, eyes widening. She could feel the sudden strain as his finger jerked against the trigger, just nearly applying enough pressure.

"Enough," he ground out, eye narrowing. His head cocked to the side a little, wincing.

"She wasn't here. I just saw her run down that hall over there," Leilani murmured. Her voice took on a soothing tone.

"But you're here, but I just saw you running," the guard said, his whole body trembling.

"An illusion. A figment of desire," Leilani assured him. "Look! She's getting away!" She pointed down the hallway leading to the solarium.

"I found her! She's heading towards that plant room," the guard yelled into his communicator as he barreled past her.

Leilani sucked in a hard breath. Her head was whirling. The researchers must have been trying to develop a counteragent to her powers.

She eased to the door, slowly pulling it open. As she slipped outside, she felt a gust of wind.

"Are you okay?" Dawnie asked her, looking concerned. Leilani felt far more concern for her. Dawnie was so thin! "Let's get out of here before they get a twofer, huh?"

Leilani mustered up a smile as Dawnie hitched her on her back like they'd done when children. She was a little scared that she might be too heavy, but Dawnie didn't flinch.

Leilani wondered just what else was going on that no one was telling her.