Read Online Project Paper Doll: The Trials by Stacey Kade - Free Book Online Page A

anything, he noticed me with the tissue stuffed against my nose. Again.
    “What happened here?” Emerson asked with a frown. He approached me, tossing the envelope toward the bed, but Adam, with a simple gesture, diverted it to land gently in his hand.
    “It’s nothing,” I said quickly. “It’s getting better. What did they say?”
    Emerson shook his head, ignoring the question to focus on me, checking the dilation of my eyes. “Have you been experiencing the headaches again?”
    How about all the time? Not that I was going to mention that.
    Behind Emerson, Adam ripped open the envelope without waiting for permission and pulled out a sheet of paper. “You’re kidding, right?” he asked with a laugh.
“
He’s
my target?”
    “No,” Emerson said. “He’s Zane’s. Technically.”
    It took a moment for his words to sink in. I was in the trials. I felt a rush of relief, followed immediately by the falling sensation of panic. I’d fought hard for exactly this, but I
hadn’t thought beyond this moment to the next obstacle or series of obstacles, which were looking pretty monumental at this point.
    But I would do it. I could do it. I wasn’t the same helpless human I’d been before.
    Adam looked up sharply. “No way. No way they’re letting him in.” He shoved the page back in the envelope. “I can win this for you,” he said to Emerson. Then he
switched his attention to Justine. “I can get that girl to do whatever you want. I’m the better candidate,” Adam said with the supreme confidence of one who believes himself to be
incontrovertibly right.
    “Not for what we want anymore,” Justine said calmly.
    “We still need you,” Emerson, always the peacemaker, said. “They’re going to be monitoring Zane very closely.” He gave me a worried look. “You’re going
to have to—”
    “I didn’t sign up for this to be the fucking B-Team,” Adam snarled, his face distorted and red with anger. He was in love with the idea of being a supersoldier. I’d heard
him talk about it night after night. And I kind of didn’t blame him. He’d fought for his country and then he’d given up two years and a chunk of his humanity to be the first in
the line of new and improved. He didn’t deserve this outcome for all that work. Even if he was a total douche.
    Justine raised her eyebrows. “You signed up for whatever we tell you, soldier.”
    He stiffened. “Yes, ma’am,” he said. Then he dropped the envelope on the bed, like it was covered in filth, and stalked out of the room, the door banging shut after him.
    Emerson sighed after him and then sat down heavily in the desk chair.
    “I wasn’t kidding,” he said to me, scrubbing his face with his hands, as though he’d been downstairs for hours instead of minutes. “You’re going to have to be
really careful. It’s not going to be as straightforward as we thought. Getting her alone long enough is going to be tricky.” He looked to Justine as if for confirmation or help.
    She waved away his concern. “That’s why we have Zane, isn’t it?” she asked, the threat implicit in her tone.
If he can’t do this, then why are we sending
him?
    I nodded quickly. “Yeah. I can do it.” As if there were even room for another answer now.
    Justine’s phone chirped, and she pulled it from her pocket, examining the screen with a frown. “I have to go. Keep me apprised.”
    She left hurriedly, not bothering with anything resembling good-bye or an explanation.
    St. John twisted back and forth in the chair, the base of it squeaking shrilly in the now otherwise silent room, before leaning forward to balance his elbows on his knees.
    “Is that any better?” he asked, tipping his head toward my nose.
    I shrugged, lowering the tissue. “Think so.” I didn’t want to commit either way. Needing another injection too soon would mean that my body was continuing to reject the changes
rather than stabilizing.
    NuStasis was nothing to mess with. Emerson