Evermarked, p.13
EverMarked, page 13
“Dig in,” I ordered, as the three took their seats. Cas was the first to grab a heaping spoonful of mashed potatoes. I shook my head at him, and he gave me a little shrug as he began stuffing his face.
Em filled Vic’s plate first before moving to her own, and I couldn’t hide the look of awe and shock as she turned into someone I’d never seen before. Someone almost…human. She caught my stare and slid a cool glare my way. I inclined my eyebrows before her narrowed eyes told me to mind my own business, and I wisely obeyed.
“So, this is your place, then?” Theo turned to me. He took small, tentative bites as he continued to observe us.
“Emery and I live here. Caspian is across the hall, but the entire floor is ours,” I answered.
“The entire floor is hers,” Caspian corrected me, “which she is happy to remind us of when we step out of line.”
Em grinned. “About every few days or so.”
I shrugged.
“They must pay you Watchers pretty well,” Theo said under his breath.
“They don’t pay us much actually,” I said a little sharper than intended. “I inherited this place when my mother died.”
Theo’s eyes flashed to mine, and I felt the entire room tense.
Theo began, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”
“Your suspicion of us is warranted,” Em said. “We don’t do anything for free, even helping you guys out comes with a cost. Being a Watcher, well, that also has its benefits, even if it’s not in the form of money. But feel free to lighten up just a bit. We don’t bite…unless asked nicely.”
Caspian flashed a wicked smile, and the room seemed to settle while the joke hung in the air. Theo’s shoulders relaxed.
To my right, Sienna took another swig of her wine. “Can we talk about what we’re here for now?” she said with surprising impatience.
It was only then I noticed Sienna’s usual smooth demeanor and focused anger was muted. She didn’t quite look herself. Something had her flustered.
“What happened?” I demanded.
Sienna whipped her head at me and looked ready to refuse to answer, but she was smart enough to know not to lie to me. With a sigh, she said, “A kid died yesterday during his final testing before graduation.”
I caught Vic’s face blanch as she nearly dropped her fork. Em’s eyes narrowed as Sienna continued. “No one is saying anything, so we don’t know what happened. The other kid who was with him has already been taken away…graduated they said, but more than a few details have been left out.” Sienna took another drink of wine, and I noted the subtle tremor in her hand. “There’s someone else who might have an idea of what’s going on, but she’s the last person I’d want to ask anything from.”
“Give me a name, and I’ll get you answers,” Em said immediately.
Theo shook his head. “You’d have to kill her first. She’s not the type to react kindly to threats.”
“Neither am I.” Em narrowed her eyes.
“It’s not worth it, trust me. We’re better off seeing if we can get her to tell us something willingly. She was just as spooked as we were, maybe more. I think…I think she might tell me something, if I asked,” Sienna said.
“I don’t think you should.” Theo put his hand on her leg, and I noted the look in his eyes. That’s new. I caught Caspian noting the same thing.
“She won’t say anything with you around,” Sienna fired back, and Theo seemed to concede. But if I were a gambler, I’d bet my life on Theo not letting her go alone.
“Maybe it was just an accident. We don’t know,” Vic said, her voice sounding small against the large room.
Sienna shook her head. “That wasn’t an accident. You saw James.” My brows scrunched and Sienna continued, “The other kid who was with the boy who died, he came out of the room only moments after covered in black blood. He looked like he’d seen a ghost.”
“We need to leave that place,” Theo mumbled.
Sienna shook her head again. “We can’t just leave. There are others still there, innocent kids who will face whatever they’re doing if we don’t find out what’s going on.” She leaned forward to look down at the table. “Vic can stay. Theo and I will go back and find out what’s going on. We still have four weeks before our graduation.”
“No!” Vic’s voice broke. “I’m not staying here while you guys go back in there.”
“It’s for your protection, Vic,” Theo said.
“I don’t care. If I don’t return, how will you explain that? How will you get out of being punished for either lying or telling the truth? Either way, it wouldn’t be good for you, and I won’t just sit back while you keep doing everything for me.”
Em looked ready to argue, too, but I silenced her with a slight shake of my head. This wasn’t our decision to make.
“What if I just don’t give you a choice? What if we lock you in here until we get out and the threat is over?” Sienna tried.
“You wouldn’t,” Vic’s voice cracked. “You’ve always promised that I would have a choice, Sienna. No matter what happened or what was going on, I got to decide what I wanted to do. Not anyone else.”
Sienna sighed and tipped her head back. It was silent and tense for a moment before she said, “Fine. But if it gets bad, we’re taking you out before the test. Okay?”
Vic nodded.
“We’ll keep an eye on things from here as best we can. If things get bad, we can pull you out,” Cas offered. I glared at him for making a promise I wasn’t sure we could keep.
“That’s not why we brought you here, though.” I returned my attention to the other threat surrounding us. “We’ve got some conflicting information and figured we owed it to you guys to be honest.”
Theo’s brow creased. “What kind of information?”
I cleared my throat, trying to find the right way to tell them that everything they’d been taught was a lie. “What kind of courses do you take at the DEZ, school-wise?”
Sienna and Theo exchanged a glance before the former said, “Histories, technology, combat, advanced weaponry, and general sciences. Why?”
Cas let out a little snort. “Wish those were the courses I got to take in school.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and he shrugged. “I ask because those aren’t the type of courses we took in school, outside of the DEZ, I mean.” All three looked thoroughly confused. “History, yes. General sciences, sure, but not nearly as advanced as what they’re teaching you guys. Technology stops at how to use it, not the creation and back end stuff you guys learn. Those are skills we’re taught later, if ever. And they sure as hell didn’t teach us how to use weapons or fight. They aren’t teaching you skills that other kids your age are taught—you’re being trained like soldiers.”
“They train us like that so we can take care of ourselves outside of the DEZ. The world is dangerous,” Vic tried.
“Not that dangerous.” Em gave her a warm smile.
“But…” Sienna glanced at Theo, and their unspoken conversation told me they might have suspected something was off about their training. She had seen firsthand, after all, what Cytos was like. Their training, while handy, wasn’t entirely necessary, even if they were feared. “What are they training us for?”
I shrugged. “That’s the funny part; we have no idea. There aren’t any wars going on. No need for soldiers outside of the Watchers or city guards. And…” I wasn’t sure I was going to tell them this part but I had to. “No records of where you guys go after graduation.”
“What do you mean, no records after graduation?”
“It could just be that they changed their names or moved outside of Cytos, but after anyone leaves the DEZ, they just disappear from any database we can find.” I did my best to keep my voice calm and gentle. There was no use in spooking them anymore than they already were.
“So…what does that mean for us?” Theo finally asked.
“Could be nothing. We won’t know until one of you graduates, and we can see what happens,” I said.
Sienna shook her head. “No. No! If there’s even a chance something strange is happening, we don’t go through with it. We can track one of the others, but we’re getting out before the test.”
“Placing a tracker on someone isn’t as easy as you may think. And even with eyes on the DEZ now, we’re limited without someone we trust on the inside,” Cas said. He was on board with my plan, but Em not so much.
“Maybe there’s another way,” Em said.
“There isn’t.” My tone had a hint of warning behind it as Em stared me down, but reluctantly she conceded, even though I could see she was fighting this just as much as Sienna was.
“So, we tell you someone died during their graduation final testing, and now you’re telling us we need to go through with it regardless, so you can ‘see what happens’? Is that all we are to you guys? Just some pawn piece to be used wherever you need us?” Sienna leaned forward, and I noted how Emery tensed at the end of the table, but I raised my hand to stop her.
“We’ll take every precaution possible. We’ll put trackers on every one of you and a chip to watch your vital signs. If at any time you guys are in danger or need out, you just have to squeeze the chip, and we’ll be in there in an instant. Trust me,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t waver.
Sienna opened her mouth to argue, but Vic cut her off. “I can do it.”
“What? No. Theo and I will do it. You don’t even have to go back there,” Sienna said.
“Sienna, you just promised—”
“This changes things, Vic. You’re not going back.”
“What about the others. What about Fiona! What will they do to her if I’m not there and can’t help her with the graduation test?” Vic’s voice rose. “This isn’t just about you or me anymore. Whatever this place is doing—whatever this place is—there are hundreds more Marked kids out there faced with the same fate. We can’t let this go on, Sienna, and you know it.”
“I know that, but you don’t have to be the one to do it,” Sienna said through clenched teeth. Her temper looked ready to spill over.
“You need to stop treating me like a child. You need to stop protecting me.”
Sienna slammed her hands on the table. Em was on her feet in an instant, but Sienna turned her attention to Vic and ignored the warning glare aimed her way. “Everything I have ever done has been to protect you. Why can’t you see that? You’re all I’ve got, Vic, and I would do anything, anything to keep you safe.”
Vic didn’t even bristle. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “If you want to keep me safe, then let me do this. Because if we run, if I don’t return and there’s something more going on inside the DEZ, don’t you think they’d come looking for me? Isn’t that more of a threat than any of this?”
“We wouldn’t let anyone hurt you.” Em rested a hand on Vic’s arm as she sat back down.
“I know that, but at what cost? Locking me up here, never allowing me to leave alone?” Vic shook her head. “I’ve already lived my life locked in a cement building being told what to do and when to do it. Don’t I deserve a little freedom, too?”
I watched Sienna. Watched as her temper simmered and her eyes fell, as she knew she couldn’t argue with that. Who could live with themselves if the only way to keep someone safe was to lock them up, just like the monsters they were running away from claimed they were doing? That wasn’t a life to live, always watching your back and never feeling what it was like to be free.
“Like we said, we’ll be there in an instant if you need out,” I offered.
Theo squeezed Sienna’s hand. Like Cas, I knew he would let her make the decision for herself, just as Cas had done for me many years ago. I prayed to the stars that hers would be the right choice, and that she made a better one than I had.
“Okay.” Sienna’s voice was small, but I watched as Vic settled, and she gave Sienna a little nod of thanks.
“We still have a week and a few more sources and information to flush out,” I said. “It’d help if you could get any information from this other person at the DEZ you think might know something.”
Sienna nodded.
I picked up my wine glass and raised it towards the somber group of friends and allies around me. “May the stars keep us safe.”
Everyone raised their glasses, just as a lightning bolt lit up the night sky.
Chapter 20
Jayla
Emery returned from dropping off Sienna, Theo, and Vic at the DEZ an hour later. I was already on my third glass of wine. Caspian watched me as I poured another glass, but decided not to say anything when I narrowed my eyes in warning.
“The girl’s got more fire than I thought,” I said to Em. Vic had walked in as a doe-eyed child, but she left a determined woman willing to fight for her own freedom.
“Let’s hope it lasts.” Em took the glass from my hand and gulped it down in one swig, handing me back the empty glass with a smirk on her face.
I sighed and filled up the glass again before slumping into the couch beside Cas, who angled his body so I could lean against him. I did.
“You left more than a few things out,” Em said, her bored tone was laced with a bit more bite than usual. She didn’t like the idea of us sending any of them back to the DEZ, not after what we’d found out. Keeping information from them was not my original plan, but after everything they’d learned already, it wasn’t the time.
“Half of what we know may be unrelated.” I shrugged.
“Not all of it.” Em tilted her head to the side in challenge.
I sneered. “There’s no use getting them even more worked up about things, especially when we’re unsure if the source is reliable.”
“Oh, he’s more than reliable.” Em glowered. She’d spent the last week visiting Logan Wallace, son of the Governor, and had learned quite a bit during their nightly visits, though I was sure talking wasn’t his favorite thing to do with her.
“The only thing he’s told us that we didn’t already know is a bunch of conspiracy theory bullshit that only a lunatic would believe.”
Em leaned forward in her chair, resting her forearms on her thighs as she laced her fingers together and narrowed her eyes on me. Beside me, Caspian stiffened, but I merely gazed back at her as I swished the wine around in my glass.
“He found out that Governor Grayson was the one looking for the tablet in the Genetics Lab before it was stolen. That’s something we didn’t know. And that your buddy, Simon, works for her, despite what he made you think.” Em’s voice was low and lethal. “And I would think that any news involving the Void would be of interest to you.”
I tightened my jaw. “The only reason you’re so pissed about all this is because your precious little Vic has to do something besides sit back and let everyone else work it out for her.” Em’s cold glare turned to ice. “You do know she’s not your sister, right?”
Em was on her feet just as quick as I was, her nose only inches from me, teeth bared and bright golden eyes narrowed. As soon as I’d said the words, I regretted them, but I wasn’t about to back down, and the three drinks I’d already had kept me from apologizing like I should have. Her sister’s death wasn’t something to throw around in a fight, but mentioning anything about the Void and those rumours wasn’t either.
Caspian took his time standing up, resting a hand on both of our shoulders, although one look from Em, and he quickly removed the one on hers.
“Ladies, please. This has been a tough night for everyone. Let’s just sleep on it and pick this up in the morn—”
“Shut up, Caspian!” we both yelled in unison, and he backed away with his hands raised, mumbling something about PMS.
“You’re a piss poor drunk, Jayla.” Em turned her nose down on me before she stepped away and moved towards her room.
“Takes one to know one,” I called back. She stuck up her middle finger at me.
We were both in foul moods and would likely regret everything we said in the morning. Tonight I didn’t care. She had taken it too far, knowing where to cut me the deepest, just as I’d known her weakness.
The conspiracy about the Void was one I was more than familiar with. One I, myself, once believed back when I was looking for an excuse and someone to blame. I’d heard the rumours, stories really, that the Void contained terrible secrets. A darkness we didn’t learn about in school. Something so disturbing even those who survived it couldn’t bear to repeat what had happened, even on paper. None of the history books documented anything out of the ordinary.
The rumors talked of a virus that nearly killed every Carbon before the Peace-Making. That wouldn’t have been a bad thing, except my own grandmother was a Carbon. So if the virus had been real, I wouldn’t be here today.
I’d used that story as an excuse for what happened to my mom. As a Pur, she should have been less susceptible to illnesses, given that half of her DNA came from a Carbon. That didn’t stop the disease from taking her life so quickly I hardly had a chance to comprehend what was going on before she was dead. The doctors had said it was a virus that started out looking like a simple cold but quickly attacked every cell in her body until she couldn’t even breathe on her own. It had taken less than a month…then she was gone.
The rumors became the only explanation I could find for what had happen to my mom; some infection in the Carbons had passed on to my mom, and she died from it. But Caspian was quick to point out that theory was impossible. Many Carbons and Purs were still alive today, and none had symptoms like my mom’s. In fact, I hadn’t found any other cases like hers.
It was as good an excuse as any, but it was just a cop out for having shitty luck.
So yeah, Em was right when she said I’d be interested in rumors about the Void, but that was all it was: rumors. That conspiracy meant nothing to me anymore. It wouldn’t change anything, anyways.
I went to take another drink of wine when a pounding at the front door sounding like a sledgehammer caused me to jump. The wine in my hand spilled down the front of my shirt. I swore under my breath.
