Brinn hisses, “Do you see anything?”
“No,” I look at Piper, “You?”
She shakes her head.
Brinn bites her lip, “I think we should leave.”
Piper nods, “There’s nothing here.”
We peek out from the side of the building to see if anyone’s coming. The village seems to be entirely empty.
I slip out from behind the building and begin walking in the direction of the Toilet building. I try to keep the confusion and worry off my face. Brinn struggles to do the same.
Just when we are about to reach the door, James walks out of a building and spots us. He says, “I’s can’t a-seem ta a-find yer friends anywhere. Do ya know where they be?”
Piper offers, “We can look for them if you’re too busy. When we find them we’ll just head back to the building where we are staying.”
James nods, “Oh, thank you, that’d be a-great. I’s got a couple people ta a-fix up.”
I say, “It’s no problem.”
James bows his head in thanks one last time before disappearing into one of the sleeping buildings.
My shoulders sag after he leaves. There’s nothing I want to do less than go looking for Bridget and Canton. I really don’t want to have to listen to Bridget accusing us of things that aren’t even true.
Piper apologizes, “I’m sorry, it’s the first thing that popped into my head. Besides, we need to do ‘helpful’ things to impress the leaders of this village and win their trust.”
“Who do you think is the leader here?” I ask.
Piper shrugs, “Either Spara or Nikolas, maybe even both of them are leaders. I think James is pretty powerful, or at least liked by a lot of people.”
Brinn frowns, “If Spara’s in charge here…”
I finish her sentence, “Then we have even less of a chance of being able to stay in the village.”
Piper asks, “If Spara is arguing against us, then Nikolas is probably arguing for us, right?”
Brinn says, “I guess, otherwise they wouldn’t be having an argument. What side do you think James is on?”
I say, “I’m guessing ours. He seems nice enough when he’s around us.”
“Who do you think is winning the argument?”
Her question is met with silence.
I finally say, “I think it all depends on who’s in charge.”
Brinn whispers, “I’m really enjoying this conversation and everything, but I really need to use the Toilets.”
Piper and I laugh and we continue walking to the Toilets. Once we reach the door, Piper enters the code again into the door. It slides open and we enter.
After we use the restrooms and regroup outside, Piper says, “Okay, now the fun task of finding Bridget and Canton.”
Brinn and I both roll our eyes.
Brinn asks, “How are we supposed to find her? We have no idea where she stormed off to. Do we just look in all the buildings?”
I shrug, “Unless she knew the code, she wouldn’t have been able to get in the buildings.”
Piper suggests, “I think we should look everywhere in the village that’s not inside a building, and then look in the buildings. It’s probably more likely that they’re outside than inside.”
YOU ARE READING
987 (Complex Series, #3)
Science Fiction-third book in the Complex series- Dana has been captured by Officials. She doesn't know who to trust and who to avoid. Anything she says or does could quickly cause her death. How long can she protect the secret of her and her friends' past? How lo...
