Charlotte smile immediately disappears, “What do you offie want?”
Christopher pretends to be confused, “Am I not allowed to welcome a new Rivie?”
“I doubt you wanted to welcome her. Haven’t you blackmailed enough people to get your offie votes? Why can’t you just leave us alone?”
“Speaking of votes, I’m sure I still have yours. Correct?”
Charlotte’s face loses all its color. She mumbles, “Yes, of course.”
“What was that?” Christopher mockingly cups his hands over his ear.
Charlotte repeats, “Yes, of course.”
“Good, good. We wouldn’t want your secret getting out, would we?”
Charlotte’s hands tremble as she brings her spoon of oatmeal up to her mouth. She appears to be blinking tears away from her eyes.
What has Christopher found against Charlotte? I’ve only met him twice and I’ve already grown to dislike him.
Christopher turns to face me, “So, Rivie, what did you do that got you a meeting with Miranda?”
“Nothing, I just had some questions.” The lie comes easier than I expect it to.
“Really? Because, that’s not something she does often. She normal gives the Eekes plenty of time to recover before filling them in on the Unknown. She certainly doesn’t force a meeting when they are still lying on cots.”
I don’t know why I’m defending Miranda. Maybe it’s because I simply want to contradict Christopher, “She didn’t ‘force’ the meeting on me. I wanted that meeting to happen.”
“Really? That’s not what I heard.”
“How would you know anything? It was a private conversation.”
Christopher snorts, “This is the Unknown, Rivie. Someone will always know your secret. Maybe not right away, but eventually. And when someone learns your secret, I’ll do whatever it takes to find it out.”
“Why do you care?” I know I should stop arguing with him. I’ll probably end up saying something I’ll regret. That’s the last thing I want to do with a person like him. However, I can’t make myself stop.
Christopher shrugs, “You never know when you’ll need something to use against a person.”
My mouth slips slightly ajar. His motives are to only to spread gossip and slander a person?
I realize I’m glaring at him. I look away, focusing on eating my oatmeal. Charlotte is silent beside me.
Christopher seems to become bored, “I need to get going, I don’t have time to spare with some Rivie and an useless R.I. But I can promise you one thing.”
YOU ARE READING
274 (Complex Series, #4)
Science Fiction-fourth book in the Complex series- Claire, known to most people only by her Complex number as 274, has always obeyed the Official's rules. You have to, unless you want to be sent away to the Unknown. Until, she meets Marie and everything changes. ...
