What secret? What could he be referring to? Bridget? Piper? Tooth’s death? My contacting with Marie while still in the Complex?
What else would there be that could be considered my secret?
Could he be lying, pretending to know more than he actually does?
Christopher says, “That’s right, I know your secret. Make sure you vote for me in the upcoming election.”
“When is that?” I ask.
“Three days from today. The day after the election, all the nineteen years will become twenty years and be sent to their death.”
I shudder slightly at the carefree way he says this.
I ask, “And what year are you?”
“Seventeen year, almost eighteen year. I’ll have two years as the Leader.”
“If you win the election.”
His eyes glint, “When, not if.”
His Notice beeps and his attention shifts away from us. He says as he walks away, “Lovely talking to you as always. I’ll be sure to continue this conversation later.”
Charlotte and I sigh in relief as he disappears. I can’t imagine someone as arrogant and spiteful as him working as the Leader. One of the main jobs as Leader is welcoming the Rivies and Eekes to the Unknown. If he was Leader when I came to the Unknown, my view of it might be drastically different.
I say, “He knew that you were a…?”
“Yeah, he found out a year or so go. I contact the,” she whispers the next word, “Officials through my Notice. He confronted me about some messages from them and I couldn’t lie my way out of it. I still don’t know how he found out.”
“Why didn’t he tell anyone? Wouldn’t he want to let people know? Please don’t take this the wrong way, but people would be safer anyway. I think he’d like the victory of getting you in trouble.”
“I know, that’s what I thought at first. But, I think that Christopher truly doesn’t care about anyone but himself. He’d probably enjoy someone being killed by the Heads for being caught rebellious by me than embarrassing me by telling everyone my secret. I think he also liked tormenting me about it.”
“That’s horrible.”
Charlotte nods and we finish our meal in relative silence, thinking over what Christopher just said. Piper did say that she was going to help me escape, but I don’t know when. Will I still be here by the time Christopher is elected?
Christina glances at her Notice and frowns. She reads something across the screen. “I’m sorry, Claire, I got to go. Something came up for another R.I. and I need to finish her Rivie’s tour. Since you’re not technically doing your Rivie Tour right now, the other Rivie comes first. I’ll make it up to you though. How about we start your Rivie Tour tomorrow? You’ll probably still be in a wheelchair, but I’ll take you to a Pros where you don’t need to stand. Sound good?”
“I would love that.”
“Great. I’ll take you back to the Nurses Wing for today. I’ll come back tomorrow to pick you up, okay?”
We finish eating and she rolls me back through the busy hallways to the Nurses Wing.
Michelle helps me back to my room and on to my cot. I spend the rest of the day lying restlessly around. Harry stops by to give me a Notice of my own. I fiddle with it, messaging back and forth with Charlotte. Her responses almost always make me laugh. Michelle brings me my Late Meal and I fall asleep shortly after.
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. ...
