Electricity (On hold indefinitely)

Twenty

It was only an hour after Reva had realized the truth about her cellmate. An hour of shocked silence. Sol hadn't answered her question. How did you know about all of that? Ethan? The scouts?

"Sol," Reva said finally. "I'm serious. I need to know."

"No, you don't. Shut up."

"I do. It's really freaking important."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is. Sol, tell me how you knew."

"Just shut up already, won't you? You don't understand. You never will."

Reva narrowed her eyes, rising to her feet. "I don't care if I understand. I don't even care if you kill me afterward. You're one of them, aren't you? You could, couldn't you? But I don't care. I've answered all of your questions. It's about time you answer some of mine. I'm done sitting here and taking your shit. The silence has been driving me insane."

Sol's anger seemed to fade away at Reva's outburst. She closed her eyes, and an expression of understanding came over her face, and she leaned back against the wall.

"I couldn't kill you," she said. "If it makes you feel better."

"I have no reason to believe you." And suddenly she realized something she should have figured out the first time she heard the other girl's voice. "Synapse."

That got her to open her eyes. "What did you call me?"

"Synapse. Syn. You're the one who killed Ethan and the other scouts. You're the one who left the message."

"Get that, did you?" the girl said, seeming disinterested, closing her eyes again. Her fingers moved to pinch the air beside her face but she caught herself and rested her cheek on the palm of her hand.

But Reva had seen. She'd seen Synapse's nervous tell. She paused, trying to figure out what best to say, when Synapse surprised her by asking a question.

"How long did it take you to find it?"

"Less than twenty-four hours."

"Really?" she smiled, and Leigh thought that maybe she was impressed. "I hid it rather well."

"We had another drive. We ran a cross-check."

"But I... ah, never mind. You figured it out, or you wouldn't have found it."

Reva nodded slowly. "Why did you leave that message? I have a hard time believing you would do that."

"Times change. People change. The world changes."

Reva stared at her.

"Really, though. How did you figure out my name was Synapse?" her eyes shot open. "You lied. You caught Lullaby or Ant or both." She jumped to her feet, hands curled into fists. She looked about ready to kill.

"I didn't lie to you," Reva said cautiously. "Syn. Look at me. We didn't catch them."

The girl looked at her with all the concentrated anger of ten million droves of wasps--but she must have seen the truth in what she said, because her face relaxed a bit, if her stance didn't.

"How, then?"

"I'll tell you, but you have to answer my questions."

Synapse was silent.

"I need your word," Reva told her.

"Let me think," she said. "Let me think about the damage it could do."

"What am I going to do? I'm a prisoner. I have no way out. I have no way to tell anyone."

Synapse didn't answer. Reva studied her face closely. There was pain hidden behind it. And then she saw it--the fear. The lightning itself was afraid.

What happened to her? What has she been through?

"No," Synapse said softly, at long last. "No, I don't accept."

She frowned but she decided not to push it further. Still, something had changed between them today, and she couldn't lose it like she had the last time, when Sol had asked her about her childhood.

"What's your favorite color, Syn?"

"What?"

"Your favorite color?"

She frowned. "Black. Jet black."

Reva smiled, friendly smile. Had to capitalize on this moment, somehow. Synapse wouldn't push for silence anymore, if she could help it. "Like your soul?" she said, her voice filled with humor, her eyes twinkling with humor.

Synapse let out a small sideways smile. "No. No, although that was... funny. Unoriginal, but funny."

"Why, then?"

"It's a silly reason."

"Tell me."

"I escaped the compound, once. I met a little girl. Her hair was that color."

"Is that what landed you here?"

The other girl laughed. "Oh, certainly not. That was when I was three."

"Oh," Reva said simply, and looked at her. Synapse met her gaze defiantly. They both smiled.

There, she thought. There. I've already won. She just doesn't know it yet.

Then a darker thought: I'm smiling with a killer. No, I'll never trust her. How could I? But maybe I can get her to trust me. Not much, just enough to tell me what I need to know. When I escape, I'll have something the revolution can use.