Her words leave us in shocked silence. My brain fails to process what she said. Ellen is going to go to the Unknown because she wants to find us that badly? What will she do when she discovers we aren’t there?
Ellen isn’t the type of person who will give up easily.
Brinn asks, “She’s going to infiltrate the Unknown? What does that even mean? Search it? Attack it? Kill everybody inside?”
“I don’t know. That’s all Derek said.”
Brinn says, “Then ask him what it means. And when. She can’t…she can’t be attacking the Unknown right now, can she?”
Piper’s fingers frantically fly over the holographic keyboard.
Brinn leans over her shoulder, “What are you asking him? Can you even reply to Derek’s messages or is he too high and mighty for that?”
Derek. That’s the third time they’ve referred to him. It can’t be the Derek. Derek Windsor, the Head. But, who else would be named Derek? The children aren’t named after the Heads. Maybe it’s one of the villagers?
Piper laughs shortly, “I can respond to him, but I don’t expect him to answer any of my questions. It’s a miracle if he even responds on his Notice.”
Theo asks my question for me, “Derek? As in Derek Windsor?”
Piper nods distractedly, her fingers still typing, “Yeah, Derek Windsor.”
Brinn says, “It’s a long story. I’m sure you’ll have time to hear about it. Right now though, we have something more important to deal with.”
Derek must think Piper is a loyal Official. Why would he be telling Piper Ellen’s plans? Is Piper that high up in the positions, that Derek trusts her?
Piper growls in frustration, “It’s impossible to know how important this is when I don’t even know what he means. I don’t know whether I have time to calmly plan out counteractions or if I should be screaming in terror right now.”
Brinn says, “Screaming in terror would probably not be the best choice regardless.”
Piper rolls her eyes and stops typing. She takes a deep breath, “Okay. We don’t freak out until he responds. We should probably tell Spara, Nikolas, and James though.”
“And then we can scream in terror?” Brinn asks.
“Yes. Then we can scream in terror.”
Theo grins at me, “Or we could scream in distress.”
The corners of my lips turn stubbornly up. Piper and Brinn stare at us in confusion. After neither of us bother to explain, Piper shrugs, “We need to go tell the others.”
As we walk, Brinn asks, “Do you think Bridget and Canton know?”
“Maybe. Probably. There’s not much they can probably do.”
“There’s not much any of us can do. How are we supposed to stop Ellen ‘infiltrating’ the Unknown? Especially when we don’t even know what infiltrating even means.” Brinn’s voice rises at the end.
Piper’s Notice makes a faint buzzing sound. She checks it, “Oh, he responded already. That means this must be serious.”
Brinn peeks over Piper’s shoulders, “Read it out loud.”
Piper glances at us and murmurs, “What if they shouldn’t hear it?”
Brinn crosses her arms over her chest, “They deserve to know. Just imagine how mad you would be if someone did that to you.”
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. ...
