Chapter 24
It had been about an hour after Grandma had left my cell and I was lying on my cot. Rowan had left the other room when she’d gone and, since then, no one had come in. I didn’t know where they were, but I could kind of hear people talking. It was a little too far away for me to hear what they were really saying.
Orion was still sleeping over in his cell and snoring lightly. I guess getting knocked out really makes you tired.
I’d been twisting my ring on my finger ever since Grandma had left. I reached for my necklace then, and looked at it. I turned it around over and over again, but then I caught sight of something.
The code that was engraved on it.
A green box appeared around the sapphire stone. And then there was something scrolling across my vision. Interface Reconnecting.
I sat up quickly as my interface kicked back on. I jumped up and looked around. A green box appeared around the door. I hacked into the system, unlocking the electric lock. The door cracked open silently. I ran to it and looked out into the hallway.
There was a camera mounted on the ceiling at the end of the hallway. I quickly disabled it and went to the door leading into Orion’s cell. I opened it and walked in. He was still asleep on his cot, so I went over to him and pulled him up into a sitting position. He woke immediately and aimed a punch at my face. I caught his fist and pulled it down.
“Don’t you dare even think about punching me or I’ll just hit you right back,” I said to him. “Now, let’s go.”
“What did you do?” he asked, looking around with a confused expression on his face.
“They apparently didn’t disable my interface completely,” I said. “It kicked back on. I should send a message to Kade. He and Roth can come pick us up.”
“First we have to get out of here,” Orion said. “And how are we going to do that?”
“I lived here for two years. I know my way around. I just don’t know where we are right now. I never knew they had holding cells in Division Sixteen,” I said.
We walked out into the hallway. There was nothing to the right but on the left there was another door like the ones leading into the cells. I opened the lock and we walked out into a dim hallway.
“Stay very quiet until I can figure out where we are,” I said to Orion.
We headed down the hallway until we reached a wide open room. The gardens. I looked around, but I couldn’t see anyone there.
“This place is huge,” Orion said as we walked through the room.
“It’s underground,” I said. “Division Sixteen was a part of the Directrix, but they got rid of it. Well, everything that was above ground.”
I ran over to the exit in the gardens, but when I tried to open it, it wouldn’t budge. I thought maybe that it was locked electronically like the others, but it wasn’t. And when I tried to kick it open, it still wouldn’t budge. Division Sixteen must have upgraded since I’d been killed. Well, of course they did. They didn’t want anyone getting inside again.
I started running again, Orion following close behind me, until we got to the hallway that let toward the main hall that led to the rooms, the infirmary and the common area. I checked before we started running down the hallway. And when we reached the main one, I checked again. I could hear the voices of everyone in the common area.
“There’s another exit in the infirmary,” I said. I closed my eyes and listened for anyone there. I could hear Kate and McKenna talking. There was another little babbling voice, which was probably coming from Jack.
“We can’t go that way either.”
“Where’s another one?” Orion asked.
“Through the weapons room, which if past the common area, where everyone is right now,” I said. “I don’t know how we can get passed, though.”
“You know you can get past,” he said. “You run so fast you can barely be seen. Me on the other hand…”
“I can try to hold them off while you get through,” I said.
“That might work,” he said. “Just don’t hurt or kill anyone.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not going to do that,” I said. “I’ll just distract them a little.”
“A little?” he asked.
“Yep, and I’ve got just the thing,” I said. “My birthday yesterday and no one’s even said it to me here.”
“Happy birthday,” he said, smiling. “There, I said it to you here.”
“You know what I meant,” I said. “Now, just stay against the wall and head toward the hallway that’s going to be on your left on the other side of the common area. I’ll try and get their attention away from you and then I’ll catch up with you at the weapons room, okay?”
“Okay,” he said.
“But if I don’t get there, go into the shooting range and there’s a set of stairs at the end of it. Grab a messenger from the storage area and message Kade or Roth to come here and get me,” I said.
“Okay,” he said again.
“You ready?” I asked.
When he nodded, I stepped out and into the common area.
No one was even looking in my direction. Maxi, who was sitting behind Rowan on the floor, sat up and growled at me. No one even paid attention to him…not until Peyton’s eyes locked with me and she stood up. When everyone at her table turned to look at what she looking at, I ran toward them, jumped and twisted through the air, landing on the table.
“You know, no one’s told me ‘happy birthday’, even though it technically was yesterday,” I said as I looked down at them, my arms crossed on my chest. “No even my own sister or grandma.”
It was a second before they all realized that I was out of my cell and standing on the table above them. But when they did, I saw Xander and Nash reach for me at the same time. I jumped off the table and onto another, one where Kassia, Neola, and Bailey were…
Hold on.
“You!” I said, my fury flaring as I looked down at Bailey.
“Rayney!” she yelled.
But that’s when the others were coming up behind me with their guns in hand. Someone took at shot at me as I somersaulted through the air and landed on my feet. I started running back toward Bailey was hidden behind Adem. I didn’t care that they were trying to get me. All I wanted to do was get Bailey.
“I can’t believe you!” I yelled. “I trusted you!”
“Rayney, let me explain myself,” she said, trying to step around Adem. He blocked her, though. He looked at me then.
“Don’t touch her,” he said.
“We’ve got the other one!” someone yelled from the direction of the hallway going to the weapons room. I didn’t pay any attention to what was happening with Orion, though.
I ran up to Adem. I was right in his face without them even seeing me move. “What, is she a part of your family besides McKenna and Jack? Like I care,” I said, and tried to push past him to get to her.
He pushed me back, though, to my surprise, and I backed up a step. “As a matter of fact,” he said, “she’s my sister.”
“Oh, really?” I asked, looking at the two of them.
I could definitely see the resemblance between them. They both had the same hair and eye color and had the same facial structure. I wouldn’t have been able to realize they were brother and sister when they were apart. But now that they were standing right there with each other, I definitely could tell.
“I guess you really are telling the truth. But I still don’t care,” I said, and started for her again.
Adem raised his gun and aimed it at me. “Take one more step…”
“I don’t think you’ve seen what happens when you shot me,” I said. I took a step back and spread my arms out wide. “Go ahead and take a shot.” When he didn’t, I yelled, “Do it!”
But everyone’s attention was directed behind me where the hallway was, even Orion’s, who had his arms pinned behind his back by Xander. A few people had tears running down their faces as they formed a semicircle around me. I put my arms down and turned around. My anger and fury drained completely out of me when I saw Lyric standing there, tears brimming in her eyes. Kate and McKenna, Jack in her arms, were behind her. Lilah was hidden behind Kate, and was staring at me with wide, tear-filled eyes.
My eyes were only on Lyric, though. She was the one who’d always calmed me down whenever I’d gotten angry. It was like her inner light calmed every bad feeling any other person had who was around her…and she was doing that just now with me.
“Don’t you dare take another step, Lyric,” Rowan said from beside Adem and Bailey.
“Rayney?” Lyric asked, her tears falling down her face. She took a few steps toward me.
“Lyric, stop!” Rowan yelled.
She didn’t stop, though, not until she was less than a foot from me. My eyes filled with tears as I looked down at her. She was looking up at me with a mixture of happiness and fear. I didn’t know why, but my legs just seemed to give out from under me and I dropped to my knees.
“You have gotten taller,” I whispered, looking at her.
“Rayney,” she said again.
She had her arms wrapped around my neck a second later and my arms were around her. She was crying hard on my shoulder, her face buried in my hair. It took her a few minutes for her to stop crying heavily. I still had tears running down my face when she pulled back to look at me.
“Is it really you?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, it’s me, sweetie,” I said. I put my hands on her arms and pushed her back a little so I could see her. I grabbed one of her curls. “Your hair’s gotten so long.”
“I wanted my hair to be like yours,” she said shyly.
“Well, it looks exactly like mine now,” I said, smiling.
She took another long look at me and reached up to touch my tattoo. “What happened to you? I thought you…” She trailed off. “Where have you been?” she asked.
“I had to go away for a little while,” I said.
“Are you coming back to live here?” she asked. “I want you to stay with me.”
“No, sweetie,” I said. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stay.”
“Why not?” she asked. “I’ve missed you so much!”
“I know,” I said. “I’ve missed you, too.”
I saw another tear streak down her face again and I wiped it away with my fingertip.
“Rayney,” she said.
“Hmm?”
“I forgot to tell you something I told Rowan yesterday,” she said, wrapped her arms around my neck again and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Happy birthday.”
I laughed and stood up, Lyric still in my arms. She wrapped her legs around my waist, just like she always used to do. I turned my head and kissed her cheek before I turned to face everyone else.
“I’m sorry,” I said to them. Tears filling my eyes again. “I’m sorry for everything.”
Rowan stepped forward from everyone and started toward me. With every step she took, her smile grew. I set Lyric down and walked toward her. I caught her up in a hug just as my tears started to flow down my face again. We were both crying as Lyric moved in between us, hugging me around my waist.
“I’m sorry about before, when you came to see me a little while ago,” I said. “I…I didn’t want to see you, because I knew something like this would happen.”
“Something like what?” she asked.
“Me breaking down in front of you,” I said.
“It’s okay,” she said, pulling back and smiling at me, her face still wet with tears. “At least I’m not the only one crying anymore.”
“You know I couldn’t have told you all of this was going to happen before,” I said. “You wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it anyway.”
“That’s what Reagan was telling me when I saw you the first time two weeks ago. I should have known something was going on when she just disappeared one night and wouldn’t tell us what happened afterward,” she said. “But now I know. It was you, wasn’t it?”
I nodded. “I told her not to tell you anything,” I said. “Or you would have done what you guys did earlier.”
“Hey, we got you here, didn’t we?”
“I guess, even if it wasn’t a very smart thing to do,” I said.
I looked over her shoulder at Grandma, who was standing there smiling. I unwrapped Lyric’s arms from around me and walked toward her. Her hug was just like before in my cell, warm and loving.
“It’s good to see you as yourself again,” she said.
I pulled away from her and looked at all of the faces still staring at me. I saw Dominic with his gun still poised in his hands.
“I’m so sorry about Keenan. I hope you know I wouldn’t have done it if I had the choice not to. But I didn’t,” I said.
“He knew what was going to happen to him and he accepted that,” Dominic said. He didn’t sound too happy about it, though. “He’s in a better place now, even if we didn’t want him to go there then. I blamed you then, but now I don’t think I do.”
I looked at all of them again. I wanted to go up and hug each one of them, just to make sure they were alright. But there was one person who I really wanted to hug, one that I hadn’t been really nice to before. I walked over to Nash and stood face to face with him for a moment. I saw a bruise on the side of his neck that was undoubtedly caused by me.
“I’m sorry for beating you up earlier,” I said, a small smile on my face.
He looked me in the eyes, which were almost level with his thanks to my heels, and he smiled. “That wouldn’t have been the first time you threw me around,” he said.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him. Our hug was different from the last time. It felt the way it was supposed to feel like. Friendship. He was probably my best friend, second only to Rowan. He was the one that I told everything – well, almost everything – and listened to every word, helping me with anything he could.
Nash pulled back to kiss my cheek. “I’m glad you’re you again,” he said quietly.
“I haven’t stopped being me this entire time,” I said, hugging him tighter.
“Hey, Rayney?” someone asked from behind everyone.
“What?” I turned and saw Orion with Xander still pinning his arms behind him. “Oh, Xander, you can let him go now. He won’t do anything to anyone.”
Xander looked at Orion and let go of him. He rubbed his wrists, probably sore from Xander’s tight grip, and started walking toward me. He eyed everyone watching him as he took a step beside me.
“This is Orion Mercer,” I said. “His father is Jonas Mercer, head of the communications division and his mother is Keilah Cutting-Mercer. She’s over the selecting and training of all of the Guards.”
“Um, Rayney? I don’t think telling everyone who my parents are is going to make them not want to kill me,” he said. “I mean, your sister’s already knocked me out once. I don’t want to be knocked out permanently.”
“They’re not going to,” I said. “But I will if you don’t stop worrying. At least that will get you to shut up.”
Nash looked at me with wide eyes.
“I’m surprised she doesn’t threaten us every day,” Orion said, laughing. “With everything we say to her on a daily basis, I’m not dead yet.”
“Come on, Rayney,” Grandma said, Lyric holding onto her hand, as she took mine and pulled me toward one of the tables to sit. She looked back at Orion. “You, too. You both probably need something to eat.”
Kassia was the one who brought us both a bowl of soup and bread. Orion was immediately slurping his down, but I took more time to savor every spoonful.
“Okay, this stuff is better than any of the soups I’ve had in the City,” Orion said as he finished his bowl.
“That’s because my grandma made it,” I said, laughing. I looked up at her and smiled. “Am I right?”
“Actually,” she said, smiling, as she put her hand on Lyric’s head. “Lyric made this batch.”
I pulled Lyric to me, kissing her cheek. “Since when did you learn how to cook?” I asked.
Lyric shrugged, blushing. “Me and Lilah stayed in the kitchen a lot after you…left,” she said.
“Well, you’re a pretty good cook,” I said, smiling at her.
I looked around at everyone, and then noticed someone wasn’t there. I paused and looked at Grandma.
“Where’s Lysander?” I asked quietly.
She sighed, taking my hand in hers. “Lysander wasn’t doing so good for a few weeks after you left. He couldn’t get out of his bed at all in the end. He died maybe a month and a half after you…” She took a shaky breath. “He lived a full life and I’m sure he’s happy wherever he is now.”
“I wish I would have been able to say goodbye to him,” I said, looking down at my bowl.
I couldn’t help but picture Lysander in my mind. He’d felt so much like my family, as did everyone in Division Sixteen. I wished I hadn’t been the way I was for that year and a half and spent more time with everyone, especially him.
“I know, sweetie,” she said as she ran her hand over my hair. “You need to eat some more.”
“Alright,” I said, and got another spoonful.
Everyone stayed pretty quiet as I finished eating. They’d all moved to sit at tables surrounding me, watching my every move. I was guessing Luke, Eli and Logan had gone to the control room. I didn’t know to do what, though. My eyes fell to one person then. Bailey.
“So,” I said. “Do you mind telling me how in the world you got involved with all of this?”
“As Adem said before, I’m his sister,” she said.
“Then where have you been if not here?” I asked.
“I was with the Division Sixteen group in the Appalachian Mountains,” she said.
“So that’s why they wanted to send me there,” I said.
“We’ve got a pretty big group down there, plus five other groups around the country, keeping an eye on things. But when they took you, they needed someone inside to keep an eye on things, so I volunteered. I just didn’t know that I was going to be at the Slayter’s house, much less that you were going to be there. But that’s why I was sent there, to watch you.”
“And when Arianna made you my personal aide…”
“That was what I was going for,” she said.
“When we left two weeks ago and you said you were going to be with a friend, who were you talking about?” I asked.
“She was meeting with me,” Adem said. “Dane and I went while Luke and the others went to Keenan’s to warn him about what was going to happen, even though he seemed to already know. We meet back up with them before we went to Division Four.”
“How did you Arianna to let you go with us to Division Five then?” I asked.
“I just asked her if I could go,” she said, shrugging. “She didn’t have any opposition to it at all.”
“When did you plan on capturing me?” I asked.
“The second day you were gone,” she said.
I looked over at Rowan with one eyebrow raised. “Even though I told Reagan to tell you not to try and come up with a plan to break me out…”
“I say again, it worked,” she said, shrugging.
I remember when we were heading over to Division Five. “What about the messenger?” I asked.
“You saw that?” she asked, but then shook her head. “I was telling them where we were and what time we were going to be there. They were waiting a few miles away.”
“How did you mess up the helicopter?” Orion asked. “I’ve never seen anything like that happen before.”
“Let me guess,” I said, and looked at the boy beside McKenna and Jack. “Ryder.”
Ryder smiled sheepishly. “It wasn’t that hard,” he said, his face reddening. “We tested it here on the other helicopters and it worked perfectly.”
I looked over at Orion, who was looking at Ryder with his eyebrows raised. “Ryder’s a super genius when it comes to technology. He can do anything,” I said. “And he’s only eleven.”
“If he can make something even the Directrix hasn’t thought of yet, then I believe it,” Orion said, looking impressed.
“So what do we do now?” Peyton asked from Xander’s side. “Like Rayney said, someone’s going to be coming for her.”
“Probably Kade and Roth,” I said. I saw Rowan flinch at the name. I would have to find some time when it could just be me and her alone to tell her everything that’s happened with him.
“We should go talk with Luke, Eli and Logan about it,” Adem said, Jack in his arms. Jack was more interested in playing with Bailey’s hair, though. She reached out and tickled him, making him giggle uncontrollably for a few moments until his face was red.
“They were headed to the control room,” Slade said, nodding toward the hallway leading to it. “I didn’t hear anything else about what they were going to do.”
“Let’s go talk to them about everything,” Grandma said, standing up.
“Not everyone can fit in the control room,” Xander pointed out.
“That’s true,” Grandma said. “Adem, Nash, Dane, Slade and Xander, you go on ahead and tell Luke, Eli and Logan the rest of us will be there in a minute. And, of course, Dominic and Caspar.” Once they left Grandma looked at me. “You and Orion, Rowan, Peyton and Harper go also. I’ll be there, too.”
I nodded and got up with Rowan. I saw Harper and Peyton walk toward us. I smiled at them as they got nearer. I hugged Peyton and then Harper. They both told me how good it was to have me back. When we started toward the hallway, Lyric was reluctant to let go of me, but I made her stay with McKenna and Auden, who I’d given both a big hug to.
But once the five of us were headed down the hallway toward the control room, I put my hand in Rowan’s and we both stopped. Orion, Peyton and Harper both turned when they realized we weren’t with them anymore.
“Go on, we’ll be there in a second,” I said.
They all continued down the hallway, but I saw Orion stop right before the turn to wait on me. He probably wasn’t yet comfortable with the idea of being in a room of total strangers who know that he’s a part of the Directrix.
“Rowan, I’ve got to tell you something,” I said.
“What?” she asked.
“It’s about Roth,” I said.
She looked away from me, her eyes filling. “Please don’t mention him,” she whispered.
“I’m going to,” I said. “He’s still in love with you, you know. He never stopped, even after you shot him.”
“How did you know about that?” she asked.
“I went back and looked at it in my dreams,” I said. “He thinks you hate him after everything that’s happened. But I know you don’t, am I right?”
“I could never hate him,” she said.
“Good, because you shouldn’t,” I said. “He’s still the same old Roth. All three of us are. Me, him and Kade. Well, it took Kade quite a while to start acting like himself again.”
“And when was that?” she asked.
“A little over two weeks ago, after everything happened with Keenan,” I said.
“You know, when we saw you then, you didn’t seem like yourself,” she said quietly. She looked at me, eyes full of sadness. “You were horrible.”
“I know,” I said. “I wasn’t in a very good mood that day. Something had happened the night before with Kade.”
She sighed, shaking her head back and forth. “I don’t know if I could ever forgive him for everything,” she said.
“You need to, because if they were coming to find me and Orion, then you’ll be seeing him quite soon,” I said.