When I woke up again, all I could feel was a throbbing in my right arm.
That, and a headache that felt like someone was nailing my skull with a hammer.
I'd blacked out. At some point during whatever the hell had just happened, I'd blacked out. I think I'd woken up in bursts...but for the most part...
I could barely remember what had happened to bring me here.
Slowly, memories poured back. The girl...June...Erin...
And now...now...
I sat up, trying to take in all that was around me. It was a bedroom...but with broken windows, a dust-covered floor, and gray walls. It was dreary at best, but the windows at least allowed soft morning light to sift in, lighting up the dust mites.
I shifted, pushing my back against the wall. The blanket I was now clutching had holes peppered through it, but I didn't mind.
I didn't mind any of this...not until I glanced down at my arm.
It was covered in bandages. All originating from the little spot in my wrist where my chip had been planted.
Had been planted.
But they'd done something to it...I didn't know what. But something.
My identity...
There was a knock on the door. I stared at it, bewildered. Why knock? Wasn't I like...their prisoner or something?
Then again, I wasn't wearing any chains. I realized then that I wasn't wearing anything. I could easily have run out the window. I still could...if I just...
But the door opened.
Too late.
The girl, June walked in. Well...not really walked. It was more of a furious stomping towards me, as if she were still seconds from ripping my throat out.
In a way, I felt bad for nearly ripping her hair out. Then again, I was the one who'd lost the fight.
She didn't say a word as she came to the very bottom of my bed and crossed her arms, assessing me. I waited, still clutching the blanket in my fists.
"We have a lot to talk about."
Not if I didn't want to talk.
"So, I suggest you listen. You're not tied up. But trust me, if you try hurting me or anyone else in this house, you won't make it very far." But I could try.
Even though my instincts screamed at me to jump out the window, I was curious. From what I'd put together, these people weren't the government...and if they weren't the government...
No.
They couldn't be.
Because why on Earth would Elijah's People want to protect a senator.
And Elijah's People were a myth anyway. Some silly story the people living in the slums told themselves. A useless hope.
They were supposedly a group fighting against The Winnowing. A massive underground organization who were responsible for plenty of failed executions and riots. They were said to have spy networks, people acting as business owners, servants, and even a few senators. They all reported back to the top...whoever was on top. Everyone assumed the leader was a guy named Elijah. I mean...why else would they be called Elijah's People?
But like I said, they were a myth. A bedtime story. Of all my research in Antheia, I'd never heard anything about them in the City of Marble. The only stories I'd heard had lacked any mention of where they were or who'd actually carried out the deeds. The news refused to air anything on them. No need to spread any ideas.
"We're not here to hurt you. I do not believe we're enemies either," June commented, before sitting down on a chair right by the bed and a desk. She leaned onto the desk, one hand supporting her chin as she stared me down, noting the bandages on my arm.
"Right," I replied sharply, before tucking my bandaged arm under the covers. She just frowned a bit, her anger seeming to break away for a moment.
"I'm...," she started, but then stopped herself. It sounded like she'd been about to apologize. "Anyway...the reason you're here is because we need you. We kept you alive because we need you to help us...and we didn't really have any other option."
I waited for her to keep talking. I didn't want to seem too interested. Instead, I remained stone-faced, refusing to grant her even the tiniest morsel of my curiosity.
"The woman you killed...the senator. I'm guessing you killed her because you think she's one of the bad guys."
'Bad guys' was such a vague term. "Sorry...are we on the same side or something? Last I remember you were trying to kill me.
"You don't support the current government." She stated it like it was obvious.
I didn't confirm or deny it.
"We've been fighting against them, too. Some call us..."
"I know what they call you." Elijah's people. Crap.
"So, you have heard of us?" June asked, seeming merely interested.
I just nodded.
"Okay, great. That makes this a bit easier. You screwed us over."
Okay, that was so not good. Nothing like accidentally pissing off a literal slumbering beast of an organization.
I was probably dead. Even if they were acting nice...whatever it was they wanted me to do...
"Stacy Sardon wasn't a senator. At least, she wasn't the one you thought she was. She was one of us. A spy." As she said it, grief sparked in her eyes for a moment. But it was weak...as if she'd just been a vague acquaintance. "The guards were supposed to protect her." And then a flash of guilt. She'd been supposed to protect her. "And you managed to kill her anyway."
I summoned it in myself to keep straight-faced. I knew what she was implying.
My soul knew it, too.
All the people I'd killed were bad people. People who'd done things wrong. People who hurt others carelessly, who killed without reason...who...
I'd killed an innocent person.
Maybe not totally innocent...but somebody who was trying to save people. Trying to stop The Winnowing. I'd killed...
No. I shut it off. I needed to lock my heart away again. I couldn't think about that right now.
Another time. Another day. A day when I wasn't sitting in front of a girl who I'd obviously hurt.
"You don't understand how difficult it was for us to get this far. Getting a spy like her into the government is near impossible. The paperwork...the ID's...even the chip in her arm took months to create. And convincing the senators in Antheia's government... Do you understand how long we've been trying to get into this city? Other cities have been easier, but Antheia has been untouchable. Untouchable until now. Until this, and until...," June paused. She was breathing heavily. Her anger was eminent on her face.
I didn't know what to say. Was I supposed to apologize?
It felt wrong to, somehow.
She steeled her expression once more and leaned back in the chair. "Because you killed Stacy Sardon, we have no other choice."
My heart froze in my chest. If they'd really put me through all that pain...through all this just to kill me...
"We need you to become Stacy Sardon."
I felt like I was going to throw up. Excuse me?
"What."
"We need you to take on her identity and be our spy." June suddenly just gave me a lazy smile. "Unless you'd rather die. Which I can easily arrange."
I couldn't tell if she was bluffing with that.
"Why? Why..." My mouth had gone dry. I was nobody's spy. I was already doing my part to fight against the government. All I wanted – and needed – was to get back to my cabin in the woods, check up on my next target, and maybe get more than an hour of sleep.
"Because you have Antheia's city chip. It's unique and very complicated. That's why it took so long for us to infiltrate here. None of us do. It took way too long for us to re-create one for Sardon."
The chip in my arm. The one they'd tampered with.
"And what exactly do you expect me to do with this chip? It doesn't even have her name on it. It's mine. There's no way..."
It was like a lightbulb had comically lit above my head.
Oh.
That's why my arm was throbbing.
June just tilted her head at me. "You aren't Marion Courtenay anymore, trust me. Marion, isn't it? Not Frey."
Yikes.
But she'd already known that.
She stepped towards me and gently grabbed my arm...the bandaged one. She tapped where my chip had been. "This...doesn't say you're Marion anymore. We have tech that lets us...switch the data on the chips. City citizenship is engrained in the actual making of the chip...but the identity on the chip? Totally malleable. From now on, you're Stacy Sardon, the newest addition to Antheia's government. It gives you access to plenty of restricted access places and whatnot."
Oh god.
I was screwed.
Because I didn't have a choice anymore. They'd taken it away from me. Even if I wanted to go back to that life...no. I couldn't. I couldn't go anywhere, not into the square, not into any of the city's buildings...not without being labeled as senator Stacy Sardon. And not without it looking extraordinarily suspicious.
But...I looked nothing like Stacy. Not with my chest-length russet hair, and blue eyes far too light to match Stacy's ocean blue.
My skin was also slightly darker than hers...and from what I'd seen...I was definitely a bit shorter.
"And how, exactly, am I supposed to be Stacy if I looked nothing like her?" I asked, bitterly.
"They don't know what she looks like. You're first in-person interview is tomorrow."
Even though I'd tried shoving my emotions down, they began bubbling up as I realized how trapped I was. The one thing I'd valued was my freedom. And now it'd been torn away from me...ripped to shreds...
Because it was more than that. They were asking me to live among the people I hated. The people who'd taken the one thing I loved from me. People I...I recognized...people...
I felt tears prick the edges of my eyes. "And I'm just supposed to be fine with this?" My anger was a disgusting weight in my stomach, filling my heart and making me want to rip it straight out of my chest.
"You killed her," June stated simply, eyes narrowing. "Trust me, I was hoping you'd be punished a little more than this."
I just laughed darkly. How fitting. "What, and are you going to try telling me you're so much better than me? You were seconds away from killing me."
June stood up suddenly, nearly knocking her chair back. "Someone will be here at eight tomorrow morning. Clothes are in the drawer for you to wear."
"No."
June didn't even glance back at my defiance. She seemed like she was barely controlling herself as it was. "There's a packet with information on Stacy for your interview. If you mess it up, you'll be dealing with the government, not us."
I didn't respond as she stormed from the room, slamming the door shut behind her.
I looked again towards the windows. Open and waiting for me to escape...
But they were a joke. I couldn't escape anymore. I looked down at the bandages on my arm.
There was no escaping this.