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“Joss.” Steven beams, though I do note he does it quietly. There’s a hushed air in the kitchen that sets me on edge. Even the girl washing dishes is doing it softly.
“Hi.” I reply, my tone guarded.
“We’ve missed you in here.”
“Really?”
He smiles. “Yes, of course. And we have a surprise for you.”
I stop a few steps from them. “I don’t really do well with surprises.”
Everyone chuckles quietly.
“Understood.” Steven replies.
Amber approaches me slowly with a plate clearly presented before her. “He made a pie.”
And there it is. Pumpkin, shiny, creamy, beautiful. I almost bury my face in the plate in her hands like a rabid dog seeing its first meal in days but I’m able to hold it together. I drool a little, that’s all. That’s respectable, right?
“Seriously? A real pie?”
“With contraband sugar and everything.”
“Don’t tell anyone though.” Steven reminds me as I take the plate reverently from Amber’s outstretched hands. “It’s a forbidden pie.”
“Even better.” I dip the fork into the smooth, orange wonder and bring it slowly to my mouth. It dissolves on my tongue almost immediately and my legs go weak. “Oh God.”
“Right?” Crystal says with a smile. “You should sit down.”
I smile in return, taking an offered seat. “I think I have to. Steven, this is amazing.”
“Thank you.”
“What’s the occasion?” I ask, devouring another bite. The Colonies have never been so tempting.
Steven exchanges a look with Amber and Crystal. I instantly go back on alert. But I don’t stop eating the pie. Priorities.
“We have an important question to ask you.” he says.
I chuckle. “Everything here is so important. What’s up? What do you need from me?”
“Why won’t the hornet talk to Lexy?”
I freeze, my fork nearly in my mouth. I carefully glance around the room checking to see who is listening.
“It’s alright.” Steven says confidently. “They’re fine.”
I put my fork down. “Fine in what way exactly?”
“In the sense that you don’t have to censor yourself here.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t have to play coy with us.” He pats my hand reassuringly. It makes me squirm. “We all know everything about it.”
I pull my hand away. “Then you know more than I do. What exactly are we talking about here?”
Steven looks unsure for a moment. “Lexy approached you, correct?”
“She attacked me in my sleep one night, yeah.”
“We heard about that.” Amber says. “That was a bad choice.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“But she has explained to you why she did it, yes?’ Steven presses.
I shake my head. “No. I mean, I know she wants to talk to Vin but she won’t say what it’s about. Doesn’t really make me want to take her to him, you know?”
Steven sighs as he removes his hat to rub his bald head. He mutters, “She’s excessive with the cloak and dagger routine.”
“She doesn’t know her like we do.” Crystal insists.
“Then they should have had us do this in the first place.”
“You know why they couldn’t. Why we shouldn’t be doing this now.”
“I thought everyone in here was cool.” I interrupt, getting a
“They are.” Steven replies defensively.
“Then what’s with all the vaguery.”
Amber frowns. “That’s not a word.”
“Do you understand what I mean by it?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s a word, isn’t it? Answer the question. What do you guys want from Vin? And who am I talking about when I say ‘you guys’?”
Steven shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “We weren’t supposed to talk to you about this.”
“Vaguery!”
“Shh, alright.” Crystal says, sounding a
“Your situation with the Colonies?”
“Our situation at this Colony.” Steven corrects.
“How is this one different than any others?”
“The first Colony was incredible. It was a lifesaver. People joined up willingly and it grew and grew until we had to branch out. New Colonies were formed, new Pods created. We traded with each other, we visited one another. You were allowed to go outside the gates and be in the world. It was dangerous but it was nice to walk free, to swim in the Sound, to visit the city. But as the Colonies expanded more and more the tone of things changed. They stopped talking about surviving and being a community. It became more about keeping the sickness out and maintaining the purity within. The doors were locked, people were assigned permanently to Pods and we lost contact with everyone else. Then the roundups started. They went into the city and gathered people, saying we were saving them from themselves and the illness. They were put to work. If they refused, they were taken away. People would disappear for days, sometimes weeks, and they’d come out looking broken. But they’d get right to work. It’s been going on this way for years.”
“That’s a generalization of all Colonies.” I say, feeling a
“It’s a posh prison compared to outside.”
“It’s still a prison.” I tell him hotly. “Just because you don’t want out doesn’t mean it’s not a cage.”
“But you see, we do want out. Or at least to go back home. When they brought all of us here to fix this place up they broke up families, something they’d never done before. They pulled parents from children, husbands from wives, sisters from brothers. They say the selection system is a lottery, that it’s random, but it’s not. It’s very specific.”
“Separating you from your families keeps you in line doesn’t it? It gives you the incentive to keep your head down.”
He nods grimly. When I glance at the others I can the tension in their faces. They’re all missing someone. “It’s a very good incentive, yes. One that we believe they felt the need to implement only recently. You see, Lexy told us your theory about the fallen Pod. We think you’re right.”
“Really? Because she didn’t seem to believe me. Or she didn’t want to.”
“She’s skeptical of everything.” Crystal says with distaste. “That’s why she’s dropped the ball with you.”
“What does that mean?”
“She was supposed to convince you to let her speak to the hornet a week ago. She’s not even trying anymore, is she?”
“No, she’s avoiding me actually.”
Crystal shakes her head, disgusted.
“Why didn’t you guys approach me?” I ask. “I would have taken any one of you to him immediately.”
“We were told not to talk to you about it.”
“By who? The Team Leaders?”
Steven chuckles. “No. By the others. Others like us.”
“Others who are unhappy?” I ask, picking up on what we’re not saying.
He nods. “But we got on with you too well too fast. It’s why Melissa pulled you out of here. She likes your relationship with Lexy because you don’t like each other. You obviously don’t trust each other.”
“And Melissa knows all of this how?”
“We’re watched very closely. This right now is actually very dangerous which is why any further communication will have to be with Lexy.”
“How can you go along with this?” I ask exasperated. “If you know they’re manipulating you and kidnapping people like me, how can you still be in favor of the Colonies?”
“We’re not in favor of it. Not exactly. We’re not ready to go out and live in the wild like you do, none of us would last a day, but we do want the old days of the Colonies. Back when it was a community all about survival and not—“
“A prison? A slave trade?”
Steven’s mouth drops into a grim line but he nods. “Yes, exactly.”
“As long as you’re in favor of people like me being allowed to live their life as they choose—“
“We are.”
“Then we’re good. I’m on board. But you still haven’t answered me, though I think I know the answer already. What does Lexy want to talk to Vin about?”