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Ryan, Trent, and I stand against the wall in the common room watching people chat quietly as we wait for Vin to break the news. With how quickly gossip flies in this place, I assume everyone already knows. But do they know who they’ve lost?
Vin stands in a huddle with six other people—four men, two women. I don’t recognize any of them. They’re talking in hushed tones, the men and women holding pieces of paper that they were all pointing to at first, but now dangle limp and useless in each of their hands. Vin is standing in front of them, his arms crossed over his chest and his handsome face patiently serious.
“Did you know her?” Ryan whispers to me.
I shrug. “I don’t know. I couldn’t recognize her. I doubt it, though. I see most of the people I was even a little bit close to.” I jut my chin toward the southern corner of the room where a big man stands next to an older redhead and a young brunette. “That’s the kitchen staff over there. Aside from Vin and Nats they were my only real friends. They’re the ones who first told me about the rebellion.”
Ryan follows my gaze. I think Trent was already looking.
“They made the pie?” Ryan asks, his face very, very serious.
I laugh. “Yeah, they made a pumpkin pie to bribe me. It worked. It was delicious.”
“What are their names?” Trent asks.
“Oh, um,” I stutter, thrown by the question. It’s personal and it’s coming from Trent. I expect battle stat questions from him: How much can they lift? What’s their dominant kill hand? Weapon of choice? “The big guy is Steven. The redhead next to him is Crystal, and the brown-haired girl is Amber. The other ones I’m not sure about. I think one of the other guys is named John? Don? Dan? I don’t remember. We didn’t talk much.”
“Where’s Nats?” Ryan asks.
I scan the room but I don’t find her. My blood goes cold. “I don’t see her.”
“They might not have everyone here yet.”
“Vin would have recognized her,” I say, voicing the fear coursing through my veins. “If it was her in that room, he would have known her.”
Ryan only nods and I wonder who exactly I’m trying to convince—him or me?
Suddenly Vin steps into the center of the room. Without a word from him, without a gesture, the entire room falls into silent expectation.
“Whoa,” I breathe.
“No doubt who the boss is here,” Ryan mutters.
“As you all probably know by now, there’s been a breach,” Vin begins. He isn’t even trying to raise his voice. He’s speaking in a normal tone, just daring people to make a sound above him. “It’s been contained. The intruders have been captured. Their intentions are still up for debate, but we’ll get to that in a minute. The most important thing that has to be addressed immediately is one I’m sure you all know about by now. We’ve had a fatality in the building.”
There’s a scattering of gasps. Maybe a few people were somehow out of the loop, but for the most part the room is unaffected. They already knew the what. They want to know who.
“I’ve spoken to the Mayors,” Vin continues, looking over his shoulder at the men and women he had been talking to, “and through roll call and head counts we’ve been able to find out who we’ve lost. It was Rebecca, from the gardens.”
A wider-spread gasp runs through the ranks. There are tears immediately being shed and quiet sobs are peppered through the room.
“I know we’re all very sad to hear about what happened to her. We’re also very angry because her death could have been avoided.”
“I heard it was a Risen attack,” a man calls out.
“Are there Risen in the building?” someone else cries out fearfully.
Vin shakes his head solemnly. “It looked like a Risen attack but we’re sure it wasn’t.”
“Then what was it?”
“Who was it?”
Vin glances at me for the briefest of seconds. Just long enough to make me sweat.
“It was a ca
Chaos. Absolute freak out chaos. People seriously scream in fear. I haven’t seen anything like it since the early days, and the sight of it now makes me shift on my feet nervously, eyeing the exits.
“Calm down, calm down,” Vin says loudly, his voice bizarrely soothing. “The Guard is sweeping the building right now. If any other outsiders are still here, they won’t be for long.”
“Are these them?” a woman shouts, pointing angrily at the ca
“Yes,” Vin confirms. “They’re ca
More chaos. There are curses mixed inside angry shouts. Some people move farther away from the prisoners, eyeing them cautiously. For their part, the ca
“Stop!” Vin commands sternly.
The Colonists quiet almost immediately.
“It’s being taken care of. You’re safe. I promise you. From what I’ve been able to find out so far, these are not the people responsible for what happened to Rebecca, though we are still looking into it and they will remain in custody.”
“They should be killed!”
“Put them outside the gates! Let the Risen have them!”
Movement from the ca
“Wait!” I shout. I’ve stepped forward into the center of the room with Vin before I even realize what I’m doing. When I do realize it, when every eye in the entire place is on me, I wish I could sink into the floor and disappear. “I—we have—”
I look at Vin, feeling frantic. He’s watching me calmly, waiting. They’re all waiting. All watching. I’m go
I swallow hard. “I brought them here to help you.”
“You brought them here?”
“Why isn’t she tied up?”
“She’s one of us! She went for help!”
“She brought death!”
“No, I didn’t!” I shout defensively. “I—We tried to bring The Hive, but—”
“The Hive? Rapists and druggies! That was your plan?”
“I’d rather she brought The Hive than the ca
“She should have stayed gone. We’d be better off and Rebecca would be alive.”
I can’t tell for sure in the chaos, but I’m pretty sure that last shout was Lexy.
I look to Vin, feeling helpless, but what I find is nothing. He’s staring at me blankly. No emotion, no support. No help. They’re calling out The Hive, his home, as being full of rapists and drug addicts and he’s just standing here, passive. Silent. He might as well throw me to these wolves. Without his support they’ll tear me apart.
“You wanted help and that’s exactly what she brought you!”
I whip around, startled. Ryan is striding across the room like he owns the place. He comes to stand directly beside me, his body nearly touching mine.
“My name is Ryan Hyperion!” he shouts, grabbing the attention of every last person in the room. They quiet again, even though there are still murmurs drifting through the crowd. “I was a member of the Hyperion gang, a fighter in the Arena of The Hive. I recognize some of your Guard. Members of the Elevens, the Westies, the Pikes. I even recognized Vin when we arrived. And yes, we brought them here.” He points to the ca
Ryan pauses to look around the room, letting that sink in. Reminding them that this was all for them.
“Then we found them. Your prisoners. The people you want to kill. The people who risked everything to free you.”
“They killed Rebecca!”
“They were clear from the start that no blood would be shed if they could help it,” he replies, stretching the truth just a little bit. “The man who killed Rebecca was acting alone and he should be held accountable for his actions, no one can deny that, but you ca