Showers weren’t a thing in the city. There was never enough water to be wasted on that sort of luxury. If you were lucky, like Mari and me, you had enough water to wash from a bowl. When the rains came, you could stand on the roof and scrub just as soon as the smoke and ash had been cleared from the sky.
I’d never known any different. It had all seemed normal to me. But my time in the Arc Domes had softened me, made me used to the privilege of being clean. So, I sat in Captain Tate’s office, waiting to find out who’d ransacked our room, trying to ignore the sweat still sticking to my skin.
Gideon, Walsh, and Mari offered plenty of distractions from the way my hair clung to the back of my neck.
Gideon sat in the chair beside me, his leg shaking in a rhythm that made my head pound. Walsh paced by the door, like he wanted to be sure he was mid-motion in case he had to pounce on whoever came to check on us next.
Mari hummed to herself as she sat by my feet, sketching on the tablet one of the guards had given her to keep her busy.
If Mari had been in our room. If I had left her there alone…
But you didn’t. You’re not that dumb.
“Do you think they’ll bring us lunch soon?” Mari looked up at me.
“They will,” Gideon said. “If the next person who comes in doesn’t have food, we’ll remind them we need to eat.”
“How long does it take to run a DNA sample?” I stood and started pacing the side wall, keeping out of Walsh’s pacing path.
“They already know who it is.” Gideon dragged his hands over his hair. “You could tell from the look on Tate’s face the last time she came in here. Drawn, nervous. She’d gotten news, and it wasn’t something she liked. My guess is we’re dealing with a Dome Guard gone rogue.”
“Makes sense,” Walsh said. “The killer would need access, training. Building a bomb to do just the right amount of damage isn’t easy.”
“Dome Guard aren’t taught how to build bombs,” Gideon said.
“They’re taught how to recognize what explosives can do,” Walsh said. “It’s only a small leap from understanding to building. She’d have all the knowledge necessary to figure it out.”
“She?” I froze.
“Who has the most to lose from Kain’s paper?” Walsh said. “Maybe I’m wrong, but a woman makes the most sense to me.”
“So, if they know who she is, how long could it take to find her?” I touched my hip, wishing I’d had a moment to grab a knife before the guards Gideon had called came storming into my room.
“If she wants to hide?” Gideon said. “Days.”
“What?” My voice echoed around the room.
“Don’t panic,” Mari said. “They can bring us more meals than just lunch.”
“You know what would be a smart idea around here? Security cameras.” I pressed my hands to the wall, leaning my weight into my palms like that could somehow draw out the excess energy burning through my limbs.
“The Incorporation values its citizens’ right to privacy,” Walsh said.
“I don’t think Kain would’ve agreed.” Gideon stood to pace the wall opposite me. “We’ve got to get out of here before six. We can’t miss the symposium.”
“We planned the symposium to draw out the killer.” I stepped away from my pacing wall. “If the guards know who’s responsible for all this bullshit―”
“It doesn’t change anything.” Gideon dragged his hands over his hair again. “It’s too late to cancel.”
“Can’t you just send some messages to the people we’ve talked to?” I said.
“I mean I refuse to cancel.” Gideon gripped the top of his head like he wanted to rip his own thoughts out. “I’d never actually understood Kain’s plan. I knew about the DNA bank, and the theory of why we needed it, but what Kain proposed, it’s inhumane.”
“You think?” Walsh shot Gideon a glare but didn’t stop pacing.
“I had never read her papers until I knew I was supposed to lead the symposium,” Gideon said. “If I never had, you can bet ninety percent of our class has no idea that Kain proposed―”
“A whole new kind of hell.” I cut across him, glancing toward Mari, who sat leaning back against the desk, watching all of us prowl without a hint of fear on her face.
“We need to make sure Kain’s papers stay theoretical, and the best way to do that is to make sure our peers understand what they’d be getting into if the Incorporation decides to follow the path Kain laid out,” Gideon said.
“Do you really believe the Incorporation cares what a bunch of teenagers think?” I asked.
“We owe it to ourselves to try.” Gideon glanced down to Mari. “We owe it to the ones who come after us. We can’t”―he shut his eyes, like he was trying to measure his words―“I will never forgive myself if we just sit back and let this happen.”
“But do we need to do this now?” Walsh said. “Give us a year, we’ll be out of school. We’ll have more control.”
You’ll already be gone, and I’ll still be locked in here.
I dug my nails into my palms, swallowing the words I wanted to scream at Walsh. “Some of us don’t have the privilege of waiting for our problems to solve themselves.”
Walsh met my gaze for a moment. I wished we could read each other’s minds.
“Stand with me on this one, Walsh,” I said. “I’ve had your back. Now you have mine.”
“So how do we get out of here?” Walsh said.
“We wait for them to catch the person who wants us dead,” Mari said. “We’ll get to go home after that.”
“And if they don’t find them in the next few hours?” I asked.
“You sneak out.” Mari shrugged.
“There are two guards outside the door,” Gideon said.
“Do I get to punch them?” I asked.
“I’ll just scream and cry really loud and all of you can go to the atrium,” Mari said.
“What?” I knelt beside my sister.
“It’s what Harper would say to do,” Mari said. “I’ll make a big fuss like I’m traumatized because someone left blood on my bedframe, and then you can go without punching anybody. Miranda might be a little fussed about it, but she’ll probably just feed me and braid my hair to make me feel better. I can scream and cry really loud. I promise.”
“Your sister’s useful,” Walsh said.
“And if they haven’t found the killer yet, you’re staying in here with her,” I said.
“You want to go to the atrium without me?” Walsh finally stopped pacing.
“No. I’d feel a lot better if you came with me, but I have to know Mari is safe. Please, Walsh.”
He stared at me for a moment before nodding.
“Great. We have a plan.” Gideon bounced on his toes. “What do we do for the next few hours?”
“It’s called waiting.” Walsh started pacing again. “And it’s awful.”
A guard brought us a tray of food and some bottles of water. The rumble of a pack of guards running down the hall came three times. Twice going north. Once going south.
I lay down on the floor and closed my eyes, trying to convince myself to relax. There was nothing I could do. There were guards stationed outside our only exit.
Trapped. Trapped in a concrete box.
Panic zapped through my chest. I got up to pace some more.
Mari curled up under Tate’s desk and fell asleep. Part of me hoped she could sleep because she felt safe since I was watching over her. Part of me wanted to scream at her, yell until she understood she should never have that much faith in one person.
You have to trust somebody.
I closed my eyes, savoring the sound of Jaime’s voice in my mind.
“Will we know when the Outer Guard get back?” I asked.
Walsh gave a tiny nod.
I wondered if he’d be able to hear them returning.
“Probably,” Gideon said. “If they called everyone out there, something big is going on. There’ll be at least a few wounded. They’d have to pass this way to get to the medical corridor.”
“What do you think is happening out there?” I sat beside Mari.
“Who knows?” Gideon said. “Last time they called everyone out, they had to do a house-to-house search. Do they have Vamp where you’re from, in the city by the Ice Domes?”
“Yeah,” Walsh said. “We have vampires.”
“None of the people in our city are allowed to chemically alter their bodies,” Gideon said. “Dad had gotten word that some Vamp had made it into the city, and they had to weed out the dealers before the drug could spread.”
“How’d that work out?” Walsh asked.
“They found two dealers and a dozen Vampers,” Gideon said. “We lost an Outer Guard, but it kept the population of the city pure.”
“Do you think they’ll be back before six?” I asked.
“Probably not.” Gideon grimaced. “It’s for the best. If the Dome Guard are busy and the Outer Guard aren’t here, we might actually have a chance of getting through to people before anyone tries to stop the symposium.”
“Stop us how?”
“No idea.” Gideon slid down to sit against the wall. “I’ve never tried to publicly speak against the Incorporation.”
“I’m sorry I got you into this.” I got up and went to sit beside him.
“Don’t be.” He laced his fingers through mine and kissed the back of my hand. “Better to speak up now than to have to fight back when they’re trying to haul you into a sterile room.”
A wave of nausea swept through my stomach.
“We’ll make sure that never happens.” He put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in to lean against his side. “Not to you. Not to Mari. We’ll stop it before it starts.”