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It was too late. The shot had been fired.
I stared in horror as my brother’s body hit the floor. Cato’s head bounced off the tile in slow motion when his body landed with a sickening thud. My legs propelled me to him, but the force of my motion sent me down to the ground as well. Time seemed to freeze— I looked around as I fell and caught a glimpse of chaos as the others in the courtroom scrambled for the exits or ducked under benches of their own. Their mouths opened and closed in screams, but I heard nothing.
My hands smacked the cold tile on the courtroom floor, bringing me back to my senses as I landed on my knees, and I realized it wasn’t my own force that caused my fall. It was a pair of large, strong hands that had reached out and grabbed my ankles from under the bench. I was alone on my row now. Emmaline had disappeared in the commotion, so I had to handle this on my own. I reared back as quickly as I could, bringing my elbow into my attacker’s nose with a crack.
He yelped quietly but didn’t retaliate. Instead, he reached out to my shoulders and whispered frantically.
“Claren, calm down. It’s me.”
Raf. Of all people, Raf should understand why I needed to get out there to Cato. I had to see if he was stunned or injured—or both. There was still a chance I could save him.
“Let me go!” I fought to free myself, but he held on.
“Breathe. This is important, and I need you to listen.”
“No.” I yanked one arm free. “That’s Cato. I saw him. He’s shot and I need to get his body before he wakes up. Now please just let me go.”
Raf’s eyes were cloudy as he reached up and pulled the bandanna down enough to reveal his nose and mouth, safe under the bench away from the view of the others.
“He’s not going to wake up.” There was a tremble in his voice. But he couldn’t be upset yet. We didn’t know for sure. Firearms were illegal for everyone other than Leaders. Justice Hines was powerful, but she was not a Leader. She was still just a Peacemaker. It should have been a stun gun.
I struggled to loosen his grip once more. “I just need to see. Please.”
But he held on even tighter. Turning my body and pulling me closer, he lowered me all the way to the ground beside him, both of us on our bellies, and he pointed straight ahead. In front of us, under the chair legs and tables at the front of the room, before the Justice’s bench, I had a clear shot of Cato. His body lay lifeless on the floor, and leaking from under the sides of his unmoving form was a dark pool of liquid, spreading slowly across the tile.
His blood was the same color as mom’s. But then, I supposed everyone’s blood was that color. It just seemed so much darker in death, like a mirror into my own heart—a sign of the days to come.
Beads of sweat dotted my forehead as a wave of nausea came over me, but Raf’s presence was a calming force. I didn’t know how he was able to do it. How he was able to keep his own emotions in check enough to not only find calmness within himself, but to find enough to project into me. It seemed impossible, but I was grateful for it. And it was necessary in order to hear the words he said next.
“You have to support the judge.”
I shook my head, trying to protest, but his projection was like a sedative.
“Not in your heart, but in her heart—she has to believe it. You have to keep going.” He gestured to the right. “See those cameras? Give them a show. The public loves you already. Show them why Classen City needs you on the inside. Because Claren, we need you on the inside.”
“Raf, I can’t.”
“You can. You’re strong. This isn’t easy for any of us. No one said it would be easy. But Cato put his life on the line for the cause. He knew this was a possibility. Don’t let his sacrifice go to waste. Congratulate the judge on her excellent shot.”
Raf winced as he uttered the last sentence. The words were harsh and cruel and his timing was awful. I wanted to scream and cry and grieve. But there wasn’t time for any of that. I had to make a decision now.
Could I do it? Could I really be convincing enough to make the public believe I was on the side of Classen City and the New American law, even when that law called for the execution of my brother? There was only one way to find out.
Raf placed his hand on my shaking back, and rubbed a gentle circle. “You’ve got this. But you need to go now.”
I turned to face his misty eyes and nodded once. I didn’t know why he was helping me after I’d turned Frank in, but there wasn’t time to find out. I just had to trust him. He pulled the bandanna back up over his nose and rolled to the side, rising to a crouch and moving toward the back exit after the other Outsiders. I rolled to the opposite side of the table once he’d gone.
There were just a few others on their feet. Most of the crowd had already exited, and those who remained were cowering behind whatever protection they could find. Most had probably never seen a firearm or heard a gunshot before—even the adults and other Leaders. At eighteen years old I’d already witnessed two fatal shots and enough spilled blood to last me a lifetime.
The sight of Cato’s body lying still on the now stained tile brought an involuntary dry heave from my belly. I forced myself to look away, and mistakenly met the eyes of his murderer. Justice Hines stared at me with a triumphant grin. I wanted to take her down, remove her revolting smile from my sight, but I couldn’t. Instead, I stuffed my blood-thirsty desire for revenge into my deepest depths and focused on the energy I was picking up from Justice Hines.
Her glee was disgusting. She was so proud and righteous in that courtroom, her heart thumping with exhilaration. And the look on her face was intended for me. She still gripped the weapon in her hands and dared me to act against her. She was ready to take me down, too.
I allowed myself to lean into her emotions and gathered the confidence I needed to step toward my brother’s corpse. Numb to myself, and feeling only the fiery adrenaline of a killer, I forced a meager smirk to my face and nudged Cato’s arm with my foot. It barely moved through the sticky puddle of blood.
My actions surprised the judge. No—she was outright shocked. I met her eyes again, maintaining my smirk, and gave an approving nod. My heart was pounding and the room went black around the edges of my vision, but I had to move forward. The red light blinking on the camera across the room was now fixed on me and the horrible monster across from me.
“Nice shot,” I said. My voice was barely recognizable.
She stared blankly for a moment, probably trying to read how I was really feeling. If I was on her side, I’d be relieved that Cato was down, but also frustrated about Frank getting away. I’d feel angry and vengeful toward the Outsiders. Angry and vengeful I could do.
“He had it coming,” she finally said. She was still trying to antagonize me, but I had to refuse to allow it to affect me. I nodded in agreement, still maintaining my expression, which I hoped looked more like a grin than a grimace.
“He did.”
“So you’re not upset.”
“I’m upset that my brother turned against our city and put innocent lives in danger.” Not true. No one’s life was endangered by his stun gun. But that’s not what the public would be told.
“He was a traitor. He should’ve been sentenced to execution at his trial.” Justice Hines said the last part quietly but full of malice. If she believed Cato should have been executed, why didn’t she order it?
I cut my gaze over to the flashing cameras on the side of the room and the trembling man operating the equipment. Did he catch her words?
A cold hand on my wrist stole my attention and prevented me from dwelling on it too long. I turned to meet the icy blue gaze of Emmaline Frasier. Her expression was completely flat as she raised my wrist in the air.
“Claren Greenwood, you did it again.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. I had no idea what she was thinking as she continued, speaking loudly and turning slightly toward the cameraman. “Thank you for calling Justice Hines’ attention to the intruder and identifying him as a known criminal. Your allegiance to Classen City is astounding, and this goes to show that you will do whatever it takes for our people.”
From the corner of my eye I watched Justice Hines drop her arms and brush off her robe. She was agitated about something, but she didn’t speak. She seemed to purposely avoid turning her attention toward us at all.
“Now we really must go and get you cleaned up.” Emmaline pulled me toward the back exit of the courtroom, but I stopped to sneak one last glance at my brother. His bandanna had fallen askew, and he looked peaceful as he lay, a sight that would remain ingrained in my mind forever. I wished his last moments had been a little more peaceful. It wasn’t fair for him to go out like that. And it wasn’t fair that I didn’t get to say goodbye.
My shoe left sticky crimson footprints as we walked away from my brother’s body, and I think Emmaline may have been speaking, but I don’t know what she said. I honestly don’t even know how I made it out of the room. I was completely numb.
The hallway was buzzing with Protectors and Leaders searching for the Outsiders. They weren’t searching the right places, though. The halls were lined with doors—some leading to other rooms or offices, some just closets. One of them no doubt held a secret passage to the underground tunnels, because they wouldn’t be foolish enough to attempt an escape through the doors of City Hall. Raf was too smart for that.
Why wasn’t he smart enough to keep Cato out of here? The thought rocked my numbness away, and suddenly overcome by emotion—all of the emotions tangled into one giant knot in my stomach—I stopped and retched on the hallway floor. The sight of Cato’s blood on my shoe caught my eye as I hunched over, and I couldn’t get my body to cooperate. I was so sick. Sick with grief, sick of death, and sick of the games we had to play to bring the truth to light.
Emmaline stood motionless, waiting for me to finish before signaling someone over to take care of the mess. She handed me a bottle of water and a small white tablet from a tiny plastic bottle in her bag.
“Take this. You’ll feel better.”
I didn’t even question it. I swallowed the pill in a hurry, desperate to find any source of relief for my pain. And after washing it down with a gulp of water I looked up to find Felix Walsh leaning against the wall across from us, watching me with a somber stare.
Emmaline guided me through a maze of hallways to an obscure exit at the back corner of the building. My feet were getting heavy as we walked through the halls, so I was grateful for her support. I spotted her black coupe outside, but the brightness of the sunlight reflecting from its surface forced my eyes closed. It felt good to close them. So good, in fact, that I didn’t open them again. I didn’t open them until I was safe and sound under my green duvet in Noble borough. It was dawn on Tuesday.