by Rebecca Rode
“Same to you.”
His gait had more swagger than usual as he joined the others, likely for this girl’s benefit.
“You’re welcome,” she told me with a hint of a smile. “I’m Zenye. You and I have something important to discuss.”
“Oh?”
“I know Ned Harris sent you. More importantly, I know why.”
I stared at her. Only Firebrands knew Dane’s alias. I should have known I wouldn’t be the only spy here. My uncle didn’t trust me enough for that. “Are you after the same information?”
“Nah, I already know all the answers. And no, I’m not telling you or Ned, so don’t ask. I never took the oath.” She pulled her collar back, exposing an expanse of clean skin across her collarbone. “You could say I’m simply a mercenary with a special interest in helping you accomplish your mission here.”
“So Ned didn’t send you.”
“He asked me to help you. I agreed at a price he was willing to pay. Now, here’s the problem—your hotheaded roommate over there is right. Your group’s obsession with branding followers is dramatic and all, but it could cost you. The moment everyone here discovers your Firebrand connections, security will flag you for extra observation. Virgil won’t allow you near the lab wing until your neurotech training is complete.”
Which would take years. I didn’t even have weeks. “Lars isn’t serious. He wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“Guys do stupid things when girls are involved. However, if we alter your public records to contradict him, it will be your word against his. Anyone who wants to know can pull up your squeaky-clean implant records, see you’re a good boy, and dismiss your roomie’s accusations as false. Unless, of course, you shed that shirt of yours for some girl. Then I can’t help you.”
It took a second for the meaning of her words to sink in. Then I did a quick search for proximity records. My implant found her immediately. Zenye Holmes, age twenty-one. Everything looked normal except for one thing.
The parent fields read “Unknown.”
That was impossible. New NORA had no true orphans. Each adopted child’s records contained their new parents’ names or at least the name of a guardian. Nobody was a true unknown.
I frowned. “If that can be done, why didn’t Ned clear my record before I even arrived?”
“Record cleansing can only occur at a relay station. All the ones in town are run by stuffy-heads loyal to Hawking. But where I work, we can delete or change anything you want. You can rename yourself Unicorn Rainbow Falconface for all I care. But it isn’t cheap. Every job I take on is a huge risk.”
“I thought Dane was paying you.”
“Ned paid me to keep an eye on you. You’re paying me to change your identity. There’s a difference.”
Of course Dane would insist I pay for it myself. The cage felt like it was closing in. “I don’t have much money.”
“Sure you do. Just because it’s in Mommy’s medical savings account doesn’t mean you can’t reroute it.”
My insides went cold. Not only had Zenye hacked into my financial accounts, she also knew about Mom. How far into my past had she researched? Because if she went deep enough . . .
I swallowed. Hard.
“I’m no criminal,” she continued. “I don’t intend to take all of it. I’d say fifty thousand credits ought to do it.”
Now I choked. “Fifty thousand?” That was 80 percent of what I had saved for Mom’s next medical bill. If I failed to make the payment, they would unplug Mom for good.
“This is about more than protecting your identity. You won’t get the answers you want without me. There’s something I need to show you, something you and your uncle will be very glad to discover.”
Frustration welled up inside me. If I rejected her, the chances of my succeeding here were remote. If I accepted, Mom’s life could be in danger in a different way. But if I found Dane’s answers quickly enough, maybe he would help replenish the fund. Probably not, but maybe.
“Ten thousand,” I said. “Paid after I get the answers I want.”
Her black eyes glittered. “Forty, paid up front.”
“Twenty upon satisfactory completion of my demands. My records get changed, and you show me what the new update does in detail.” Then I figure out a way to get Mom far away from Dane.
“Twenty-five and done. Meet me in the garden at 15:00 tomorrow.” She swept a braid back over her shoulder and sauntered away in much the same manner Lars had, except with more hips. Legacy didn’t do that.
I gritted my teeth. Stop it. I was here to discover Virgil’s secrets. I had to stop caring about Legacy and Lars and anything else distracting me from my true purpose. Mom’s safety was more important than any of that, and I was closer to grasping it than ever.
I pulled up one last proximity record: Lars Druher. He hailed from one of the more wealthy districts. Clean record and high grades. But how much of that was really true? Zenye’s revelation had shifted my entire world. If Neuromen workers were truly running a black operation with public information, what did I really know about the people around me?
This explained why Dane cared so much about the implant update. With the power to alter records, he could wreak havoc on the Hawkings’ orderly government system. Every citizen in the nation would be clamoring for new leadership after such confusion. The havoc it could wreak on our financial system alone . . .
The more I considered it, the stronger I felt that this was connected somehow. No wonder Dane wanted to know what was going on here. Not to stop it, of course. He had no concern for the economy. I’d lived with him for over a year. I knew better than anyone that his only interest was how something could be used. Or someone.
Today I was that someone. Tomorrow I would wipe my record clean and break free of my uncle’s hold forever. I would find his precious intel, fulfill the mission, and pull my mom out from under Dane’s thumb once and for all. What Dane did with his intel wasn’t my problem.
I tried not to think about Legacy as I left the room.
Fourteen
Legacy
Millian plopped down beside me for breakfast again, going off about the texture of Neuromen’s potatoes and how they were cutting corners in reheating yesterday’s fake meat. I listened for a couple of minutes before pulling up the day’s schedule.
Then I stiffened. “Blood work?”
Millian’s lips thinned, and I realized I’d interrupted her midsentence. “Just a blood draw scheduled for this morning, and then we’re free the rest of the day. You didn’t hear yesterday’s lecture?” She paused and muttered to herself. “No, I guess you didn’t.”
“Sorry, I’m trying to listen. I’m just a little distracted today.”
“Today. Right.”
I shot her a guilty grin. “Start over. I’ll try my best to listen this time.”
She rolled her eyes. “I guess it isn’t entirely your fault. I ramble when I’m nervous. We’re getting our positions tomorrow, and I’m in fourth place. The first day’s exam results had me in first. Those are the only ones that should matter. Not some dumb fitness test.”
I’d forgotten about those. Pulling up the chart, I noticed Kole was in position two. Even more surprisingly, I was number six. Strange. Either that “dumb fitness test” counted for an oddly disproportionate total of our placement scores or Virgil had placed me higher than promised. “They’d be stupid to make you an assistant. I bet you’re one of the best candidates they’ve ever had.”
Millian’s cheeks went pink at the praise. “Seriously. How much can they really tell about us after four days of testing, anyway?”
Not nearly enough. It bothered me Kole was doing so well yet didn’t seem to care. Was it an act, or was he truly so smart and athletic and everything?
I gave myself a silent chiding. The Firebrand occupied my thoughts far too often these days. “I don’t care what the standings say. I’m not taking their blood test.” There was no logical reason they needed a new sample.
Everyone had blood and DNA records on their public file taken at birth.
“It doesn’t hurt that bad. I bet they’ll just take some from your finger. Or are you one of those people who fears blood? My aunt faints when she sees it. One time, when we were at a family dinner, my cousin got hurt and . . .”
I let myself fade away once more. She didn’t understand. It wasn’t blood or needles that had my stomach flopping like a dying fish. My aversion ran much, much deeper. Something related to a memory that had almost become a dream.
Mom and Gram talking. A much younger me, crouched behind a sofa. A string of unfamiliar words that felt like a sword to the heart when their meaning came together. A feeling of betrayal by those who claimed to love me most.
Nope, that blood draw was not happening. Ever.
I tuned back in, nodding attentively until Millian finished her story. “Yeah, it’s pretty much like that. I think I’ll skip out on this one.”
“Skip the draw?” She looked as if I’d suggested setting the lab on fire.
“They can find whatever they want in my file.” I felt strangely light-headed now. “I need some air.”
“Sure. I’ll . . . tell them, I guess.”
“Thanks.” I stood and dumped my tray before heading out, my legs shaky.
It was quiet when I arrived at the garden.
I stood there among the trees, wondering why I’d come in the first place. It held no more clues for me. I knew no more about who’d written that graffiti message than the day I’d arrived, and Mom’s lab refused to reveal its secrets. I was at a dead end with two days remaining before Virgil’s broadcast and an uncertain future before me. The facts were scattered puzzle pieces and Virgil was at the center. I just had to figure out how the pieces fit together.
A breeze sent the leaves rustling. It calmed my frayed nerves long enough that I could admit why I’d really come. I was hiding. From the blood test, from the world. No better place to hide than in a forest, fake as this one was.
I lifted my face toward the open sky and sighed, letting myself enjoy its natural warmth for the first time in days.
“I’d ask what you’re doing,” Kole said from the shadows, “but I’m not sure I want to know.”
I jumped and cursed silently. “If you’re trying to prove yourself innocent of my stalking accusations, you’re failing.”
“I was here first. If anything, you’re following me around.”
“Oh? I suppose hiding in the trees to avoid having your blood drawn is a new habit, then.”
“Brand new.” He stepped out, letting the shadows fall behind him. “I intend to do the blood draw later. There’s something I have to do first.”
“Which is?”
“No questions, remember?” He took another step forward. Now he stood right in front of me, close enough I could see a vein flexing in his jaw. His usual cockiness had been replaced with something quieter, something I couldn’t quite place. Something that made my stomach flip in a weird way.
“If you didn’t stalk me. Now we’re right back where we started.”
“Where’s that, exactly?”
If my heart was racing before, it was downright sprinting now. “That sounds an awful lot like a question.”
“It’s the only exception to the rule. You said we started in one place, which implies we must be headed to a different one. I’d like to know where that is.” His teasing tone was gone now. There was a seriousness to his question that held me captive. There would be no joking my way out of this.
He felt it too. Whatever it was.
I’d only felt that pull once before.
Derik.
The name unlocked something inside me, allowing me to tear my eyes free of his gaze and take a step back. “I don’t think—”
“Kole Baby,” a voice cooed from the hallway door. Zenye bounded over and threw herself between us, her back to me. “Sorry I’m late. It’s so hard to get away from those whiny candidates sometimes.”
“Hello to you too,” I muttered, then choked as she pulled Kole’s bewildered face to hers. Kissing him. Her hands ran up his chest as she deepened the kiss, her fingers tangling themselves in his hair.
I whirled and stalked out to hide the flush rising from my neck. If he was waiting for his girlfriend, why not say so like a normal person? Why walk toward me like a panther and speak all low and quiet, like there was some kind of secret between us?
Why look at me like that?
I stormed into the hallway with clenched fists, putting as much space between the happy couple and myself as possible. This twisted obsession with Kole had to stop. Now.
Pulling up an old mental trick, I gathered any attraction I had for the guy and imagined shoving it into a giant bag. I tied it closed, then tossed it out an imaginary window. Somehow the window became Mom’s lab, and the bag landed with a splash in the water beneath, sinking slowly to its death at the bottom of the bay.
It was precisely what Kole Mason deserved. Firebrands toyed with their prey. They got what they wanted through lies and deceit. I, on the other hand, was a Hawking. He would get no satisfaction from me.
With Kole’s face flung from my thoughts, it was Derik’s lopsided grin that entered. Mom had already begun to grow faceless in my memories, a phenomenon the therapist said was normal. But somehow, every centimeter of Derik’s face was burned into my brain forever. Every expression, every fleck of blue in his impossibly light eyes. The inflection in his voice when he talked, the feel of his fingers on my cheek. The softness of his lips on mine.
Somehow it was the memories I most wanted to forget that clung the tightest, seizing me like a rope around my chest squeezing the breath from my very soul. And it was the memories I longed for most that slipped like air through my fingers.
True to Virgil’s word, the door clicked open the moment I reached Mom’s lab. I’d almost hoped it was a lie, yet here the room stood. Empty. Quiet. My footsteps echoed as I entered. Everything was just as I’d left it—the shiny metal table in the center, the backless stool. Any evidence of Mom’s presence was long gone.
I placed myself on that stool and stared down at my reflection. It should have shown Mom’s face with her silly goggles instead. It should have been covered with wires and tiny circuit boards and jars of gray brain matter. She should still be here.
“I still leave the light on sometimes,” I told the empty air. “And when I wake up in the morning, it’s still on.”
The silence absorbed my words until they faded out of existence. There would be no answer, not even here.
It was too quiet. A person could drown in their thoughts in such a room. A useless lab. It existed for looks, not function. While the other labs served their scientists in forging new projects that would change human neurotech forever, this one remained empty and alone. Watched, spoken about perhaps, yet avoided entirely. Maybe that was what drew me to it.
This is sick, Legacy, I chided myself. If I meant to stay at Neuromen, it was time to stop sulking. Mom was gone, Dad had essentially removed himself from my life, and Alex couldn’t care less about anyone but himself. That meant I had to find my own family. Right here.
Millian would be a good start.
I let myself out the door, ensuring it locked behind me, before making my way quietly down the hallway. I would hide in the dorms until the silly blood draw was over with. When Millian returned, I would tell her my purpose here. With any luck, she would join the cause.
It wasn’t until I’d turned the first corner that I heard the footsteps.
Fifteen
Kole
I pushed Zenye off. “What was that?”
“A present. Hope you enjoyed it.”
I should have. I’d kissed plenty of girls, the most recent being a neighbor girl just a few weeks ago. But guilt and irritation twisted in my gut now. Legacy’s expression burned like a brand into my memory. Hurt. Betrayal.
“I prefer to know a girl at least twenty-four hours first,” I mutte
red.
“That was a very tame kiss. Lucky for you, it didn’t take any more to get the message across.” She ran her finger up my chest. “I don’t know if you could have handled more.”
I shoved her hand away. “That was about Legacy.”
“Good. Maybe you’re smart after all.”
I waited a full five seconds before responding, letting the anger recede. “You’re wrong about her. She can’t stand me or any other Firebrand walking this planet. No threat from her whatsoever.”
“Hawkings are always threats, and you’re missing the point. I didn’t protect you from her. I protected you from yourself.”
I gritted my teeth. “I do not like Legacy Hawking.”
“Right. I’ve seen how you look at her. And by the way, you look at her a lot.”
That couldn’t be true. “I’m weighing my enemy.”
“There may be some weighing going on, but not the kind you think. Look, I’m not convinced you understand how dangerous she can be to our plans. If this continues, I may have to tell your uncle.”
Our plans? What was with this girl?
My frustration finally erupted. “In case you forgot, I’m paying you for this. Me. So take me to this mysterious relay station so we can get this done, or the deal is off.”
She lifted her hands in surrender, but the smirk on her face only deepened. “Let’s go, then, boss.”
I expected to be led outside to a transport and travel across town. Instead, Zenye took me straight to the locked wing, the door clicking open when we arrived. A thrill ran through me as we walked through.
Now I understood. Director Virgil wasn’t relying on a nearby relay station to transmit and receive implant data. He had his own station right here—and I was about to see it for myself.
“Getting you past the front desk will be the hardest part,” Zenye said, prancing down a white hall that looked identical to the others. “Once we arrive, I’ll set back the security camera exactly ten minutes. You’ll have that long to make your changes and not a second more, or an alarm sounds and Director Virgil sees you in all your glory.”
