The Girl Who Dared to Think

by Bella Forrest

“You’re taking the word of a four?”

  I placed a hand on my hip. “Citizen Farmless is a nine, Gerome. His experience changed him, for the better.”

  To emphasize my point, Grey weakly held up his wrist, and I realized that at some point he had woken up and figured out what was going on. Gerome hardly seemed to notice. He was still staring at the bottles of pills on the walls. “Changed for the better,” he repeated softly. “Blessed by Scipio. Is that really what is happening here?”

  I frowned. Gerome had never doubted a person’s rank, not once, but the way he was talking was making my gut scream that he knew. It was impossible—he couldn’t hear through walls or doors, and I doubted he’d been able to hear us clearly while following at a discreet distance. Unless...

  My eyes darted around, pausing when I saw the black plastic box at his side. A tensor: a high-tech listening device that read vibrations through the walls and translated them into noise. The equipment was dear to the department, and only the Knight Commanders were permitted use. As a Knight Commander, he was trusted enough to have one in his possession, and he had used it to listen in on us. Had been using it for a while, if I had to guess.

  Gerome shifted his weight to one side, uniform creaking, and placed his hand firmly on the handle of his stun baton—more a promise than a threat. His gaze slid around the room, and I frowned as his head swiveled. His cheeks were gaunt and hollow, and there were bags under his eyes that I hadn’t noticed before. He looked like he’d been run ragged by something.

  “Gerome?” I asked. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m better than okay,” he announced. “I am clearer in my duties to the Tower. Scipio explained it to me: he told me we had all been tricked, even him. He wants me to correct the mistake.”

  A chill ran down my spine at the words, and I took an instinctive step in front of Grey.

  “Scipio spared him,” I reminded him. “You were there.”

  “Scipio is great, Liana, but still just a computer,” Gerome said. “A computer that can be tricked.”

  I blinked, my mouth going dry. This was getting more and more dangerous by the second. Gerome was either unhinged, or Scipio himself had sent him on this mad crusade. Either way, we weren’t getting out of it easily. I needed to be careful about how I proceeded. I needed to keep him talking while one of the three of us scrambled to act.

  “If Scipio was tricked,” I said, “how was it done?”

  With a languid motion, he gestured toward the rows of bottles. “What are those?” he asked.

  Roark stepped in, his voice trembling with barely suppressed anger. “Antibiotics, mostly,” he said. “I was forced out of the Medica, but I’ve never been able to stop tinkering.”

  Gerome’s lips twitched. “Tinkering,” he said, then turned back to me. “Tell me, Liana, what did you do to Silvan Wash?”

  My hand was halfway to my baton before I could stop myself, but I quickly bypassed it to run the hand through my hair. “I don’t understand,” I said. “As I explained, I came here to file a report against Silvan Wash.”

  Gerome rolled his eyes, an exaggerated motion that looked cartoonish on his normally stoic features.

  “You know I’ve been following you,” he said calmly. “I’m sure you’ve already put the pieces together. If you haven’t, I’ll be very disappointed.”

  I went still, a chilling calm coming over me. He really did know everything, and there was no creating doubt in him. Now was the time to stand up. “I did,” I told him. “But if you were following, and using the tensor, then you’ll know—”

  “That you and your demented boyfriend tried to force a loyal citizen of the Tower to take your little drug and plan an assault on Scipio? Yes, I figured that out. What I couldn’t figure out was why you mutilated Citizen Wash’s wrists, and why he couldn’t remember anything. But before we finish here tonight, I’m going to find out.”

  His baton came out in a crackle of electricity, searing a blue streak into my eyes with its brilliance. He took a step toward Grey, who was still very much drugged, and I quickly moved in between them. “Gerome, please. If you saw his wrists, then you know that he has been doing it himself, for some time! We can talk about this,” I begged. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “Get out of my way, Liana,” Gerome grated out, and a heartbeat later, he was drawing back his arm, the baton crackling menacingly over my head.

  My baton was out and in my hand before I could even remember reaching for it, and I caught his baton with mine, my arm ringing in shock from the heavy weight of his blow. Sparks shot madly from where the electric ring made contact, but I ignored them and planted a boot in Gerome’s knee, bringing the man down to my side.

  A flick of the wrist disarmed him, his baton bouncing to one side with a loud clatter. His hand snaked up and grabbed my wrist in a vice-like grip, though, and I gritted my teeth as he twisted it. The baton dropped from my nerveless fingers onto the floor, and he released me. I staggered back a few feet, my hand around my wrist, and then spun and brought my heel to his face. He swayed heavily to one side, threatening to tip over, but his kneeling position on the floor helped him keep his balance.

  He glared up at me, his hand on his jaw, and I didn’t hesitate. I lashed out with a fist. He dodged it, rolling forward, and I whirled, lash already in my hand. I flicked out my wrist, hoping to hit him in the chest, but he swung out of the way. I let the harness reel me in and jumped into it as it snapped me toward the wall. I flipped, planted my feet on it, then snapped the next lash line out on the opposite end of the room. In a move I’d practiced a lot, I disconnected, kicked off, and retracted the new line all at the same time, building momentum.

  Hurtling toward Gerome was a bit of an experience, but it was nothing compared to the moment of surprise I felt as he seemingly plucked me out of the air. I had a moment in which I was looking up at him, cradled in his massive arm, and then his mouth morphed into an angry shout as he slammed me to the ground.

  The air left me in a giant whoosh, and my entire diaphragm locked up as I gasped for air. Then all I felt was pain radiating from my back, neck, ribs, and hips as my body struggled to remember how to breathe.

  I came to a minute later to see Grey and Roark both grappling with Gerome, just a few feet away. The two men were holding onto one of the Knight’s arms, which I now saw contained a stun baton, and Roark was struggling to inject something into Gerome’s arm, fighting against Gerome’s massive strength as he tried to drive it point blank into Grey’s chest.

  I watched in horror as Grey let out a hoarse cry of pain when Gerome’s stun baton finally caught him in the side. He went down, his clothes smoking faintly. Roark followed with a cry of pain, and then Gerome was standing over us, his face grim, eyes narrowed.

  Gerome had always been better than me. Better than anyone, really. I had been above and beyond him in lashing, but his combat skill was legendary. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought I would need to fight the man in earnest, but now he stood here, in my sanctuary, looming over my friends with his weapon drawn. And now that it was happening, I couldn’t let him win.

  I lashed the ceiling and used the momentum from the mechanisms in the harness to haul me up, one leg thrusting out to kick the baton out of his hand, the other catching him across the cheek so hard that he doubled over and stumbled back a few steps. I dropped to the ground and scooped up the baton, then exploded forward in a burst of motion, intent on stunning him into submission.

  His hand whipped out and caught me on the jaw, and I spun, crashed into a bookshelf, and fell, books raining down on me as pain radiated up and down the side of my face.

  I groaned, but would have made it to my feet if it weren’t for the baton that smashed into my side. Lights danced before my eyes, and I felt every nerve in my body come alive with pain. I jerked for a moment, feeling my own sweat vaporizing off my skin and rising in a hot steam from my body. When my vision cleared, Gerome was standing over me.

  There were
tears in his eyes.

  All I could do was stare as he looked down at me, the tears falling liberally down his cheeks. I was lost as to how to process the sight of him crying. It was alarming—this wasn’t like him at all.

  Then the baton in his hand let out a roar of power as he loomed over me, sending a shot of fear straight down my spine.

  “You were the daughter I never had,” he said. His eyes flicked up, and he leveled his baton toward where the two men lay. “Don’t you move, old man. I’ll do the same to you.”

  I heard Roark let out a curse, and watched him struggle to his hands and knees.

  “You’re a murderer,” the old man hissed. “You come into my home, trying to make us feel guilty when you kill people for a living. You call yourselves Knights? I call you Scipio’s assassins!”

  Gerome’s face contorted with fury, but as he took a step forward, a chime rang out. It was so calm, so kind and incongruous with the moment, that it took me a moment to recognize the source. Gerome’s wrist.

  The man paused, then quickly reached into his crimson uniform and drew something out. I blinked, stunned. It couldn’t be. Gerome was perfect. A ten. A man beyond reproach.

  In his hand, he clutched a bottle of fat, red pills.

  “I’ll be with you in one moment,” he said hoarsely, and drew one out, then swallowed it back with a grimace. He drew in a sharp breath, and in that motion, I saw the tears vanish from his eyes. The hesitation went out of him like smoke being struck by a harsh wind.

  “Now,” he said, moving to stand over me. I forced my burning nerves to move, crawling to a sitting position and using the motion to disguise my left hand under my body as I pulled out the tip of the lash and palmed it in my fist. If I could hit my baton with it, I could reel it over and maybe we would stand a chance. I saw Grey struggling to his own feet from the corner of my eye.

  “You’re going to come with m—”

  Gerome’s words cut off as a loud crack sounded. I could only stare as he half-turned, then slumped, his eyes rolling back as he crumpled to the ground.

  A young girl, perhaps thirteen or fourteen, now stood in place behind him. She was small and thin, her skin the color of porcelain, so pale I could see the light coloring of her veins. Her white-blonde hair was cut into a shaggy bob, tousled wildly around her face. She had bright blue eyes that were wide with alarm and mortification. And in her hands was a massive wrench, one edge stained with red.

  25

  For a moment, all I could do was stare as the newcomer dropped the wrench and stepped over Gerome’s body, an uncertain smile flickering on her lips.

  “I’m so sorry about that,” she said shakily, gesticulating toward Gerome’s still form. “I just...” Her hand fluttered. “Oh dear, this is a terrible way of making an introduction.”

  I stared blankly at the young girl, my body still in agony from the brutality of Gerome’s attack, and then struggled to my feet. “I think... under the circumstances, we can overlook the oddity.” The look I received from the girl was one of pure gratitude. “What’s your name?”

  “Oh! I didn’t say? No, of course I didn’t say. What was I thinking?” She sighed, her fingers dancing in front of her, and then nodded. “Christian. Tian for short.”

  I smiled in spite of the severity of the situation. “Don’t most people choose ‘Chris?’”

  Tian nodded, her head moving rapidly up and down, her blue eyes wide. “Oh, yes... but most of them don’t like me being a Chris, so I got Tian. It’s okay, I like Tian. It’s nice to be different. This whole Tower is full of Chrises, and—”

  She trailed off as I bent over and placed two fingers to Gerome’s neck, her body trembling. “Is he...? Did I...?”

  I shook my head. Gerome’s pulse was strong and true under my fingers. “He’s fine,” I said. “Which means he won’t be out for long. Roark, give me one of those memory pills?”

  “Memory pills?” Tian echoed, her eyes darting back to the two men picking themselves off the floor. I glanced over my shoulder as well, to see Grey moving and looking more alert than before. Adrenaline—the best antidote to a sedative.

  “You really sure you want to be giving him those, Liana?” Roark asked as he shakily got his feet under him. “He’s been following you for some time—he might already have all the information he needs.”

  “I don’t care. We need to—”

  My skull began to vibrate, and Scipio’s voice slipped into my head, catching me totally off guard. I grabbed at the area as his haughty voice sounded in my ear. Guard down and unresponsive, Cogstown C19 quarters. One detected in room. Liana, your mission is to find and capture the one.

  The buzzing cut off violently, and I looked up, eyes wide, at Roark and Grey. “Scipio—he knows Gerome’s down, and has detected a one in the room.” We all immediately held up our wrists—but they all read nine.

  Tian shifted uncomfortably and started gnawing her lower lip. “It’s me,” she announced softly. “Kind of... Technically I’m an undoc. Well not really, but kind of.” She shifted nervously, and looked at Roark. “I heard you were someone who had some pills to help with rankings?”

  Roark’s eyes narrowed. “Heard from whom?”

  “Not the time, guys!” Grey shouted, and I stood up.

  “Grey’s right—more Knights are coming. We need to get out of here. Roark, Grey, Tian, get the pills.”

  “Which ones?” Roark asked, his hands already pulling bottles and boxes out.

  “All of them!” I shouted. “And give Tian some Paragon. Last thing we need is for her to set off the alarms.”

  I heard them moving behind me while I quickly shoved everything I could think of into a bag I found in the front closet. I piled it with food, blankets, and water, my mind already spinning as I wondered where I could hide them while they waited for this all to die down. I took a moment to consider it as I force-fed Gerome the memory pill.

  “I’m taking you all up to Smallsville,” I said, and Grey shot me a look. “You can hide with Sarah. She’ll shelter you both for a few days.”

  Tian looked up, craning her neck quizzically as she tucked another bottle of pills into a bag. “Why go there,” she asked hesitantly, “when we can go into the Depths? I have a place there, and it’s secret. Safe. Oh! You can even meet my friends. My Cali. My Quess! Doxyyy! Oh, I’m sure you’ll get along and be the brightest friends in no time.”

  She smiled, completely in earnest, and it was all I could do to keep from taking a step back. I felt powerless to argue against such a sweet yet decidedly odd creature. She seemed so fragile, even though she had knocked Gerome out cold. I felt like questioning her too intensely would cause her to run away, without explaining to us why she was even here. But the idea that this girl had a home in the Depths was so foreign to me, it was hard not to. She had to be mistaken, or misusing the name to refer to something else. There was no way there were people living at the bottom of the Tower. It was impossible.

  Yet, as my eyes passed over Roark, the old man looked unsurprised by Tian’s declaration.

  “Sorry, Liana, but it’s too exposed between here and Smallsville,” Roark said, his gaze apologetic. He slung a bag weighted down with equipment and pills over his shoulder and nodded. “And, Scipio knows where you are, or at the very least that he sent you here. It’s going to look awfully suspicious if we just miraculously escape, especially after you were supposed to kill one of us not too long ago. We’re going with Tian. And you’re coming too.”

  Tian let out a little crow of victory, and I watched as something familiar slid into her hand. She had her own set of lashes. “This is going to be so much fun!” she shouted, and with a flick of her wrist she was airborne, lashing down the hall and out the door. “C’mon!” she shouted eagerly.

  We followed Tian as she lashed down the hall ahead of us, her lashes and body spinning to and fro in a way that made me feel a little bit intimidated. I might have lived for lashing, but Tian had taken to it like a bird in fli
ght or a fish in a stream, her movements so natural and graceful that they belied the gawkiness of her frame.

  She led us to an elevator shaft and stood waiting as we rushed up.

  “I haven’t taken an elevator in so long,” she said excitedly as we approached, hopping from one foot to another. “We can take it now!”

  I looked at her wrist and was shocked to see that the wristband and display were missing. The microthread was impossible to cut. “Where’s your—”

  She reached into her shirt and pulled out the indicator, which was hanging by a braided bit of cloth around her neck. The number showed a cool, glowing blue nine, and it reflected on her face, illuminating her excited smile. “This means I can go to the Lion’s Den,” she exclaimed happily, clapping her hands together.

  “Tell us about it later,” I said. “We have to go... to what level?”

  “Five,” she replied, skipping up the ramp and then performing a little twirl in midair. “You’re going to like it there.”

  Five? That was unexpected, and not at all where I had thought “the Depths” should be. In fact, it was where Greeneries 1 and 2 were located. Why were we going there? What was she planning?

  I exchanged a look with Grey and discreetly handed him Gerome’s baton. Tian seemed nice, but this was all happening too quickly for us to put any brakes on. Still, that didn’t mean we couldn’t be prepared if the other shoe started to drop.

  We all got onto the elevator, and it began to descend. Beside me, Tian looked up, her face watching the shaft above in childlike wonder. “It just keeps going up and up and up,” she breathed. “Does it go to the very top? I’ve always wanted to go to the very top.”

  I frowned, my brows furrowing. “You’ve never been to the top?”

  Tian shook her head, her features melting into sadness. “My parents fell asleep one day... and they wouldn’t wake up. When the bad people came for me, I ran away, and Cali found me. I’ve lived with her ever since.”

  Cali. It was the second time she’d mentioned her. “Tian, who is Cali?”