by Aimee Carter
I stopped at the entrance into Mercer Manor, crouching beside the opening and holding my breath, listening for any signs of Hannah or Mercer on the other side. My legs began to ache, and soon my feet grew numb as I waited. Eventually I lost all sense of time in the darkness, and instead I began to count my heartbeats.
When I reached a thousand, I took a breath and set the flashlight down. I couldn’t risk waiting any longer, not if I wanted to get the codes to Scotia in time. With Knox gone, she was my only option, even if she’d likely turn me in on sight. At least the Blackcoats would have a fighting chance.
I pushed against the door, but to no avail. The cabinet must have been blocking it. With a grunt, I shoved the door with my good shoulder, wincing as pain radiated down my injured side. The cabinet hadn’t been that big. I just had to push and—
Crash.
I jumped away from the door, and it swung open, revealing the smashed cabinet in the middle of the cellar. I swore and leaped out, grabbing a pair of knives from the nearest rack. Ducking underneath the stairs and into a dark corner filled with cobwebs that tickled my skin, I waited for Mercer to come thudding down the stairs. This time I wouldn’t hesitate. One knife to the gut, another to the throat—if one of us was going to die tonight, like hell I would let it be me.
But nothing happened. Either the cellar was soundproof, or the manor was abandoned.
At long last I dared to climb the steps. Two of them creaked underneath me, but still no one came. I didn’t wait around and wonder how I’d gotten so lucky—if this was a trap, then I had no choice but to walk straight into it. And at least this time I was armed.
The entrance hall of Mercer Manor was dark and abandoned. A knot formed in the pit of my stomach at the thought of what Mercer might be doing to Hannah for letting me go, but I didn’t have the luxury of looking for her. She’d known the risks involved when she’d released me, and she’d done it anyway. If I had the chance to help her, I would, but not until the codes were safely in Scotia’s hands.
I paused long enough to tug on my boots and a thick black coat that must have belonged to Hannah. Without my red jumpsuit, I would stick out like a sore thumb, which meant disappearing in plain sight wasn’t an option. But the sky was still an inky-black, and the moon was only a sliver. As long as I stayed off the main streets, I had a chance of making it to the bunkhouse without being seen.
I jumped from shadow to shadow until I reached the gate of Mercer Manor. The cold cut through my pajama bottoms, but my heart was pounding hard enough to keep me warm for now. With my shoulder injured, I had no chance of climbing the gate, and when I tried to push it open, it remained shut.
Terrific.
“Thought I saw someone lurking by the tree,” said a low but jovial voice. I spun around.
“Rivers.” I swore softly. He stood on the other side of the gate, rifle still strapped over his shoulder. “Think you could help me out?”
“The entire section is looking for you,” he said. “Mercer’s livid.”
“Good. He tried to cut my toes off.”
Rivers’ eyebrows shot up. “Would’ve been more than that, sweetheart. If they catch you, you stole my gun and forced me to open this for you, all right?”
I shook my head and held up one of the knives. “Knifepoint.”
He grinned and punched a code into the keypad of the gate. “Smart girl.”
I darted into the grid of gray buildings, taking alleyways when I could and sticking to shadows and darkened streets when I couldn’t. I knew the way between Mercer Manor and my old bunkhouse well enough by now to avoid the cluster of guards that seemed to be gathered at every crossroad, and at last, I reached the right block.
I peeked around the corner, and my heart sank. No less than a dozen guards stood up and down that street, with two stationed in front of the bunkhouse alone. There was no way I could slip past them, not if I valued my internal organs. And even if dying was worth it, I had to get to the bunkhouse alive to give Scotia the codes in the first place.
As I was trying to work out whether or not I could get there by jumping roofs, a cold hand clamped over my mouth, and another wrapped around my chest, narrowly missing my broken shoulder.
“Don’t say a word,” whispered a rough voice. Scotia.
I remained still, and together we waited in the darkness. Suddenly a beam of light filled the alleyway running perpendicular to ours, and a guard shouted, “Clear!”
The light disappeared, and Scotia eased her grip. “Where the hell have you been?” she whispered. “Mercer’s on the warpath—said you attacked Hannah and disappeared. I’ve been out here for an hour looking for you.”
I blinked. “Attacked Hannah? How? Is she all right?”
“Don’t know, don’t care. What the hell happened?”
I slipped the folded piece of paper out from my waistband and handed it to her. “The armory codes.”
Scotia’s mouth fell open. “How did you—”
“Doesn’t matter. You’ll make sure the Blackcoats have it?”
She nodded and tucked it into her pocket. “I will. Thank you.”
“I didn’t do it for you.”
“I know.” She glanced up and down the alleyway. “You should go now, before they come back. Stick to the shadows. If anyone catches you—”
“I’ll be dead anyway, so there’s no point thinking about it,” I said. “Whatever you do, don’t die before using those codes.”
“I’ll do my best.” She looked at me for a long moment, her brow furrowing. “I’m sorry about Noelle.”
I swallowed hard. “You did what you had to do. I just wish—” I shook my head. It didn’t matter.
Scotia found my hand and squeezed it. “Stay alive. Come find me after it’s over. I’ll make sure the Blackcoats know what you did.”
I nodded, and we both took off in opposite directions. Now that the codes were in safe hands, the crushing weight of responsibility lifted off my shoulders, and I briefly considered returning to Mercer Manor. They must have searched every inch of it if they’d left it unguarded, which meant it was likely the safest place for me to go. But getting back there without being seen—that was the real problem.
I turned down another alleyway. I’d done it once—I could get back there again. I just had to be—
“Aha,” said a voice, and this time it wasn’t Scotia’s. I whirled around, gripping a knife in my uninjured hand.
Williams stood in the alleyway behind me, brandishing his rifle like a club.
“Everyone’s looking for you, you know,” he said, and a deep, booming laugh echoed from his chest. “You’re worth a promotion.”
I didn’t wait for him to make the first move. There was no way I’d be able to outrun a bullet, so I did the only thing I could do—I rushed forward, hoping to catch him by surprise and stab him in the side.
I managed three steps before he pivoted easily despite his size, sending me flying toward a gray wall. Before I could run headfirst into it, he caught my good arm and whirled me around, pinning me against it instead.
“Nice try,” he said, grinning. I shoved my knee to his crotch, but instead of finding soft flesh, I hit something hard and plastic instead. A protective cup.
Perfect.
“Nighty-night,” said Williams, and as I struggled against his grip, he slammed the butt of his rifle into my temple, sending me spiraling back into darkness.
* * *
Voices murmured around me, and cold hands pulled at my bad shoulder, sending a white-hot shock of pain down my arm. I opened my eyes. My vision was blurry, but I could make out a shadowy figure standing in front of me, while two others hauled me to my feet.
“Knox?” I mumbled. My head pounded, and the world seemed distorted, as if I were looking at it through a piece of curved glass.
The shadowy figure didn’t answer me. Instead he called out, “Ready in five, four, three, two, one...”
A buzzer went off above my head, and the two figures on either side of me shoved me upward through a trapdoor, into bright light that might as well have shoved shards of glass into my eyeballs. A strange whooshing sound echoed in my ears, louder than it probably was thanks to the pounding in my head, and I squinted enough to see the opening in the floor close up completely.
What was going on?
Tears flooded my eyes, but I forced them open, and slowly my vision swam into focus. I was on some kind of platform at least six feet off the ground, with looming gray buildings surrounding it. Weak morning light filtered through the clouds, but there was something else above me, too.
Metal bars.
My chest tightened, and suddenly I could barely breathe.
I was in the cage.
“Kitty?” said a trembling voice only a few feet away. I turned my head slowly, and my heart dropped to my knees.
His face was covered in purple bruises, and his lank hair hung in his eyes as he hunched over, cradling his ribs, but I would have recognized him anywhere.
Benjy.
XV
THE CAGE
“Benjy?” My voice sounded weak and muffled, and I wasn’t sure if it was me or the concussion. “What—”
He limped across the cage and collapsed beside me, wrapping his arms around me the same way Elliott had embraced Noelle. I hugged him back with my good arm, and as I looked over his shoulder, the rest of the world came into focus.
Hundreds of prisoners in red and orange jumpsuits stood around the platform, staring up at us with blank expressions on their faces. But something wasn’t right—the sun was coming in from the wrong direction. It was still morning.
I looked up at the rooftop where Mercer stood, tall and proud and holding his automatic weapon with a sneer. Hannah stood beside him, and even from a distance, I could see the cuts and bruises decorating her face. Even if she’d managed to make it look like I’d injured her while escaping, there was no way she could have done that amount of damage to herself.
Mercer knew she’d let me go. And this was her punishment.
This was our punishment.
“Benjy,” I whispered. He was warm and solid against me, and I closed my eyes, breathing in his scent. So this was it. This was how we were going to die.
I exhaled, and relief crept through me, numbing the pain from my head and shoulder. I’d never had a chance of surviving Elsewhere, and Benjy was always paying for my mistakes, too. But we were together, and now there would be no more wondering when the final axe would drop.
“I’m sorry.” I kissed his stubbly cheek, and his grip around me tightened.
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he whispered. “I love you, and I would rather die with you than live a single day without you. This is exactly how I want to spend my last seconds—with you.”
I buried my face in the crook of his neck and took a slow, deep breath. I was okay. We were okay. Death was inevitable, and this was our time.
“This is your only warning,” called Mercer, but his voice sounded distant, as if he were somewhere at the other end of a long tunnel. My fingers curled around Benjy’s jacket.
“You know where we’re going to be when we wake up?” I whispered. “In a field by our lake, tangled together under the warm sun. There’s going to be a picnic basket full of all kinds of food, and we’re going to have our cottage together, right next to our lake.”
Something warm and wet dripped down my cheek. I couldn’t tell if it was Benjy’s tears or mine.
“It’ll be perfect,” I murmured as the click of Mercer’s rifle echoed through the square. “Just you and me for the rest of forever.”
“I can’t wait,” he said, and though his voice was rough, I could hear his smile.
Bang.
Everything went gray. We both tensed, and Benjy curled around me instinctively, shielding my body from the shot. But it was half a second too late. Time seemed to stand still, and in that infinite moment, I waited for pain to blossom.
It never did.
Maybe this was what dying was like. Maybe, in our last moments, our bodies gave us a chance at peace, and the pain of death would never register at all.
Bang.
A second shot rang out, and this time a chorus of screams rose from the crowd. Benjy jerked me toward the center of the cage, and I cried out in pain.
“What—”
On the rooftop, Mercer had dropped his weapon and doubled over. Hannah was on the far side of the building, huddled in the corner and covering her head with her arms. The crowd around us continued to scream, trampling each other in an attempt to get out of the square.
“Lie flat!” said Benjy, and he shoved me to the floor, once again covering my body with his. My face pressed against the cold platform, and several more shots rang out.
It wasn’t until I saw a group of prisoners running toward us with weapons drawn that I understood.
The rebellion had begun.
The smell of gunpowder permeated the air around us as shot after shot echoed through the square. Most of the prisoners managed to run from the fighting, but even from my narrow vantage point, I spotted several bodies lying motionless on the ground. The guards surrounding the platform fired back, but they were hopelessly outnumbered, and soon the gunfire ended.
“Lila!” called a woman, and it took me a moment to realize the voice was coming from underneath me.
The trapdoor in the platform opened. Scotia. “In here,” she said. “Hurry, before the rest of the guards come.”
Benjy lifted himself off me and shoved me down into the holding area. Scotia caught me, and he quickly joined us, breathing heavily as he collapsed beside me.
“What’s going on? Are the Blackcoats here?” I said. Had Knox come back after all?
Scotia shook her head and began to reload her weapons. “The cavalry’s taking their sweet time, but you got us the codes, so consider us even.” She gave Benjy a handgun. “Know how to use this?”
“I do,” I said, taking it from him. She raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not sure you should be shooting anyone right now.”
“Then make sure I don’t have to.”
Scotia smirked. “That’s the spirit. The other guards will be here soon. I’ll lead them away, but don’t move, got it? This thing is bulletproof.”
She gestured to the holding area beneath the platform, hollow and dark. I hadn’t gotten a good look before, but now I could see chains and shackles hanging from the walls, presumably where they kept the prisoners before forcing them to fight.
“It figures that the safest place in Elsewhere is where you wait to die,” I muttered. She patted my shoulder, and I cried out. With a frown, she gently probed the tender area.
“Your shoulder’s out of place,” she said, taking my arm. I winced. “There’s nothing I can do about it, not until—”
She wrenched my arm, and I screamed. White-hot pain exploded through my body, causing my vision to blacken for a moment, and Benjy lunged toward her.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he growled, but it was over in an instant. Suddenly the pain began to lessen, and Scotia eased my arm back into my lap.
“It’s back in the socket now, but you’ll need medical attention once this is over,” she said, and she looked at Benjy. “It’s easier when they don’t know it’s coming. She’ll be fine.”
He glared at her, but he stepped toward me, touching the small of my back protectively.
“I have to go,” she said. “Take care of that arm, and don’t do anything stupid.”
“We’ll try our best,” I muttered, and she slipped th
rough a metal door at the base, shutting it firmly behind her. A lock slid home on the other side, and I exhaled.
“Are you okay?” he said, and I nodded. It still ached, and my fingers tingled unpleasantly, but at least I could move them again.
Benjy pulled me into his lap, and we stayed there in the darkness, ignoring the echoes of gunshots and screams as Scotia and her band of misfits fought the guards for control of Section X.
Neither of us spoke for what must have been over an hour. It was freezing underneath the platform, but he held me, and I curled up against his chest, trying to burn this moment into my memory. Even if we died today after all, at least we had a little more time.
“You know, I’m almost mad at them,” said Benjy, his voice a low rumble. “I was looking forward to that picnic.”
I snorted in spite of myself. “We’ll get there eventually. No need to rush it.”
He ran his fingers through my hair, gently working out the tangles. “If the Blackcoats succeed, can you promise me something?”
“What?” I said, my head resting against his shoulder.
“Promise me you won’t be Lila anymore.”
I blinked up at him, confused. “Why—”
“Because everyone cares about Lila Hart,” he said. “They either love her or they hate her. There is no in between. And I can’t stand to go through losing you again.”
I was quiet. After everything that had happened, I’d nearly forgotten that before Knox had hired him as his assistant, Benjy had thought I was dead, too, after I’d been kidnapped and Masked as Lila. At least I’d only thought Benjy was dead for a couple days. He’d had to mourn my death for over a month.
“Please, Kitty,” he said softly. “Just be you again. For me.”
I took a deep, shuddering breath. Now that the adrenaline was gone, the pain in my shoulder was nearly unbearable, but I would put up with anything to be there with him. “Okay,” I said. “I promise. But only if you make me a promise, too.”
“What?” he said, and I laced my fingers in his.
