I gave Matt a sloppy military salute and got to work.
Chapter 24
Cayden
AmessageonmyTB woke me early. I didn’t recognize the color.
Greige
This is Adam (train). Quinn didn’t show up for her work-study.
Forest Green
Why are you telling me?
Greige
Because she talks about you more than anyone else.
Command is swamped. I doubt my message will get through to anyone until this afternoon.
Forest Green
Understood.
I was lying on my bed, staring up at my simple ceiling. I had a vague memory of Adam from the technology booth, where I remembered groaning at a bad pun, but that was it. I wasn’t sure I acknowledged his presence.
And yet this person, unrelated to me or Quinn, had reached out to me.
When I first arrived here, I’d been so sure I was better than everyone else. My Prophet’s teachings instructed us to act for the betterment of all. Adam should not have reached out beyond his chain of command. By telling me about Quinn, he demonstrated a lack of faith and created a problem for an individual rather than the group.
And yet, I’d never been so grateful to receive a message in my entire life.
How many of my family had suffered because we refused to look beyond my Prophet’s teachings? I rubbed the white runes on my wrist, the ones that connected me directly to my Prophet.
Quinn was suffering. No one else carried the workload she did. It reminded me of when I’d been learning my runes, day in and day out. No breaks. Each mastered pattern only led to the next. Only Quinn wasn’t mastering anything. She was too busy to think.
If I reconnected, I’d have my family's fortune at my fingertips. I could take her away from all of this.
My stomach twisted.
I couldn’t go back. There had to be something else I could do to help. My Prophet, no, the Prophet, couldn’t always be my answer; he should never have been in the first place.
I messaged Erick, who took his sweet time, but eventually responded, letting me know that Quinn was still sleeping in their dorm. My worry eased. I gave her a few hours before crossing to her wing of Grady Hall. When I knocked, no one answered. I’d given her too muchtime. After a soggy search in the rain of all her favorite haunts, I finally ended up at the Happy Rooster, the place she only went to if one of us dragged her along. But I didn’t see her, or any of our usual friends.
I slid to the bar and drummed my fingers against it.
“No food served at the bar,” the burnt-caramel-haired bartender stated, handing a tray of coffee to a server.
I cleared my throat and flipped back the pink hood of my standard-issue cloak.
“Oh, ah, Cayden,” the bartender said. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you without your, uh usual attire. Yeah, I’ll get your usual right away.”
He darted off.
I self-consciously touched my bare neck and the simple forest-green tunic I’d put on over my uniform pants. Only my emerald earring remained of my usual display of wealth. My family was rich. Not me.
A large man strode up to the counter. “Matt, where did you seat Quinn?”
