And he’s with Travis.
He didn’t leave, after all.
That hits me hard. More than it should, probably. But I can’t forget the ravaged look on his face when he told me he was tired. When he said the world was unsalvageable and that he’d given up on trying to fix the system from within.
If he truly felt that way, why had he gone back?
“Don’t let the base bombing or the Ice Canyon assault cloud your judgment,”Cross is saying.
This doesn’t feel like telepathy.
It feels like…when someone projects an image into my mind. It’s the same uncomfortable sensation behind my eyes. But there are no images in my head, and as far as I know, Cross doesn’t know how to project.
Could this be another spontaneous connection? The way we linked telepathically as children?
My pulse careens as an entire conversation unfolds in my head. Cross is furious. I feel his rage vibrating through my own body. Travis is mostly irritated.
“This isn’t our father’s Company anymore. The General was too complacent. He wanted to use them for labor, yes, but to me, they’re not even worth that. They’re too fucking dangerous. You might have Silver Block back, but I can take it away again with the snap of my fingers. If you’re serious about coming back into the fold, then I need you to get your head on straight.”
Back into the fold?
Shock slams into me.
Fucking hell, Cross. What are you doing?
He didn’t just go back. He went all in.
“I’m trying, brother. But I’m not going to stand by and watch you killpeople. What Roe is doing is straight-up murder. Those people didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Maybe not, but the rest of them needed to learn a lesson. Sometimes the only way to teach that lesson is to show them what happens when they wreak havoc in the wards. Examples need to be made.”
“That’s your plan then? To execute every Aberrant you find?”
“Yes,brother. Because they’re only useful if they can be controlled, and right now, they’re causing too much trouble. So if you’re going to be part of this new regime, then—”
Silence.
The voices stop without warning, leaving me desperately wondering how to get them back.
“You sure you’re all right?” Kallister reappears holding two tin cups with steam rising from the rims.
I hesitate. The Authority made it clear during disclosure that you have to report a new power, but there’s no way I’m disclosing unless I know what the hellthatwas.
“Yep,” I say, accepting the coffee. “Thank you.”
I try to refocus on my mother’s file, but my mind is now a million miles away. I’m eager to link with Cross and get some answers, but it’s not a conversation I can have in front of Kallister, so I force myself to wait until later.
But when later comes, it doesn’t bring any answers.
Cross still refuses to link with me.
Chapter 33
Gray shows up at my door the next morning. We were supposed to go to the Temple for incitement training, so I raise a questioning brow when he hands me a tablet.
“What’s this?”
“We held a briefing this morning about Lyddie’s parents,” he says.
