Like a machine.
I curl unconsciously closer into Clay’s side.
And he lets me.
No questions.
No pressure.
Just warmth and solid strength while the world keeps falling apart around us.
Nora suddenly speaks from the far backseat.
Quietly.
“There was a girl named Emma.”
Everybody looks at her.
Nora’s hands shake in her lap.
“She used to hide crayons in the vents.”
Memory slams into me instantly.
A tiny blonde girl drawing suns on concrete walls.
A guard ripping the crayons away while she cried.
“Oh my God…”
Nora starts crying softly.
“They took her into the red room after the winter blackout.”
Nobody speaks.
Because we all know now what that means.
Eli stares down at his hands.
“I thought I imagined some of it.”
“No,” Gabriel says quietly. “That’s how they kept control.”
I look at him.
“What do you mean?”
Gabriel’s eyes lift to mine in the dim SUV lighting.
“They made us distrust our own memories.”
Oh.
Oh no.
That’s why Wu kept calling everything instability.
