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“No,” Glass said as a chilling sense of déjà vu washed over her. When Glass had been nine or ten, there’d been an evacuation drill on Phoenix. It’d all been clearly planned out ahead of time. When the alarm sounded, the children would file out of their classrooms and walk two by two down to the launch deck. Most of the kids had been in the type of exuberant good mood that came from missing tutorial, but Glass had found the whole ordeal frightening. Would the Council really send children to Earth without their parents? What would it be like to leave without saying good-bye? It’d been enough to reduce her to tears, although luckily, no one but Wells had noticed. He’d taken her hand, ignoring the giggles and taunts, and held it until the drill was over.
Luke pulled them both over to the side of the hall, and then bent down so he was eye level with Glass’s mother. “Everything’s going to be fine,” he reassured her. “Now, show me where it hurts.” She pointed to the spot. Luke frowned, then turned around. “I’m going to have to carry you,” he said.
“Oh god,” Glass muttered, feeling her breath catch in her chest. They were already so far back in the crowd—they couldn’t afford to slow down anymore.
“Luke?” another voice echoed hers. Glass spun around and saw Camille staring at them. Her cheeks were flushed, as if she’d been running, and sweat clung to the hair that’d come loose from her ponytail. “You’re here! You made it!” Ignoring Glass, Camille pulled Luke into a hug, then reached down to grab his arm. “The dropships are filling up. We need to move quickly! Come with me!”
Some of the concern drained from Luke’s face as he smiled in relief at his ex-girlfriend, his childhood friend whom he had known as long as Glass had known Wells. “Camille,” he said. “Thank god you’re okay. When Glass told me what you did, I…” He trailed off. “Forget about it. There’s no time. You go on,” he said, giving her a nod. “We’ll be there in a second.”
Camille looked from Luke to Sonja to Glass, and her face darkened. “You need to move,” she said, looking only at Luke. “You’ll never make it if you have to take care of them.”
“I’m not leaving them,” Luke said, his voice suddenly hard.
Camille looked from Luke to Glass, but before she could respond, she was knocked to the side by a large man shoving his way down the packed corridor. Luke grabbed Camille’s arm to steady her, and as she regained her balance, she placed her hand on top of his.
“Are you serious? Luke, that girl is not worth dying for.” Even with the roar of the crowd, Glass could hear the venom in Camille’s voice.
Luke shook his head as if to keep the words from getting too close to him, but even as he shot Camille a look of frustration, Glass felt a cold wash of fear. Camille wanted Luke to come with her—and Camille didn’t stop until she got what she wanted.
“You don’t know her. You don’t know what she did,” Camille insisted.
Glass caught her eyes in warning. She wouldn’t dare tell Glass’s secret, would she? Not here and now, not after Glass had helped her get safely to Phoenix. They had a deal. But Camille’s eyes revealed nothing. They were hard and dark.
“I don’t know what you think you’re talking about, but I love her. And I’m not going anywhere without her.” Luke took Glass’s hand and gave it a firm squeeze before turning back to Camille. “Look, I’m sorry you’re upset, but I never meant to hurt you, and I hardly think this is the—”
Camille cut him off with a bitter laugh. “You think this is because you dumped me for her?” She paused. In that brief moment Glass felt her heart go still in her chest. “Didn’t you ever wonder what really happened to Carter? What Infraction he was suddenly accused of?”
Luke stared at her. “What could you possibly know about that?”
“He was arrested for violating population laws. Apparently, some girl on Phoenix named him as the father of her unregistered child.”
A woman holding a baby paused to stare at Camille, but then tore her eyes away from the group and kept moving.
“No,” Luke whispered. His grip on Glass’s arm tightened. Around them, people were shouting and running forward toward the dropships, but Glass couldn’t bring a cell in her body to move.
“They didn’t even bother to run a DNA test, from what I heard. They just took the little slut’s word for it. I guess she was trying to keep the real father safe. But, honestly, what kind of person would do something like that?”
Luke turned to Glass. “It’s not true, is it?” It was more of a plea than a question. “Glass. It can’t be true.”
Glass said nothing. She didn’t have to. He could see the truth written on her face. “Oh my god,” he whispered, taking a step away from her. He shut his eyes and winced. “You didn’t… you told them it was Carter?”
When he opened his eyes, they blazed with a fury far worse than anything she could’ve imagined. “Luke… I…” She tried to speak, but the words died on her lips.
“You had them kill my best friend.” His voice was hollow, as if the emotion had been burned out of him. “He died because of you.”
“I didn’t have a choice. I did it to save you!” Before the words left her mouth, she knew it was the wrong thing to say.
“I would’ve rather died,” he said quietly. “I would have rather died than let an innocent person take the fall for me.”
“Luke,” Glass gasped, reaching for him.
But he had already turned off in the direction of the launch deck, leaving Glass’s fingers clutching empty air.
CHAPTER 21
Wells
“I’m sorry about that,” Wells said, releasing Sasha with a sigh.
He hadn’t been all that surprised when he and the others stumbled across Sasha and Clarke in the woods, heading in what was surely the direction of the Earthborns’ camp. He couldn’t even bring himself to be angry with Clarke—she was only doing what he should’ve done himself. It had taken every ounce of his willpower to turn toward Graham with a condescending stare and order him back to camp. “I’ll handle this. You should go get in the water. That looked like it hurt,” he’d added with a meaningful glance at Graham’s crotch, where Sasha had kicked him. One of the other boys snickered. They had all exchanged uncertain glances, but then started walking toward the stream. Without another word, Wells had taken Sasha back toward camp, staying silent until they’d been walking long enough to lose the others.
“I’m sorry about everything,” he continued. It wasn’t enough, but he needed to say it, anyway. “We should’ve let you go a long time ago.” Keeping Sasha as their prisoner had made sense at the time, but now Wells couldn’t look at the marks on her wrist without feeling a surge of nausea and regret. If the next dropship landed right now, and his father emerged, what would he think? What would he say to Wells when he found out that they’d essentially kidnapped the very first Earthborn they’d encountered? Would he deem his son a hero or a fool? A coward or a criminal?
“It’s okay,” Sasha said, tilting her head to the side, as if trying to survey Wells from a new angle. “Although, for a second there, I thought you were actually furious.” She lowered her voice in a terrible imitation of his. “I’ll handle this.”
“Why would I be furious?” he asked.
Sasha gave him a searching look. The early evening sky was a deep orange, and the light filtering through the leaves made her green eyes glow. “Because I’m supposed to be your prisoner.”
Wells looked away, suddenly embarrassed. “I’m sorry I got carried away. We were all scared after Asher and Octavia, and I didn’t know what else to do.”
“I understand,” she said softly.
They’d both stopped walking, and although the light was fading, Wells was in no hurry to get back to camp. “Want to rest for a little bit?” he asked, pointing to a moss-covered log that lay ahead.
“Sure.”
