“I don’t feel sick,” I said out loud, as if trying to take inventory of myself. “I don’t feel violent—Feral—whatever they want to call what’s happening out there.”
“You’re not Feral,” Max said, still trying to catch his breath.
“I’m a little more impatient and edgy, but that’s just because of graduation and trying to get into The Citadel, and then I forgot these internship applications until—”
“Halls…” Max gripped my upper arms. “Take a breath. Stop trying to rationalize everything. You’re not Feral. Jen never said you had Red Fever. She just wanted to test for it.”
“Why did she have those men try to keep us there then?” I protested. “She said my oxygen levels were crazy. Maybe that’s why I’m not out of breath when we sprint halfway across town. What if I turn into whatever happened to Lauren, Max? What if—”
Max cut me off. “OK, look…” He let go of my arms and held up his hands for emphasis, his hand still bandaged from yesterday. “Jen gave you that super-shot after Lauren bit you, so if she was contaminated with Red Fever, it looks like you’re fine. Being fast and healing is probably just an unexpected result of the shot.”
“Jen would have guessed that,” I reminded him. “She said the shot wouldn’t have healed the bite mark so fast.”
“She could have been wrong, Halls.” Max shrugged. “She’s a Grind medic—all her equipment and medicines are scavenged. There’s a big margin for error,” Max assured. “She’s all we’ve got, so you have to take everything with a grain of salt.”
He smiled a little at me, and for the first time, I took a deep breath and actually felt myself relaxing until I remembered the officer.
“OK, but that officer knew my name, Max. What if she comes after me?”
He looked at me without an answer for several seconds, but finally took a quick, deep breath and shook his head. “If she wanted to arrest you, she’d have had that droid chase us down.”
“No, that doesn’t make any sense,” I argued. “Why wouldn’t she arrest me too? It’s just as illegal for me to get Unauthorized treatment as it is for Jen to dispense it.”
“Technically, she didn’t catch you getting any treatment in there, Halls,” Max lowered his chin and nodded. “We were trying to get out of there when that Sweeper patrol arrived.”
And that made enough sense for me to relax the rest of the way. I blew out a breath. “OK…OK,” I said, nodding.
“Good. All right, Jen said that injection would super-charge you for a week, right? So just ride it out. If you feel anything weird, we’ll figure it out then.”
I agreed, nodding again several times to cement the idea in my mind. “But one last thing…that lady said I was on their radar now—does that mean they’ll be watching me?”
Chapter Nine
Max had to work both Sunday shifts at Mr. Burke’s grocery, and I used the time to clean every square inch of my house to avoid going outside.
What the officer at Jen’s had said about being on their radar, whatever that meant, was still haunting me. In fact, if today weren’t the day we found out if our Citadel or internship applications were accepted, I probably would have found a way to stay home again.
I maneuvered to Mr. Warren’s room hoping to find Max on the way. Everyone in the hall was buzzing with chatter in groups of twos and threes, but Max wasn’t anywhere to be found. I was afraid I would crawl out of my skin—maybe literally—if I didn’t find him soon to tell him what had just happened.
Mr. Warren came into our homeroom a few seconds after I did, so I took a deep breath and made my way over to ask about Lauren. If any of what was happening to me had something to do with her, I needed to know.
“Mr. Warren!” I said, making sure my sleeve was pulled down over where the bite wound on my forearm used to be.
“Halsey, how are you feeling?” he asked once I got closer, but then raised his voice over the noise in the class. “Everyone, please take your seats so I can distribute your codes!”
“I’m OK, thank you, but how’s Lauren?” I asked, and though I know he heard me, he didn’t answer for several seconds. Finally, he nodded at me slowly. “She’s no longer with us,” he said hesitantly.
“What?” I whispered, in disbelief that maybe the little girl outside her house on Saturday was right. Mr. Warren nodded again. “It seems she was exposed to a neurotoxin of some kind, but there were complications at the hospital.”
“Is it true that she caught on fire?” I asked too abruptly and instantly regretted how callous I sounded. Mr. Warren’s eyebrows flinched in surprise. “Sorry, I’d just heard…” I trailed off, unsure how to recover from the outburst.
He cleared his throat. “They’re still gathering details,” he said neutrally and gave me a nod, which was the clear teacher signal that the conversation was over and I should take a seat. I gave him a sheepish smile and turned into the sound of my name being called from across the room. Max started waving me over as Mr. Warren announced for the class to find a seat again.
“Could I have everyone’s attention, please? I have some unfortunate news,” Mr. Warren said over all the conversation. He went on to tell us that Lauren Stover had passed away over the weekend due to complications from a sudden illness, and that the counselors would be available all day for grief support.
Another round of buzzing conversation filled the air, and he quieted everyone down again. There was also no good way to transition into the rest of the announcements for the day—specifically about the report on internship and Citadel acceptances—so Mr. Warren just gave everyone a few minutes to process what he’d just told us.
And just like that, life went on. He started handing out our college and career login codes, then sent us to the gym to enter them into the reader booths they’d set up since not everyone in The Grind had an ocular communication lens. The only reason I had one was so that my uncle had a friend who used to work for the department of communications…before he was caught handing out free OCLs to his friends.
I heard snippets of conversations about Lauren as I was about to message Max again on the way to the gym, but he caught up with me before I could.
“Halls! It’s true,” Max blurted, barely waiting for me to acknowledge him. “Brian told the Neanderthals the same thing that little girl said. Lauren just caught on fire as they were taking her out of the ambulance to go into St. Agnes’s.”
“How?” I asked, as he led us out of traffic to the side of the hallway. “People don’t just spontaneously combust like that,” I said in a lowered voice.
Max shook his head. “They don’t know how. Her family is blaming the paramedics just like that kid said. They’re talking about suing the hospital,” he added, rolling his eyes. No one in The Grind had the cash for a lawyer, and no one would risk using legacy credits to pay for one, so threatening to sue was about as far as that would go.
Max and I took a right turn and headed straight out the side door since we had the codes to access our reports on our OCLs. Finals, and even the graduation ceremony had been at the beginning of this past week, so there was nothing else to do at school anymore now that we had our application results. These last few days were all about what we were supposed to do with the rest of our lives, but right now, after confirming what happened to Lauren, I didn’t know how much longer that would be for me.
I rubbed the spot on my arm where the bite used to be, suddenly more worried than ever. I looked up at Max.
“What if Lauren infected me with something and it’s only held at bay temporarily until the stuff Jen gave me wears off?” I asked, not that I thought Max had the answer, but because I had to get the question out of my head before it took over all my thoughts.
He met my eyes as we walked. “Maybe we can find another Grind medic. I’ll ask around,” Max said. “And by the way, somehow, Jen paid her fines. I saw her going into the tea shop this morning.”
I gaped at him. “How could she possibly have that kind o
f money?”
“Maybe she paid with legacy credit,” Max said, shrugging one shoulder.
“No way. That would be like, twenty years minimum.”
“I don’t know, but she’s out. The woman who arrested her dropped her off.”
“Why would she do that? She had Jen red-handed administering Unauthorized medical services.” Max shook his head, and I stared down the dirt path in front of us as it wound around to the front of the school. Jen had tried to get me to stay there by force if necessary. She wanted to run some tests, or so she said. Why would the same officer bring her back the next day? It didn’t make sense.
“OK, Are you ready to do this?” Max held out the little card with his code on it as we made our way to the curb and took a seat. All we needed to do was look down at it, and our reports would load in our field of vision, so I nodded and pulled my card out of my pocket.
“We go at the same time—double blink for external projection,” I said, and once he agreed, I started counting. “One…two…three…”
I glanced at the square, blotched design on my card, then double blinked to project everything in the file into my external view. I quickly scanned through the internship application results without even reading them, needing to find the decision from The Citadel. Finally, I saw the crest with the Old English letter C in the center at the top of their announcement form.
Dear Ms. Rhodes:
Thank you for your application to The Citadel. We have reviewed your many promising potential contributions to the academy, but unfortunately, we are unable to offer you admittance at this time…
Everything else the letter said blended together, the words falling into each other and blurring beyond recognition. I blinked and felt the hot tears stream down my cheeks, momentarily clearing the letters, but they quickly blurred again as I suddenly felt the need to sit down.
I found my way to the curb and sat motionless, my mind somehow racing, but without any thoughts beyond an awareness of feeling cold.
“Halsey…” Max said, sitting next to me. I felt his arm move around me, and saw the abrupt disappearance of his file display. That snapped me out of my trance, and I blinked my file closed.
“Why did you kill your display?” I asked, though it sounded like an accusation.
“It’s nothing. Let’s look back at your other responses, OK? The Citadel is stupid.”
“Max, pull your display back up,” I ordered.
“Halsey, it’s really—”
“Max.”
He sighed and after another few seconds, the file flashed in his external field of view, and the Old English C was at the very top of the first response letter in his queue. We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected...was all I needed to read. All the breath left my lungs.
“I wasn’t going to apply, but you were so adamant… I thought maybe, you know? But I’m not going to go. Mr. Burke accepted my application at the grocery, so I’ll—”
“Max, you have to go,” I gaped at him. “Are you kidding me? You have to. You have to, Max.” I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks again as the reality set in. Not only had I lost my chance to get out of The Grind, but now I was losing my best friend too. He would live behind The Citadel wall, and I would probably never be allowed there even as a guest. It hit me then that had I gotten into The Citadel and he didn't, the situation would have been the same. I'd been so busy focusing on my own plans I hadn't considered that.
“Whatever, we’re not talking about my Citadel letter now, OK?” Max said, raising his hand to my cheek and wiping the tears away. “Blink your file back open and let’s see what else is in there.”
I took a deep breath and did as he asked, the file projection loading a few feet in front of us. I’d been accepted to all of the other internship positions I’d applied for…the landscaping companies, the City Engineer’s department, the Department of Natural Resources, and I almost choked when I saw the acceptance from Raphael’s Tea Shop. How could I have forgotten that I applied there? I almost closed the file, thinking that was the end of the feedback, but it looked like there was another letter after the one from Raphael’s.
“What’s Eden’s Bluff?” Max asked as my eyes took in the elaborate logo—the scripted name against a backdrop of vine covered, arching gates.
“I don’t know,” I said, dumbfounded. “I didn’t apply anywhere called Eden’s Bluff. I’ve never even heard of it.”
“Halsey…” Max said, his voice low and serious. I pulled myself away from the trance of the logo and tried to make my eyes focus on the words.
Dear Miss Rhodes:
We are pleased to offer you admission to Eden’s Bluff Academy. You may not be aware of your application to our institution, but rest assured. We do not accept applications, rather, our students are selected each year from judicious reviews of potential candidates at trusted institutions all over the nation.
In addition to the prestigious honor of admittance to Eden’s Bluff Academy, please be advised that you have also been selected by one of our generous benefactors to receive a financial package which includes full tuition, room, and board for the duration of your studies.
Please review the courier materials that were dispatched to your residence, and kindly reply with either your acceptance or your decline of this offer within the next few days. Should you choose to accept our offer, all transportation to Eden’s Bluff will also be provided.
Congratulations again, Miss Rhodes. We look forward to welcoming you to campus.
I read the words, but they wouldn’t process in my mind until Max started shaking my shoulders.
“Halls!” he said through a rolling laugh. “That's a full ride! I didn’t even know that place existed!”
I shook my head at him. “How can it exist? Only The Citadel campuses are sanctioned for Authorized careers,” I added, feeling strangely excited, but also a little numb. “Something isn’t right. I don’t feel right,” I said, noticing the swimming feeling starting in my head.
“It’s probably just shock.” Max chuckled. “Let’s go to your place. They sent you a package!”
We got about twenty steps before a van pulled up next to us and slammed on its brakes. Before I could even process what was happening, a small group of men poured out and began trying to haul me into the van.
“Let her go!” Max yelled and started pulling one of them off me, but the man turned and punched him in the stomach. He dropped to the ground, and the man started kicking him.
“Don’t worry about him!” I heard Jen yell from inside the van somewhere.
“Stop!” I screamed as loudly as I could, but it wasn’t the word I heard. It was a screech…the highest pitched, longest, most inhuman screech ever. The men let me go to cover their ears in the same moment, from nowhere, dozens of birds started dive bombing them, forcing them back into their van. They pulled away with the birds following, and Max's eyes were wide as he stared at me in shock. I took a step toward him to help him get up, but he stumbled as he took a step backward, avoiding my hand. Alternating waves of fear and embarrassment crashed into me.
“Halls? What the hell was that?” he asked, his blanched expression unchanged as he dropped his arm from his stomach. I opened my mouth only to realize I had no idea what to say. I didn't know what had just happened either, and I couldn’t stand the fear in his eyes as he stared at me.
Without thinking, I ran. I ran as fast as I could, and in what seemed like just a minute, I was already back to the eye of the forest. I stopped at the end of the rock wall, again, not even a little winded until I looked down, and all the breath escaped my lungs at once.
My hands started shaking wildly, and when I looked down, feathers were slowly changing back into my fingers. “What…” I gasped, then blinked as hard as I could to clear whatever crazy illusion I’d just seen.
I looked again at my hands just to be sure they were still hands and blew out a breath in relief that they were. It was just a trick of the ligh
t or something, I told myself as I took a few more steps, but then stopped and looked at my hands again, wondering if maybe it wasn’t a trick—if maybe I could make them change into feathers.
I tried to remember how they'd looked a few minutes ago and concentrated, but only my same uneven nails and spindly fingers remained. I immediately felt stupid and started walking again, telling myself I needed to focus. Jen just had tried to pull me into a van. She had been released, and the woman who arrested her even dropped her off!
My head started spinning with everything that had just happened, and I needed to go inside and lock myself in my room before something else happened that I couldn't control. But of course, one look at my porch told me it already had.
Chapter Ten
My mouth went dry as I saw the woman who arrested Jen at my door talking with my Aunt Alice. I darted behind a tree and waited to see if she was coming or going. My aunt’s face was hard to read because it was usually always crumpled in the same dissatisfied way it was now, but there were also flashes of shock. What was this lady telling her?
Finally, the woman turned and walked toward a black car that was parked on the side of my house. My aunt closed the door, and the woman slowed just before she got to her car, checked over her shoulder, and then made her way to my bedroom window. She cupped her hands around her eyes and peered in for a few seconds, then got in her car and finally started driving down the hill.
I moved completely behind the tree I’d been peeking around and waited for the car to drive out of sight. In what seemed like just five strides, though it couldn’t have been, I was outside the front door of my house.
I couldn’t stay here. I had to get out of The Grind before either Jen’s goons tried to kidnap me again, or that officer arrested me and brought me back to Jen anyway.
My mind was racing. I opened the door as silently as I could and made a B-line for my bedroom—the fermented, sweat sock smell of my aunt’s cabbage concoction still hanging in the air. My stomach dropped when I heard the deep bellow of my uncle’s voice not three steps after I came into the house.
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