The Relic (Sacrisvita Book 3)

by Dylan Steel

  It wasn’t the best solution, but she didn’t have time to find anything else without arousing Lita’s suspicion. She skipped down the rest of the aisle and nearly knocked Lita over when she turned at the end.

  “Whoa, slow down there!” Lita rested her hands on Sage’s shoulders, steadying both of them. “I’m glad you’re ok—but let’s not actually try for an injury though, k?”

  Sage grinned. “No problem.”

  Lita motioned for Sage to follow her back to where she’d been examining relics. She carefully began moving jars and yellowed clothing, peering back into the pile as best she could.

  “So what were you trying to get at back there? Must have been interesting to risk death by pileup,” she teased.

  “Just a piece of jewelry.” Sage didn’t see the harm in telling the truth.

  “Jewelry? Really?” Lita’s eyes lit up. “What did it look like?”

  “A necklace. It had a gem on the end of it—that’s what got caught when I tried to pull it out of the pile,” she explained. “And that’s when everything collapsed,” she added sheepishly.

  “A gem? Really?” Lita’s eyes grew wide. She was having trouble hiding her excitement. “Did you get it out of the pile?”

  She shrugged, pretending not to notice her friend’s eagerness. “It got buried with everything else when I tried to pull it out,” she lied.

  A look of disappointment fell over Lita’s face. “Well,” she said hopefully, “maybe we’ll be able to find it again eventually. It sounds really pretty.”

  “I guess it’s possible… but I doubt it. The necklace was pretty small, and that pile’s enormous,” she said in an attempt to discourage an exploration. She knew the necklace wouldn’t be under that stack of relics anyway.

  Sage hated being so suspicious of everyone, especially her friends. But she knew better than to give out information too freely when people seemed too interested.

  She couldn’t help but wonder what could be so fascinating about an old necklace.

  19. WANDERING

  “This is stupid.” Sage dropped her databook on the table in front of her. “How in Eprah’s name are we supposed to understand this before exams?” She cringed internally. She hated when that expression slipped out.

  Penelope gave her a sympathetic look. “You still have a couple months,” she said in an attempt to be encouraging. “Nic mentioned something about a study group for Mr. Tousselle’s class—I think they’re planning to get together tomorrow. Is that what’s giving you trouble?”

  Her jaw jutted forward slightly. “Yes,” she huffed. “I’m not sure what good learning any of this is going to do us. I doubt they’ll let me be a scientist or a doctor with my scores anyways.”

  “You never know.” Everett chimed in from a nearby chair. “I think they care more about our scores later than right now—at least that’s what some of the older students have said.” He paused, adding cautiously, “I can probably help if you want.”

  Sage shifted her weight uncomfortably. “Sure, I guess. Did you finish the assignment already?”

  He nodded. “It was the first thing I did.” He hesitated, his cheeks flushing. “I kinda like it.”

  She frowned. “Not sure how anyone would.”

  Grabbing her databook, she moved to an empty chair beside him. She tapped the screen a few times and then held it in front of him. “Ok. Explain.”

  “Wanna start with this one?”

  She shrugged. “Whatever’s fine.”

  “Alright.” He slid his finger over the screen. “Let’s try something different. For right now, just pretend this number’s zero.”

  “Seriously?” She raised an eyebrow.

  “Mmhmm…” Everett launched into an explanation with his new hypothetical equation.

  Sage tried to follow along—she even found herself nodding in understanding a few times—but when he asked her to work out a problem on her own, she only made it through the first two steps before her thoughts drifted.

  Try as she might, she couldn’t get her mind off of the relics that she knew were hidden throughout the cataloguing room. The blank books, the jewelry—the room was filled with secrets that she couldn’t even share with people she trusted. And she didn’t even know why they had to be kept secret.

  She was probably being watched right now. Was someone laughing at her? At how hard it was for her to understand this dumb math problem?

  “You’re on the right track,” Everett said quietly as he glanced at her work.

  Sage looked up in surprise. She’d forgotten he was sitting beside her waiting for an answer.

  “I think I need a break from all this,” she said in frustration. “It’s starting to make sense—but my head hurts.”

  “Ok…” he wrinkled his brow in confusion. “But you’re really close.”

  She looked down at her databook again. The answer seemed glaringly obvious now. She hurriedly jotted it down.

  “That’s—that’s right. Good job!” Everett seemed genuinely pleased.

  Sage wasn’t sure whether to consider it a compliment or an insult. She pursed her lips.

  “I’m gonna be done for now.” She didn’t wait for a reply. She stood and crossed her arms, taking a few steps toward the door as she looked at it longingly.

  Penelope got up and made her way to her side. “Want me to come with you?” she offered quietly.

  “Eh… nah. I may just go to bed early.” Even as the words left her mouth, she knew that wasn’t true. She just wanted to get away from everyone. To be alone.

  Sage meandered out the door, wandering aimlessly through the halls. She wasn’t really sure what she wanted to do or where she wanted to go, but she felt like she was suffocating in the Common Lounge.

  As much as she wanted to run to the rooftop and breathe in the fresh air and know there was no one watching her, she knew it was a dangerous choice—one that could land her in more trouble than she’d ever been in before. She couldn’t risk that any more than she absolutely had to.

  She ambled down the corridors, vaguely aware that she was walking in the opposite direction of the dormitory. Her mind seemed unwilling to shut itself off, and she didn’t notice where she was until she heard voices coming from behind a door.

  Looking around, she realized she was just a few steps away from Mr. Walsh’s classroom. That’s where the voices were coming from. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she crept a bit closer to better eavesdrop on the conversation. She recognized Mr. Walsh’s voice immediately, but she was having trouble figuring out who he was speaking with. The voice was strangely familiar though.

  Sage put her ear to the door. Her eyes grew wide as she listened.

  “Just try it,” the voice said menacingly. “I’ll tell Mr. Strick. He’ll get just what he’s been after this whole time. And then everyone will know about you—the leader of the Institution’s Lawless sect. Not that you’d live long enough for it to matter.”

  20. THREATENED

  Sage recognized the voice.

  Lita.

  That’s who was talking to Mr. Walsh—or, more accurately, who was threatening him.

  She didn’t even care if it was true—whether or not Mr. Walsh was some sort of major Lawless leader. The only instructor who had ever been nice to her was alone and being threatened by someone she had, until that moment, considered a friend.

  Sage wasn’t sure what came over her. She threw open the door and rushed at Lita, fists flying.

  Despite her superior skill, the older student was caught off guard—she didn’t realize she needed to defend herself. Sage had the element of surprise on her side, and she was taking full advantage of it. She knocked Lita to the ground and leapt on top of her, screaming as she threw one punch after another.

  She didn’t hear Mr. Walsh yelling at her to stop until he had wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off of Lita. Sage wriggled under his grip, but he was surprisingly strong, and he’d pinned her arms at her side. She was u
nable to squirm free, so she instinctively flailed her legs, kicking her instructor solidly in the shin.

  Mr. Walsh groaned in pain and dropped a little lower, but his grip on her only tightened. She was suddenly finding it difficult to breathe.

  “Sage, stop.” Mr. Walsh sounded angrier than she’d heard him before.

  “But she said—” she gasped in protest, but he cut her off.

  “I said stop!” he roared.

  Sage stopped resisting his hold and went limp. She felt defeated. Was there no one she could trust?

  “If I let you go, will you stop?” An edge of warning was in his voice.

  She tried to answer, but his grip was too tight, so she nodded instead.

  Mr. Walsh set her down. He clamped his hands down on her shoulders and spun her around so that she faced him. She gulped for air.

  He looked her squarely in the eyes. “I don’t know how much of that you heard, but I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”

  “She said—” Sage gasped, still trying to draw in a breath. “She said she was going to turn you in to Mr. Strick. That he’d kill you!”

  He shook his head. “I taught you better than that. You can’t jump to conclusions without the whole story. That’s why we research beyond the surface reports.”

  Sage’s eyes narrowed. “But that’s what she just said. I heard her.” She shot Lita a look of pure hatred. She was still sitting on the floor, nursing her jaw.

  “Technically, yes. That’s part of what she said.” He spoke slowly, glancing at the other girl before meeting Sage’s eyes once more. “Lita has my complete trust, and she should have yours as well.”

  Sage stared at him with her jaw hanging open. She had to be hearing him wrong.

  “But Mr. Walsh—”

  “Do you trust me?”

  She didn’t answer. “Did you hear me? Did you hear her?” she shrieked. “What’s wrong with you?”

  She whirled around and made a motion to leave. Mr. Walsh caught her by the arm before she could go any farther.

  “Keep your voice down,” he said gruffly, glancing around nervously.

  “Why? Because she can hear me?” she growled, nodding toward Lita while trying unsuccessfully to wriggle free of his grasp.

  “Shh, stop! Someone could hear you!” Lita pleaded as she struggled to her feet.

  “She’s right. Anyone could be passing by and—” he paused abruptly, craning his neck toward the door.

  “Wh—”

  Mr. Walsh’s hand clamped over Sage’s mouth before she could say another word. He pulled her closer, stifling any sort of resistance. She couldn’t believe how strong he was.

  “I’ve told you before,” he whispered in her ear. “I can’t tell you everything you want to know. But if you want to make it through tonight, you need to trust that everything I tell you is true, and you must keep absolutely quiet until I say otherwise. Do you understand?”

  She jerked her head up and down as best she could with his vice grip across her face. He didn’t let go.

  Lita’s eyes were wide. She was also listening for sounds in the hallway.

  A few minutes of silence passed in the room before Mr. Walsh was satisfied no one was going to try to join them. He released his grip on Sage. She stumbled forward and turned around, glaring at him in silence.

  “It was advice,” he said simply, shrugging. “Lita was giving me advice, and I was doing a poor job of listening. In her frustration, she made an empty threat to get her point across. Probably not the best decision, but then, I doubt she thought anyone was listening.”

  He glanced at Lita to make sure she was in agreement with his assessment of her actions. She blushed and looked at the ground.

  “Yeah.” She sighed. “He can be stubborn.”

  “Advice about what?” Sage finally dared to speak.

  “That’s not important for you to know.” Mr. Walsh shook his head.

  Lita appeared to be relieved by his answer.

  “It would seem, by necessity, I need to enlighten you a tad more than I already have,” Mr. Walsh said sadly.

  “Not that this may be news to you anymore after what you just witnessed, but—” he paused, licking his lips nervously. “It would be safe to say that Lita and I are among the Lawless of Eprah.”

  Sage said nothing. She didn’t know if she was supposed to be surprised or not, but she had already suspected as much to be true about Mr. Walsh. She liked him entirely too much for her to assume he supported Eprah with the typical blind, full allegiance she’d seen in its citizenry.

  Lita, on the other hand—she wasn’t sure what to believe after what she’d just heard her say.

  “This should go without saying—but I can’t afford not to—you cannot tell anyone what I just told you. Not any of your friends, not Penelope, not the other instructors—no one. There’s nowhere safe enough to speak that you could say it, not to yourself, not under your breath, not even in your sleep.” His gaze pierced straight through her. “Our lives depend on it.”

  She lifted her chin a bit higher. “Then why tell me?”

  “Can you really pretend that you didn’t know—that you wouldn’t know after tonight?” He shook his head. “I’ve already shared so much with you—you’re in so much more danger just knowing this—but having you pitted against Lita is something that I couldn’t bear.”

  Sage looked at Lita incredulously. “Are you really Lawless?”

  Lita sucked in her breath and nodded, a fearful desperation in her eyes. “And you can’t tell anyone—really. Please.”

  “Sage,” Mr. Walsh said softly, “Lita’s been looking out for you all year. She watched over you in my absence.”

  Her forehead wrinkled. “What do you mean? Why? How?”

  He smiled, sorrow filling his eyes. “Those would be some of the details that I think would be unwise to share. At least for now. The less you know, the safer you are. I really need you to trust that.” He looked at her soberly. “I need you to trust me—us. We’ve just trusted you with our lives.”

  21. TETHERED

  Sage stood by herself at the edge of the yard. She gazed out into the street, watching Eprah’s citizens milling about beyond the confines of the Institution’s fence. They paraded around under the guise of freedom. The bracelets they wore told a different story.

  Penelope had tried to join her, but Sage had said that she really needed some time alone. Her mind wouldn’t stop racing after the things she’d learned, and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop herself from telling Penelope everything if they were alone. Mr. Walsh had told her that breathing a word of their secret would put them in mortal danger, and she wouldn’t—she couldn’t—do that to him.

  Thankfully, Penelope hadn’t pressured her to talk. By now, she knew the look in Sage’s eyes. The one that betrayed she was holding onto heavy burdens and dark secrets. And now that she knew that Eprah was nearly always watching, she didn’t try to coax out those secrets—at least not when they weren’t on the rooftop.

  Sage rested her head against the bars that kept her inside the yard. The sun had warmed the metal considerably by that point in the day, but she ignored her discomfort in order to see more of the world outside.

  To her surprise, she spotted an old friend hurrying along the sidewalk, dressed in a crisp white blouse and bright green skirt, carrying a large parcel. She hadn’t expected to feel the surge of joy that she did upon seeing someone she knew. Perhaps she was excited because she knew her friend was enjoying a degree of freedom that she couldn’t yet.

  “Rosalind!”

  The young woman looked up, startled. She spotted Sage and hesitated for a moment before deciding to continue rushing on down the street.

  “Rosalind! Hey!” Sage called again. She was annoyed that her friend was ignoring her.

  She stopped again, looked around furtively, and then appeared to be talking to herself angrily for a moment. She crossed the street, making her way to the fence.

&
nbsp; “What? Do you need something?” Rosalind asked tersely as soon as she was a few feet away.

  Sage stared at her, hurt. She wasn’t acting like the Rosalind she remembered.

  “I—I just wanted to say hi. See how you were doing.” She paused, examining her friend.

  Where she’d once seen a spark of joy and brightness, dark, hollow circles now surrounded bloodshot eyes. Her once-athletic build was reduced to a too-thin frame, and no color was left in her face.

  Sage realized that the expensive outfit she was wearing was a farce. She was really clothed in fear.

  She realized Rosalind was staring at her in silence, waiting for her to speak.

  “You had your baby.” It was a statement, not a question, but she was unsure what else to say.

  A smile lit up Rosalind’s face. “Yes,” she started to say happily, but a gloom quickly settled over her. “He’s with his father right now.”

  “What’s he done to you?” Sage’s eyes narrowed.

  Rosalind looked at her, clearly taken aback. She opened her mouth to reply but quickly snapped it shut again. She clenched her jaw and looked away.

  “I have nothing bad to say about him.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  An angry warning flashed behind Rosalind’s eyes. “I am.”

  “Rosalind, I know you. You’re not—”

  “—I should go,” she interrupted abruptly, eyes wide. “I can’t afford to be late again if—” she stopped mid-sentence and stared in horror at her bracelet. She whirled around and began to run from Sage without another word.

  As Rosalind hurried away, Sage watched the package she was carrying tumble to the ground. She watched as her friend’s run turned into an all-out sprint. And she watched as Rosalind tripped, her figure flying through the air, landing in a heap on the ground. She skidded forward for a moment thanks to the momentum she’d built up, but afterward she remained completely still.

  Sage stared at Rosalind’s motionless form, hoping she wasn’t hurt. It looked like a pretty brutal fall, and she wasn’t moving at all. Rosalind needed help.