The Estate (Sacrisvita Book 4)

by Dylan Steel

  Her eyes fell on a pair of older fighters: Inette and another girl Sage didn’t know. She found herself secretly cheering for her friend. And surprisingly, sweet, composed Inette was pretty good at Bokja. She had her opponent pinned and tapping out before the match was halfway through.

  Smiling at her friend’s victory, Sage turned her attention back to her line just in time. It was her turn.

  Stepping forward, she positioned herself on the far side of the mat and turned to face her opponent. Her heart dropped.

  Carnabel.

  Sage’s palms started to sweat as she stared at the manic grin across from her. She rubbed them against her uniform just as the tone sounded. Their match had begun.

  Like always, Carnabel rushed toward Sage as soon as she was allowed, her fists flying wildly through the air. Since she’d been doing so well with throws during the tournament, Sage made the split-second decision to grab one of her fists as she dodged a blow. As she swung her body under Carnabel’s arm, she elbowed her in the ribs and then torqued her arm harder, sending her flying head over heels.

  A hollow thump and angry eyes let Sage know she’d been successful in her attempt. But Carnabel was quick to turn the odds in her favor. Heaving her legs up off the ground, she wrapped them around Sage’s arm, throwing her off balance.

  Sage caught herself when she was only two inches away from stumbling out of bounds. She whirled around just in time to realize that Carnabel was no longer on the ground. And somehow, she’d already covered the distance between them.

  Carnabel’s lips curled over her teeth in a smug sneer. She took full advantage of Sage’s surprise and managed to land a powerful uppercut to her stomach.

  Sage doubled over in pain, clutching at her abdomen as she tried to fill her lungs again. She knew she was leaving herself open for another attack, but she couldn’t straighten up fast enough. Carnabel launched her leg off the ground, connecting her knee with Sage’s jaw.

  With the echo of a hollow snap, Sage crumpled to the ground.

  14. GONE

  Nurse Candice held out a glass filled with a thick beige liquid, waiting impatiently for Sage to take it.

  “Thanks,” Sage mumbled softly, careful not to move her mouth too much as she spoke. She eased the straw between her lips and began drinking her breakfast.

  She’d been in the extended-stay section of the infirmary ever since the tournament, along with about twenty others. By now, only eight of them remained. They were going to have to watch the Founders’ Day festivities being broadcast right to their wing since they weren’t permitted to leave.

  Sage had been forced to forfeit the rest of her tournament matches after facing Carnabel. She’d been out cold for several minutes before the medics were able to revive her, and despite her protests when she came to, they refused to give her medical clearance to continue. Granted, it probably hadn’t helped matters that she was slurring her speech while trying to insist that she was ok.

  Since the medics said she had to be rushed back to the Institution’s infirmary for a full exam, an instructor had picked up her bracelet and brought it to her, refastening it around her wrist while she waited for the exterior doors of the Grand Hall to be unlocked. The security guards glared at her for the inconvenience as if she’d been willingly and deliberately injured—apparently, overriding the locks was quite an extensive protocol that they didn’t like to bother with. On the bright side, she’d gotten to ride in a small passenger trailer rather than walking back with the rest of her classmates.

  Her scan showed a slight fracture in her jaw. Even with her mouthguard, she was fortunate not to have broken or lost any teeth from the impact, the doctor had said. He also informed her, quite clinically, that she had a concussion and hearing loss in one ear. In his assessment, with a bit of luck and regimented treatments, the loss would only be temporary.

  She swallowed tiny sips of her shake supplement. Her hearing had in fact returned, but her jaw still smarted at the slightest movements. These tasteless liquid meals had been her diet for weeks, and she was told she had at least another week of them before graduating to another specialized diet of soft solids. She reminded herself that it wasn’t much worse than what she would have been eating from the cafeteria anyway.

  Penelope visited her every day, bringing along class notes and recordings so that she wouldn’t fall too much further behind. Sage’s time in the ward was actually helpful in a sense—without the possibility of distractions, she had no option but to focus. And classwork was about the only way she could occupy her time since she wasn’t able to talk much at all, so she’d actually caught up on most of her assignments. Not that the practice exams reflected it—she’d been forced to take them in the infirmary and was still under the influence of strong painkillers when the exams were administered. Even her best subjects received awful scores. But at least she was finally making some progress.

  The nurse cleared her throat as she surveyed the room.

  “Alright, if none of you need anything else, I’ll be in my office watching the Founders’ Day ‘cast. You can all watch it on your databooks. And in fact, you should. You know they’ll be monitoring to make sure you do, and you’ll be held responsible if you don’t. Except you, obviously, Ardon,” she said, looking at a boy who was stuck lying flat on his back from his injuries. He gave a muffled grunt in response. “It’s been set up so that you can view it on the ceiling there.” Not that he could see, but she nodded toward the ceiling just above his bed.

  She shot one more quick glance around the room and walked out the door, calling over her shoulder, “You all know how to call me if you need me.”

  Sage looked dubiously at the button beside her bed. She knew she wouldn’t dare press it unless she thought she was about to die. Nurse Candice didn’t exactly have the most charitable bedside manner.

  Grabbing her databook, she pulled up the live feed at the Grand Hall.

  It was strange seeing it from this perspective. The drones whirred near the top of the auditorium, capturing everything from multiple high angles. But even with the change, the headmaster looked no friendlier.

  Out of sheer boredom, Sage found herself paying attention to everything that was happening onstage. Ordinarily, she didn’t get to watch all of the levels and their different performances, but today she did. She thought it was odd, watching her classmates turn into abstract human sculptures that represented the fundamental principles of Eprah. The applause that followed each performance was equally bizarre. The blind reverence that people displayed on Founders’ Day never ceased to both horrify and amaze her.

  Of course, had she been there in person, she would have had to play along as well. As there were only seven other people who could see her—six, really, since Ardon couldn’t look over at her or anyone else for that matter—she wasn’t too concerned about hiding a few eye rolls. They all had their heads buried in their databooks too anyway. She couldn’t help but wonder how many other people in the crowd were just pretending to love Eprah too.

  As the headmaster stepped back up for the concluding speeches, he deferred his spotlight to another man, one who made Sage’s stomach lurch and threaten to relieve itself of its beige breakfast. Mr. Gaztok.

  She straightened up in her bed. A wave of fear washed over her. Something had to have happened. Something bad. This man didn’t show up when there was good news.

  “Citizens of Eprah,” he began, “it saddens me to be the one to bring certain things to your attention today.” He gripped the edges of the podium until his knuckles turned white. Sage suppressed a scoff. There was no way she was buying his act. A man like Mr. Gaztok was never ill at ease, and he certainly didn’t care about the feelings of the people. He was faking his concern, faking the stress of whatever this announcement would turn out to be.

  “As many of you know, the mysterious disappearances of many of our citizens has been a cause of great anxiety for all of us. For months now, we haven’t had any good answers for you—just the
sad confirmations that no, Beautification had not been called for your loved ones.”

  She snorted under her breath and shook her head, struck by the irony of that statement—apparently, it was better for loved ones to be dead than to have mysteriously vanished. Then she frowned as what he had said sunk in. Mysterious disappearances? This was the first she was hearing of it.

  “We have been looking into this for awhile now, and—for better or worse—we have uncovered some information that does point a finger at a guilty party.” He paused, scanning the crowd slowly, thoughtfully.

  “Now, under most circumstances, I would advise us all to be aware that this is not a complete certainty. That there are still many unknowns.” He shook his head sorrowfully, eliciting another eye roll from Sage. “But these are not normal circumstances. This is a circumstance of our families. Our loved ones. Our beloved Eprah and all it stands for. And Eprah, at its very core, is about the well-being of its citizenry. And that is being threatened.”

  He leaned back from the podium, bobbing his head up and down as if agreeing with everything he’d said, and then leaned forward once more. “Our suspicions have led to one particular group of people as being responsible for these disappearances. And as you may have suspected, only one group has enough adequate bootleg technology to pull off something of this scale, this magnitude.” He paused before letting the next words drip distastefully from his mouth. “The Lawless.”

  The crowd in the auditorium erupted into shouts and a general loud murmur, one which would have drowned out any other words that Mr. Gaztok might have tried to speak. He held up his hands in an effort to quiet the crowd, but it was several minutes before anyone noticed that he had more to say.

  “Now, I cannot stand up here today and tell you that I know for what purpose the Lawless are taking these people.” A low rumbling rose back up from the crowd. “Some in our government have speculated that they are attempting a reprogramming—to build an army to rise against our people, the very same ones they have willfully and spitefully turned against.”

  Once again, the noise from the crowd overpowered his speech. He raised a hand again, pleading for quiet as he looked down. Sage felt her stomach turning faster. She gulped back a few sips of water, hoping to settle it. She didn’t want to imagine the pain of opening her jaw fully to retch and vomit.

  “These Lawless must be stopped. It was merely unfortunate when they were only hurting themselves with their illegal actions, but now—now they have stooped to endangering our citizenry and the lives we hold dear, both ourselves and our loved ones. Who knows? Eprah forbid—perhaps they even have their sights set on even higher prizes such as our venerable Quorum members.”

  A collective gasp filled the room at the thought of such a possibility.

  “They must be punished for these actions and held accountable for their crimes. But we can only do so much alone. Our enforcers can only do so much alone. We need your help to find the neighbor, the coworker, the friend who would endanger all our lives and the very fabric of our society. Together, we can end the Lawless disgrace once and for all!”

  The crowd erupted into applause, cheering for every word he’d spoken.

  Sage’s queasiness didn’t show any signs of leaving any time soon. She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes, taking a few slow, deep breaths in an effort to keep her meal down.

  “Did you know there’ve been disappearances?” Tagg, the boy in the bed beside Sage, turned to her with wide eyes.

  She shook her head.

  “Man,” he said, half to himself, “I sure hope they catch ‘em all. I can’t believe they’d go around stealing people. That’s just wrong.”

  Since it was still painful to speak too often, Sage said nothing. It didn’t seem like Tagg was paying any attention to her anymore anyway since the headmaster had resumed his place speaking for the close of the ceremony.

  The broadcast wasn’t over, but Sage could no longer force herself to listen. Her thoughts turned to her recent commitment to join the Lawless. She was now included among those who were being hunted. She couldn’t be sure what would happen to her if anyone found out—if she’d be shunned, or worse.

  Even more horrifying, she found herself wondering what kind of people she had aligned herself with. Were the Lawless actually abducting people? If so, why? Were they actually forming an army of mindless slaves? She hadn’t wanted to believe Mr. Gaztok—everything about him repulsed her—but everyone in the audience seemed to be aware of these disappearances. Despite everything in her judgment screaming at her that he had to be, he wasn’t lying.

  And she didn’t know what that meant for her if he wasn’t. Had she actually chosen the wrong side?

  15. TUTORS

  Breathing a sigh of frustration, Sage sank back into one of the Common Lounge’s overstuffed chairs. She passed her databook to Nic and started twirling a strand of her hair between her fingers while she waited for his reaction.

  He tapped on her screen and whistled, eyes wide.

  “Wow, Sage. You really have a lot of catching up to do.” Concern was etched all over his face. “How did you get so far behind? I mean, I know you missed class, but that was after the tournament. We have to go back to material from before the preliminary exams. This is a lot of work. I’m not sure—” he caught the panicked look on Sage’s face and stopped. “Sorry,” he muttered. “I didn’t mean to, uh…”

  “No,” she said, trying to compose herself, “it’s my fault. I just… I don’t know how I let it get this bad.” She rubbed her jaw gingerly. Talking too much still ached. “Are you sure you’re up for helping me?”

  He hesitated, then slowly nodded. “I’ll try. But you might need more help than I have time for. I have to get stuff done for my own classes, obviously.”

  She bobbed her head quickly and then winced at the throbbing the sudden motion brought on. “Of course not. I wouldn’t expect you to.”

  “Hang on. I’ll be right back.” Nic set the databook down and walked off.

  Sage heard Penelope snicker beside her.

  “What?”

  Penelope didn’t answer. She just grinned and jerked her head at something across the room. Sage followed her gaze to Carnabel, who—with a flushed face and narrowed eyes—wasn’t trying to hide her disapproval of Sage’s new tutor in the slightest.

  Rolling her eyes, Sage muttered, “It’s pretty much her fault I need extra help in the first place.”

  “Like that matters?” Penelope shook her head. “You studying with Nic is just going to make her angry.”

  She shrugged. “Better that than not advancing to Level Eleven math next year.”

  Penelope raised her eyebrows. “You really think it’s that bad?”

  “Yeah,” she said miserably. “Didn’t you hear what Nic said? I’m practically a lost cause.”

  “I don’t think I said that exactly…”

  Sage jumped at the sound of Nic’s voice. She turned to see both him and Everett walking toward her.

  Nic spoke again. “Everett’s actually really good at all this too. So we agreed to take turns helping you out.”

  “You did?” Sage’s jaw hung open until it started aching again, then she closed it. “Why?”

  Penelope cleared her throat and shot a reprimanding look at her.

  “I mean… thanks.”

  Nic grinned. “No problem.”

  Everett’s face reddened a little. “It’s not like you missed a ton of class on purpose.”

  “Yeah,” Nic gritted his teeth slightly, stealing a brief glance toward Carnabel, “and who knows, maybe we’ll need your help sometime too.”

  Sage smiled weakly. “Well, I’m not sure about that, but I could definitely use all the help I could get right now.”

  “I actually promised Drue I’d work on tonight’s assignment with him, so you get Everett today. But since you asked for help, I figured I’d let you know before just disappearing on you.” Nic gave a slight wave and trotted of
f again.

  “Thanks,” Sage murmured. Just disappearing. Her thoughts began to wander back to the Founders’ Day speech and Mr. Gaztok’s revelation that people were being mysteriously taken from Eprah. She needed to know more—to know if she had promised to help a group of kidnappers without realizing who they really were.

  Everett picked up her databook and began poking through her incomplete assignments. He frowned. “I thought we’d covered this before. Are you still not getting it?”

  She shook her head. “Not really.”

  “Oh, ok…” he said hesitantly. “That’s ok...” he repeated, more firmly this time. “We’ll just start again.”

  Her curiosity about the Lawless’ intentions would have to wait for a little longer.

  16. TELL THE TRUTH

  Sage wandered the halls slowly, taking her time heading back to the Common Lounge. It would be empty now. Everyone else was at Bokja practice, but she had another few weeks before she was medically cleared to resume activity at that level.

  As she ambled along the corridor, she realized she was right by the tech classroom. Curiosity got the better of her since she hadn’t spent much time in any of the tech rooms, and she poked her head inside to see what it held. She sucked in a breath.

  To her surprise, Mr. Walsh was inside, talking to the same curly-haired boy she’d seen before. All three of them stared at one another for a moment in silence.

  “Is there something we can help you with, Ms. Indarra?” Mr. Walsh was rarely so formal with her. It was unsettling.

  “Sorry, I—” she shook her head and started to back out of the room, then stopped. She scrunched up her nose. “Actually, I mean, I wasn’t expecting to find you here, but…” she glanced at the boy uncertainly and then looked back at the instructor, “…could we talk?”

  Mr. Walsh sighed and nodded at the boy. “We’ll finish this conversation later,” he said quietly but with a tone that didn’t leave room for protest.