by Dylan Steel
Sage didn’t understand exactly how, but it seemed the zeptobes could measure intent along with the likelihood of success. Cal must have gotten far enough in his escape attempt that his intentions had come too close to becoming reality. She wasn’t sure of the specific way it all worked—if the gate reacted with the zeptobes or if it was just Cal’s intense desire to leave, but something had triggered them.
Though she hadn’t been there in person to see him collapse, she no longer had any doubts that the warnings she’d heard all along were true. If she ever tried to escape, she’d be outed and trapped for good in a small cell. Isolated. Alone.
She was a prisoner too, but at least she wasn’t entirely on her own.
It made her stomach turn to remember the look of pure terror on Cal’s face as he fled. The wounded look from the sting of his classmates’ betrayal—of her betrayal. Lying wouldn’t have helped him. It would only have led to more questions with her at the center of suspicion. She’d had no choice. She must have told herself that a hundred times since it happened.
She shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts. The headmaster’s voice drifted over her. His droning was what had initially set off her cascade of thoughts, and he was nowhere near done talking.
Sighing softly, she forced herself to sit a little straighter in her chair. She stared up at the stage, watching the headmaster gesture stiffly at the Level Sixteen students behind him as he rattled off platitudes about the wondrousness of Eprah.
As the headmaster wound down with the awards and high honors, her eyes roamed the faces of the graduating level. After a couple minutes, she was able to find Inette and her Bokja student instructors and a couple others she knew. She hoped they would get good assignments.
Despite her best efforts to pay attention, Sage found her mind drifting again. There were so many names. So many dismal assignments. By the time the headmaster had reached the list for the factory jobs, she realized she’d been too distracted and had missed hearing the few names she cared about. She felt sorry for the names rattled off last for the factory. It was always the longest list, needing the most replacements from the year before. They didn’t get many Chances.
Her gloomy thoughts were interrupted when Penelope let out a soft giggle. Sage turned to see what was so funny. Apparently, they weren’t the only ones who thought the graduation ceremony was a bit on the dull side. An older couple a few rows over had passed out. The woman was snoring slightly, and the man had a line of drool hanging from one side of his chin.
Sage found herself drawn to the idiosyncrasies of the different audience members as her gaze wandered around the room. An old man with thin wisps of hair stretched over his shiny head scratched the side of his nose every fifteen seconds—she actually counted. Amazingly, he didn’t stray from that pattern by more than two seconds the entire time she was watching him. Her gaze wandered to a couple in their early twenties with a toddler in their laps. The youngster poked at his father’s cheek repeatedly, then switched to tapping on his mother’s chin before having both of his hands arrested at his side by the less-than-amused mother. He wriggled under her hold until his father grabbed him and seated him solidly on his knee, at which point he froze, suddenly striving to be on his best behavior.
Enamored with watching the citizens and their various quirks, she didn’t even realize that she’d completely tuned out the pairings portion of the ceremony. Only when she thought she heard a familiar name did her mind jerk back to the ceremony.
“…and Edward Grayson…”
Sage’s eyes snapped forward. They’d already moved on to benefactors. But had she heard correctly? She frantically scanned the graduates on stage again until she found where Inette was sitting again. Her heart sank.
Inette’s face was ashen. A smile spread across her lips, but it wasn’t the familiar, jovial one she was used to seeing. Edward Grayson had chosen to be paired with her after all.
The ceremony was nearly over by now, and what little remained passed by in a blur. Sage sat numbly in her seat as she waited for her level to be dismissed. Eprah and its benefactors had claimed another friend’s life as its own. And they would never stop.
A slight queasiness settled over Sage as she started walking toward the exit. The graduates had taken their places in society, outside of the Institution. This pseudo-freedom—more like a slow death sentence—it was never easy to watch.
As she trudged along with her fellow classmates, passing through the Grand Hall’s atrium, her eyes fell on a familiar face.
Kai Abeldra.
He was standing calmly at the edge of the room, looking stoic. Probably waiting for his mentor again. Mr. Gaztok. She didn’t understand how he could follow such a terrible monster of a man.
Emotions stirred in her. She recalled everything that had been taken from her, from her friends. The last conversation she’d had with Rosalind shot to the forefront of her mind. Sage could still see the fearful look on her face as she desperately tried to save herself. Anger bubbled to the surface.
She broke away from the line and marched over to Kai.
“Did you know?” she blurted out.
He barely acknowledged her presence. Other than glancing down momentarily, he kept his eyes straight ahead, steady.
“Know what?” he replied quietly.
“Did you know that Rosalind’s dead? That her benefactor killed her? And they let him be paired with another girl again?”
His lips parted slightly. He clenched his jaw and continued to stare into the space above Sage. “It doesn’t matter.”
She gaped at him. Then, overcome with fury at his indifference, she quickly stretched out her arm, punching him in the stomach.
Neither one of them had expected that. He doubled over with a short gasp and looked at her in surprise. She composed herself quickly, hiding her own shock.
“It does matter,” she whispered defiantly.
Kai had recovered from the blow, but he remained bent over for a moment.
“You need to leave,” he said in a low growl. “Now.”
With that, he straightened, fixing his eyes blankly on the wall across the room. His mouth was stretched thin as the muscle in his jaw tightened.
Sage was about to say something else, but it was clear that Kai wasn’t going to continue the discussion any further. She pressed her lips together and stomped back into line.
She wasn’t sure why she thought he should care. He was just another product of Eprah after all. But she had thought that he did care once when Rosalind was still alive. Before job assignments and benefactors and pairings and Chances. Before his graduation. Before Mr. Gaztok’s influence.
Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, but she fought them back. She promised herself that she would still care. After graduation, even if she was still nothing more than a prisoner of Eprah, she would still care.
24. FOR HER
A strong hand fell on Sage’s arm, and she felt herself being jerked backward.
“Ow!”
Someone dragged her into the nearest classroom and quickly closed the door behind them.
“What are you—” She wriggled free and whirled around to face her assaulter. Her mouth fell open. It was Mr. Walsh.
“We can’t talk long. I don’t want your absence to be missed.” He rubbed his wrist nervously.
She waved her hand dismissively. “It’s just dinner.”
“All the same…” Mr. Walsh seemed unusually agitated.
Sage shifted her weight. His skittishness was making her uncomfortable.
“Um, I was hoping I’d get a chance to make sure… Did your contact find the relic at the estate?” she asked, chewing her lip.
He nodded. “I hadn’t had a chance to tell you, but yes.” A slight chuckle escaped his lips. “That was actually pretty clever. Though the worker who found it had no idea what she’d found when she was emptying the buckets. But it came to my contact’s attention fairly quickly, and it’s been handled.”
She wrinkled her forehead, wondering how they’d managed to explain away a valuable ring mysteriously showing up in one of the buckets.
“Thank you, Sage.”
She nodded slightly. “That actually reminds me of something else I wanted to ask you about…” She hesitated. “There was a boy in Naturagre. Cal. He was shunned for speaking in favor of the Lawless and against the benefactors.” Her eyes betrayed her, filling with tears. “I had to tell the headmaster…” She stopped, clenching her teeth as she looked away. “Is there something we can do to help him? Was he—”
Mr. Walsh shook his head. “I heard what happened. But he wasn’t one of us. Not officially.” His jaw twitched. “If I’d known how he felt, though… He may have been a useful recruit, and we might have been able to tame his outward behavior, but now…” his voice trailed off.
“Now… you’re saying there’s no hope,” Sage finished softly.
He nodded grimly. “He’ll spend the next two years in virtual isolation being indoctrinated about the greatness of Eprah. There’s almost no chance he comes out of it still feeling even the most remote sympathy toward the Lawless. It’s practically a guarantee that he’ll be among the most devoted citizens of Eprah for the rest of his life.” He sighed. “Shunnings are designed, above all, to instill unwavering loyalty to this nation and its laws.”
“So there’s really nothing we can do.” Her eyes dropped to the floor.
“I can see that’s been bothering you. And I’m sorry.” He rubbed his forehead. “But there’s something more urgent for us to discuss.”
Sage looked back up at him and raised an eyebrow.
“These disappearances are getting worse. More frequent. And we still don’t know exactly what’s happening to the people who’ve been taken.”
She nodded slowly. “Ok…”
“The reason I thought we needed to meet. I thought you deserved to know…” Mr. Walsh hesitated. “Sage, it’s Lita.”
Her eyes widened. “What about Lita? Is she alive? Is she safe?”
“I-I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I just found out she was alive—at least a few days ago.”
“What do you mean a few days ago?” Sage’s eyes narrowed.
His lips stretched into a thin line. “I mean… she’s one of the ones who’s been taken.”
She staggered backward. It felt like she’d just taken the brunt of another one of Carnabel’s blows.
“But… How—” Her mind was reeling.
“Because she’d been exposed as Lawless, it was too dangerous for her to get in touch with anyone outside her assignment and pairing with Kardel,” Mr. Walsh explained. “He wasn’t Lawless, and we don’t have many sources inside the factory—there’s just too much… turnover.” His eyes shifted downward. “We had no way of confirming she was even still alive until someone saw her at the hospital.”
He swallowed. “She’d just had her baby. That’s the only way we knew she was alive.”
“I don’t understand,” Sage said, wrinkling her brows. “If you only just found out she was still alive, how do you know she was taken?”
“Our source at the hospital. Lita disappeared from her room. Before she was discharged.” He met Sage’s eyes. “There were signs of a struggle. And the baby was left—she wouldn’t have done that of her own free will. She had to know the infant would be immediately turned over to the Institution, and I can’t see her allowing that a moment before Eprah’s laws require. Even then…” he trailed off.
“But what are they going to do to her?” Sage was trembling.
Mr. Walsh’s face lost a hint of color. “They may have already killed her. It’s entirely possible that they are just killing off Lawless and keeping it under wraps. They’ve created a great cover story rife with mystery to shift blame and make the people hate the Lawless even more. And it’s working.” He paused and then added ruefully. “Or it could be worse. The people could still be alive.”
Sage felt her stomach drop to the floor. “How is that worse?” she asked, unsure if she actually wanted to know.
He didn’t answer her right away. Instead, he paced a few feet away and then turned back to her.
“I’d rather not speculate on what I don’t know,” he said wearily. “But I can tell you that we’re still working on figuring out what’s happening to our people.”
Our people. Sage was now one of the people who were in so much danger. She swallowed against the lump in her throat.
“There is a plan in the works…” He practically spat the words from his mouth. Whatever the plan was, it didn’t seem to sit too well with him. “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to tell you anything about it, but that doesn’t mean I won’t need your help if our leaders decide to implement it.”
She shot him a puzzled look.
“I need to know if you trust me.”
She nodded resolutely. “You’re one of the only people I do.”
He sighed. “Then I’m afraid I have to ask too much of you once again. I need to know if you’re willing to be used in any capacity to help our people. To get them back. To save Lita.”
Her mouth fell open. “We can?”
“It’s possible. But don’t make the decision lightly.” He pursed his lips. “It’s more than I ever intended to ask of you, and it will burden you more than you can imagine.” He looked at her sadly. “You would only know misery without explanation.”
She gulped back her worry, trying to understand his cryptic words. Then she looked at him with a flicker of hope in her eyes. “For Lita?”
“Yes. For Lita,” he said firmly.
Sage’s eyes blazed. She stared back at him, unblinking. She knew her answer.
“Anything.”
***
The story continues in The Vanished: Sacrisvita Book V. (Keep reading for an excerpt...)
Thank you so much for reading this book.
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-Dylan
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THE VANISHED: Sacrisvita Book V - Excerpt
1. THEORIES
“I heard the Lawless have been burying them alive.” A little girl with wide eyes was speaking very seriously to a little boy whose eyes were now equally large.
Sage let out a sigh, barely hiding her frustration. Penelope looked at her reproachfully as they continued down the hallway. Realizing she’d let out a louder exhale of exasperation than she’d intended, Sage shut her mouth tightly. She could only hope no one else had noticed—or if they had, that they wouldn’t know why.
Rumors about the disappearances had been circulating for months. This “buried alive” theory was the latest of dozens that students had come up with. Even if she had still thought the Lawless were behind the vanishings, she would have very much doubted that this pair of Level Sixes had somehow managed to learn the truth about what was happening to the missing people.
As they rounded the corner, the younger levels broke off into their respective Common Lounges. Sage and her fellow classmates—now Level Elevens—followed suit and piled into their new lounge.
Penelope looked around the room wistfully. She was always dealt a bout of nostalgia on the first day of their level promotions. Advancing to a more mature look was appropriate, but to her, it remained bittersweet. Sage, on the other hand, thought it was fitting. Even last year’s lounge seemed too childish for her at the time, and she was glad this new place had become a better reflection of her true age—the one that took into account her pas
t hardships.
This Common Lounge was similar to the one they’d just spent the last year in, but its subtle differences didn’t escape her notice. The colors in the room were slightly more muted, just a shade deeper than before. The artwork hanging on the walls depicted fewer carefree, youthful scenes and now showed stills of people and landscapes. The furniture was firmer, less plush.
Hoping to be left alone, Sage headed straight to the back corner of the room, passing the tables and couches and wide open space. She settled in, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall as she took in the features of the new lounge.
Privacy was almost impossible to come by anywhere in the Institution, and the Common Lounge was no exception. For that reason, she wasn’t surprised when Penelope and a group of girls migrated in her direction after just a few seconds.
At first, Sage tried to block out the chatter, but she quickly found herself drawn in, unable to separate herself from the discussion.
“Mr. Petry’s class is going to be the worst. I just know it.”
“I heard he comes up with crazy punishments for not getting assignments finished on time.”
Yavelle, the first girl, snorted. “Like what?”
“Like having to wash all the walls and desks in a classroom—”
“That’s not so bad.”
“—with one hand tied behind your back.”
“What?”
“Seriously, he actually ties your hand to your back.”
“Nu-uh.”
“Yeah. A Level Fourteen told me.”
“Like you know any Level Fourteens.”
“Ms. Moss seems nice enough though,” another girl with a high-pitched, squeaky voice interrupted, abruptly changing the subject.
“We’ll just be lucky if none of our teachers disappear this year,” Marnie said sullenly. “Stupid Lawless.”
The rest of the group murmured in agreement. Sage mumbled something about how terrible it was that the Lawless were taking people. She didn’t want to appear out of place and raise suspicion, but lying about her true feelings about Eprah always twisted her stomach into knots.