by Dylan Steel
THE OUTCAST
SACRISVITA BOOK VII
Dylan Steel
THE OUTCAST: SACRISVITA BOOK VII
Dylan Steel
Heritage Publishing
Copyright © 2016
www.DylanSteel.com
Cover design by Flappy Dog Designs.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places, and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ALSO BY DYLAN STEEL
1. LIES
2. NORMAL
3. REALITY
4. ESCORTED
5. UNBELIEVABLE
6. AN IMPERFECT SYSTEM
7. THE WAGER
8. INFIRMARY
9. DISCIPLINARY ACTION
10. FEELINGS
11. MIRROR, MIRROR
12. UNTRADITIONAL
13. BETTER EXPLANATIONS
14. QUESTIONABLE
15. OVERHEARD
16. THE MEETING
17. BEDTIME BETS
18. CONFESSION
19. CANCELED
20. LOYALTY
THE TRIALS: SACRISVITA BOOK VIII - EXCERPT
READ MORE BY DYLAN STEEL
ALSO BY DYLAN STEEL
Sacrisvita
THE PRODIGY: A Sacrisvita Prequel
(FREE and only available HERE.)
THE INSTITUTION: Sacrisvita Book I
THE ARCHIVES: Sacrisvita Book II
THE RELIC: Sacrisvita Book III
THE ESTATE: Sacrisvita Book IV
THE VANISHED: Sacrisvita Book V
THE CAPTIVE: Sacrisvita Book VI
THE OUTCAST: Sacrisvita Book VII
THE TRIALS: Sacrisvita Book VIII
THE ROGUE: Sacrisvita Book IX
THE CITIZEN: Sacrisvita Book X
THE SURVIVOR: Sacrisvita Book XI
***
Third Earth
SLEEPER: A Third Earth Prequel
(FREE and only available HERE.)
ALONE: Third Earth Volume One
***
For the most updated list of Dylan’s books, visit www.DylanSteel.com.
Join Dylan’s Insiders Club to find out when her next book is out! Plus, get an exclusive prequel scene to Sacrisvita.
1. LIES
“Keep still, please.”
Sage stopped bouncing her knees and sat straighter in her chair, picking at a piece of lint on her pants.
“How much longer do I have to be here?” She bit her lip as her feet started bouncing again.
A woman with her hair pulled back into a tight silver bun sat across the table from her. She looked up from her databook and over the rim of her glasses. “Sage,” she said, her tone filled with warning, “I asked you to keep still.”
“Sorry, Ms. Verdan” she mumbled. She pressed her feet against the ground more firmly this time. “How much longer?”
“It’s natural to be a little nervous,” the woman offered a half-hearted reassurance, ignoring the question. “But we have a lot of information we still need to cover today. Please continue.”
Sage sucked in her breath as she ran her fingers along the edge of her bracelet thoughtfully. “I’m not sure how much more you want to know.”
“Sage…” There was the warning again.
“I know,” she snapped defensively. “That’s not what I meant. I’m not holding anything back on purpose.”
Clenching her jaw, she swallowed nervously. That was another lie, and judging by the sour look on her face, Ms. Verdan knew it. Sage squeezed her bracelet between her thumb and finger. Traitor, she thought bitterly, glaring at it.
The woman’s eyebrow jerked upward as she scanned the screen in front of her, then she turned a suspicious eye to Sage. She continued staring at her young ward in silence.
“Not anything that matters,” Sage added quickly. “I just know—I mean—I was there a long time. But not much interesting happened.” She rolled her eyes and shrugged. “Other than the obvious.”
Ms. Verdan pursed her lips as she continued staring at her tablet without uttering a word. She tapped her fingers tersely in a stiff pattern across the screen. It was clear she remained unconvinced.
“Anything you could share would be helpful. Even if you don’t think it means anything. The more you share, the better we’ll be able to address your… situation.”
“My situation?” Sage scowled. “I’m not sure what you mean. Putting my kidnappers in front of the Quorum? Or letting me join the other Level Thirteens like Mr. Gaztok promised? Or maybe you’ll just decide to shove me in a room and shun me for a few years until I’m not the Institution’s problem anymore.”
“All of that has already been explained to you,” the woman said in a bored tone. “I simply pass on recommendations. I don’t make the decisions. That’s between the headmaster and Mr. Gaztok.”
“And me,” Sage muttered under her breath. “Not that they remember.”
“I’m sure your gratitude would go a long way,” Ms. Verdan said sharply. “You’re lucky they’ve worked with you at all. It’s not as if they’re required to acquiesce to the whims of a thirteen-year-old girl.”
Sage’s nostrils flared. The terms of her reintegration with her classmates weren’t exactly what she’d expected. She thought she’d be back in her classes in a matter of days, but they’d insisted on running a battery of tests to make sure she was at the proper development level, academically, socially—even loyally.
The testing had gone on for over a month already. Granted, she’d passed the academic portion of her exams weeks ago, and she’d tested extremely well—almost high enough to advance an extra level. The look of utter shock on the headmaster’s face when he’d found out she’d passed by such a large margin had almost made her year of captivity worth it. Almost. Maybe.
A phantom pain shot through her knee at the memory of her botched escape attempt. She frowned. Maybe not.
“Sage?”
“Huh?”
Ms. Verdan’s nostrils flared. “You need to work on your listening skills. I understand that you’ve been through a great ordeal, but you’re safely back at the Institution now, and it’s time you started acting like it.”
“Sorry.” Sage’s face reddened at her derisive tone.
“Now, then. Please tell me the names of any people you saw.”
Sage wrinkled her brow. “I already have. There’s only one.”
“And?” Ms. Verdan pursed her lips.
“It was just Sophia Bennick. I told you. I don’t know who the other guy was, and he wore a mask the whole time, so it’s not like I’d recognize him anyways.” She slumped back in her chair, hoping the partial lie would go unnoticed.
“I see…” She studied the screen in front of her again and looked up sharply. “Don’t slouch,” she ordered testily. “It affects your readings.”
“Oh,” Sage said dully. “Sorry.”
This part of her testing was awful. Her bracelet and zeptobes were working together, sending biomedical feedback to Ms. Verdan’s databook. The stern, older woman was apparently some sort of expert in interpreting the body’s signals and, based on a person’s stats, was almost always able to tell if someone was being truthful.
Ms. Verdan had showed up the same afternoon that Sage mentioned Sophia Bennick’s involvement in her kidnapping. At their first session, Mr. Gaztok had introduced them and told Sage that she was on loan from the Dignitary of the Peace and that she should
n’t take up too much of her valuable time.
That was over a month ago. Sage rolled her eyes. If it were up to her, she wouldn’t have taken up any of this woman’s time. But clearly, none of this was up to her.
“Miss Indarra!”
Sage jumped. She’d stopped listening again, and Ms. Verdan’s patience had worn thin.
“I must insist that you focus. Answer the question.”
Gulping, Sage lifted her eyes to meet the woman’s glare.
“I… Uh, could you repeat it for me?” she asked sheepishly.
“I need to hear about all the times you interacted with… Mrs. Bennick.” Her tone was incredulous. “As many details as you can tell me.”
“But I’ve told you already,” Sage grumbled. “I only saw her twice. Once when I was trying to escape, and once when she visited my room.”
“Tell me what she said.”
“I don’t remember everything exactly.” Sage hoped her zeptobes weren’t screaming that she wasn’t being completely forthcoming. She remembered every moment with vibrant clarity—she just didn’t trust Eprah. “She was confused that I was in her house—well, one of her houses, I guess. I couldn’t see which one I was in—it was raining really hard. At first, I thought she was just upset that I was trespassing or wondered how I’d gotten there because of my bracelet…” she trailed off, giving the band around her wrist a puzzled look. “How were they able to take me there while I was wearing my bracelet?”
“Sage, our sessions are a time for you to answer questions, not me,” Ms. Verdan said curtly. “Please continue.”
Sighing, Sage sank back into her chair. “Well, it was pretty obvious she was in on everything when she let the guy take me back to my room. It’s not like she said, ‘Gee, Sage, I really just wanted to make sure you had a quote on record for your future interrogations at the Institution once you’re back there. Would that be ok? I, Sophia Bennick, have taken an active part in your kidnapping, and I just thought you should know so that there wasn’t any question about it later.’” She rolled her eyes.
“Sarcasm is unnecessary. And sit up.”
“Fine,” Sage snorted, straightening reluctantly. “But I’ve already told you everything, so I’m really not sure what else you want me to say.”
“What did she say to you the second time you saw her?” Ms. Verdan pressed, not missing a beat.
Sage’s lips parted slightly as she recalled the strange conversation she’d had with Sophia in her room just after she’d been recaptured. “Just… she sounded sorry. Like having me there wasn’t a choice.” She hastily wiped away a rogue tear as the conversation replayed in her mind.
“It was weird,” Sage finished quickly, crossing her arms as she turned her head to the side away from Ms. Verdan. “Do we have to keep talking about this?”
“That depends,” Ms. Verdan said icily. “Would you like to see justice served for your kidnapping? Would you like Sophia Bennick to be arrested?” She eyed Sage cautiously. “You’ve made a very serious accusation, but we have no proof to back up your claim.”
Her jaw dropped open. “You mean, you haven’t actually arrested her yet?”
“Of course not,” she scoffed. “Arrested a member of the most powerful family in Eprah? On the word of a student? One recovered and placed in the Institution’s Transitional Class no less.”
“But…” Sage stared in bewilderment at the woman in front of her. “I’m telling the truth. I mean, you can see that, right? You know it was her.”
Ms. Verdan shook her head. “I only know that you believe it was her. But after seeing traces of the strange cocktail they injected you with before you were recovered, there’s really no telling what types of mind-altering drugs they’d pumped into you.”
“No.” Sage shook her head vehemently. “They didn’t—there wasn’t anything—there was only one injection, just before I woke up in the woods.”
“Again,” Ms. Verdan continued tersely, “that’s just what you believe. And there are a number of ways to administer drugs more discretely. Food, for instance.”
Sage fell silent, staring at the ground in disbelief. Was it possible that she knew even less about her kidnapping than she’d previously thought?
“I’m not sure if you’ve been told this before, but Mrs. Bennick has an alibi for the time of your abduction. And given her position…” she trailed off, a faraway look in her eyes.
“I get it,” Sage mumbled bitterly. “You need real proof. And my word’s not enough.”
Ms. Verdan’s mouth twitched. “No, Sage. It’s not.”
“Then take me back there.” Anger flashed behind her eyes. “I can show you—I can show you the room I stayed in, how I tried to get out, the—”
“—The Peace can’t even examine her property for clues without further evidence that backs up your story. And they certainly can’t allow you to go traipsing through what you believe is your former kidnapper’s home,” Ms. Verdan said slowly and, for the first time, almost kindly. “And without you being able to narrow down the specific location you were held…” She shook her head. “Right now, the only thing you have going for you is the consistency of your story. And as I’ve said before, that only takes you so far.”
“But I—”
An unexpected knocking on the door interrupted them.
“It seems clear to me that we’re not going to make much more progress today.” Ms. Verdan looked at the door in annoyance. “You’ll be escorted back to your room shortly. In the meantime, please wait here while I take care of whatever this is about.” She stood and swiftly made her way to the edge of the room. “And don’t touch anything,” she added just before closing the door.
Sage made a face at the door and then slumped dramatically in her chair. “Don’t touch anything,” she mimicked mockingly under her breath, then cringed. In her irritation, she’d forgotten that she was probably still being monitored. Oh, well. With everything she’d been through, they probably wouldn’t hold it against her.
Shifting in her seat, she stole a peek at Ms. Verdan’s databook. It was just sitting there on the desk in plain sight. She wondered if her interview results were open—if she could figure out if the woman actually believed everything she’d been saying.
Leaning forward a bit more, she craned her neck until she could get a better view of the screen. It was blank. She sighed in annoyance. Ms. Verdan must have turned it off before she left. And it was probably palm print activated.
The door flew open, and Sage nearly fell out of her seat in surprise. Ms. Verdan’s heels clicked through the room as she walked over to her desk and retrieved her databook, turning to leave again without so much as a cursory glance in Sage’s direction.
Sage furrowed her brow as she watched her walk by. The door slammed closed behind her.
Perplexed by her strange behavior, Sage continued staring at the door for a moment longer before the sound of muffled voices carried over to her seat. Curiosity piqued, she stood up and crept over to the door, pressing her ear to its smooth surface, straining to hear.
After listening for a few moments, she could make out the voices of Ms. Verdan and the headmaster, as well as another man. She couldn’t identify the man’s voice, but it sounded somehow familiar.
They were talking about her. She tried to quiet her breathing so she could hear them better.
The headmaster’s blustery voice rang out clearly. “But if she’s lying—”
“She’s not lying. But that’s not to say there aren’t still warning signs. In my professional opinion, she’s holding something back,” Ms. Verdan interrupted, a hint of impatience permeating her tone.
“That could mean anything. Being kidnapped has to be a traumatic experience. It’s a wonder she’s functional at all.” Sage wrinkled her brow as she mentally sorted through the people who had a reason to be involved in her unusual situation. She was frustrated she couldn’t seem to figure out who this man was or why he was defending her—though his defen
se was a bit insulting.
“That’s true. In fact, that’s the main reason I haven’t been able to draw a final conclusion. This is a highly unusual case. I haven’t seen anything like this in years. Not since…”
Sage frowned as Ms. Verdan’s voice grew softer. She pressed her ear against the door harder, hoping to hear the rest. Had something like this happened before? Had another student been kidnapped?
“… and anyhow, annoying as it is, I don’t think we can expect the girl to share the entirety of her experiences with us,” Ms. Verdan’s voice had grown louder again. “Her trust in Eprah has to be shaken. After all, we allowed this to happen to her. She was taken right from under our noses on a sanctioned Institution excursion.”
“Now, see here, Ms. Verdan. I don’t exactly appreciate your insinuation that my faculty had any—”
“Really, now, Headmaster. It’s a reasonable assertion,” the anonymous voice agreed. “And we know it wasn’t the Institution’s fault, but we can’t expect a student of her age to have the same logical reasoning that we’ve acquired as adults.”
“Exactly,” Ms. Verdan agreed.
Sage’s nostrils flared. While she appreciated the fact that someone was standing up for her, she couldn’t help but think that there had to be a less demeaning way of going about it.
“Keeping a few secrets of her time there could be the only thing keeping her stable—functional. Surely, we can allow her a few unimportant details to call her own.” The unidentified voice spoke again, coming to her defense once more. “After all, you said yourself that it’s clear she wants to enact justice against her captors.”
“I did. And as I mentioned before, I believe her faith in Eprah is at risk right now. This is a critical time in correcting that deviation—”
“—I already said—”
“—through no fault of your own, of course, Headmaster.”
The other man spoke again. “Do you have a recommendation then, Ms. Verdan?”
“In fact, I do. But I don’t think either of you will be entirely happy with it.”
“Well?”
“I recommend full reintegration with a special emphasis on ongoing therapies. While I haven’t been able to confirm her loyalty, I haven’t been able to entirely rule it out either. Not with confidence.”