by Dylan Steel
“Of course, you’re behind in your classwork. You haven’t had any instruction for—”
“No,” she cut him off. “They insisted that I keep up my studies.”
The look of surprise on the men’s faces was priceless.
“Why are you just now mentioning this, Sage?” Captain Ludlo narrowed his eyes at her.
“It was just so normal, I didn’t realize it was even something worth mentioning.” The lie came easily. “In fact,” she continued, meeting the headmaster’s gaze evenly, “I think it’s possible that I’ve advanced more than some of the other Level Twelves.”
“That’s preposterous,” the headmaster spat.
“Feel free to test me then,” she insisted again, her confidence rising. “That should answer any questions you have.” She lifted her chin. “I think Eprah would benefit more from my direct participation in my level. And I think you owe it to Eprah to at least give me a shot. Unless you don’t really care about what’s best for Eprah.”
She tilted her head at the headmaster, eyeing him suspiciously. “Maybe you don’t. Maybe you’re Lawless.”
Her stomach clenched at the sight of the headmaster’s reddening face. She hoped she hadn’t pushed too far. His mouth dropped open as he glared at her.
To her surprise, he turned to address Mr. Gaztok. “You know that’s not true. They’ve messed with her mind. She doesn’t even realize what she’s suggesting.” His tone came out as a mixture between a whine and protest.
“I think she does.” Mr. Gaztok’s eyes never left Sage’s, even as he answered the headmaster.
She should have felt relief at that statement, but instead, she felt as if ice was running through her veins.
“It’s not just your classwork, though, Sage.” Mr. Gaztok finally addressed her. “It’s because of who took you. Why you were taken. We have reason to believe your loyalty to Eprah may have been compromised.”
Her lips parted in disbelief. “But you said you didn’t know who took me.” She was shaking. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the captain look away. Her eyes darted in his direction. “Do you know?”
“Not exactly,” Captain Ludlo said hesitantly. He appeared conflicted, casting a scowl in Mr. Gaztok’s direction.
“What does that mean?” Sage’s eyes were wide as they darted from one man’s face to another. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Tell her, Ludlo. Tell her why she was taken in the first place. Maybe it’ll finally jog her memory.” Mr. Gaztok’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
“Why?” she whispered. “You know why I was taken?” She lifted her eyes to the captain. “Why I was let go?”
He leaned back in surprise. “They never said anything about it to you?”
She bit her lip, shaking her head slightly.
“Sage…” he hesitated. “I hate to be the one to tell you this. These people obviously don’t value the lives of children as they should.” He stopped again, clearly uncomfortable to be the one offering an explanation.
“Miss Indarra,” Mr. Gaztok took over. There was no sympathy or hesitation in his voice, just a hint of anger. “You were a pawn. The Lawless used your life as a bargaining chip to extract sensitive information from Eprah.”
Confusion etched itself across her face. “No… that’s—that’s not possible,” she blurted out without thinking. “They—why would they do that?”
“I’m afraid that it’s quite possible. That’s exactly what happened. They knew we had no choice but to prioritize your rescue.” Mr. Gaztok’s lip curled in disgust. “We’ve been working toward a peaceful solution all year, but only recently did they decide to truly force our hand.”
Rage flashed across his face. She’d never seen him look more terrifying.
“They know the depth of our obligation to honor our own laws and protect the youngest and oldest members of society. And you are among those.”
She could’ve sworn she saw a trace of disgust on his face at his last words.
“You’re saying…” she sucked in her breath. Her mind was racing. “The Lawless took me? I don’t understand. I—that doesn’t make sense.”
“It was actually a brilliant move,” the captain murmured, almost admiringly. “They knew we’d do almost anything to retrieve a student safely. It’s just a wonder they were able to get to you at all.”
“Our concern about you rejoining your classmates goes far beyond your academic abilities at this point,” Mr. Gaztok said coolly. “You see, we have no way of knowing if they’ve made an attempt to recruit you. They’ve had a year to turn you against Eprah, and we certainly can’t have that type of Lawless rhetoric running rampant in the minds and hearts of our youth. Not if we expect Eprah to remain the great nation it is.”
“They never said they were Lawless,” Sage mumbled softly, more to herself than them.
Her mind was racing. She knew better than to blindly trust everything Mr. Gaztok said, but she couldn’t figure out why he’d lie about this. But what if… was it actually possible he was telling the truth?
“You understand, don’t you, Miss Indarra? Why it’s best for everyone that you’re isolated?” Mr. Gaztok’s lip snagged upward in almost a sneer.
“I don’t want to be shunned.” She shook her head violently. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do. Test me again. See if I’ve come far enough in my studies. See if I’m still loyal to Eprah.”
She sucked in a breath. “I hated it there. They weren’t my friends.”
“That may be, true, Miss Indarra, but can you really expect us to take your word for it?” The headmaster snorted derisively. “Your future is far from the only one at stake here.”
“Yes,” she said stubbornly. She was backed into a corner. If Mr. Gaztok was telling the truth, the Lawless—her allies—had held her hostage for a year without explanation. That seemed unlikely. It seemed far more likely that Mr. Gaztok was lying, but she still had no idea why. Either way, her captors weren’t Lawless. They couldn’t be. Mr. Walsh would have told her if they’d needed to use her to extort information from Eprah. There was no reason to keep her in the dark.
And right now, she needed to give the headmaster and Mr. Gaztok a very good reason not to permanently lock her back up again in a tiny room, truly alone and forced to learn to love Eprah until she graduated.
“If you don’t shun me,” she said, heart pounding, “I can give you the name of one of the people who held me.”
Mr. Gaztok lifted an eyebrow in surprise. “I thought you didn’t know who had you. Why should we believe anything you say now?”
“Of course, you should tell us,” Captain Ludlo glared at Mr. Gaztok again. “We need to bring them to justice.”
Sage tried to steady her breathing. “I didn’t think you’d believe me before. And I’ll only tell you if you promise I won’t be shunned.”
Headmaster Alexander scowled. “Now, see here, young lady, we are not in the business of being extorted by our students. If you think—”
“Done.” Mr. Gaztok’s voice was clear and firm as he interrupted the headmaster. He studied Sage’s face carefully. There was a hardness behind his eyes that made her squirm under his gaze. “If we determine you are telling the truth, and if you pass your level exams, you won’t be shunned.”
She bit her lip and nodded. “I was at a house. A benefactor’s estate.” She paused, put off by the eager gleam she saw in Mr. Gaztok’s eyes. Everything about him unsettled her.
“Go on.”
Sucking in a breath, she tried to force her stomach to stop raging. She was doing the right thing. She couldn’t help the Lawless or Lita or herself if she was stuck in isolation until graduation.
“A benefactor knew I was there. She even talked to me once after I tried to escape. There’s no way she wasn’t in on the whole thing.” She hesitated. “It was Sophia Bennick.”
***
The story continues in The Outcast: Sacrisvita Book VII. (Keep reading for an excerpt...)
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-Dylan
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THE OUTCAST: Sacrisvita Book VII - Excerpt
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 shouldn’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?