“No, I’m not,” Iris hurried toward her locker. “I don’t feel like it. It’s the same old, same old, and I am fed up.”
“How could you say that?” Zoe frowned. “Vera is going to be eighteen. That’s every girl’s best day of her life. It’s rude not to share in the celebration.”
“First of all, I think Vera is an airhead. Beautiful, but an airhead,” Iris snapped her locker open. She did it with coolness and style, only to entertain herself. Boredom in The Second was just about the norm. She rummaged through and picked up some drawing tools, canvases, papers, and pencils. She was one of the rare people who still used a pencil, as they were only sold in auctions. “Second thing is, I don’t understand all this celebrating being eighteen thing. It’s a birthday, like any other.”
“No, it isn’t,” Zoe’s eyes followed the pencil in Iris’s hand, as if she were embarrassed her friend still owned one. “Eighteen means you skipped the Call of the Beast. They only call seventeen-year-olds like you and me. You should be happy for Vera, and all eighteen-year-olds, for that matter.”
Iris pulled out two small bottles filled with green liquid, and a strange device that looked like a metallic flashlight. She tucked both in her backpack. “Happy for her?” she slammed the locker shut. “Vera is arrogant and a bully, and everyone around her is a hypocrite because her father is a member of the Council. And what is the Council, Zoe? The elite humans who claim they communicate with the Beasts. The Beasts, Zoe. The ones who take one of us. Do you think I am supposed to celebrate my own eighteenth birthday and just be happy I escaped the Beasts’ wrath? What about all those girls taken, Zoe?”
Zoe took a reluctant step away from Iris, whose voice had peaked enough for everyone around them to hear. She scanned the hallways with her eyes, worried that some teacher had heard Iris’s rant. No one was supposed to insult the Beasts, or the Council.
“The Beasts must have a great wisdom for choosing the girls,” Zoe said, straightening her back, and making sure others heard her clearly. Zoe always did her best to fit in. Iris didn’t hate her for that. Zoe seemed like she couldn’t deal with punishment and humiliation, like her. “My mother says the Beasts work in mysterious ways, and we shall not oppose them, for what they do, although seemingly harmful, is for the best of mankind.”
“Crap.” Iris grimaced, strapping her bag on her back. She was by no means affected by the students’ piercing eyes. She’d been labeled an outcast long ago. “Do you even listen to yourself when you say this gibberish? Don’t you really want to know the truth? Don’t you wonder why the Beasts only take girls, never boys? Why seventeen? On what basis? And more curiously, don’t you ever wonder what is done to those girls? Are they dead, humiliated, or what the heck is going on?”
“Enough! Miss Beaumont,” Mrs. Wormwood appeared out of nowhere.
“But of course,” Zoe lowered her head, answering on behalf of her friend. “She’s very sorry.”
Mrs. Wormwood took a moment, staring at Iris, who did her best not to laugh again. Seriously, she didn’t want to miss the moment Mrs. Wormwood tried to pull off her wig.
“If you hadn’t been grounded enough already, I would make you do more psychiatry hours,” Mrs. Wormwood said. “But I am generous today. So, no more of that bad talking here. Understood?”
Iris nodded, partially to hide her smiling mouth. Mrs. Wormwood pulled her chin up and walked away.
“Look, I think it’s better if we don’t talk about this,” Iris whispered to Zoe. “I just have all these questions in my head that no one wants to answer. And I can’t help it. It’s just me. I need to get answers.”
“You should know that your questions are dangerous,” Zoe lowered head. “Even the government doesn’t ask such questions.”
“Which is mind boggling, isn’t it?” Iris let out a surrendering laugh. She’d decided her relationship with her best friend had come to a point where it was better to keep things shallow. It wasn’t a bad thing. Her relationship with almost everyone else had come to this point. Either she talked about cute boys, birthdays and liked the same music everyone else liked, or she was considered weird.
All of this didn’t matter, really. As long as Iris was capable of practicing her secret hobby, she was still happy. Now she had to go practice her secret. She patted Zoe on her shoulder and waved goodbye.
“Are you going where I think you’re going?” Zoe asked helplessly.
Iris nodded, her thumbs tucked between her bag’s straps and her shoulders.
“I assume I can’t stop you,” Zoe said.
Iris shook her head. She didn’t like to talk about her secret hobby. It was a dangerous one, so she thought silence would help her skip the fear of doing it. “I have to go now,” Iris turned around and walked away. It occurred to her that she hadn’t practiced her secret hobby for three weeks. So why now?
Because of what Eva mouthed to me, she thought. That’s why now!
A few steps farther, Zoe summoned Iris again.
“What now?” Iris puffed, and turned her head.
“Mrs. Wormwood’s wig isn’t going to be glued to her head by the way,” Zoe said, waving the tube with the glue in the air. “I switched it so you only pasted some gel on her wig.”
Iris narrowed her eyebrows. So her planned prank didn’t work? Damn. But she couldn’t be mad. Her friend had done this to save her from punishment. She did that a lot, and Iris loved her for that. Iris shook her head, flashing half a smile, and then turned around again and walked away.
“You’re welcome.” Zoe shouted in the back.
6
To practice her secret hobby, Iris had to sneak her way out of school, jumping over the electrocuting security fence guarded by two robot guards. Iris needed help, so she had to call Cody Ray, Colton’s nerdy younger brother, and total opposite. She’d met him sneaking out of school a day after Eva’s Call. Cody was a year younger than Colton, a wannabe hacker, and the curious type. And not content with The Second. The two outcasts clicked and became friends instantly. Zoe had accused Iris of only becoming friends with Cody as a stepping stone to his brother. Iris thought the idea was ridiculous, even though she still dreamt about that look she shared with Colton. In fact, Colton’s eyes were Iris’s only savior from Eva’s mouthed words in her nightmares. The Beasts might have ruled her world, but never her dreams.
Cody was a 1st rate introvert. He was occasionally bullied—behind Colton’s back of course. Colton, coming from a rich family, had never been the fighting type. He was good-looking, well-dressed, and too well-mannered to use his fists. No one was going to come near him anyways. Cody was different. Like Iris, he felt like an outcast all the time. And he knew something was wrong with The Second.
“Cody,” Iris said firmly on the phone. She didn’t want him to think she liked him. Nerdy boys fell in love like moths to a flame. Besides, she liked Colton. A lot.
“What’s up, Beauty,” he yawned.
“I told you not to call me Beauty,” she snapped. She wore her hood of her jacket up over her head and stood behind the tree near the fence, while everyone was back in class. She had about two minutes before the robot guards could locate her. The robots were changing shifts, and she only had a two-minute gap, until the newer ones showed up. Cody had told her about this incredible loophole in the system—it had boggled her mind the first time she heard about the loophole; why would robots change shifts? It wasn’t like they got tired, like humans. “Why aren’t you in school, Cody?” she said.
“Because I’m in bed,” he almost snored. “Sleeping my day away.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Iris whispered, her eyes darting around. “I am all about skipping school. But if you sleep your day away, what will you do all night by yourself?”
“I love it when everyone else is asleep and I’m the only one awake. You know I’m not quite fond of people,” Cody said. “Could you leave me be now. I was dreaming there was no one left in the world but me and the Beasts, and I was fighting them.�
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Iris smiled. The dude was definitely different, and interesting.
“I need your help, Cody. I have so little time,” she said. “Get me out of school. Can you hack the fence’s program, so I can climb it without frying like a stupid mosquito?”
“I know the hack, but I could go to jail for this,” Cody’s voice pitched. He wasn’t going to sleep his day away anymore. “Why do you keep doing stuff like that?”
“Stuff like what?” Iris said nonchalantly. “I’m just ditching school. Now hurry, you lazy beast. The robots should appear any second.”
“Alright, alright,” Cody puffed. “You know why I’m helping you this time?”
Iris could hear him working his magic on his computer already. “Because I’m irresistible,” she mocked him—and herself. “Now hurry. What’s taking you so long?”
“No, dummy,” he joked. “Because you don’t care about being caught by the robot guards. If they catch you, you’ll be punished, but it doesn’t concern you a bit. All you worry about is not being able to do what you want to do. I like that.”
“I like that too, actually,” she considered, although she’d never analyzed it. She just did what she felt like doing, without worrying about what others thought of her.
“Here you go, Beauty,” Cody said.
Iris heard him press the enter button on his computer. The fence’s buzzing sound died. It was safe for her to climb up.
“But that’s the last time I’ll help you with this. If the Council finds out, me, and my family, will be toast.”
“If you’re so keen about your family, why are you hacking the system in the first place?” Iris growled, climbing the fence. “I don’t think your parents even love you.”
“Thank you for reminding me,” Cody said. He didn’t sound upset about it. “I don’t know why I do it, Iris,” he shrugged. “I just do.”
“But I know why you do it,” she thudded on the grass on the other side of the fence. “Because like me, you have questions. Only you don’t care about the Beasts, like me. You care about our history before the Beasts. You want to know how humanity ended up ruled by some aliens we call the Beasts, which can’t even see.”
“I’m going to buzz it back now,” Cody said, neglecting her assumptions. She hated when he did that. Cody was the only one who shared her passion, but he was still conservative about it. It was like he had limits he wouldn’t cross. And it was understandable, considering his family tree.
Iris heard the buzz return as the guards appeared behind the fence. Although they couldn’t harm her, they were going to report her to the police, who’d be looking for her soon.
“Thanks, Cody,” she said. “I’ll hang up now. I’ve got some running to do.”
“Wait,” Cody pleaded. “Where are you going?”
“I thought you wanted to sleep your day away.”
“That was because it was going to be a boring day. You seem to have an adventure ahead,” he said. “I’m curious about the reason you’re escaping school. Where are you heading?”
“You won’t like it.”
“Oh,” Cody said. Iris heard him shrug on the phone and the sound of him slumping in his chair. “To the Ruins?”
“Yes.” There wasn’t the slightest hint of hesitation in her voice. “And don’t give me that crap about it being a forbidden place.”
“I won’t, Beauty,” he said. “I’m just curious. You told me you haven’t been there for about three months. Why now?”
“I guess I need something to distract me from thinking about Eva,” she swallowed. “I believe the Ruins hold the answers to why the Beasts are doing this and who they are. I told you about it before. Remember?”
“You mean the Pentimento?” Cody sighed. The words sounded scary on his lips.
“Yes.”
“The possible answer to how the world came to be messed up like this,” he mumbled.
“I have to run now. Do you want to come?”
Cody didn’t answer. Iris could hear him breathing heavily on the phone. Sometimes, she thought he was the kind of boy who loved to ask questions, but was afraid of knowing the answer.
“Cody?” Iris stopped in her tracks. It was as if Cody suddenly disappeared, without hanging up. “Come on, Cody,” she insisted. “Don’t waste my time. I don’t like reluctant people. Either you want to risk coming with me to learn who the Beasts really are, or not.”
“Is this Pentimento really the answer?” a voice asked in the phone. It was a calm voice, a bit shattered and worn out, but grounded. It was as if it belonged to someone strong and confident, but with a broken heart. It was Colton’s voice.
Iris’s eyes widened and her throat went dry once she recognized it. Was this what she’d hoped for, that her interaction with Cody would lead her to meet Colton? But wait. He wanted to come with her to practice the Pentimento? Why would he want to do this?
“Answer me,” Colton demanded, then stopped for a moment. She heard him ask Cody what her name was. “Iris,” he said. “Your name is Iris, right?”
“Yes.” she said, hating how weakened she sounded all of a sudden.
“If I come with you to the Ruins, is it possible that I might learn what happened to Eva?” he said.
“I don’t promise answers,” she said. “But I’m sure it’s a step closer to the truth.”
“Wait up,” Colton said without hesitation. “I’m coming to meet you.”
7
“The Ruins are behind the Great Wall,” Iris said to Colton, who was trying to catch up with her energetic walking. Iris preferred to have Colton behind her, so it didn’t show in her eyes how much she liked him. When he first arrived, he hadn’t even remembered her. He hadn’t remembered that most amazing moment of eye-locking before Eva’s death. Iris thought it was natural. She was always kind of invisible to him, and who was she kidding? They had that moment right before his girlfriend received the Call to death. Nothing he would really want to remember.
“What?” Colton stopped. Iris had to turn around and face him. His black hair dangled down over his forehead, as he lowered his head down to talk to her.
“We don’t really have the advantage to slow down,” Iris said, taking a deep breath, and forgetting she was talking to Colton. “We shouldn’t spend a lot of time in the Ruins, or the Slugs who live there could hurt us.”
“Slugs?” he wondered.
Of course, Iris thought. Colton was no different from the other citizens who’d never heard about the Ruins, or the outlaws who lived in it.
“I don’t care about any slugs, whoever they are,” Colton followed.
“Then why do you look so confused?” She noticed the sparkling in his eyes had faded. Colton was grieving Eva’s departure, but he was too proud to show it.
“You never told me the Ruins are behind the Great Wall. No one’s supposed to go there.” Colton remarked.
“Nothing of what we’re about to do is going to be legal. It’s one of the drawbacks of hanging out with me.” Iris really wanted to make an impression, and she was filled with nerves about hanging out with him. But she wasn’t going to change who she was for him. She wondered if it was even legal to have a crush on Colton while he was freshly mourning Eva.
“I haven’t really thought about it,” Colton said, a shade of sadness veiling his voice. This was a lesser Colton than the one her eyes had stalked all year long. “But I guess if the Ruins hold the secrets you’re going to show me, it has to be behind the Great Wall. You’re aware that this wall protects The Second from whatever danger lies outside, right?”
“It’s also the only place that still has buildings made of brick, stone, and wood,” Iris thought she’d pique his curiosity, “instead of this metallic world we live in.”
“There are no buildings built of brick and wood anymore,” Colton grimaced, lifting his head at the fortress of silver buildings behind them. She watched him take in her note, and see how dull the world around them looked. Shiny, but dull. “
The Council has destroyed any of those ancient constructions built in The First United States.”
“As long as you’re with me, let’s forget about anything they told you in school.” Iris rather bragged. “I know you’re used to believing the Council. It’s time to open your eyes and realize we’re living in a fortress prison called The Second United States. The Ruins are outer limits, and forbidden because they are the only place that has evidence of The First.” Iris stepped closer, trying her best not to be affected by his manly scent. “There are real plants in the Ruins.”
“That’s impossible,” Colton said. “The Earth’s soil doesn’t produce plants, nor crops. Thanks to the Council, they invented ways to grow crops in houses with no soil needed.”
“You’re still thinking of the Council.” If she wasn’t talking to Colton, she’d have pulled her hair and yelled. Funny how she couldn’t tell someone she liked how stupid they were. “There are real buildings in the Ruins, and there are even real animals. I guess you’ll have to see it yourself to believe it.”
“Cody says you’re smart,” Colton rubbed his chin. She couldn’t tell if Colton was impressed or annoyed with her. “Should I trust him?”
“Forget about Cody,” she took another confident stride closer to him. “I’m Iris. I’m here in front of you. You shouldn’t rely on anyone else’s judgement. Either you’re courageous enough to cross the line, or you’re not.”
“You’re practically saying that crossing over to the Ruins, I might not come back.” Colton said. A flick of admiration finally flashed in is eyes. Iris hoped she wasn’t wrong about it. This was definitely admiration, right? And not because of my beauty, but because of me being just me.
“You want to know what happened to Eva or not?” she challenged him. “I’ve crossed before. About ten times so far. Can you?”
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