Inside, Pt. 1

by Kyra Anderson

  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “It would depend on what the revolution was for.” She looked at me suspiciously. “What are you planning?”

  “Nothing,” I shook my head. I took a deep breath, turning away from her inquisitive eyes to compose myself. “I’m getting cold. Do you want to go back and we can do our homework together?”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Monday, I anxiously waited for my lunchtime meeting with Clark. I had stayed up with Mykail transcribing the information from the notes so that Clark and I could both understand it. I felt the papers in my sock even when I wasn’t moving. I wanted to pull them out through my classes and look them over again, but refrained, not sure who would be watching and get curious about what I was looking at behind my book.

  When lunch time came, I apologized to my worried friends and quickly ran to the east court, a place I had never been, since the east side of the school was for special track students.

  I spotted Clark pacing by one of the benches in the small courtyard. There was no one else around, and the sunlight barely shining in one corner made everything seem colder.

  “Hey.”

  “Hi,” I greeted.

  “We have to be quiet,” he said as I approached. He took my arm and pulled me to the middle of the courtyard. “You said that Mykail understood the notes.”

  “Yes,” I nodded, bending down and pulling the papers from my sock. As I unfolded them, I whispered, “Apparently there is a language that the experiments use among themselves. That’s what it was written in.”

  “By who?” Clark hissed.

  “He didn’t know,” I shook my head. I turned the papers toward Clark. “This is what it is.”

  Clark glanced at the scribbled annotations.

  “Is…is this really…”

  “Yes,” I nodded. “There is an experiment that gathered this information for us. How many experiments are loose in the Commission day to day that would have access to this kind of information?” I pressed.

  “A lot…” Clark sighed, flipping the pages and seeing the information on each experiment. “There are a lot of the experiments on Dana’s personal security, some of Sean’s men…there are a few who are staffed in order to contain the experiments in the back…”

  “How many possibilities are there?” I whispered, surprised to hear experiments were loose. I wondered how many of them I had already seen and didn’t know it.

  Clark took a deep breath, slowly letting it out as he thought, looking up into space.

  “Over a dozen…maybe as many as thirty…” he mused. He flipped the pages again. “It might have happened when I was looking over Eyna’s charts in the back…but that still leaves a lot of possibilities.”

  “What do you want to do?” I pressed.

  He flipped to another page.

  “Do you think we can trust this information?” I asked when he said nothing. “If you’re saying that it might be someone on Dana’s personal staff, it might be a trap. They could be loyal to him.”

  “Or they could be trying to take him down…” Clark whispered. “Dana does enough for a lot of people to hate him. This experiment could actually be on our side.” He folded the papers and tapped his fingers against them, thinking. “I think our next step needs to be looking up these experiments,” he pointed to the papers.

  “Look them up? How?”

  “We’ll have to get into Commission Records,” Clark said, his eyes staring distantly at the folded papers. “I don’t have clearance to get in. I don’t know if my mother does, either…” He saw the confused look on my face. “There is a room filled with all the records of every person who has ever been brought into the Commission. The electronic records are high security and heavily monitored. But the hard copies—if we could get into the room—would be easier to look through without detection…”

  “Where is the room?”

  “Next to Dana’s office,” Clark groaned. “I don’t know who would have the level of clearance to get in, though.”

  “How are the rooms locked?” I asked. “Keys? Electronic locks?”

  “Electronic. Each door has an electronic lock, sometimes even fingerprint and retina scans depending on what’s on the other side of the door. All people are registered as they move around in the Commission. Unless we had the override codes, we couldn’t get in without detection.”

  “Do you think that’s what these are?” I asked, pointing, indicating the list of numbers on the first page.

  “I think so,” he nodded, unfolding the pages again. “But these change every three months,” he shook his head. “Considering when we got these, they must be the brand new codes.”

  “Then they’ll change in January,” I concluded. “How can you find out the override codes? Who controls them?”

  “Sean.”

  “Is Sean an experiment?”

  “No.” Clark shook his head immediately. “He’s not. But I don’t know if Dana would let any of the experiments have such high level clearance, even if they were on his personal security. For someone to know this language, to find all this information…they must have hacked in, or stolen someone’s card…” Clark folded the pages again and blinked, his eyebrows high. “This is a lot of information for someone to gather for us.”

  “I really hope this is someone we can trust…”

  “Me, too.” His eyes locked momentarily on the papers before he handed them back. “Memorize the experiment numbers and their cell numbers. Then give these to me and I will do the same.”

  “Then we should burn them.”

  “Did you burn the originals?”

  “No, not yet,” I shook my head. “Once I have this memorized, I will.”

  “Good,” he agreed. He took another deep breath and watched as I put the papers back in my sock. “Lily, one more thing. Dana is getting really pushy about getting you to come to the Commission after school. He’s already been talking to my mother about carpooling us to and from the Commission and getting you clearance through the building.”

  I hesitated.

  “I guess it will be good in the long run.” I tried to smile. “Then I can snoop around a little more and get closer to him.”

  “Just be careful,” Clark whispered. “I don’t know what he’ll do to secure this, but be sure that you don’t move too fast. Keep resisting him.”

  “Don’t worry, I don’t plan on giving in to him.”

  “You’re an amazing person,” he grinned.

  “Clark…” I started, looking at my feet. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

  “Sure…”

  “What Dana does to you…when he corners you, do you fight him?” I whispered. “Or do you just wait for him to get it over with?”

  He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, becoming awkward and embarrassed.

  “I try to fight him…”

  “Would there be a point where you could steal his card?” I asked. He looked up quickly.

  “Dana’s card?” he blinked. “That’s too dangerous.”

  “I know, but…it would give us clearance everywhere,” I nodded. “I was thinking of trying to do the same if he ever…you know…”

  “Lily…don’t take this the wrong way, because I also know, but…do you think you can keep your thoughts straight enough to do that when he…”

  I looked at my feet, knowing exactly what Clark was implying. “Dana has superhuman powers and he can make us do whatever he wants without even really trying. That’s how he wins over everyone in the Commission. Don’t steal anything from him if you’re not thinking clearly. You are likely to make a mistake.”

  I nodded silently, not sure what to say.

  “Okay,” he nodded. “I’m going to get back. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Alright,” I agreed. “Thanks for everything, Clark.”

  “We have to support one another,” he smiled. “If we’re serious about this, we can’t abandon each other.”

  Before I coul
d stop myself, I hugged him. I felt him hug me back briefly before we separated. Without another word, we returned to our normal lunches, pretending that we were not plotting the downfall of the most powerful organization in the world.

  * *** *

  I spent Monday and Tuesday night trying to memorize the numbers of the experiments that had been noted by our mysterious helper, noting that most of the cells were in Ward Eight. When I asked Mykail, he told me that Ward Eight was the ward where the experiments were strong, but not uncontrollable, like most of those in Wards Nine and Ten.

  When Wednesday rolled around, I was thrown for a loop.

  I walked out of the school with Becca, Jill, and Taylor, talking about something silly that had happened in Taylor’s last class. I stepped down the front steps of the school when Taylor’s attention as drawn away from her own story.

  “What’s with the limo?”

  There was a limousine waiting out front that was drawing attention from the students, though no one dared to approach it, not when there was a very large man dressed in a suit standing next to it.

  I blinked in shock.

  “Miss Sandover,” the man called, spotting me.

  “Sean?”

  “You know him?” Jill asked.

  I ignored her and watched as Sean stepped away from the car and walked to me.

  “I have been sent to pick you up,” he said, extending his hand around my back to lightly push me toward the car. I hesitated for a moment, glancing back at my friends.

  “I…I’ll talk to you later…” I called, my voice weak from concern and surprise.

  They just stared after me in shock as I was steered to the car.

  Sean opened the door and, too dazed to do anything else, I stepped in. As soon as the door closed, my eyes widened as I noticed who else was in the limo.

  My parents were sitting on one side and Dana was sitting across from me against the screen that separated the front cab from the back. He was wearing a suit, as always, but his glasses were off and he was sitting confidently, smiling at me with a grin that told me he had done something I should be worried about.

  My mother immediately moved forward, hugging me tightly.

  “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry…” she breathed, her voice tight with tears.

  “Mom? What are you talking about? What’s going on?” I said, looking over her shoulder at my father and Dana. “You’re scaring me…”

  “I’m sorry that you couldn’t tell us what happened,” my mother breathed, pulling away and returning to her seat as the limo started moving.

  “Will someone please tell me what is going on?” I said, confusion causing my voice to be higher than normal.

  “Dana told us about the boys who attacked you outside the club a few weeks ago,” my father said solemnly.

  My eyes flew back to Dana. I was too shocked to glare at him, though I desperately wanted to. His smile widened.

  “Why didn’t you say anything to us?” my mother hissed.

  “I…” I had no idea what to say. I looked at Dana once again, trying to understand what I should say, since I did not know what he had already told them. “I just…”

  “I’m sure that night was traumatic for her,” Dana interjected, his eyes rolling discreetly before he spoke. I felt affronted. How was I supposed to respond when my parents ask me about that from out of nowhere? He had no right to be annoyed at my tied tongue. “But now you can understand my concerns.”

  “What concerns?” I snapped. “The only concern should be that you were the one looming outside the club when it happened!”

  “Lily!” my mother snapped. “He saved you.”

  “Dana told us that he often drives to the club to check up on the younger members of the Commission and he happened to see you being pulled into the alley,” my father explained. “He stepped in to save you before they were able to do more. You should at least thank him.”

  I wanted to tell them about what Dana had done to me afterward, attacking me in the car after he had supposedly saved me, but I bit my tongue.

  “I also told your parents that this attack was what made me make the announcement to everyone in the Commission about their children,” Dana said. “And that I saw them coming on to you again last Saturday evening, even after the warning.”

  “He says that he’s worried that you are not safe from these boys,” my mother added. “He has offered to let you come to the Commission after school so that you can be protected.”

  I wanted to scream.

  I was furious. How could he use that night as a means to sway my parents and get them to agree that I needed to be at the Commission all the time? How could he spin it so that my parents thought I was safer there?

  I reigned in my anger when I realized it was showing on my face. Dana’s smile was getting wider.

  “Honey, I think it’s a really good idea,” my mother nodded. I groaned and rolled my eyes. “Lily, this is a very generous move from Dana. I want to be sure that you will be safe.”

  “What about my friends?” I snapped. “What if I want to hang out with them instead?”

  “Sweetheart,” my mother said slowly, as if I was five years old again, “until these boys back off, I would rather have you safe. After they start leaving you alone, then…maybe we can talk about it.”

  “This isn’t fair…”

  “I would have to agree with your mother,” my father said, though he hesitated. “I want you to be as safe as possible. Besides, you’re friends with Clark, aren’t you? You can hang out with him. You won’t be alone.”

  “I don’t want to be stuck in the Commission all day after school,” I groaned. “At least just let me go home after school.”

  My mom glared at me as my father turned to Dana.

  “You know, when we’re working late, Lily is the one to take care of Mykail,” he said. “Maybe she can stay home instead.”

  Now, it was my turn to smile at Dana. I could tell he was annoyed by the way the muscles in his jaw tightened.

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea…” he said slowly. “I would feel better if she was in my sights…” He looked at my parents and sighed. “How about she comes to stay in the Commission until dinner time, at which point, she will be driven home. One of you should be home by that time, correct?”

  My father hesitated, but my mother smiled.

  “Who would drive her home?” my father asked quietly.

  “I have a number of staff who could drive her,” Dana assured confidently. “They are all quite reliable and vouched for by both myself and Sean. I can assure you, she will be in good hands.”

  My father turned back to me.

  “What do you think, Lily?”

  “I don’t like this,” I groaned. “Why are you controlling me like this?”

  “We’re not controlling you,” my mother said gently, trying to soothe me. “We’re just worried about your safety. Dana is, too. Until things calm down a bit, let’s just try this and see if it helps.”

  “It’s not fair!” I repeated petulantly.

  I knew I was acting childish, but that’s just what it was. Acting.

  I wanted to get inside the Commission. I wanted to research what I could about the experiments and find weaknesses in Dana’s system. But I had to play my part and fight as much as possible to achieve the right response.

  “It’s not going to be forever,” my father assured.

  I huffed and sat back in my seat, looking broodily out the window, crossing my arms. A part of me was upset at the arrangement, of course, but a greater part of me was upset at how easily my parents had agreed to Dana’s suggestion. Wasn’t it obvious to them how easily Dana was playing them? Did they not see that he was coming after me, not protecting me?

  “I’m sure she’ll get used to it,” my mother said, turning back to Dana. I rolled my eyes and listened to what they were saying, though I did not participate in the conversation.

  “I’m sure,” Dana nodded. “I
do not want you both worrying yourselves sick. She will be fine. I will have brought back around seven every day. This is simply a precaution until the boys learn their place.”

  “We appreciate this greatly,” my mother said.

  “You seem to have taken Lily under your wing as it is…” my father said slowly. I was relieved and very worried to hear the statement. My father was still weary of Dana and still worried about me but, at the same time, he could have been asking the wrong questions and it could be dangerous, considering the current dance between me and Dana.

  “Well, I feel as if we’re practically family,” Dana grinned. “I will tell you, Tommy, that most of the parents in the Commission are not skilled parents like Karen and yourself. Most of them are self-important brats who are raising their children without boundaries. Unfortunately, as the leader of the Commission of the People, often times I am the one who must step in and set the perimeters for their behavior.” He glanced at me. “I feel no such need to do that with Little Lily.”

  “We’re flattered that you think so highly of us,” my mother laughed gently.

  “It’s true,” Dana said. “But, that being said, I do feel somewhat responsible for her safety. There are so few good children in the Commission, and since they are the future of our organization, I feel that it is very important to keep the good ones safe and get rid of the bad ones.”

  “Get rid of?” I said before I could stop myself, feeling my heart stop. “As in make them leave the Commission? Kick them out?”

  Dana smiled at me and shook his head.

  “Don’t be silly, Little Lily,” he chuckled. “No one ever gets out of the Commission.”

  The car came to a stop. When I looked out the window, I was very surprised to see that we had pulled up to my house. There must have been another way to our neighborhood that I had no idea about.

  “Well, Little Lily, I know that you are not happy about coming to the Commission every day after school, but Clark will enjoy the company and you will be safer. We’ll arrange the details,” he motioned to himself and my parents, “and I will have someone pick you and Clark up every day after school.”