Stealing Liberty

by Jennifer Froelich

  Chapter 16

  Reed

  * * *

  I’m not paying attention to this pointless assignment, but playing a game on my tablet when the blast rips me off my stool. Across the table, Xoey flies through the air, just out of reach. Riley and I collide, so I grab her, shoving her head under my arm just as a shard of wood speeds past her ear. It tears through the skin on my forearm and keeps going while we fall to the ground. Then I’m rolling over, covering her body with mine as more wood, glass, and metal rain down on my back like barbed hail.

  My ears are bleeding. A droning siren wails inside my head and the air is filled with vile smoke burning my lungs. I start to cough. Around me, other students sputter, moan, and shriek, but the sound is muffled, near and far at the same time.

  “Get off! Get off me!”

  I roll away and watch Riley scoot back against the supply cabinet. A wide streak of blood follows her, painting the floor. Her eyes are dilated with shock, but mine are roaming over her short frame. I find it quickly — a gash above her knee bleeding through her clothes.

  “Stay still,” I say.

  She ignores me, scooting farther back. “What are you, some kind of Neanderthal? You think I need protection because I’m small? Because I’m a girl?”

  “Shut up!” I grab her hand and press it hard against her wound while searching for something to use as a bandage. Two feet away, another girl is unconscious. Blood pools around her head, but I can’t help her and Riley at the same time, so I turn away. I spot a first aid box across the room behind Mr. Surino. He’s still sitting at his desk, covered in cuts and either unwilling or unable to move.

  I cross the floor quickly, slipping on blood and glass. My hands shake as I seize the kit. There’s not much there, but I grab some gauze and a compression bandage and return to Riley. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Mr. Patrick burst through the door. He pushes a broken table out of his way and heads toward the other end of the classroom where he bends over an unconscious student.

  “Here. Move your hand.” I press hard with the gauze and wrap the bandage tightly around Riley’s leg. She’s got tears on her cheeks, but she rubs them away, smearing blood in their place. I secure the bandage and let go, hoping it will hold. I don’t know if it’s enough.

  I scramble across the floor to the unconscious girl, but I’m too late. She’s already dead. I sit back on my heels, stunned. Then I remember to run my hands over my own body, checking for wounds. I find nothing but superficial cuts and scratches.

  Xoey!

  I find her under a lab table near the far wall, helping a girl who has a shard of metal imbedded in her arm. Xoey’s got several scrapes, including a long gash on her forehead. Blood flows freely down her face.

  “Are you okay?”

  Xoey nods and I move on. I remember her flying through the air and shake my head. God truly watches over her!

  By now, more students are doing what they can to help the injured. I’m thankful I don’t see anyone else who might be dead. Kids are limping out of the lab and dragging each other through the doorway. Mr. Patrick is supporting a girl whose arm is streaked with blood, but he’s also leaning over Mr. Surino’s desk, shouting his name.

  “Mr. Surino!” He grabs his arm, shaking him. “Bart! We need to help these kids!”

  I return to Riley. She’s trembling. Still in shock, I think. She lifts her eyes to mine and speaks, her voice almost inaudible.

  “I still hate you,” she says. “I will always hate you.”

  I help her to her feet. “I know.”

  My timekeeper chimes. Luna says curfew is five minutes away. I pull on my shoes, sneak out of the dorm, and head to Kino’s office. It will be the first time I go there voluntarily.

  Smoke permeates the air. I’m glad I can still smell it. It keeps my anger close. Twelve students are sleeping on air cots in the Med Center tonight, too cut up to be in their dorm beds. Riley is one of them. She has twelve stitches in a wishbone-shaped cut above her right knee. I checked on her before dinner, but she was sleeping. Probably a good thing.

  “I’ll watch over her as long as I can,” Xoey told me. She squeezed my hand. She has a concussion, so she isn’t supposed to sleep. Her forehead is swollen and purple, the gash repaired with med glue. At least Vardelos is sober today.

  Rumors are already spreading about the source of the explosion, but no one knows anything except it came from the sidewalk outside the science lab. We were hit hardest, though the classroom above us was affected too. I think about the girl who died. Her name was Jeanine. I didn’t know her, but she wasn’t sitting any closer to the window than Riley or Xoey. Or me.

  So why did she die and not us?

  I ball my hands into fists, climb the stairs, and bang on Kino’s door. Zak has always been there to let me in before, but Kino must see me on her security monitor. The door clicks open, and I barrel through.

  “The library fire was arson, wasn’t it?” I lean over her desk. “And you knew!”

  “Calm down.”

  “Now the same person has set off a bomb. It’s why you wanted me to spy for you, isn’t it? You’ve been hoping I would find out who it is.”

  Kino’s expression remains bland, but her words are sharp. “You’ll find I have little patience for students who storm into my office and yell at me, Reed. Don’t make it a habit.”

  I point toward the door. “I just watched a girl die today. She bled out on the science floor before anyone could help her.”

  Kino shrugs. “So she dies now instead of next year in a labor camp. A girl like Jeanine was never going to survive long in this world. Don’t take it so personally.”

  My vision is spotted, white with rage — or maybe I have a concussion too. Either way, it’s interfering with my fear center. For a moment, I sway. I steady myself, then lean closer. “I get it. We’re nothing to you!”

  She crosses her arms. “Nothing? No, not you. You’re quite useful. But this temper tantrum is already wearing thin. Do not push me.”

  I ignore the warning. “You should have told me you were looking for someone specific on the first day. I could have learned something by now — caught him, even, before he had a chance to blow up the science lab!”

  Kino’s lips twist. “I’ve always admired your sense of self-preservation.”

  “Call it what you want, but you’ve had me barking up the wrong tree for months.”

  Her mouth compresses into a thin, red line. “I don’t owe you any explanation. You work for me, Reed. Remember? Besides, more than one student may be involved. You said yourself, Oliver Penn—”

  “Is NOT involved in this!” I interrupt. “Don’t you understand that by now? I watch him. You watch him too. Just because people hate being here, just because they…they speak in code — for a few seconds of privacy — doesn’t mean they are terrorists!”

  “You are all terrorists!” Her tone is low and full of hate. “And with one word, I can put you all down for insurrection, and no one in the Sand would so much as blink an eye! Do you understand me?”

  Her hand twitches toward her desktop control panel. I imagine the seconds it would take for her to tap in the kill codes, beckoning drones to lock onto my Cit-Track ID. All of our IDs. Fear returns like today’s explosion, deafening me. I swallow hard.

  “I can find whoever is responsible for this.” I struggle to keep my voice even. “Now that I know what I’m investigating. It won’t take long.”

  Her hand hovers over the desk for a second longer, then she pulls it away and swivels toward the window. “See that it doesn’t.”

  I don’t know what else to do or say, so I walk out, hoping I haven’t made things worse. Zak waits for me in the hallway. Kino must have summoned him. His hands are bandaged and his eyes are red and swollen. He’s trembling all over.

  “Were you near the lab?”

  His nod is almost imperceptible. We walk toward the stairs, but when we reach the top step, his foot slips and he almost goes do
wn. I grab his arm, steadying him. We stop there, lowering ourselves until we’re sitting on the top step. For several minutes, we sit in silence.

  “Did you know Jeanine?”

  He nods again, then his head dips to his chest and his shoulders begin to shake.

  The next day Riley and Xoey are released from the Med Center after breakfast. I only see Riley at a distance, limping into the girls’ dorm, but she sends a message through Xoey to the whole crew, setting up a meeting after dinner on the old tackle field. It’s one of the few good places to talk.

  By the time dusk rolls around, dense fog has settled over the campus, masking anything more than a few feet away. It’s disconcerting — trapping the leftover smell of the explosion, making my heart beat at odd intervals. I take deep breaths and try not to remember the glass, the confusion, the blood. I tell myself the fog is a good thing, camouflaging our meeting.

  Oliver and I head to the field together, talking about tackle the whole way. I can hardly see him through the fog, even though he’s right next to me. I don’t think he cares about the upcoming game any more than I do, but it’s our cover story. If anyone asks, we’re here to plot plays on a real field.

  I don’t keep up my side of the conversation. I couldn’t sleep last night, turning over and over again on my thin mattress, thinking about what Kino might do to my mom. I shouldn’t have yelled. I should have thrown her a bone instead — some idea of who the bomber might be. Anything to keep her busy while I come up with a plan.

  But that’s just it. I have no plan. No idea to divert her attention from my friends, no plan to uncover new plots before they happen. I’m sinking beneath it all and I know it. I glance Oliver’s way and think about telling him everything. About asking for help. I don’t know where to start, so I bite my tongue.

  Everyone else is already at the field except for Riley, who limps across from the old bleachers a minute later. She’s pale and her eyes are red and bruised. Several angry cuts crisscross her face and arms. One circles her throat like a necklace.

  My stomach lurches. What if her cuts had been deeper? What could I have done?

  Her face is drawn, her jaw tight. Maybe she knows something about the attacks. Something to help me find whoever’s responsible.

  Instead, she comes at me, just like on my first day here. This time Oliver stops her before she gets her hands around my throat. He holds her back, but she keeps coming, straining in his arms.

  “He’s a spy!” She spits the words at me. “I saw him visit Kino’s office last night. I saw him!”

  “How?”

  “What?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  I don’t know who asks the questions or what answers are given. The fog has seeped into my veins. I wish it would swallow me whole. I don’t want to see their faces, so I keep my eyes fixed on Riley. Her scorn is familiar. I open my mouth, wondering what words I’ll use to defend myself.

  Oliver beats me to it. “I know, Riley. I know all about it.”

  I blink and take a step backward, not sure if I heard him right.

  He knows?

  “Reed told me everything,” Oliver says, “so you need to calm down. He needs your help. He needs all of our help.”

  He lets go of her, but his stance is defensive. Wary. He’s ready to protect me again —with his hands or his lies. I just don’t know why.

  Chapter 17

  Riley

  * * *

  I am about to grab Reed again. Slip through the strong arms holding me and wring his worthless neck. Oliver’s words stop me.

  “You knew?” I couldn’t be more shocked. Or hurt.

  “Yes.” He releases me and turns so I can see his face. His eyes are wide, asking for trust. “Reed told me a few days ago.”

  My head swivels between them. “Why didn’t you tell the rest of us?”

  “You hate me, remember?” Reed holds my gaze for just a moment longer, then he scowls at the ground. His voice is low, but I hear every word. “Why would I tell you?”

  “Wait a minute,” Adam says. “Back up. What are we talking about here?”

  No one speaks for a minute. Finally Oliver clears his throat and looks at Reed. “I think it better come from you.”

  Reed lifts his head. I wish he’d focus on someone besides me, but he doesn’t. “It started the night we got here. Kino kept me in her office after Xoey left. She showed me a vid feed of my mom, locked up in a cell. I thought she died back in the Sand, but I was wrong. She’s alive.”

  “Alive?” This surprises me. I remember when Reed’s parents died. My first thought was, He deserves to lose them. Then I cried the rest of the night. “How is that possible?”

  “I don’t know, but it is.” Reed kicks the ground with his toe. “Kino’s message was clear. I need to report on what other students are doing or…” His words trail off.

  For a moment, I’m horrified. Then I snap back to reality.

  “Or what?” I cross my arms and sidestep Oliver. He’s still ready to hold me back, which just makes me madder. He’s supposed to be my friend, not Reed’s.

  I inch toward Reed. “You thought your mom was dead, now she’s not. She’s in jail, just like my mother. My father. That’s no excuse.”

  “They’ve been starving her, okay?” he says. “Every vid I see is worse, my mom getting thinner all the time. On the first day, she was pacing. Lately, she barely moves. They don’t feed her unless I share information. And so far, I’ve shared next to nothing. Nothing but stuff Kino knows anyway or stuff I make up as I go along.”

  And there it is. The panic I’ve seen in his eyes. Only now I know why.

  I couldn’t sleep last night in the Med Center, lying next to all those bombing victims, lined up like corpses. Jeanine’s body was somewhere else, I guess. But where? Her lifeless face kept staring back at me whenever I closed my eyes, so I stepped outside, hoping the fresh air would help. It wasn’t fresh, though; it was bitter and it burned my eyes. I was back in the science lab again, being ripped apart.

  Reed passed me then, his head low, his hands jammed in his pockets as he marched toward the admin building. I followed him to Kino’s office and stood outside the scope of her camera, listening. Most of what they said was muffled, but I heard Reed shouting things like, “You should have told me,” and “Give me more time.”

  “You should have told us,” I say now, echoing his words. My voice is thick. I don’t know why I feel betrayed, why I expected more.

  “How?” Reed runs his hands through his hair. “We only started using the code a few weeks ago, and it’s not a conversational tool. Besides — as you keep reminding me — you hate me. Was telling you going to improve your opinion of me?”

  “Stop making excuses! You should have found a way—”

  “He could have told her everything,” Oliver interrupts. “About the tunnel, about our code. He could have gone straight to her when you told him about Sam hacking the Cit-Track. Have you thought about that? Instead he’s been stalling for weeks. For months. Saying nothing more than ‘Brock and Kim are nicking in the supply closet’ or ‘Dex is stealing food.’ Stalling while his mother starves to death. What would you do?”

  None of us speaks for a while. Adam has moved to stand by my side, his arms crossed over his chest, but Sam is standing closer to Reed, a worried frown brewing on his forehead. When his eyes meet mine, I remember my promise. The one I just broke.

  “I agree with Riley,” Xoey says. Her voice is gentle and I wonder how she does it, sounding sympathetic and mad at the same time. “You should have told us the truth. We could have helped you.”

  Reed can’t meet Xoey’s eyes. “How? There are ears everywhere. We’re taking a risk right now!”

  “You found a way to tell Oliver,” she says.

  “In the shower.” Oliver laughs, exasperated. “This is ridiculous! Are we going to waste time choosing sides here? We’ve already been standing in this field too long. Someone’s going to notice.�
��

  “Fine.” I glare at Reed. “But we need to know details. What you told Kino, what she told you.”

  Reed nods. “I’m off the Cit-Track at three in the morning. Is anyone offline with me?”

  “I am,” Adam says.

  Reed looks at Adam. “So I tell you everything first and we go from there.”

  I like Adam’s dangerous expression, but it’s not enough. I turn to go.

  “Riley, wait.” Reed grabs my hand but I wrench it away. I don’t like the expression in his eyes. It reminds me of when he was searching for something to wrap around my leg yesterday. Desperate. Afraid. I can’t figure him out. “There’s something else.”

  He turns to make sure everyone can hear him. “The reason I went to Kino’s office last night is because I was angry about the bomb. It made me realize something. The bomb, the library fire, maybe even the food poisoning — it’s intentional. Sabotage. I think it’s why she asked me to spy in the first place. Last night I told her I would find whoever is responsible.”

  “Oh, Reed!” Now Xoey sounds exasperated. “What were you thinking?”

  “I wasn’t, okay? I was mad and she was threatening…” His voice trails off again.

  Threatening what? What else is he hiding from us?

  “This doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” Oliver says.

  I roll my eyes. “You can’t spin this, O!”

  “I’m serious,” Oliver says. “Let’s help him find the bomber. It might distract Kino from focusing on the rest of us. She might take better care of Reed’s mom in the meantime.”

  We need to split up now, so I just walk away without comment. Adam follows me. We don’t talk. By the time I reach the girls’ dorm, my leg is throbbing, reminding me Reed saved my life yesterday.

  If he hadn’t, I would be dead like Jeanine.