by Sarah Noffke
“I’m thinking that people are named after people, things, and places all the time, but it rarely impacts the person’s life. It’s only a name, after all.”
Rogue coughs discreetly, bringing both mine and Zack’s attention to him. “Gonna have to play devil’s advocate here.”
“What kind of advocate?” Zack asks, looking intrigued and confused.
“It’s the antithesis of god,” I say, having brushed up a little on my world religion over the last three months. All literature on other religions is strictly forbidden in Austin Valley, although I’d picked up a few things about Christian holidays over the years from the Middlings I worked beside in the field.
“Oh,” Zack says, scratching his head. “Devil. Good to know. Yeah, you’re going to be his advocate, Rogue. Go ahead.”
Rogue smiles at me before looking at Zack. “Do you know what my name means?”
“I don’t think I do,” Zack says.
“My father named me, and it means I’m trouble,” he says, a mischievous glint of pride in his eyes.
“Hmmm,” Zack muses.
“Is it coincidence that I was the first Defect and now a Rebel?” Rogue asks, looking earnestly interested in Zack’s reaction.
“That is something strange to consider,” he says, his eyes clouding with thought suddenly. “So the question is were you named that and therefore given this fate or was it your fate and therefore that name found you?”
“Exactly,” Rogue says, triumphantly. “It’s the chicken or the egg conundrum.”
“The what?” Zack asks, his face turning confused again.
Rogue waves him off. “Never mind. My point is that we shouldn’t too quickly discount the importance of Em, Nona, and Dee’s namesakes.”
“I think you’re right,” Zack says and then turns his attention on me. “What else does it say in there about the Parcae?” he asks, pointing to the book clutched in my hands.
I pop it back open and flip through the pages, hoping to find another one of Ren’s notes. “I don’t know. There’s a lot and most of it isn’t relevant to the Parcae. I’ll have to actually sit down and read it to make any sense of this.”
“We know what your name means, but what we need to learn is what Dee and Nona’s represents,” Zack says.
“Yeah, I know,” I say, still flipping, trying to locate a clue.
None of us heard the front door close, which is why we all three jump when my unassuming, brilliant sister, Nona, slides through the door. She stands in the kitchen with us like she’s been there all along.
“Nona!” I say too loud and slide off the countertop I had been claiming as my seat.
In seconds my arms bind around her with a fervent need. She only allows this for a minute before encouraging me back. She looks me over and then gives me a speculative glance. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
Guilt and shame both race to my eyes, bringing my head down from their weight.
“No, you don’t,” I hear Rogue behind me. He was stationed on the countertop beside me and pulls me back in his direction. “Nona was only asking a question, there’s no rude conviction in it, right, Nona?”
“None at all,” my sister says and she grabs my hand, giving me a sweet apologetic look. “Sorry if it came off that way. I’m sure you’re battling all sorts of emotions right now.”
“Who’s battling stuff right now is probably poor Zack,” Rogue says, a lightness I need in his voice. “He’s probably wondering why no one rings his damn doorbell.”
I flip my head up and catch a brilliant smile light up Zack’s mouth and eyes. “I wouldn’t expect any of you to knock. Nor should you.”
“Next time,” I say with a promise in my voice to Zack.
“If I had keys, you’d have one,” he says, and the smile leaves his face. Disappears.
And then at my side Nona beckons my attention by poking me in the ribs, a gesture that usually would earn her a swift punch, but I’m not up for it now. “Tell me what happened, Em.”
I shrug. It’s the wrong gesture for this moment, but that’s what I do. “I was cornered. Berated. Threatened. And then I defended myself against our father. I’m sorry, Nona.”
“Why are you apologizing?” Nona says, shaking her head at me. “He’s the most despicable person I’ve ever known. I just wanted an update.”
“Well, now it’s your turn to return the favor,” I say. “Were you at the hospital before this? How’d you get away to see us?”
She nods. “I volunteered to leave so I could communicate an update to worried staff members.”
I flick my eyes up to Zack’s. That’s what he had said. Sometimes I think he and Nona share the same brain. They’re both so strategic.
“Dee and Mother are in such a fit they didn’t even notice me leave. Probably didn’t notice me there either,” she says with an edge to her voice.
“Is Dee talking?” I ask.
“Incoherently, but she keeps saying your name but nothing else.”
“And why have they let her so close?” Zack asks.
“She’s handcuffed, but allowed to be there. It’s half the reason Mother is in tears.”
“And Father?”
“He’ll pull through, they say, but have scars. A lot of them,” Nona says.
“I’m guessing he’ll pardon Dee for the crime,” Zack says, bitterness in each word. “He can’t give away that you’ve returned or that you’re a leech. But he can’t let it go unpunished. It will be covered up.”
“One day that witch has to go down though,” Nona says, pushing her unmanageable curls away from her face.
I nod in agreement. “But right now, we have to get our plans together. Vider is on to us, and that’s why Rogue and I called this early meeting. We have to implement the plan tonight.”
“What?! No, we’re not ready!” It’s Nona who voices the first complaint.
Zack’s eyes project the same concern.
I shake them off. “We ran into Vider last night and after today if he doesn’t turn himself in,” I say, motioning to Rogue, “then innocent children will pay the price.”
Zack’s expression now takes on a sinister tragedy. I swear I could tell the stories of the world in the expressions he gives me, which change minute by minute. “No,” he says with defeat.
“And even if we allow that to happen, we’ll have to leave because he’s sending out a search party to get us.” I shrug again. Such a weak, worthless gesture and also all I can manage right now. “It’s now or never. We need to take down their arsenal.”
“And you have the locations of the formulas from Dr. Parker?” Zack asks, his voice high with nerves.
“Yes, and a keycard to get us in there.”
“How about you, Nona?” Zack asks, going straight into strategic mode. “Are you ready enough?”
“Well, I have one explosive that will work for a large supply, but other than that I’m useless. And I haven’t been able to locate the areas dedicated for the Middling withdrawals.”
“That’s fine,” I say, waving her off. “We don’t need to worry about the Middling withdrawals yet. And I can take care of destroying the other units of cerevitium.”
Zack gives me a curious expression.
“You forget how electricity can create damage,” I say, sticking my tongue out at him.
“No,” he says, with a wry smile. “I simply forget you have that power.”
“Anyway,” I say, “we don’t need to take down both the formula supply and withdrawal area at once. The first should be enough for now. It will put a halt to all the suppression of Defects they’re drugging every day. Or at least create a huge wrench in their plans. Hopefully, they’ll be stalled long enough for some Reverians to gain their long suppressed gifts.”
“I’m hoping to be one of them,” Nona says, with a hopeful sigh.
“Me too,” I say, wrapping my arm around her and pulling her head down on my shoulder.
“Why don’t you stay with us, N
ona,” Rogue suggests. “Then no matter what you’ll get your gift in a day or two. We’ll be traveling back to the farm after this, to escape any revenge on my father’s part. You can go back with us if you’re ready.”
“Yes, yes, yes, please!” I say, turning to Nona, giving her a begging look.
She doesn’t appear convinced, though, and it sends disappointment to my stomach, making it instantly cramp. “I don’t know if I’m ready. It’s difficult to think about leaving here.”
I remember feeling that way. I remember facing a door that once I walked through I could never cross again. I’m here in the Valley now, but I’m not a Reverian anymore. I’ll never be one. I’m a fugitive. And making that decision was forced upon me. I don’t want that for Nona. I want her to walk through that door willingly, with a confidence that she doesn’t want to return as a member to this society. And the look in her eyes right now tells me she isn’t quite there.
“Well, you don’t have to leave yet. No one is suspicious of you and you’re not up for conversion,” I say, trying to sound rational, when I really only feel disappointment.
“I was planning on helping tonight though. I could leave with you afterwards. However, there may be more I can do here to help the rebellion if I stay,” Nona says, weighing on the decision. She grabs at her hair with a cute anxiousness. She seems tethered between the two options for a solid ten seconds, but then her eyes, the same crystal blue as mine, fix with a look of certainty. Her expression tells me firmly what she doesn’t say aloud.
“Stay, Nona. Things will shift dramatically after tonight and you should be here to help organize the Rebels,” I say in a matter-of-fact tone that feels all wrong. I’m used to speaking with emotion, with passion, but right now my words are mechanical. And I only wish that in this almost-perfect-paradise of dreams come true, I could have Nona with me, as well as Rogue. But at least I know she’ll be content and safe where she is. And Zack will be able to keep an eye on her here.
“Okay, that’s settled,” Rogue says, slapping his hands together. “Zack, what else do we need to do?” He looks at Zack with real interest in his face, like any order from Zack would change our plans instantly.
“I think we’re good. We need to go over the step-by-step plans more, but this sounds like something we can pull off.” He looks at me, a quiet regret in his eyes. “I only wish I could be there tonight.”
“No, you should be with Dee,” I say, my eyes flicking to Rogue, who gives me a strange look of disapproval. I instantly hate myself for making the suggestion. “I’m sorry, I know it’s the worst idea and the last thing you want to do, but it—”
“It’s the best idea,” Zack corrects. “If I’m with her, then I’ll be able to preserve my reputation when everything goes down. There’s no way they’ll be able to tie me to it. And the chances that President Vider will be in attendance will be high. I’ll do my best to keep his attention so that he doesn’t get word that things are going on elsewhere.”
I nod at him, pride marking my eyes. “Sounds like we’re set.”
“But what happens after this?” Nona voices the question I spied on Zack’s face.
“We watch,” Rogue answers. “We watch to see how my father responds. And hopefully we knock out their supply and they have a few hundred Defects on their hands who suddenly come into their gifts.”
“And then they will officially be Rebels,” Nona says.
“That’s where our next job will come in,” I say, enjoying feeling Nona so close after all these months. “We’ll need to swoop in and properly educate them. We’ll need to give them the full story. We’ll need to turn them into true Rebels.”
“More and more this is sounding like a plan that can work,” Nona says, a smile lighting up her freckled face.
“This is your plan, Nona,” I remind her.
“It was my idea, but you all made it happen.”
My eyes find Zack’s, which are already staring straight at me. “We work for each other, that’s why this works. We’re leading this rebellion together,” I say.
Chapter Thirty
Nona leaves to retrieve the explosives with the promise to meet us at the labs. Rogue and I both change into dark clothing, but don’t disguise our smell since Vider already knows we’re in the Valley. Zack changes too, trading the suit I wrinkled with my tears for a more casual button-down and slacks.
“I’m not going to tell you to be careful, because I know how much you hate it,” he says to me as we stand in his kitchen again.
“It’s nice that all these years of training you are finally starting to pay off,” I say, a ghost of a smile on my lips. I don’t want to leave Zack again. Leave him here in Austin Valley to play politics and risk his neck right under Vider’s nose. As with Nona, I want him to go with us, but I know he’s more valuable to the rebellion here. Seeing him so regularly the last few days has felt right, like the way the perfect pair of shoes supports my feet. But the beautiful thing about best friends is we can part and when we’re reunited no time will have passed between our hearts.
A bit reluctantly I hug Zack. It’s a brief embrace. His arms aren’t even around me when I step back and turn to face the door, studying the dark backyard like it matters at all. “Leave notes and we’ll reconvene on plans after tonight.”
I’m sure Zack nods, but I don’t look at him.
“All right, brother,” Rogue says, and I hear the tell-tale sign of one of their hugs. Hands slapping backs. “We’ll be back to invade your house in a few months, I’m sure.”
“Looking forward to it,” Zack says, but I don’t look at him. Right now I’m pretending the yard is full of monsters and my job is to keep watch on them. I’m pretending that leaving Zack again isn’t hard. I’m pretending that I’m not about to do something incredibly dangerous and possibly not survive to see him again.
With a casual sigh I open the door and trot down the steps, away from Zack, whose eyes I feel on my retreating back like a sunbeam.
***
Fifteen thousand. That’s how many little bottles of Defect-creating formula we have to destroy tonight. My chest rattles as I think about the overwhelming task. There’s roughly one to two hundred vials of cerevitium in each of the doctors’ offices. Two thousand in the labs where they produce the drug. And a storage area in the warehouse that has at least ten thousand. These are the ones we know about anyway. Parker wasn’t finished researching and his numbers are rough estimates. We were supposed to have more time to locate all the places cerevitium is stored. And tonight we were supposed to be better organized. However, we don’t have time for that anymore. Innocent lives won’t be harmed.
I happily leech Rogue’s speed, which allows me to move through the Valley swiftly and undetected. Usually I’m more reluctant to borrow his powers, but I know I’ll need to fill my reserves with his energy so that I can unleash that same power to destroy as many vials of poison as possible.
Nona waits in a shadow behind a Dumpster. I know to look for her there, which is the only reason I spot my sister neatly tucked between the concrete wall of the lab and the green metal trash bin. Although the sun set an hour ago, the overhead security lights would be an issue if she wasn’t such a masterful hider. Like us, she’s dressed in black. I wave for her to join us at a security entrance. It’s the one we ran out of the last time we broke into the labs. Now a card scanner sits beside a keypad of numbers. Thanks to our break-in they’ve upped the security measures for the labs. Wonder what they’ll do after tonight. Probably a retina scanner.
“Hi,” I say to Nona as she arrives with a swift halt beside Rogue. I’m too focused on keying in the right code to give her a straight-on glance. Each press of a button is followed by an annoying beep. The card makes the system zing with delight when I scan it. Then the door clicks once, unlocking. The metal handle is cold under my fingers. Without making a noise I push it down and slip the door back, revealing a long corridor lit by low security lights.
My stomach r
umbles with apprehension. The last time I laid eyes on this hallway a guy died. Someone I killed. Maurice. A seemingly innocent boy, under Vider’s control. If I can help it then no one will die tonight.
Rogue ever so gently urges me back as he takes the lead position. I know he only wants to be the first to meet any danger. In a flash he’s gone and then reappears. My eyes didn’t see exactly what the mass of blurs did, but my mind knows that he sprinted ahead to check.
“All’s clear,” he says, his voice relieved, but his forehead is still creased from worry.
“Uhhh,” Nona stutters. “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”
I nod at her and then prod Rogue forward, encouraging him to lead us to the warehouse.
Each of my steps causes me to question the way I walk. My shoes make note of my paces, whereas Nona and Rogue move silently, without a noise to trace their path. Ahead of us the hallway Ts. Tonight we’ll take both hallways, one that leads to the warehouses and the other that leads to the doctors’ offices and synthesizing labs. Behind Rogue I make a cautious left, heading to the warehouses first. We need to take care of the stored cerevitium first in case our mission tonight is cut short or we’re caught. My throat doesn’t catch at the idea. Surprisingly, I’m accepting of all the possible fates. I have to be able to operate and think clearly. It’s like this rebellion is turning me into a calculating soldier. I’m not sure I like that, but I need to become whatever will help me to protect the Rebels.
The door to the warehouse is an unassuming double push door. Somehow I think it should look more menacing, since behind those doors is a poison that destroys lives. And who knows what other lethal drugs are stored in the warehouse. Knowing Vider a vaccine for cancer and a drug that could wipe out an entire population could be sitting in side-by-side crates. Thanks to Parker we know the exact location and markings of the crates we have to destroy. And thanks to Nona, we have an explosive which shouldn’t cause too much collateral damage to the surrounding area.
Rogue turns at the door and holds up a hand to us. We both halt and wait while he enters the warehouse using his cheetah moves. I don’t even have time to suck in a full breath before he’s back, relief written on his face. We don’t say a word; instead, our eyes communicate the message. I tug on Nona, who really didn’t need the encouragement to move forward through the doors of the warehouse.