“Aren’t you risking even more being out here right now?” Caspian said.

  “That’s different. I have…help. Someone making sure no one knows I’m gone. I won’t have that long.” I thought back to Vic, who was likely worried sick thinking about why I’d been gone so long. That was why I said no; I had to be there for her. Conspiracy or not, my focus was on her, on us.

  “What if we could promise to take care of your friend when she gets out,” Em spoke for the first time. Her voice was like a soft whisper and a sharp blade.

  I shook my head. “If you touch her…”

  Jayla rolled her eyes again. “We’ve said it before. We’re here to help you, not hurt you. That promise extends to your friends…or whatever they are to you.” She glanced to where Theo stood a few steps closer.

  I thought for a moment, considering what they could do for Vic, and if it was worth the risk to trust these people I had only just met.

  I released a long sigh. “I’ll consider it.”

  Jayla didn’t look happy with the answer, but it was the best she’d get tonight. “Fine. We expect an answer by the weekend.” She turned, and Caspian and Em followed.

  “Wait, how will I find you?” I asked.

  “You won’t. We’ll find you,” Jayla said before they disappeared into the shadows, sending another chill skittering down my spine in their wake.

  Chapter 10

  Jayla

  “Well, that went well,” Cas said, as we stepped into the apartment.

  I scowled at him. “She’ll say yes. If it means her friend is looked after, she’ll agree to help us.”

  Emery walked straight into the living room and tossed herself down on the couch, taking up the entire space. “When are you going to tell her what else we found?”

  I sighed, sitting on the armrest of the oversized chair and began unwrapping the leather wrist guards. “She was hardly trusting us as it is. It didn’t really seem like the right time to tell her that her entire life inside the DEZ has been a lie.”

  Em smirked. “Gonna be a lot harder when she does trust you.”

  In the last day, we’d found out a lot. Someone was looking for information on the Marked kids, and what they were being taught at the DEZ. It seemed these kids weren’t being trained like we were led to believe. We were told they received the same training we did at the public schools in Cytos, going to classes just like us, so they were prepared for life outside of their cement prison.

  What we were told was a lie.

  These kids were being trained for something else: advanced combat. That was why I wanted to see what skills Sienna had in the ring. They received firearm training and had computer skills much more advanced than we’d ever learned in class. None of these courses were included in ordinary public school classes. This was something different.

  Cas slid past me and took the chair I leaned against. He grabbed the wrist strap I was struggling to untie with one hand and began unwrapping it for me. I avoided the silent look on his face, asking me if I was okay.

  I was fine. As skilled as Sienna was, I was better. I had been the arena’s Champion long before she stepped foot in the ring. Maybe that was why Cas looked so worried because he knew the person I was before—what I was before—and how long it took me to move past that.

  “Her friend might make things harder,” Em said, not referring to the friend we agreed to help, but the one who had been trailing Sienna since she’d left the arena. “He seemed even less welcoming than she did, if that’s possible.”

  I had to agree. I felt the tension between the two, but also a sense of trust, and that meant we had one more person to convince.

  “I doubt anyone could tell that girl what to do.” Cas chuckled. He finished unwrapping the second wrist strap, and his hand grazed my wrist before he rested back in the chair. “I liked her. She’s feisty.”

  “Oh, we all know how much you like ‘em feisty, Caspian.” Em was quick to pipe up. “You prefer them angry, wild, and bordering on sadistic, don’t you?” She glanced up at me under heavy lashes.

  Cas snorted.

  “I’m not sadistic,” I retorted.

  “Who said we were talking about you?” Em said with a sly smile, and Cas gave me a little nudge to the back.

  I tried to stalk away, but Cas caught my wrist. “We’re all at least a little sadistic…”

  I ripped my arm away. “Honestly, I don’t know why I put up with you two.” I kicked off my boots by the front door before I removed my leather jacket and tossed it by my bedroom. I headed into the kitchen, where I took out a plate of leftover pasta and began eating.

  “What now?” Cas turned my attention back to the task at hand.

  I leaned against the smooth, marble island countertop. “She’ll say yes. I know she will. So we prepare for it,” I said. “There’s a party at the Governor’s house this weekend, a celebration for the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Peace-Making. I think we need to secure an invite.”

  Em had a devilish smile on her face and gave a sharp nod.

  Cas frowned. “And who exactly will we have to be at this party?”

  “You and I? The distractions. Em, she already knows her role.” Indeed, Emery’s wicked smile had grown.

  Two hours later, I was resigned to the fact I wasn’t going to fall asleep any time soon. I threw on an oversized navy blue sweater and a pair of black leggings before creeping out of the apartment and down the hall. At the end was a door opening to a narrow set of stairs leading to the roof.

  When I stepped out onto the rooftop, the warm breeze hit me with the smell of rain, wet grass, and…something else. A quick glance told me exactly what it was, and where it was coming from.

  Caspian lounged on one of the worn wicker chairs around a small table. His shoulders raised only the slightest bit, the only indication he’d heard me. On the table sat two glasses and a bottle half full of amber liquor.

  Cas filled a glass for me before topping up his own. I took the seat beside him and the glass he’d filled. Taking a long swig, I let the strong taste soothe my throat and warm my belly.

  We were silent, absently watching the few neon lights still dancing across tall buildings. The city was quiet, sleeping. The cool air and subtle breeze, along with the familiar presence of Cas beside me, calmed the chaos in my mind. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

  “You okay?” Cas finally asked.

  I nodded, even though I didn’t entirely feel okay. Tonight had been hard, much harder than I dared to admit to anyone, but Cas knew. He had been there long before anyone else. He had been the one who’d found me after my mother died, and I felt like I had nowhere to go. Fourteen and alone, something I’d never wish on anyone. Even after five years, the pain was nearly suffocating. Cas had watched as I wrecked myself over and over again, hoping the physical pain would take away the hurt inside my heart.

  Cas had been there every weekend as I'd become the arena’s champion long before Blaze arrived. Fighting in the ring allowed me to find something to focus my anger on, an outlet. Each night I fought not for the money or the pride, but to escape. I didn’t want to feel the loss anymore, so I’d let pain and anger and terror take over. For two years, I’d lived in that arena. Each weekend I’d fought a new, harder opponent. And each time, I’d won.

  He hadn’t told me what I was doing was wrong or stupid; he was just there. To help me home after I’d spent every last bit of energy I had. He’d been there as I drank myself nearly into a coma trying to forget I was alone and she was gone. I had been out of control, yet I couldn’t stop.

  I’d wanted to feel nothing.

  It was Commander Reyes who’d pulled me out. She watched me one night as I beat down my opponent until she was covered in her own blood. I’d been sixteen at the time and without a purpose outside of anger and brutality. She met me in the locker room that night and explained she had a better way for me to release the rage and pain I was clearly trying to burn off. It was Reyes who’d paid my fee, more money than even I could possibly afford, to the Maestro for my release. I hadn’t even known about the contract I’d signed with the Maestro when I became their Champion. It was the same contract Sienna signed without knowing.

  I wouldn’t join the Watchers without Cas by my side, and Reyes had agreed to let him join. We’d met Emery a few weeks later, and I instantly knew her style of pain matched my own. We became allies first, friends later.

  “You didn’t have to do that you know… be that again,” Cas whispered.

  I shrugged. “I can be whatever I have to if needed.”

  “Then why can’t you sleep?”

  “I’d ask you the same question.”

  Cas let out a soft laugh, and it sent a shiver down my spine. “I thought you might need someone to talk to.”

  He knew me too well, and I wondered how long he’d been sitting out here. Had he come up to the rooftop as soon as he left our apartment?

  I sighed. “It felt different this time, not like before. I wasn’t in the same place, but yet…”

  “You could feel the familiar pain, the memories,” Cas finished for me.

  I nodded, taking another drink.

  “You’re different now, stronger. You don’t have to keep it all to yourself anymore,” Cas said gently.

  I gave him a sad smile. “I know, but everyone has their own burdens to bear. You don’t need mine, too.”

  “I’d gladly take whatever you gave me and you know it.” The utter honesty in his words hit me harder than I expected, until he added, “Though I’d prefer some things more than others.”

  The tease in his voice told me exactly what he implied. It was a tactic he loved to use to get me out of a foul mood. The familiar flirtation was easy with him. It was a dance we often did, though there was a line firmly in place we had never crossed.

  “And what is it you’d want, Caspian?” I bantered back, allowing him to take my mind off the night, as he often did.

  “Would you like me to tell you? Or spell it out with my tongue?” he murmured.

  My body tensed, and all the heat in me funnelled to my core. I was suddenly glad for the darkness of night. I swallowed at the sudden dryness in my throat.

  “You’re a horrible tease,” I said.

  He huffed. “I’m the tease?”

  I shrugged.

  He tipped his head back, drowning the rest of his drink before filling it up again and moving to fill my empty glass as well. I wondered how many of those he’d already had…and how many more I had to have before my judgement would fail me.

  “If you’d rather I be straight with you, I’d be happy to oblige,” Cas said.

  Swallowing back some part of me wanting to say yes, I took the full glass and finished it off in one quick motion. “Maybe some other time, I’m suddenly very tired.”

  Caspian smirked at the usual cat and mouse game we played, but he shrugged a shoulder as I stood to leave.

  As I swept passed him, a little closer than necessary, he gripped my wrist. “If you’d like another distraction, you know where to find me.” His thumb made slow, soft circles at my wrist. Smooth, with the hint of light pressure that had my mind flashing to how those fingers would indeed distract me. I turned quickly, stealing my hand back and hiding the flush in my cheeks. A smile tried to poke through my stone exterior.

  “Good night, Caspian,” I said over my shoulder.

  “Good night, indeed…”

  Chapter 11

  Sienna

  Vic didn’t ask what happened when I returned the night before in a foul mood and with a broken wrist. She secured it with a makeshift brace as best she could. It was tied tight enough I could tuck it under the sleeve of my sweater, so nobody would notice before I saw Ava this weekend.

  I hadn’t spoken to Theo that night as we walked away from Jayla and her friends—her team. He kept a close distance as he always did, but he gave me space to think about what I was going to do. In the end, I knew this wasn’t my decision. I had to tell Vic.

  At the back of the long library, Theo, Vic, and I sat huddled around a small table with a few books on it. We had come here to study, but my mind wasn’t on schoolwork, and I couldn’t keep this from her any longer.

  “These people…do you trust them?” Vic asked after I’d told her the story, leaving out the part where Jayla beat me to a pulp in the arena.

  I glanced at Theo and he shrugged. “I don’t get the impression they were lying to us, but I have no idea who they are, or why they’d want to help us in the first place.” I was never quick to trust people, but their bargain was too sweet of an offer to pass up.

  Vic thought for a moment. “I’d like to meet them.”

  I sighed. I had expected her to say that, only it made things a lot more difficult.

  “Of course, you should meet them. Decide for yourself if you trust them enough to stay with them ‘til Sienna is out,” Theo answered quickly, and I shot him a glare.

  “Getting Vic outside of the DEZ is not going to be easy,” I retorted.

  “You do it every weekend. Why would Vic coming make any difference?” Theo fought back.

  “Because she’s the reason I can leave in the first place. She’s my alibi and the only reason I haven’t been caught in more than a year.” My voice rose and Vic shushed me.

  The library was empty, except for the Carbon librarian at the front who watched us from afar. I wasn’t sure if she had heard what we said, but she put her head back down.

  “It’s her decision, not yours, Sienna. You can’t baby her forever,” Theo whispered.

  “I’m not babying her. I’m watching out for her. It’s the same thing you do every time you follow me when I don’t ask.” I kept my voice low, but the tone was anything but friendly.

  “I don’t stop you from going anywhere. I make sure you’re safe and not attacked, like last night, but if you choose to leave, I let you. That’s the difference here,” he argued.

  My jaw was tight, and I sucked breath in through my teeth.

  “Um, guys?” I turned back to Vic, startled, as if I’d forgotten she was even there. “Don’t you want to hear what I think? I don’t want to get caught any more than you do.” I opened my mouth to respond, but her hand stopped me. “I will come, to meet them, then I’ll come straight back. In and out, that’s it. Whatever else you plan to do out there, you can do without me.”

  My shoulders dropped but I didn’t argue.

  “I’ll stay here, run interference if I have to while you’re both gone. Maybe Vic can show me some of her tricks.” Theo gave her a little wink, and some of the tension around us relaxed.

  He gave me a little nudge, an apology for arguing with me, even though we did it often. I gave him a slight smile before we went back to our books. But my mind was still on the inevitable meeting and an answer I wasn’t sure I had yet.

  Two days passed slower than ever. It was finally Friday, and we would be heading out once the sun set, when it was safest. In the meantime, we still had classes to finish. Today, Instructor Yarik had informed us we would be completing our final tests in advanced hand-to-hand combat, a class I usually enjoyed. But my broken wrist hanging limp at my side made this task a lot less enjoyable.

  “Just tell Yarik you fell and hurt your wrist. She’ll probably just send you to the MediBot, and you won’t have to do this today,” Theo suggested, as he taped up his hands, waiting for his turn.

  “If she sends me to the MediBot, I’d have to spend the night. There’d be too many questions to answer and too many chances for me to mess up.” I shook my head.

  Theo shrugged. “Fine. Then you’d better not let her get your wrist at all, because if she even touches it, I doubt you’ll be able to hide the pain. Then Yarik will send you to the MediBot, anyways.”

  “Thanks for the reminder.” I rolled my eyes.

  Across the mat, Camilla stood with Blane and the rest of her posse, waiting for their turn. Only four girls were in our class, so it was no surprise when Camilla and I were matched. During our training, we’d fight everyone, male or female, but today, for testing, they matched us up with someone equal in skill and size. I hated to admit I was actually worried about fighting Camilla. She was strong and quick.

  “At least you’ll have an easy match.” I looked beside Camilla to her partner, Blane. He was cunning and ruthless like Camilla, but quieter. However, he did have a temper on him, and though I’d only seen it once, I hoped to never see it again.

  “Easy isn’t the word I’d use for fighting Blane,” Theo countered. He was bigger and stronger than Blane, but he never underestimated anyone.

  “Bet you’re glad to be done.” I nudged Vic. She was quiet beside me, visibly pouting.

  Vic had already had her turn in the ring, and though she put up a good fight, she lost to Fiona. She had never been a skilled fighter, so this wasn’t a surprise to any of us, but she still always wanted to be the best. She was the smartest in our class, that was a given, but the other skills we trained for in school at the DEZ weren’t her forte.

  I wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. You’re going to ace every other test, anyways.”

  She glared up at me and shrugged off my shoulder. “Stop babying me.”

  I tilted my head back with exasperation. “I’m not babying you. I’m just being a friend. It’s what I always do.” Ever since Theo pointed out she’d be on her own out there until I arrived, Vic had been distant and moody. She didn’t say it out loud, but I could tell she was worried. Today had reaffirmed her fears that outside of the DEZ, her skills may not be enough. She was smart and cunning, but that would do nothing against someone stronger than her. Unless we partnered with Jayla and her team, she wasn’t going to have someone to take care of her, and she likely wouldn’t stand a chance by herself.