Chapter 23
The sounds of the Ward waking up filled our curtained area. Conversations between doctors and patients, and the sound of people handling charts, echoed around us. My spine shrieked its complaints from my sleeping position.
“Morning.” Rumi greeted me as I rubbed the lingering sleep away.
“Morning.” Once I might have found her knowledge of my whereabouts odd. I didn’t anymore.
“I brought you both a coffee,” Rumi said, dressed in her patrol uniform.
Levi half-sat awkwardly in the bed, my arms wrapped around the pillow and his legs. I released him sheepishly. He scooted up, grabbing my abandoned pillow and placing it behind his back.
“Cuddler.” Levi smirked at me, taking the coffees from Rumi.
“Shut up.”
“Happy to be back on the witching hour?” Levi asked, handing me a steaming cup.
“Thrilled. I missed it.”
“Why do you like it so much?” I asked, taking a sip of the coffee. Its warmth bloomed throughout my stomach.
“It’s quiet, freeing. Most are asleep and no one pays attention to you.”
“How’s being second?” Levi asked, sipping his drink.
“Fine. It’s just while you’re away,” Rumi answered.
“I expect that bullshit from the others, but not you. You know how this plays out. I want your honesty,” Levi stated, void of all emotion.
Rumi didn’t cower from his intensity. “Hayes has a way of making the impossible possible, and he isn’t the only one trying. So I don’t know how this plays out.”
Levi snorted, but I didn’t miss the hope that flickered in his gaze before it disappeared.
I thought of the forms from the previous night.
Resolute faith in my decision coursed through me.
I tightened my now too loose band. Levi didn’t seem to notice his band’s suddenly snugger fit. It would be worth it.
“We should hurry,” Rumi said to me. “Formation is next bell, and Levi is about to have company.” Levi lowered the cup, his body tensing. “There was a bit of a standoff as Abbott tried to get a coffee. A cadet didn’t seem to believe the coffee was for Kaleo.”
“Does Kaleo not drink coffee?” I asked.
“He does,” they both said.
Before I could ask how they knew that, Levi asked, “Any update before my unwelcome visitor? I assume that’s why you’re here.”
“The observatory is sealed from everyone but those who monitor the weather,” Rumi said. “No one is getting in. All forms go directly to Command. Which all but confirms your theory.”
“What theory and what observatory?” I asked, looking between them.
“The meteorology observatory. They’re a small group who monitor the weather patterns above, test soil samples, and measure radiation for resurfacing,” Levi explained.
Rumi crossed her arms. “We think they’re tampering with the weather reports. Finding ways to regulate when we go into the Abyss.”
“Why? What sector do they belong to?”
“They belonged to the Force for a long time, but last petition Terrel, the Expansion leader, fought to move them to his sector,” Levi said. “He claimed their role falls under expanding for human life.”
“He said the same about the Exploratory Units at one point,” Rumi countered.
“He lost both times. Currently they’re watched over by all sectors. The Ward also tried to claim them. But that doesn’t matter. We don’t know why the weather reports are being tampered with. We’re trying to find out, or Rumi is since I’m stuck here now.”
Footsteps approached behind the curtain. “That’s our cue,” Rumi said, standing.
“Tell Dr. Kumar his security is shit,” Levi grumbled, sitting up straighter.
“Anything else?” I shot back at him as I followed Rumi out.
“Don’t let Abbott in here,” he practically pleaded; the movement faltered outside.
Rumi pulled open the curtain to reveal Wilma Abbott standing awkwardly, coffee in hand. “Abbott,” Rumi greeted, exiting into the hall.
“Sato. Cadell,” she greeted.
“Hi,” I said awkwardly; we hadn’t talked since she helped me with my belt.
She entered the room as Rumi released the curtain door. I ignored the looks thrown my way as we weaved through the halls.
“What’s the deal with Levi and Abbott?” I asked.
“They hooked up off and on back when they were with their old unit. Ended things with her not too long after he met Isla. He hasn’t stayed long with any of them since,” Rumi stated plainly. “I’d think you’d understand.”
“What do you mean?”
“Levi has no interest in romantic love. Never did until Isla, doubt he will after her. He enjoys being alone and having his friends. It’s safer.” We turned toward the tunnels that led to the Force Sector.
“How was the witching hour?” I asked Rumi, running away from the comment that hit a little too close to home.
“Eventful. I need your help,” Rumi said abruptly.
I stumbled. “My help?”
“You can access the charts in the Ward, and you don’t talk to people.” They weren’t questions.
My stomach dropped. I tugged my sleeve down. Did she know what I had done to the charts and bands already? “I mean, anyone can really. They aren’t exactly organized or locked up.”
Rumi didn’t look my way as she asked, “And the charts of the dead?”
“It’s just a big closet. There’s no organization there either.
Just endless piles. Why do you need the chart of someone who’s dead?
” I shook away the images of the long closet—a mausoleum, stuffed with charts.
The countless I’d laid to rest there. No one ever asked to see the files once they’d been placed within.
Except Burdon had taken the files of all the souls I couldn’t save.
“I need confirmation on three people from Expansion who died five moons ago and their cause of death. You can access them without drawing attention.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. “Why? Are they important to you?” I asked, thinking of the building she had stopped at above.
Rumi hesitated. “No, not among the dead. I read the death roll at the end of every witching hour shift. There was a name on there recently that was on the shack log this morning. It doesn’t add up. Between that and the observatory, something isn’t right in Haven.”
“What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know.” Rumi, for once, seemed uncertain. “I do know that when people have unchecked power things go wrong, unless people stand up to it. If people are faking their deaths in Haven, I want to know why.”
It would be easy to fake your death. The paper charts were disorganized.
Most who died didn’t have family members to confirm the death.
I stared at my new band that I had swapped with Levi’s in the middle of the night.
It was dishonest, and I didn’t regret it.
Unit Seven would remain whole as long as no one looked too hard. The system was flawed. “I can look.”
“Good. Keep this between us. I don’t want others knowing.”
“Even the unit?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rumi sighed, heavily. “The same reason you didn’t tell them about your chest plate. Or tell anyone you tampered with the files when you belonged to the Ward. To mitigate the fallout if others find out. So keep it between us.”
“Okay.” My own curiosity won. “You said you weren’t looking among the dead—are you looking for someone who’s alive?”
Silence fell over us as we entered the Force Sector. “I don’t know anymore,” Rumi whispered.
“What do you—”
Rumi cut me off. “Our conversation is done. I hate small talk.”
I closed my mouth as we turned down our tunnel. “Why?”
Rumi stopped outside our living quarters. “Because it’s not real. It’s just noise to fill the space of the things people are too afraid to say.” She handed me a folded piece of paper. “Here, the names. Make sure to wake the idiots.” She left.
I pushed open the door. I wondered if she ever grew tired of seeing what everyone else missed, if it weighed heavy on her. I threw on my uniform before waking the two sleeping forms on the couch. Patrick immediately sprinted to the bathroom. Damien sat up, hair standing on end.
“What time is it?” he slurred.
“Formation is next bell,” I told him.
He cursed, coming to a stand, only to sit back down as Patrick’s retching rang out from the bathroom.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Patty and I waited for Hayes, but he never showed. Patty proceeded to get drunk, couldn’t let him do it alone,” Damien confessed, kicking the empty bottle. “God, my fucking head. I’m getting too old for this shit.”
I stared down into my half-finished coffee. I held it out for him. “Here.”
“Thanks, Sasha,” Damien said, taking the cup. He took a deep sip as I laced up my boots. “I miss Levi. Things are all fucked without him.”
I pulled open the door. I missed Levi too.
Two more days passed. At night when I closed my eyes, all I saw was the clock in the Exploratory Room counting down. Anxiety crawled in bed with me. I knew time was against us and what was at stake. We were wasting time. It wasn’t just Haven’s time.
We needed to get back to the Abyss, even if it meant Jaxon would come. I’d started twirling my ID band as I lay awake each night. I had my own expiration date now. Petitions would come, and I wouldn’t be able to help Unit Seven. My time was dwindling.
Jaxon had reined in his behavior. His new tactic of resorting to rude looks and small taunts was tolerable.
Both disappeared when Tristian came around, which wasn’t often.
We hadn’t exchanged a single word since Jaxon’s vitriol in the House.
A part of me was thankful he wasn’t around.
I didn’t have anything to refute Jaxon’s words.