Trey
We come out of the Community Hall together.
All of us, together. And I don’t think I’ve ever felt like I belong to something more. I watch Nova, I can’t help it.
For the first time, I see it.
She’s lighter.
We’re not free yet, not really. But she feels it.
It’s exactly how I feel.
She loves me.
I know I’m hers, and she’s mine.
And not Laith, not the system… Nothing is going to take that away.
She leans over and kisses Locke’s cheek.
He’s totally blushing. Though I’ll never say that.
I do not have a death wish.
The Hollow is still moving — people putting things back together after the chaos of the morning. Kids already running like nothing happened.
Minerva is waiting with Brent and Linda.
She looks at Nova’s face and doesn’t ask.
“You decided,” she says.
Nova nods.
That’s it. No ceremony. Minerva’s already turning to Brent before the nod finishes. “Get everyone back inside.” Then she looks at Linda. “You too.”
Then she looks at me.
Not Locke. Not Kyron. Me.
“Would you bring him up?” she says. “He should be there.”
“Yeah,” I say. “I’m on it.”
Locke falls into step with me. We head around back to the bunker entrance. He stops at the top of the stairs. Nods.
I go down alone.
Laith is sitting in the chair, restrained. He looks up when I come in.
“They sent you?” he says.
“Looks that way.”
I pull the other chair out and sit.
“We’ve only got a few minutes, but I just need you to know that whatever fucked up reason you have in your head for all of this?” My hand clenches. “Nothing makes it okay.”
He scoffs like what I think doesn’t matter.
It probably doesn’t to him.
“You were isolated,” he says. “I couldn’t have picked a better friend for Silas if I’d tried.” He smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Your mark was deformed, no bond, not flagged by the system for a cluster… It should have worked.”
I look at him.
“You were going to be curious about them. Maybe even friendly. Enough that you would have had information that no one else did,” he says. “Why do you think you ended up in Mark Theory with her?”
I sit back, let out a breath.
“Answers. I needed answers and you are exactly who you are, Trey. It should have worked.”
His arms pull against the restraints.
“You were supposed to watch them, not become one of them.”
The laugh comes out before I can stop it.
“You really thought I would do that?” I say. “You never knew me at all, Laith.”
He looks at me for a long moment.
“Maybe I didn’t.”
I stand up, because this is over. “They’re waiting.”
He stands without argument as soon as I undo his restraints. I let him go up the stairs first because I’m not turning my back on him.
I’m not an idiot.
Locke is at the top. He grabs Laith’s arm and we make our way back.
The Community Hall is packed again. Same faces, but everything feels different somehow. Brent is by the door. He takes over, grabbing Laith and hauling him to the front of the room.
I find Nova in the crowd. She finds me at the same time.
We make our way over. My hand finds hers, squeezing once.
Minerva stands.
She looks at the room the way she always does — like she’s seeing every single person in it.
“The Hollow has made its decision.”
Minerva’s eyes land on her.
“What happens to Laith Crux belongs to Nova.”
I watch Laith’s face fall.
Good.