32. Alexander
ALEXANDER
Alexander and Zeno aren’t able to meet with Bios until a week after they took on the task.
Alexander was ready to storm over right when they left the Library, but Zeno stopped him.
“I need to message him first,” he said, and Alexander scoffed.
“Ask for forgiveness, not permission, Zee.”
Zeno was not swayed. Which means they waited. And seven days, Alexander learned this week, is a boringly large amount of time.
He spent most of that time with Zeno, in the Library, or in Kallias’ room. He finds himself in Kallias’ room a lot these days. Kallias doesn’t seem to mind.
Well, actually, he seems to mind very much, but Alexander knows if Kallias didn’t want him there, he wouldn’t be there. It’s refreshing.
Alexander is so used to overthinking with people—tailoring himself to whatever his company would appreciate the most. He’s not even sure that he knows who he is anymore. Just a mishmash of everyone he’s trying to please because if they like him them maybe they won’t turn around and… well, you know.
But with Kallias he just sort of exists. There’s no room for analysis or second-guessing. It’s something he hasn’t experienced since his father died.
“And, plus,” Zeno goes on, continuing a rant that Alexander has heard a million times already, “we would be so good together. I’m so in love with her it’s pathetic and I have no idea what to do about it.”
When Alexander doesn’t say anything, Zeno pouts at him and asks, “Alex, are you even listening?”
“Of course I’m listening!” he lies.
“Well, what should I do, then?” Zeno begs. “You’ve had so much more romantic experience than me, you should know how to fix this.”
“Okay, first of all, sleeping around is not ‘romantic experience.’ Second, none of the girls I’ve dated publicly were my best friend. And—” Zeno cuts him off.
“You’ve never dated a friend before?”
“Sort of, I guess. This girl, a noble. And then the son of the leader of Sango’s largest state. He’s the only hookup I’ve kept in touch with. We get together whenever there’s a diplomatic visit.”
“And by ‘get together,’ you mean…” Zeno trails off.
Alexander laughs at Zeno’s scrunched nose. “Oh, yeah, baby.”
“Ew. Fine, whatever. That doesn’t really count as romantic, I guess.”
“Nope,” Alexander says, popping the p. “Not that I’m not a generous lover, I’m very romantic in the moment. I can show you if you want—”
“Ew, ew. Shut up, you weirdo.” Zeno shoves Alexander’s kissy face away with a laugh, and drags him by his hair to Bios’ office door.
Zeno barely knocks once and the door swings open, revealing Bios, hanging upside down from his couch.
“He says it makes him ‘think better,’” Zeno supplies preemptively.
“It does make me think better,” Bios yells as Zeno leads Alexander to sit on some floor pillows. The office is nice, with big windows and dark mahogany wood; it feels homey and open at the same time.
“I get that—all of the blood to your brain and everything,” Alexander agrees.
Bios smiles bright and for a moment, though they look nothing alike, Alexander could swear he’s been transported to the beach with his own father.
“I knew I liked you,” Bios says, pulling himself upright. “So, what can I help you with, boys?”
“We—”
“I was wondering—”
Alexander nods at Zeno to continue. This is his dad, after all.
“Alexander and I are doing a project,” Zeno blurts, and Alexander just manages to hide his wince. That is the most basic play in the book.
“It’s about the Trials,” Zeno continues. Bios already looks suspicious. “We’re looking into how the Trials are guarded. Like, how secure they are. We figured you would know.”
“This is for a project,” Bios says, sounding entirely unconvinced.
“Yes.”
“For what class?”
“History of the Republic,” Zeno says a little bit too fast.
Bios narrows his eyes. “Right.”
And, okay, it’s time for Alexander to get involved. As fun as it is to watch Zeno flounder, the stakes are too high.
“Sir, look, we don’t want to be here any more than you want us here. I mean, you must’ve taken that class when you were an Auxiliary, you know what it’s like. We just claimed the first topic on the list that seemed cooler than farming in the early Republic.”
“Someone assigned you the security of the Trials as a research topic?”
If Bios decides to do some digging, he and Zeno are screwed, but at this point they might as well commit to it.
Alexander shrugs like he shares Bios’ confusion. “Yeah. Our professor is probably trying to work off the momentum from the Trials to prevent us from falling asleep in class.”
Zeno laughs a little too hard, and Alexander wants to elbow him. “Doesn’t stop this guy,” Zeno jokes, patting Alexander on the back.
Bios snorts.
After a few more seconds of sizing them up, Bios shrugs. He goes to his desk and returns with a pencil and paper, then throws both at Zeno, who catches them with a yelp.
“Take notes,” he instructs. “I can only tell you what I know from having participated in the Trials as a teenager and from my limited involvement in setting up this year’s.”
He and Zeno nod in sync.
“From what I understand, security in the Arcs is lax on Trial days. The main concern is maintaining order, not monitoring exit points from the city.” He gives them a pointed look, and Alexander feels caught.
“As for the Trials themselves, Auxiliaries no longer participating are assigned guard duty in the three viewing towers, not in the city. Uber-wealthy Producers have a propensity to drink, bet, and fight, hence the increased security.
“Inside the Trial, there are always two hidden emergency exits that lead into the city. The exits are only meant to be used if there’s a threat of living participants falling below twenty, since that’s how many are necessary for the Council.
“If someone tried to use them without permission from the higher-ups, they would almost definitely fail. There are two triggers inside the challenge and one in a viewing tower’s operations room.
All three of them need to be activated at the same time in order to open the exits.
But if by some miracle the exits were opened, an Auxiliary could leave without triggering any alarms.”
“And what about the broadcast? Wouldn’t they watch us open the exits and leave the challenge?” Alexander asks, no longer concerned with subtlety. He doesn’t understand why Bios is so willing to help his son run from the Academy, but he’s not going to question it.
“You’d have to find a way to cover the cameras without being detected.”
“They couldn’t just be… shut off?”
“The cameras can be controlled from the broadcast room,” Bios says. “But it’s in a different viewing tower than the operations room for triggering the exits.”
“So we’d need two people outside the challenge.”
“Exactly.”
“And if we, hypothetically, requested your assistance in the broadcast room, could we count on you?”
Zeno’s breath hitches and he turns to Alexander like he’s lost his mind. Asking a member of the Council to help them escape is probably the worst idea he’s ever had, but he’s never let that stop him before, so why start now?
“No. You could not.”
A heavy silence falls. Alexander breaks it. “May I ask why, sir?”
Bios smirks at the overpoliteness. “I have important work to do here. Work I cannot do from outside my position on the Council. Risking my job has consequences for a much greater cause than just myself.”
“Morality is not Justice, and Justice is the jurisdiction of a Guardian. You said that once,” Alexander argues. “So what greater cause are you supporting if it’s not for the sake of morality?”
“It’s not for Justice, I’ll tell you that much.”
“But you said—”
“There are a lot of rules up here at the Academy, Alexander. And one thing I’m sure you can gather about me? I don’t follow the ones I don’t believe in.”
Oh, this guy is so badass.
“Okay, Dad,” Zeno butts in. “This has been really helpful. For our project. We’ll leave you be.”
Alexander wants to ask more about Bios’ ‘greater cause,’ but when Zeno grabs his arm and pulls him to the door, he makes no effort to stop him. Best not to press their luck.
“Boys,” Bios calls after them. “This isn’t going to be easy, but no matter what happens, you can’t give up.” He looks to Zeno. “You have so much life in you. All I’ve ever wanted is for you to be allowed to live it.”
“Dad…” Zeno says.
“You only have one shot at this. Make it count.”
Zeno doesn’t respond, so Alexander nods. “We will.”
When he leaves the room, he hears Zeno’s parting words to his father.
“Forever and always.”