Chapter 32
chapter
thirty-two
Haven
Three days.
That is how long I have to give Patch the information he requested.
Spider tosses me a towel to wipe my face. The drill hall is empty at this hour, most of the recruits long asleep. I feel an inkling of guilt before I swallow it back. Spider tends to overshare, which is his fatal flaw. I know he finds it comfortable to do so because he trusts me.
But I did not come this far to make friends. I came to avenge my mother. And standing with the rebels honors her memory.
“You fought beautifully today,” he says brightly. “Whose face did you picture when you threw those punches?”
“Who do you think?” I mutter.
He tilts his head. “Ender riding you harder than usual?”
I snort.
“I wish. At least then I could look forward to the climax.”
Spider laughs, bending over to contain the force of it. “You say the nicest things about him.”
“Too bad he thinks otherwise.”
I rub the sweat off my face.
“You know he has me doing all these rotations around the Forge,” I say. “Filtering through trash and cataloging shipments. It’s tedious, but mostly it’s undeserved.”
Spider sits on the ground, chugging his water. He seals the cap and looks at me.
“You mouth off to him and throw him dirty glares,” Spider says. “Is it really undeserved?”
“Hey, whose friend are you? Mine or his?”
“Yours.”
“Then that means you agree that I am always right,” I say. “And that Ender is always wrong.”
“You know you’re the only person here who is nice to me,” Spider says, glancing down at his boots. “Knox tolerates me, but the others, they find me despicable.”
“They are fools,” I say. “Too dumb to see a good thing before them.”
Spider smiles brightly. “I appreciate it, Mercy.”
He stands up, stretching his arms.
“I should get some sleep. We have an early morning briefing tomorrow.”
“We have a mission coming up?”
“No, it’s members only, unless Ender decides to bring a few of you along,” he says. “It’s going to be a big one.”
I try not to make it seem like I am prying.
“You found a rebel hideout?”
“Better,” Spider says. “We found an entire settlement.”
I slip into the bathroom and seal the vents for extra measure. I have to warn the Resistance.
One tap and the connection goes live.
Ender is going after a rebel settlement.
Not all rebels hide in abandoned buildings and safehouses. Some of them have built lives. They’ve found corners of the wildlands on the outskirts of the divisions where the barbed electric fence sits, and they’ve built out communes where they raise their children and plant their vegetation.
It’s been a long time since the regime discovered a settlement.
I don’t know how they learned about this. The thought of them raiding their houses and slaughtering their children sickens me. None of the young will be spared. Not according to the revised law in the Code.
I could be executed for this warning, but I’ve long passed caring about what fate befalls me. I only hope that my sister is spared from punishment if I am ever caught. I refuse to see her fall for my actions.
Nobody speaks on the other end of the line.
“Hello.”
I know that familiar voice. It’s Idris.
“It’s me,” I whisper. “There’s a strike planned at a rebel settlement. Departure in less than forty-eight hours. You have to tell them to evacuate.”
Idris sucks in a sharp breath. “Which one?”
“I don’t know.”
“We can’t evacuate all of them. It’s too much work,” he says. “We need a location, Haven.”
“Listen, it is sheer luck that I learned this. How do you expect me to find out where this occurs?”
“You got two days, princess,” Idris says. “We need a name.”
A frustrated sound escapes me.
“How?”
“Cozy up to the Commandant or break into his office,” Idris suggests.
“Easier said than done.”
“There are children and infants in these settlements,” Idris says. “We have to protect them, Haven.”
“I know,” I say softly. “I’ll try.”
I can’t expect Spider to tell me any more than he already has. He will find my curiosity suspicious. I’ll have to search for it myself. There are two days until the assault. That gives me a bit of breathing room to learn the truth.
Prue and the rebels are relying on me.
I close my eyes, but sleep remains far from my reach.
Breaking into Ender’s office in Block A would be impossible with all the security and surveillance. But I might have better luck slipping into his study at the Vale residence.
I’m half-surprised when Knox says that Ender accepted my request to visit my sister. I figured Ender would refuse out of spite, but this is an excellent turn of events.
“Ender will be here for dinner,” Knox says. “I’m supposed to keep an eye on you both. So, please behave.”
Mercy and I sit in the living room. The scones are lit, and they cast long, spindly shadows across the midnight-blue wallpaper.
“So, did you like the book?” Mercy asks.
“It was marvelous!” I say. “The scene where she undid his trousers with her teeth was a sight to behold.”
Mercy’s cheeks burn. Knox scoffs. His fingers tap on his tablet; he’s clearly multitasking.
“I don’t think that is the book I recommended,” she says with a frown.
“Oh, I read the summary of the book you picked. It wasn’t my speed, so I chose another one.”
“That doesn’t sound like one of the approved readings selected by the Department of Education.” Knox raises a brow. “Are you in possession of contraband?”
Sullivan brought Mercy books during his travels. Illegal ones. The one I found among her horde had been hidden with a fake cover. Imagine my surprise when I saw a man clutching a half-naked woman beneath the slip.
“No,” we say in unison.
His eyes shift between us both before he sighs.
“Don’t take those out in public,” he warns, before returning his attention to his device.
Mercy and I exchange a smile. Knox is so much cooler than Ender. The latter would have had us in matching cuffs before the night ended.
“I need the bathroom,” I say.
Mercy opens her mouth to guide me, but I silence her with a subtle shake of my head.
“I know the way,” I say. “From the engagement party.”
I know she’ll direct me to the one on the first floor, but Ender’s study is on the second. I need to go upstairs.
She gives me a look, and I glance at Knox.
Mercy’s mouth tightens. She knows I’m going to do something stupid. And she understands that I need her to distract Knox.
“Would you like me to read a chapter to you, Knox?” Mercy asks.
Knox lifts his head, blue hair falling into his eyes. He looks stunned by the request.
“Oh, me?” He points to his chest.
“Yes, silly,” she says.
“Is that my new pet name?” Knox asks, straightening in his seat. “Nobody’s given me one before.”
“No,” Mercy says. “Your new pet name will be Blue.”
Knox smiles, revealing his perfect teeth.
“I’ll take it.”
Mercy pats the cushion beside her.
“Come here, Blue.”
Knox crosses the room in two steps and sinks to the seat, long legs stretched before him as he stares at her avidly.
I dash across the foyer and climb the stairs, two at a time.
Ender’s study is the last door in the corridor. There is a security camera on the wall. I’ll have to use my powers, so they don’t catch me on the video recordings.
I freeze time and cross the hallway. There’s a passcode, and I frown. I type in a range of numbers, but none of them clicks.
I pause and press the numbers I saw tattooed on his ribs. The green light blinks, and then the door opens. I swallow the urge to fist-pump the air and rush inside. I can’t hold the time freeze for long.
I head straight to his desk and pick through the correspondence on his tablet. He must own a couple of these devices and keep them at his various offices.
I click on the latest message that just came in from Orion Bridges about an hour ago.
The strike team is prepared for Prosperity Falls.
Prosperity Falls is a dense forest area in Division Three. An ideal spot to build out a rebel settlement.
Slowly, I put down the tablet. That has to be the location. I try to access his monitor to confirm, but I can’t guess the password. It isn’t the same as the door keypad.
I filter through his desks and some old, meaningless case files. My fingers drift across a structured box. My heart spikes as I draw it open.
A gold ring sits cushioned in the velvet padding. At the center lies a big, glistening emerald the same shade as my eyes.
The wedding ring.
This must be it.
It isn’t the classic silver band and grotesquely big diamond that the women in the capital prefer. It’s oval-shaped and vintage, like it was plucked from another lifetime. It is perfect.
I slide the lid shut and put it back where I found it. My stomach is tight with dread, and my palms are clammy.
That ring frightened me far more than breaking into Ender’s space. It puts things into perspective. This marriage is real, and it is happening. Sooner than I expected.
I return everything to the way it was and race back out. I stand in position and resume time, strolling over to the bathroom like nothing is amiss. Whoever watches the camera footage won’t be able to piece it together. It will appear seamless.
Once I rinse my hands, I return downstairs.
Mercy is flipping through a page of her book. Her soft voice carries in the air while Knox just looks at her with silent devotion.
I wonder if she even knows that he likes her.
I clear my throat, and Knox leaps away from her, and Mercy snaps her book closed.
“So,” I say brightly. “What did I miss?”
Ender never ends up coming home for dinner. He’s probably busy planning out his attack. It sickens me that he can disregard the lives of innocent children. He knows that the laws will condemn them for their parents' actions. Yet he carries out a strike, knowing the repercussions.
Knox has been shifty since we got in the vehicle.
“About Mercy…”
“You like her,” I cut him off.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he huffs.
“Okay,” I say slowly. “What about my sister?”
“Well, what books does she like?” he pauses. “What legal books does she enjoy?”
I bite back a smile before I name her favorite authors. Or at least the ones that are regime-approved. Knox nods along as I speak, keeping a mental tally of them.
We spent the rest of the ride talking about my sister. It’s kind of nice to speak freely about her and our childhood with someone who cares to listen.
The second I make it to my room. I lock myself in the bathroom and reach for the comm device that I stored in an empty face cream bottle.
“They are hitting the settlement at Prosperity Falls.”
“That’s a big one,” Idris says, exhaling sharply. “Thanks, Haven. We’ll start evacuations within the hour.”
“Idris,” I say softly. “Keep them safe.”
“We will,” he says. “We’ll be in touch if we need anything else. Great work.”
I slide the device back in the container and seal it shut.
Back in my bedroom, I collapse on my bed, staring at the ceiling.
My stomach is in knots about tomorrow. I hope the intel was solid, and I didn’t come across the wrong message. But if Idris confirmed that there was a settlement in the region, then there probably is.
Now all that is left to do is to wait.