Book 1 - Page 16 (2/2)
His mouth curled. “Like they did Banner?”
“How do you know?”
“Who do you think deals with the dead?” Twist closed his eyes for a moment, but not before I saw his grief. Banner had been important to him. His hands curled into fists, and he slammed one against his palm. “Someone betrayed us.”
“Us?” This couldn’t be a trap, not at this point. But I still didn’t feel comfortable admitting what I knew.
“I’m one of the rebels.”
I froze, wondering if he, like Fade, suspected me of playing some part in Banner’s death. But he wouldn’t be helping me if he did. “I’m sorry. I wish I’d helped her, like you’re doing now.”
He shrugged then. “It’s not that big a risk. They’re going to kill me for what I do after you’re gone.”
For the first time, I looked at Twist and saw him as he was—not the cowed, scurrying figure who went to do Whitewall’s bidding. His eyes carried an angry fire; his shoulders might be narrow, but they were straight and sure. I almost asked what he was planning, but we didn’t have any time to waste.
“Don’t throw your life away,” I said softly. “Whatever you do, make it count.”
He nodded. “You were always nice to me, and Stone is a good person. I know he didn’t do this. Neither did you.”
“n.o.body did,” I said softly.
Twist gave a jerky nod, stuck his head through the curtain to make sure there were no witnesses, and pushed me out. The harness made little shape against my s.h.i.+rt. With luck, the guards would only search my bag, not my person.
They spat on me as I pa.s.sed through the warren toward the barricades. I lifted my chin and pretended not to see them. Fade met me there. We stood mute while they rifled through our things. Pin flung my bag at my head, and I caught it. I hardly dared breathe when she stepped close.
“You disgust me,” she said, low.
I said nothing. Like so many times before, Fade and I climbed across and left the enclave behind. But this time, we weren’t heading on patrol. No safety awaited us. Without thinking, without seeking a direction, I broke into a run.
I ran until the pain in my side matched the one in my heart. At length he grabbed me from behind and gave me a shake. “We’re not going to make it if you keep this up.”
A choked laugh escaped me. “Are you stupid? We’re not going to make it anyway. If Na.s.sau died, what chance do we have? Why did you come with me? Now I have to feel bad about you too.”
“You’re my partner,” he said, as if the words meant something different.
“But you lied. I know you didn’t put the book in Stone’s s.p.a.ce.”
“And I know you didn’t steal it.”
“He didn’t either,” I whispered. “And it wasn’t fair. It was them.”
“I know.”
“How long have you known?” Heartbreak and disillusionment cut me like shards of gla.s.s.
“Always,” he said simply.
“That explains why you hated them so much.”
He wrapped his arms around me and my first impulse was to push him away. But there were no rules anymore. I wasn’t a Huntress. Now I was just a girl with six scars on my arms. So I laid my head on his chest and listened to his heart.
“You can’t look on this as a death sentence,” he said, after a moment.
“You really think we can survive?”
“Down here? Not for long. But Topside isn’t like they said, Deuce. It’s dangerous, true, but going up doesn’t mean instant death.”
My teeth chattered at the idea. I’d prepared my whole life for the dangers one faced in the tunnels. I knew nothing else. I tipped my head back as if I could gaze through the tons of metal and stone to the wonders he’d seen and the horrors he’d survived. The surface world sounded like a tale told to a brat during a quiet moment. I couldn’t imagine what it might be like up there.
“If you say so.”
“Come on. Let’s keep moving. We need to be out of their territory before the next patrol or we’ll have to fight any Hunters we see.”
I didn’t want that. By his expression, neither did he. “Did you kill Skittle?”
His silence served as its own answer.
“We’re not going to be down here long,” he said eventually. “Remember the platform where we slept that first night?”
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