The whole thing happened so fast—Analeigh’s struggle, my brother’s appearance, the pirates apparently kidnapping my best friend. Two Enforcers pinned Sarah between them in the room even though she didn’t struggle. Her accusing gaze fastened on Oz and me.
Two horrible choices trapped me, too—go with my brother and Analeigh, become an outlaw, break my parents’ hearts all over again, or stay here with Sarah and Oz to face the Elders inside that room. If Zeke knew what I suspected about the Projector and the real reason for its development, he would probably order my exposure, too.
“Kaia!” Jonah shouted once more, his eyes filled with equal amounts of fear and impatience.
I started toward him, but couldn’t move. It took a moment to realize that Oz’s strong arms had snaked around my waist, holding me in a vise so snug there was no way loose, no matter how hard I squirmed.
“Research Zeke’s last name. It’s the answer.” Analeigh’s defeated voice filtered into my brain.
Oz’s arms loosened for a second, as though he’d been shocked by her silent words, which had surely reached him, too, but not for long enough to allow my escape.
“Let me go,” I screamed, beating uselessly at his hands and arms, desperate to get to my brother and my friend, to the only safety left in the System.
Oz didn’t respond except to grunt under the assault from my fingernails and the few kicks my heels managed to land on his shins.
He’d been working with the rogue Elders this entire time. It had been a stupid mistake to trust him, one I was about to pay for with my life.
With my family’s lives. With Analeigh’s future.
The Enforcers and Elders plus a few scared apprentices spilled around us. Two Enforcers stopped, yanking Oz and me apart and holding me hostage. More raced down the hall toward Jonah and his friends. The desperation in my brother’s face crashed into guilt and grief.
“I’m sorry, Special K. I’ve got to go.” My brother’s voice broke, telling me that however angry he was with me for not listening, leaving me behind had not been Jonah’s wish. Then my brother and my best friend and the pirates disappeared around the corner, along with my only chance at escape.
*
They left me alone in a small holding pod, perhaps five feet by five feet of thick, clear glass, with nothing inside but a thin bench that ringed the perimeter. Oz guarded me from outside the cell, but even if I’d wanted to talk to him, to ask why he’d held me down instead of letting me escape, the cameras that watched us made it impossible to even think about strategizing.
At least I hadn’t been too distracted in the decontamination chamber to destroy the final recording of Caesarion’s death, and stow Jonah’s chip under my tongue. They would know I’d been out of the Academy without a pass but not that I’d been in Egypt or the extent of my infractions.
Booth approached the outside of the cell, waving Oz away and pressing a button on the wall that allowed his voice to be heard inside the soundproof glass. “The recordings are paused for forty-five seconds. Listen closely. Kaia, how much do you know about the Return Project?”
“Nothing.” It was the truth. I knew something but had never heard the term.
Booth’s eyes narrowed. “Then you had nothing to do with Analeigh’s research?”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You don’t have a choice.” His dark eyes flicked the direction Oz had moved. “You have to lie in the sanction hearing. Lie. You know nothing about what Analeigh was doing or the Projector or any possible design to return to Earth Before.”
Booth stared through the glass, eyes locked on mine, while his words tumbled through my brain like a million marbles tossed haphazardly onto the floor. Any possible design to return to Earth Before.
“Good luck.” Booth turned and left.
The lights on the cameras turned red again, assuring me that I was again being watched. Oz returned, and we stared at each other through the glass. The unreadable expression in his gray eyes dampened my skin with a cold sweat.
Two Enforcers appeared outside my cell and unlocked the door. Oz motioned for me to go first, and when he fell in behind me, he whispered, “Follow my lead.”
At this point, it seemed best not to trust anyone but myself.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
It seemed like the entire Academy was jammed into the largest of the judgment chambers. The room felt overly hot, even though no room in the Academy was ever too warm. Sarah’s light blue eyes trained on me, the cool accusation in them quickening the dread in my heart. What had her sentence been for creating unauthorized tech?
Oz climbed the bleachers until he sat beside her, the expression on his face as indiscernible as ever. Whatever the Elders thought they knew about what happened today, they were blaming me alone. Or perhaps, because of Oz’s father, they were choosing to deal with him in private.
I looked away. The Enforcers took me to the front of the room, where I stood facing a bench of the Academy’s Elders. Zeke Midgley, David Truman, Maude and Minnie Gatling, Booth, Silas Bohr, Rachel Turing, and even the sickly and rarely visible Darya Gagarin had put in an appearance. None of their faces were friendly. Even Darya looked pissed, probably at having been dragged out of bed to deal with the likes of me. Could they all be a part of the secret Return Project, whatever that meant? Booth might be the only one who seemed even remotely trustworthy, though both Silas and Darya never worked with apprentices so they were mysteries to me.
Zeke pounded a gavel, and the murmurs scuttling around the room quieted. He looked around, hesitance on his features, leading me to believe he questioned the intelligence of holding this session publicly. They had gone out of their way to ensure no one knew about the Projector, but now they thought Analeigh knew and that I did, too. What was to stop me from accusing them in open court?