“Michal can’t understand, because he’s dead,” I scream. I think about the listening device behind the wardrobe and lower my voice as much as I can while still allowing myself to be heard. With the emergency sirens blaring and officials on their way, I doubt anyone is listening to what is happening in here now, but I don’t want to reveal more to those who are spying on me than I have to. Lightning flashes in the window. “Symon killed him when Michal gave him proof the president could use to end The Testing. I know, because I was there.”
“I was, too,” says Raffe, standing next to me. His hands are clenched at his sides. I know he is waiting for the right moment to strike. Ian doesn’t know it, but he is now in as much danger as we are in from him.
The gun in Ian’s hand shifts downward as he looks from the open door behind him back at me. “That’s not possible. Symon—”
“Symon is working with Dr. Barnes,” I say. “He’s not trying to stop The Testing. He’s working to make sure the people who want to stop it are controlled and then killed. I’m trying to make sure that doesn’t happen. If you want The Testing to end you have to let me go.”
Voices can be heard over the din of the sirens. Coming up the stairs or down the hall. The time I have to escape is ticking down. If I don’t leave now, The Testing might never end. My brother could die and everything I have done will have been for nothing.
I see Raffe put his hand into the side pocket of his bag and nod at me. I shift my feet and prepare for flight, but before Raffe can attack, Ian yells, “Cough.”
Raffe stops and looks at me.
“What?” I ask.
“Start coughing. Both of you.” Ian shoves his gun back into his pocket and takes two steps toward me. “I need you to trust me or you won’t make it out of here.” He leans down and puts one hand around my back and the other behind my knees. Before I know what he intends, he sweeps me and my bag into his arms and hurries toward the door, yelling, “It’s going to be okay, Cia. Come on, Raffe. We have to get her out of here. She can’t breathe with all this smoke.”
I go limp, close my eyes, and start to cough. Raffe coughs, too, as Ian carries me away from the smoke. From Enzo. From the damage I have helped cause.
“What happened up here?”
I force myself not to react at the sound of Professor Holt’s voice and wait for Ian to stop moving. But he doesn’t. He just yells, “Enzo set off some kind of explosive in Cia’s room. I need to get her away from the smoke.”
Raffe’s coughing tells me he is still behind us when Ian starts down the stairs. More than once someone bumps into us as they go to help Enzo. I keep my eyes shut tight as the chatter of voices grows as loud as the shrieking sirens. Students yell above the screech of the alarm to find out if anyone knows what is happening. Ian screams for people to get out of the way. Before I know it, I feel moist air on my face.
“She’s fine,” Ian yells. To whom, I’m not sure. The change in his words makes me stop coughing. “She got overwhelmed by the heat and the panic downstairs. But Professor Holt asked me to tell the rest of you to come upstairs. Someone’s burned really bad.”
I open my eyes as two officials head into the building, leaving Raffe, Ian, and me alone outside the residence.
“We have to leave,” I say as Ian sets me on the wet ground. “Now.”
“I think I can buy you five minutes,” Ian says. “After that, there’s nothing I can do.”
“You can’t stay here. There’s a listening device planted behind the wardrobe in my room. Whoever put it there will know I told you about Dr. Barnes and Symon.” Even if they didn’t hear the rest, that will be enough to put Ian in harm’s way.
Ian looks back at the residence, then shakes his head. “If someone was listening, I’ll just have to find a way to talk myself out of trouble. I’m not leaving. If you’re right, the students who follow Symon are in danger. I can’t go without letting them know.” Ian puts his hand on the door. “I’ll stall the officials but it won’t be for long. You have to hurry.”
He doesn’t have to tell me twice. I run as rain again starts to pour out of the sky. Raffe reaches the vehicle shed first. He grabs my bike from the rack and wheels it out to me.
“What about yours?” I ask.
“Two of us will have a harder time leaving campus without being seen. You’ll have a better chance avoiding notice if you’re by yourself.”
“What will you tell Professor Holt? She knows you were with me.”
“I’ll come up with something. Don’t worry. I’ll meet up with you tomorrow. I promise.”
I unfasten my bag and pull a hand-held pulse radio from inside. “Make sure this stays dry. You should be able to contact me with it.”
Then I put the strap of my bag over my head and climb onto my bike as the rain pounds down.
“Wait.” Raffe puts a hand on my arm. “You should take off your bracelet. Otherwise they’ll be able to track you. I can plant it in one of the University buildings so they’ll think you’re hiding here on campus.”