He fixes me with an intense stare. “Approximately fifteen minutes ago.”
I shake my head, trying to hide my smile. “You’re right, you don’t do jokes very well.”
“It was when I saw you in court for the first time.”
“Judge Sanchez announced they weren’t letting me home for the trial. You realized the Guild wasn’t on my side then.”
“No. It was before that. The minute you stepped inside the courtroom you looked so terrified—I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone look so scared. I wanted to be glad. I wanted to be pleased by what everyone shouted at you in the courtyard; I wanted to feel like you deserved it, but as soon as I saw you in court I thought to myself, This girl doesn’t think that it will be all handed to her on a plate. You were afraid from the start, which makes your bravery all the more striking.”
I feel shy all of a sudden, from his compliments.
“Sorry for losing my temper.” I sigh.
“I understand,” Carrick says. “My timing sucked.”
“Can we just rewind five minutes?”
“Let’s rewind more.” He smiles. “Thirty minutes? I want to try the combination code again if I can remember it. What was it? One, two, three…? I should have written it down,” he murmurs as he kisses my branded skin again.
His head disappears up my T-shirt.
“Found one,” he says, voice muffled.
I can’t help but laugh.
And then an alarm rings out.
TWENTY-FOUR
CARRICK’S HEAD APPEARS from under my T-shirt and he leaps out of the bed at top speed to dress. Thankfully I’m already dressed, so I search for my sneakers.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know. Nothing good.”
The door to the cabin bursts open. It’s Lennox, who takes no heed of the fact I’m in Carrick’s cabin at this hour and he’s half-naked. “Whistleblowers at the gate.”
“Oh my God.” My stomach sinks. My haven has been sprung.
The east wing, which houses the Flawed, is in pandemonium. Everyone is running around in a panic, half-asleep, trying to gather themselves. The Flawed workers who were on shift are running toward the cabins, terror in their eyes. There are at least a dozen more Flawed whom I haven’t met yet.
Eddie arrives, the stress crawling up from his neck to his face in a red rash.
“What’s going on, Eddie?” Carrick asks.
“I don’t know, but let’s be clear about one thing: I never knew anything about you guys, okay?”
Mona looks disgusted. “Your ass is safe, Eddie, don’t worry, now come on—help us save ours.”
Cordelia clings to Evelyn, the terror clear on her face. If the Whistleblowers find us, not only will they take us away, but they’ll also separate Evelyn from Cordelia because she’s F.A.B.
“What’s the routine? What’s the drill? For these types of situations?” I ask, hearing the shake in my voice.
Eddie won’t meet my eye; he paces the room.
“Surely you have some sort of emergency plan?” I look around at everybody.
“We never needed one,” Bahee says anxiously. “They’ve come here twice in all the years I’ve been here, and each time we were warned.”
“Well, they knew exactly when to come tonight. Somebody told them,” Carrick says accusingly.
I look at Carrick in panic: His face is clouded over.
“Which one of you told them?” he shouts.
“Carrick!” Kelly says gently. “Nobody here would do that.” She reaches out for him and he pulls back from her, an insult of the worst kind. It’s not just a rejection of his mother, it’s almost an accusation, a show of distrust.
“Where’s Rogan?” Carrick asks.
We look around for his brother, but there’s no sign of him, even in the darkened corners.
“How convenient,” Carrick says angrily. “Someone alerts the Whistleblowers and Rogan disappears.”
“How dare you.” His mom slaps him across the face, then pulls her hand away in surprise, as if the slap hurt her more.
I gasp as Adam jumps in between them. “Carrick, you need to check yourself now, and calm down. We’re all under pressure. I’m sure Rogan is hiding somewhere safely. He wouldn’t do this.”
“No?” Carrick challenges him. “I guess I don’t know him as well as you do.”
Uncomfortable, Bahee tries to calm everyone down. “I have my passes to the lab. The Whistleblowers won’t be allowed access without the correct paperwork. They’ll have to wait until morning to get it, and the bureaucracy will kill them. Everyone will be safe with me.”
Carrick eyes him suspiciously. “Okay, you all go with Bahee. Lennox, Fergus, Lorcan, and I will break away. Celestine, you stay with me.”
I can tell that Carrick has a plan, so I don’t bother asking him what it is. I trust him.
“Celestine can stay with us,” Bahee says, placing a protective arm around me. “It’s too risky out there. I’ll keep her safe in the lab. You have my word.”
Carrick shakes his head. “We’ve got a route out of here. We can get straight to the Jeep. If anyone wants to come, come, but we have to go now.” He grabs my hand and leads me out of the cabin.
“And lead her straight out to them?” Bahee pipes up. “Whistleblowers will be blocking every street leading from here. Think, Carrick.”
Carrick looks doubtful.
“You have to trust us,” Kelly says tearfully.
I can see Carrick’s guilt, for how he made his mother feel. He looks at me. Bahee’s plan sounds better than Carrick’s. Hiding gives me more of a chance than running straight into their arms.
“Maybe we should stay,” I whisper to him.
“We shouldn’t all stay together,” he says. “I’m going to take my chances this way. You hide with the others. I’ll get the Jeep ready. I’ll make a plan; I’ll come back and get you when the time is right. Trust me.”
“I do.” I smile.
He kisses me quickly.
Bahee pats Carrick on his back. “She’s in safe hands. Follow me, everyone,” Bahee says urgently, hand on my arm.
We follow Bahee. Through the east wing, down the steps, and outside to the night air. The sun is about to rise, I can see light on the horizon. I wonder what state we’ll all be in when the sun is up. We run at high speed, keeping low, following Bahee across the compound, avoiding the main routes. Though he said otherwise, I’m betting Bahee has this escape route mapped out in his head and takes it every night just in case.
There’s still no sign of Rogan, and I wonder about Carrick’s accusation. Rogan clearly had dark thoughts about his brother joining their lives, but I’m not sure if he would orchestrate all this and risk being found and having his family broken up. But perhaps Carrick is right about it being someone within these walls. I fear that it was Leonard, that this is all my fault. If I’d told Carrick about him coming to see me in my cabin, asking about Lizzie, then maybe we would have had time to plan an escape just in case.