She wraps her arms around me tightly and hangs on. “I owed you, now go save the world, baby sister,” she says, and I see tears filling her eyes when we pull apart.
When I returned home after my branding, I waited every day for Art to visit or contact me. He didn’t. I noticed that Juniper was disappearing from her room late at night, and one night I discovered them together, in our secret place on the summit. I jumped to the wrong conclusions. I believe now that it was entirely platonic. Neither of them had wanted to get me into any further trouble, but it took me a while to realize that. I thought they had both betrayed me. Juniper and I already made up over this, but I know she feels she needs to redeem herself. This act of love is way beyond what I thought she’d ever do. This is dangerous.
Juniper places the helmet on my head while Carrick holds me up under the arms.
Kate returns with Tina, who looks nervous. Stacey and Linda tag along, watching it all unfold, curiously. I hope Carrick and Juniper have a plan. I hope that Tina can protect my sister. I discreetly pass Tina her car keys and she quickly pockets them. Tina hands me a slip of paper.
“A message for Highland Castle,” she says firmly.
“We’re ready to move out,” Kate says, moving to the door.
Carrick pulls me up beside him. The guards view me suspiciously.
“Stupid bitch kicked me,” I say, disguising my voice as best I can, leaning all my weight on Carrick.
They immediately look away from me to Juniper, in the chair, staring lifelessly at the TV. They ignore us as we exit and instead study Juniper.
“Kicked her,” Linda says. “I told you she looked at me.”
“Does she look different to you?” Stacey asks.
“Famous people always look different in the flesh,” Linda replies.
“I better get her to the bed for her operation,” Tina says. “Help me lift her into the wheelchair.” She lifts Juniper under the arms and the others hold the wheelchair in place. Juniper does a good job of looking like a rag doll as she’s lifted.
We march together down the corridor toward freedom, and I feel the greatest pain in my heart at leaving Juniper behind. Carrick holds me up and I attempt to move my legs to look like I’m walking. I know he’s using all his strength to keep me upright. The two Whistleblowers who were guarding the door follow us, and I try to guess who they are. Fergus and Lorcan would be too risky to bring to a place like this; perhaps it’s Mona and Lennox. One is definitely female. We all walk together out of the facility. I feel fresh air on my skin. We can’t be getting away with this, we just can’t.
We reach a Whistleblower van and I recognize the driver: Marcus, Professor Lambert’s Whistleblower and Kate’s husband.
Inside the van we all sit tight as we approach the security gates. I realize that we’re at Creed Barracks, the Whistleblower training college that is the national center for Whistleblower training and education. Set on ten acres and named after the town in which it’s located, Crevan has created his own facility away from the main headquarters, to hide the people who threaten him. He won’t be able to keep this up for too long—my sister is in there, people who tried to help me are all in there. My heart pounds as we slow at the gates, as Marcus lowers the window.
He holds out his arm and waves confidently to the guard in the security hut.
Everybody is silent. A collective intake of breath.
The guard leaves the security hut and makes his way to Marcus.
“Can you open up the van? I just need to take a look. New rules.” He looks at Marcus like he appreciates these rules as much as a hole in the head.
“Sure.” Marcus unlocks the doors. “What are you looking for?”
“Extra bodies.”
“Not a bad idea. We need them. It’s getting wild out there,” Marcus says.
“Tell me about it.” The guard slides open the door and takes us all in, like he’s doing more than just counting us. I feel like I’m going to vomit.
Kate lifts her helmet off. “Hi, Ryan,” she says casually.
He nods at her. “Hey. Okay. Thanks.” He slides the door shut, gives it two bangs with his hand.
The gates open. I will Marcus to drive away at top speed, but he can’t raise suspicion. He takes his time.
Far enough away from Creed Barracks, the two mystery Whistleblowers remove their helmets and Mona and Lennox grin at me.
“Thanks, guys.” I hug them, and Mona squeezes me tightly.
“Did everyone from Vigor make it to Professor Lambert’s safely?” I ask.
“Everyone except Bahee,” Lennox explains. “We decided to take a detour and abandoned him on a road somewhere in town.”
“We left him exactly where he dumped Lizzie,” Mona explains, fire in her eyes, payback for her friend Lizzie. “We asked around for her, but it wasn’t the safest area in the world. We had to get out of there fast.”
I can tell she feels guilty for not searching for her friend sooner, for not realizing that her disappearance was sinister.
“We’ll find her,” I say encouragingly.
“Even after all he’s done, Bahee actually thought we were going to bring him to Professor Lambert’s with us,” she says angrily. “I give him one week max on his own before the Whistleblowers find him. He’s got no idea how to survive out there.”
“What if he talks to the Guild?” I ask.
Carrick shrugs, nonplussed. “I doubt he’ll tell anybody about Alpha and Professor Lambert. They’ve been his only lifeline all this time. He hasn’t a clue of any of our plans anyway.”
“And what a house the Lamberts have,” Lennox wades in. “Good call, Celestine.” He holds his hand up for a high five, and I laugh as our hands meet in the air.
“You were right, Celestine, they’re good people,” Carrick says, and I hear the apology in his tone.
Everyone apart from Kate and Marcus starts taking off their uniforms in the van as Marcus speeds away, no time for discretion.
“Anyone stops us now, we’re taking you guys in, okay?” Kate warns, and we all agree.
Carrick hands me a bag of clothes. Juniper must have brought them. I’m gaining feeling in my legs but nowhere near enough to take off the trousers. Carrick doesn’t say a word and starts untying my bootlaces. The simple act brings tears to my eyes.
“Thank you, everybody,” I say again.
“We can get you out of a whole lot of little messes as long as you get us out of the big one,” Lennox says, and I get it. I finally get it. We’re in this together; it’s not all on me. Every person here is taking a massive risk, too.
“How did you find me here?”
“Carrick followed you,” Mona says.
I look at Carrick, but his eyes are down, taking off my boots.
“How did you get in touch with Juniper?”
“Last number dialed on Raphael Angelo’s phone,” Carrick says, with an unimpressed raise of his eyebrow. Not one of my smartest moves. Always pulling other people into my trouble.
That thought leads to another, horrible one. “What’s going to happen to Juniper?” I suddenly panic. “They’re planning on doing a skin graft.”