Glass stepped forward. “Have you thought any more about your river plan and using the boats to escape?”
Octavia nodded. “As long as we can manufacture some kind of distraction, we’ll be able to row far enough away that we’ll be out of gunshot range. They could take a wagon and try to catch up, but there’s no road along the river. I think we’ll make it.”
“We need to find Wells and let him know what’s happening. We need to escape tonight, before the Pairing Ceremony happens tomorrow morning. Can you find him?” Glass asked.
“Don’t worry.” Octavia’s voice was firm. “I’ll figure something out.”
Looking at the fierceness in her eyes, Glass believed her. After everything they’d been through, everything they’d survived, none of them were going down without a fight.
CHAPTER 24
Wells
When they’d gotten back to the Stone that morning, Wells had dragged Graham off to the kennels, just as he’d been asked to do. But clearly Graham’s insubordination had put the Protectors on alert, because they immediately whisked Wells to a cramped, isolated room. They’d slammed the door and left him in there for hours. Based on the hunger rumbling in his stomach, it was at least late afternoon by now.
Sitting in the dark, alone for the first time since they’d arrived four days ago, Wells had finally come to a realization: They couldn’t afford to wait for the right time to escape. There would never be a right time. These people were unpredictable, and that’s what made them so dangerous. He had to talk to the other recruits, the people who had been captured from other places, and try to convince some of them to rise up against the Protectors with them. It was their best chance. It was their only chance.
Now he just needed to get out of this damn room.
His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, so it was painful when the door finally creaked open and Oak walked in, holding a lantern.
He’d seen hatred on Oak’s face before. He knew it well, that paper-thin veneer of calm the Protector wore, covering a deep well of violence underneath. But the way Oak was staring at the ground right now was the most frightening expression Wells had ever seen. With the lantern light flickering on his hollowed-out face, Oak looked more demon than man.
“We wanted you to be a Protector,” Oak growled, his voice low and dangerous. “We wanted to trust you and welcome you into our fold.”
“I had nothing to do with what Graham did,” Wells said, willing his voice steady. “You have to know that I’m—”
Oak lunged for him, closing the distance between them in one great stride, and gripped Wells’s throat with a hand as rough and relentless as a hangman’s noose. Wells saw spots and fought to breathe. The lantern light in front of him started to fade out, his vision blurring. With his remaining ounce of strength, he kicked his legs out, trying to free himself from Oak’s grasp.
The door behind them clanged open and Oak released him suddenly. Wells fell to the ground and tumbled over, gripping his own throat and desperately sucking in air with tight, rasping breaths.
“It’s all right,” a woman’s voice soothed from a few feet away. “No harm done.”
Wells looked up, thinking the words were directed at him, but blinked hard at the strange sight of Oak kneeling before the High Protector. Soren was stroking the old man’s head like a dog, and he had his eyes closed.
“You may go,” she told Oak, and the Protector rose and left the room in one smooth, silent movement. He didn’t seem to give Soren’s order even a millisecond of thought; he just obeyed it.
Soren picked up the lantern Oak had discarded. Where the candle’s flame had rendered Oak demonic, it made the High Protector look serene and angelic. But he reminded himself to remain on his guard. She’s worse than any of them, Wells reminded himself. She’s the one pulling all the strings.
“I’m sorry for that,” Soren said, lowering herself to sit before him, her legs crossed under her long skirts. “Everyone’s a little rattled today. We’ve had… a visitor, you see, at the front gates. An unexpected one.”
Wells froze, his heart racing. Had their friends come for them?
“And then your raiding party returned and we learned what had happened.” She shook her head sadly. “It’s tipped them over the edge, I’m afraid.”
“What Graham did is inexcusable,” Wells said hoarsely, his throat still aching from Oak’s attack.
Soren gave him a tight smile. “I’m inclined to agree. And I’m inclined to believe that you had nothing to do with it.”
She reached out and gently clasped his wrist. “I have plans for you, Wells,” she said, her eyes sparkling.
Wells fought the sudden impulse to pull his arm away from her, as if he was recoiling from a snake that had just reared its venomous head. Plans meant that she expected him to stay here for the long-term.
Play along, he reminded himself. Just long enough to stay alive.