The Girl Who Dared to Think (The Girl Who Dared #1)

“Her parents died of Whispers almost a decade ago,” she said evenly. “She watched them die, and then ran when Medica finally lifted the quarantine.”

The Tower had always had its fair share of plagues over the centuries, and Whispers was one that had run its course a decade ago. It was a bacterial infection that only affected the brain, colonizing it to feast on it. Its name was derived from the way people whispered things out at random—memories from the past, slowly getting destroyed as they wasted away. As I recalled, it had hit Water Treatment the worst, and they had lost nearly eight percent of their workforce.

It could also explain Tian’s odd behavior. If she’d been infected, she would’ve suffered some mild brain damage.

“That doesn’t change the fact that something’s off about the girl,” Roark said roughly. “If I can get my hands on a scanner, then—”

Cali’s eyebrows drew together as her face flashed with distaste. “Tian isn’t a danger to anyone except those who would try to hurt her or her family. Other than that, she’s as sweet as a lamb, and you’ll do nothing to change that. We love who she is.”

She spoke with such passion that it made me consider her and Maddox in a new light. They definitely cared for the odd, yet charming, young girl who had saved our lives—which meant that my fears about them being dissidents could be entirely misplaced. Dissidents wouldn’t form family units. They wouldn’t care so deeply for each other, because there was always a chance they could lose that someone in the fight. Maybe these were people we should know. At the very least, maybe they were people who could answer some questions.

Roark stiffened but nodded, and Cali turned her gaze to where Grey was already placing his gear into a locker. As her eyes fell on me, I slid the baton out of the loop on my belt and placed it in an empty locker, along with my bag. The lashes I kept, and she didn’t seem to mind. Instead, she gave me an approving smile, and then nodded toward the open door and the hall behind her.

“Welcome to Sanctum,” she announced.





27





Maddox led the way down the cramped tunnel. The statuesque woman practically had to bend in half to avoid brushing her head on the ceiling. I followed, suddenly grateful for my comparatively short stature. She led us to a junction that branched off into five different tunnels, but, instead of picking one, she opened a circular hatch in the floor, pulling it up and over on its hinge. I peered into it from over her shoulder, and saw a ladder leading down.

The view was lost as she swung into it in a sleek, practiced move and quickly began to climb down, her hands and feet flying on the rungs. I looked over at Grey, who shrugged and then moved into the hole after her. I wondered if he shared my tentativeness.

Roark went down next, and for just a moment, it was Cali and me. The older woman stood with her arms folded casually across her chest, watching me with a curious look on her face.

“So you’re Liana Castell,” she drawled, eyeing me, and I faltered.

“How did you know that?”

Her lips quirked up in a sly smile and her eyes glittered with amusement. “Because the personal friend Roark and I share told me about you.”

My heart started to beat faster, and I was suddenly uncertain and nervous. I still wondered if it was Alex, but had no way of knowing, seeing as I doubted Cali would tell me either. Maybe I just wanted it to be, so that I knew he would be coming with us. Either way, Alex or not, it didn’t change the fact that someone was talking about me.

“What’s his name, and what did he say?”

“Nice try. He said that you had a lot of potential for leadership, but have squandered honing that skill, choosing other, non-departmental skills, instead.”

That was an exact quote taken from one of my departmental assessments a year ago, written by one of my former instructors. Those files were supposed to be confidential, but if her contact was an Eye, then I was sure he could hack into it, if he really wanted to. I just wished I knew who he was.

I also felt stupid. Of course Roark had contacted him about me at some point. From what little information Grey had offered up, it seemed like they had a partnership, so Roark had let him know what was going on. If this Eye was as paranoid as Grey claimed, then he must have checked me out, accessing my information, peering into my life. It was enough to make my skin crawl, if I really thought about it.

“I see,” I said, all of these thoughts flashing in and out of my mind fast enough to allow me to maintain a calm and collected exterior. “You shouldn’t believe everything you read. The instructor who said that was a fairly upbeat lady who didn’t like saying anything negative. I was actually really dismal in her class, but she passed me anyway. Maybe she just didn’t want to deal with me anymore.”

“Still, I can see how much you care about your friends,” she said softly, taking a step closer to me. “You’re cautious, not wanting to trust this place until you’re sure it’s not a threat to you or them.”

I nodded. “That’s true. Maybe you could save me some time and just tell me.”

Cali laughed, a rich, full sound that filled the room. “I admire your wit as well. It’s very rare in a person so young.” She settled back down, collecting her regal posture as if she were donning a royal cape, and met my gaze, her lips curling under high, arched cheekbones. “Now, whether this place is a threat to you and your friends really sort of depends on you. I will not allow my home to be threatened, you understand? If any of you proves to be a threat, I will take care of it. Efficiently.”

I couldn’t tell you why, but I liked her. There was something charming about the way she spoke; whether it was the warm, sweet tone of her voice or the sparkle of good humor in her eyes, it was hard to tell. I just did. Which was disconcerting enough for me to break eye contact and immediately drop myself down into the hole, climbing down the rungs of the ladder at a swift pace. The light above me was blocked momentarily as Cali followed me down, and I kept moving, my hands and feet confident. All ladders were standardized in the Tower, which meant once you were good with one, you were good with them all. As a potential Knight, I had learned how to be very good.

We descended twenty feet or so before emerging into a wide, circular room with a glass floor. Half of the walls were comprised of glass, through which I could see the churning waters of the hydro-turbine seated down below, at the base of the Tower. Ahead, the river flowed toward us, snaking in under the greenery, the edge of which was visible some three hundred feet ahead. Even though we were low—perhaps fifty or sixty feet above the churning waters—I could still see out past the overhang created by the greenery above, and into a thin strip of sky now turning purple.