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

“What?” she asked, completely oblivious to the card on her face. Then she reached up, touched it, and ripped it away from her cheek with a theatrical eye roll.

“You two are sooooooooo immature,” she said, her nose lifting up in the air as she flicked the card at Grey. She pushed off the chair and stood up, smoothing out her short skirt, and my laughter faded back into bemusement at her antics. “Ready to go see Quess?” she asked once our laughter had died out.

“Yes, please.” I was beyond ready. My lashes were my life, and even though I had definitely needed the shower, making sure my equipment was okay was a very close second (since I had to wait anyway).

Tian smiled and began skipping her way to the stairs leading back to the hall and the kitchen. I made to follow her, and Grey fell in next to me, his hands shoved in his pockets.

“So, you and Tian seem to be getting along well. How have the last few days been with everyone?”

“Good,” Grey replied. “I mean, when you got sick, we all took turns sitting with you.”

“Grey sat with you the most,” Tian called over her shoulder.

Grey’s cheeks flushed, and he ducked his head, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. “I... well... I thought you might be uncomfortable if it wasn’t someone you really knew yet sitting over you when you woke up.”

I was taken aback by his statement, but inordinately pleased. “Thank you,” I said. He looked up at me, and I added, “That was very thoughtful of you.”

“Don’t mention it.” The warm feeling I was holding in my heart was nice, and I wanted so much to build on it, to keep it going... but then I thought of Zoe, and just felt downright selfish. Here I was, checking my lashes and flirting with a guy I liked, and meanwhile she was worried sick wondering what had happened to me.

I looked away, suddenly heartsick, and Grey reached out to put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me over to him.

“It’s going to be okay, Liana. Cali and everyone—except for Maddox, Maddox is scary—” I looked at him, and he gave a little shrug. “She’s been teaching me to fight, and she’s not exactly... patient?”

“Gentle,” Tian chimed in helpfully from ahead. “Doxy isn’t gentle. But she means well. She even taught me a few things.”

And to demonstrate, the girl spun around and landed squarely on one stair, her legs spread apart. She punched her fists into the air in front of her, and shouted, “Pow, pow,” as she did it. Grey and I stared at her, both of us sharing a smile as she sweetly lowered her arms and smoothed her skirt down again.

“If you’d been standing right there, you’d be dead right now,” Tian whispered, before turning and skipping up the remaining few steps to the top.

“I’m sure I would be,” I agreed, and Grey chuckled.

We continued to climb in silence, and then Grey said, “Oh, hey, have you looked at your indicator yet?”

I immediately looked down, and was surprised to see that there wasn’t even a number on it—only a little hyphen in green, as if it were waiting for something. A quick look at Grey’s wrist showed the same thing.

“Why is it—?”

“The paint that Quess developed is blocking any and all signals to and from Scipio. That means this doesn’t work in here. It’s been... kind of liberating, actually. Fair warning, though—Quess is going to ask you if you want to take yours off.”

“He can do that?”

Grey nodded. “Apparently so.”

I fell silent and rubbed my fingers over my own wristband. What would it feel like not to carry that burden anymore? To be judged based on myself and what I had to offer, rather than on what Scipio told others I had to offer?

“You okay?”

I looked over to meet Grey’s warm brown gaze and nodded. “Just thinking what it would feel like for me.”

He smiled and looked down, his hair falling to cover his forehead. “It’s your decision,” he said. “Maddox still wears hers around her wrist, as does Cali, but they do it in case they have to go out into the Tower for any reason.”

“Is that why you kept yours?”

Grey hesitated, giving me a speculative look, and then nodded. “Yeah—you never know, and it’s better just in case. Still, it’s great that it doesn’t mean anything in here.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” I had already decided to keep mine on, in case I had to go up there. It wasn’t even a question for me right now. But a part of me desperately longed to be free from it.

I looked ahead and saw Tian disappearing into Quess’s room, and moved to follow her. A flash of light momentarily caused gray spots to form in my eyes, though, and I winced and looked away, blinking a few times to clear my vision. When I looked back, Quess was lowering a welding wand onto the wide table in the middle of the room, and pulling up a pair of blackened goggles so they sat atop his head.

“Hey, Liana,” he said, a white smile breaking free of the lines of grime and dirt on his face. “Nice to see you’re feeling better. You gave us all a scare there.”

“Thanks,” I said, my worry over my lashes displaced slightly by the genuine warmth in his eyes. I fidgeted, trying to think of something to say that would qualify as small talk before I interrogated him on what he was doing to my equipment.

“She’s worried about her lashes,” Tian said after several long seconds had gone by, and I was immediately relieved. I had been drowning looking for a way out.

Quess’s smile grew. “I figured you would be,” he said jovially, disappearing behind the table as he squatted. He stood, his hands brimming with my lash harness, and I almost reached across the table to snatch it from him. I refrained, and watched as he gently placed the collection of straps and the circular lash housing on a clear area of the table. “Cali and Maddox are both equally protective over theirs as well. I made some adjustments to the spinner inside so you’ll be able to control the lashes more precisely. It causes them to repel and retract more quickly, too, so be aware of that. I also changed out the static beads at the ends with ones of my own design—ones that allow you to create a friction bond instead of a static one.”

I came around the table as he spoke, my hands immediately removing the metal dome of the lash housing. The entire rig was so familiar to me that it didn’t take me long to find all the modifications that he had made. However, since a modified rig was such a foreign concept, I had no idea how it would work until I tested it out.

I eyed Quess as he continued to speak, explaining the friction bond and how it worked, and tried to gauge his competence. I didn’t come up disappointed. He sounded so much like Zoe—even more technically-minded in some ways—as his explanations began to expound into theoretical physics. He fell silent when he realized everyone—including me—was starting to glaze over, and sighed.