Hidden Reign

13. Sam

That morning I found Max outside my door. She had barely slept, the bags under her eyes were heavy. She hopped to her feet as soon as she noticed my arrival. Max towered a head over me, her hands were clenched at her sides. "Have you come to a decision." her tone was blank, devoid of any emotion. I couldn't tell what she was thinking. And that scared me even more. I inhaled, closing my eyes for a moment. 

"You didn't really give me a choice, now did you?" She visibly relaxed at my words. "What do we do next?" I didn't want to join them. I just wanted to live a quiet and peaceful life. I hated the situation that I was put in. Though I could only blame myself. If only I had kept my mouth shut. Me and my big mouth.

"We'll have to contact Adler. It's not safe to keep hacking into the system. The supervisors will notice soon, even though there are over 1000 rooms in this section, if someone monitors Casi's coding too closely, we'll get found out." I nodded, wanting nothing more than to roll my eyes. I wouldn't have minded if they found out. That way Max would have been out of my hair.

"Fine do what you need to do." I turned on my heels and tried to make my way to the bathroom. It was hard trying to memorize the layout of our compartment, especially when it changed every week. As I walked I noticed the soft hum of the electric system, Casi was back on.

...

By the end of the week, Max was finally gone out of my sight. We had tried to fall back into our routine, but I couldn't forget what she did to me. Adler's call was a quick one, all I knew was that he would book me privately on the day of the auction.

I walked out of my room, ready to meet my new neighbour. She yawned, her loosely braided hair fell off her shoulder and swung back. I couldn't help but feel as though I knew  her face from somewhere. But I couldn't put my finger on it. We both smiled at each other. I didn't want to say a single word, knowing me, I might have just blurted out everything  about Nebula. I didn't want to involve anyone else. We continued with our tasks, but an hour before we had to leave we were back in our rooms. I scrambled to get dressed, my nerves were finally showing. I couldn't help but feel as though I was about to do something incredibly wrong. I was correct after all, I was about to join the rebellion. If they caught me I'd be tortured and thrown into Exile island. And lord knows that I didn't want to go there. you never return from that place. I knew a few kids who were sent there when we were younger. They were caught trying to hijack one of the farm-produce carriers as it passed the boarder, obviously the rich folk wouldn't let it go. They would turn a blind eye as we robbed and murdered each other, but if we ever turned our crime to them, all hell would break loose.

That was one of the big reasons why I just wanted to keep my head down and hopefully get chosen by a somewhat decent family. I was good at cooking and cleaning. If they needed someone to watch their kids, I was up for the job. But this, this rebellion. No way in hell was I even prepared. I would've been risking my life, all for a little plan that could have fallen out from under our feet.

Once we were seated in the carriage we drank the questionable liquid that they always gave us. It began to dull my senses, which really helped with my anxiety. I hadn't paid much attention to the girl next to me, I was focused on the task at hand. Not dying. Well, not getting caught. As soon as we were in the hall, they split us up into groups, we were handed trays and told to serve at certain spots. I was put towards the back end, near the auction stage. I looked up at the stage's twinkling lights, that would've been me in 47 days. But I had no idea what Nebula had in place for me. I tried to shake off the uncertainty. There was no turning back. Once the guests filled the room, a sweet vanilla scent hung in the air, that was when you knew that they were from the Upper Crust. It was said that a different wind passed through their land, that's why they smelt the way they did. But I knew that it was because liked to drench themselves in perfume, maybe it was to mask their smell of their disgusting actions. It was a sickening scent. But it was a smell we had to get used to.

I quickly adjusted my mask and walked about, lowering the tray as I weaved myself through the crowd. That was when I spotted him. The man with the eye patch. He was always watching me. A few years back, he started to book me at his table, I would often serve him drinks, he always picked strong alcohol and never any food. He didn't smell like the rest of them. In fact he didn't smell of anything at all. He gestured and tipped his hat at me. I quickly tried to turn around, but that was when one of the Organizers beckoned me over. She told me to take a tray to one of the VIP rooms. I gently picked it up and made my way over. That was when I recognized the alcohol on the tray, it was definitely for that man. I got to the curtain, two body guards stood on either side of the room, they eyed me up and down, almost assessing if I could do any damange, and when they were certain that I couldn't, one of them popped their head behind the curtain before letting me in.

"Sam. It's a pleasure to meet you." I nearly trip over myself when I heard him call my name. Usually they address us with our codes, so it was odd hearing my name come out of his mouth. "It seems we have some things to discuss. About Nebula that is. Leave the tray down and join us." It was in that moment that I recognized that Adler was the eye patch man. It was his name that led me to all this trouble. I followed as ordered and he begun his explanation. I wish I had never said his name.