Defect

[chapter 9]

Hey everyone! Thanks for reading this; it means so much to me that we're officially past 100 votes! Woohoo! Also, sorry I'm such a slow updater, but school's kept me pretty busy. But luckily we got an unexpected 4 day weekend thanks to the hurricane blowing past, so yay!!!!! Living on the coast has it's benefits :)

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The next few days passed in that blur where each day seemed to drag on forever, but by the end of the week, it felt like no time had passed at all. Slowly, the trust began to build back up between Jax, Alex, Sofia and I. Or at least, they were now talking to me, even if it was in oddly polite tones.

The rebellion hadn't asked me to do much else, so although I still spent plenty of time everyday searching for the Mystery Room and I still didn't feel good about lying to them, the guilt no longer felt like a solid thing pressing on me. In fact, it wasn't until a week and a half later that anything unusual happened.

After Jessica, Jasper's younger sister, threw a fit that ended with four slaves dead, the siblings had made a deal with another Evo (a slightly older man, I think) in order to replace those slaves cheaply. In return, he was getting some piece of valuable antique furniture that they had sitting in storage, I think.

And that's why I was standing outside with two others I didn't know, freezing half to death in the formal uniform while we waited for the new slaves to arrive so we could show them around. They were already half an hour late.

Did I mention I was freezing?

A moment later, the car pulled up, and four shivering slaves climbed out, looking hopefully at the heavy wooden doors that might offer warmth. I couldn't blame them--that's where my attention was too.

Well, I should actually say three--two guys and a girl were shaking, wrapping their arms around their torsos in a futile attempt to conserve body heat. The other girl... well she was doing something else entirely.

Maybe it was the way she walked, like she was embracing the cold, or the way her eyes swept over the land first thing, looking for threats instead of taking the easy way of assuming everything was safe. Maybe it was just the look in her eyes, like she had seen more than enough suffering and tragedy.

Whatever the reason, she instantly reminded me of myself.

"So, do you guys want a tour of the house?" I asked, forcing myself not to pay special attention to her. The other two nodded frantically, still looking hopefully at the warm house, but the girl just stood there, taking everything in, challenging me with her gaze. Once again, I torn my eyes away after a moment, turning towards the house.

Two hours, several dark wood paneled hallways, and seven chandeliers later, our hour concluded. The wide-eyed slaves had followed me around dutifully, remaining completely silent other than to ask what they would be required to do, while the girl... well, the girl was as different as I had first thought. She remained quiet, too, except for some snarky comments about her new, luxurious accommodations. And while every else I'd seen go through the house had remained quietly skeptical, she made no effort to roll her eyes at the clear excessiveness of the display of wealth.

Finally, after what felt like days, I was able to send the bug-eyed slaves away with the guy who had greeted them with me without much more than a scathing look as they walked away. I stopped her before she began to walk away, saying, "Hey. DO you think we could talk for a minute?"

"Um, yeah, I guess," she said warily, crossing her arms. I almost smiled--I would've done the exact same thing.

"What's your name?"