Equals

Chapter 25

Recruits

“Azurite…”

“Be quiet…”

“But Azurite…”

“Shh! Shut it!”

“How are we going to pull this off?”

“JUST GO WITH IT! NOW, SHH…”

We’re running down the same halls we were before, but this time—no guards. Strange, but I guess she thinks I’ve finally given up. She doesn’t know I have Madison with me now—I hope. I want to tell Madison to go on her own and split up, but I know doing that will just end up with her getting captured the second she’s alone. Finally I see a room, kind of a sitting room. It’s labeled

PERFECTS ONLY

ALL OTHERS,

STAY OUT

Well, in a way…I guess I’m a Perfect…but I send in Madison first while I scan the room behind her. Plain old looking doesn’t help. I don’t see anybody in particular, just pretty faces.

“A-Azurite…is that you?” I turn around.

“Who are you?” He laughs.

“You don’t remember me? Way back when…?” Finally my mind clicks, and remembers the name of the voice. I feel a huge smile on my face and wrap my arms around his neck.

“Dawson! Wow…you look so…different…but your eye looks better.”

“Yeah, ha…they patched me up after we got here. No more scars. Where have you been Az?”

“Around…and call me Azurite, wait…you said ‘we?’”

“Yeah, we’re all here. Well, none of us have seen Michael, but everyone else is in the room, see?” I follow as he points his finger around the room, reintroducing me to everyone’s new faces, “Over there is Colter, then Asher, and Arlo, and then in the corner are Mila and Hadley. Behind us are…Archer, and Luna.”

“Whoa…everyone looks so…n-nice…” He laughs.

“Well you should talk… look at you!” I feel embarrassed when I remember how much I’ve changed too.

“You like it?” I flaunt my shining pointed teeth.

“Sure. I mean, sharpened teeth, green—really green eyes, your skin looks like its…marble?”

“More of a creamy alabaster color but…yeah, I-I didn’t really get to pick. I just woke up and well…”

“Yeah I know…join the club.”

“So Dawson, can we go o-outside? I have something to tell you…it’s really important.”

“Oh what you’re gonna tell me you have a crush on me? Michael won’t like that…” I smile, but shove him with my shoulder.

“Ow geez Azurite, what are you on steroids or something?!” He laughs, but I still feel bad.

“Sorry! I-I guess I don’t know my own strength sometimes…”

“Anyway, tell me what’s going on.”

“We need recruits.”

“For what…?”

“…A rebellion...”

“What the hell’s wrong with you!? We can’t do that!”

“Yes we can, Dawson! It’s not hard, we just need new recruits. Everybody here’s going to help us.”

“B-but Azurite…it’s not right…”

“Yes it is! Don’t you know what a monster Maria is!? Don’t you have any idea what she’s done to you?”

“She’s made me a Perfect, Azurite. What’s better than that?”

“Don’t you understand what she’s done to you, what she did to the Hideout!?”

“Yeah, she got us out just in time, we all would’ve died.” Maddy and I were lucky, we kept our memories. Obviously Dawson wasn’t.

When I go back to the room, I scan for Maddy, but she’s not here. I hope she hasn’t done anything stupid. I sit in the back making small talk with Mila and Luna, but it’s clear they only want to talk about themselves. It’s almost painful listening to two girls talk about hair and jewels and new implants for their eyes and nails, when months ago they would feel sick just thinking about it. I almost fall asleep when the noise in the room stops. I look at the doorway and see Maddy, sweating, her hair tangled and out of breath. “Maddy?”

“Azurite, come with me.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I found something.”

“I don’t care, Maddy. It’s just a hospital.”

“Trust me, you have to see this.”

“Maddy just tell me what you saw, you’re about to pull my arm out of its socket.” Not that she could, but I have to get her to stop yanking on me like a pet.

“There’s really nothing to see, Azurite. It’s what you have to hear.”

“Then just tell me!”

“We can’t let anyone hear us.” She finally gets to a place where she feels comfortable talking.

“Okay we’re here can you just spit it out already?”

“You promise that you’ll believe me?”

“Yeah fine I promise.”

“I think he’s here.”

“Who is?”

“He is, Azurite. I think he is, anyway. There’s a reason no one knows he’s dead, don’t you think?”

“Maddy stop it. I’m not in the mood for this.”

“But Azurite, don’t you think there’s a possibility?”

“STOP IT OKAY!? NO! I REALLY DON’T! How many times do you have to hear it, Michael, is, dead. It’s not that hard to understand. And the only reason they don’t know about it is because she brainwashed them. It’s as simple as that.”

“LISTEN TO ME! He’s here, I know he is. The way the people here act isn’t normal. They’re hiding something from us.”

“They’re ALWAYS hiding something from us, Maddy. We’re not supposed to be here”

“I don’t mean it like that; I mean they don’t act normal, even when we’re not here.”

“Fine then, prove it to me.”

“I don’t know how. We can’t get anywhere in there right now.”

“Well that’s just perfect. Now if you’ll excuse me…” I start walking away.