The Renegade

Chapter 15

The door creaks open in the middle of the night, and I only hear it because I barely let myself sleep anymore. With the nightmares and pain in my leg, sleep is futile, and after my conversation with Luk, the thoughts rattling in my brain keep me from even fading into a doze.

I roll over on my bunk to see who's at the door. I expect Audra, come to fetch Luk for a secret meeting with his dad. However, instead of the perky blonde, the man from the technology center with the long black braids stands at the door. Ior. In my fight with Luk, I forgot to ask him about his relationship with Ior, but his surprise appearance piques my curiosity again.

In contrast to his broad shoulders and muscular frame, Ior slips lithely through the front door to the bunk in the far corner where Luk sleeps alone, separated from the rest of us by more than space. Ior leans over Luk, who is curled inside a navy blanket, and shakes his shoulder. Luk awakens and they exchange a few whispered words that I can't understand. Luk's eyes flitter to me and I squeeze mine shut. He must be convinced I'm asleep because he rises from his bed, donning a black jacket Ior offers, and they tiptoe past me, headed for the door. Where are they going? It must be related to Ila since Ior showed so much interest in her, but why are they leaving in the middle of the night? I keep my eyes closed and try to slow my breathing even though my heart pounds faster as they walk by me, two heavy shadows in the dark.

"Ren?"

Luk's voice whispering my name shocks me--if this is some secret excursion to see his daughter, why is he waking me up? I open my eyes. Luk crouches over my bed, his face pale against the dark of the room.

"What's going on?" I hiss.

"Come with us."

I don't protest the chance to get out of this stupid bunkhouse and get up quickly, donning a second black jacket Ior tosses to me. Did Ior plan on bringing me along? Apparently, my linguistic prowess left some kind of impression. Either that or this is Luk trying to show me that he trusts me. The jacket must be Ior's because it's several sizes too large and drowns my short, thin frame. Instead of getting my crutches from beneath the bed, Luk slips his arm around me and helps me limp out of the room.

"Where are we going?" I ask, still confused about why they brought a cripple on their secret mission.

"To see Ila," Luk says, just like I expected.

"Then why are you bringing me?" I whisper as we leave the bunkhouse behind and slip onto the sidewalks of Domus.

Luk doesn't answer as the warm air of Domus hits us. I expected a breeze or chilled air from the night, but it's still warm and stagnant. No other signs of life are evident besides a handful of guards patrolling the edge of the dome. They don't seem to notice us in our black hoodies. Ior slips something to the guard in charge of watching our bunkhouse and he just nods, letting us depart in peace.

We approach one of the residential domes, and I lean closer to Luk whose arm remains around me. "Is Ila out of the hospital?" I whisper.

Luk nods. "She was released yesterday."

"Then why are we here in the middle of the night?" I ask as Luk's eyes scan the dome. "Why can't you go see her tomorrow?"

Something passes on Luk's face, dark and fierce. "They want to assimilate her into life in Domus, and apparently seeing her father isn't a part of that."

"Ever?"

"Once a week," Luk confesses.

"What about your dad, can't he stop that?" I suspect Father Paul is working against Luk, but this proves it.