I took a chance, knowing I’d suffer worse than I could imagine. I ran across the hall to the classroom and both of them jerked to a stop, eyes wide and fearful. Then Chess recognized me and went to throw her arms around me when I quickly shook my head.
I had seconds.
“I’ll kill her, Chess. One day, I’m going to kill Mother. Don’t give up on me. No matter what. There’ll be a time, Chess. A time to end this.”
Seconds and time did matter because I was caught. The handler came around the corner and saw me with her and the boy, and I was taken away to the pit. I didn’t fight. I heard my sister’s choked sobs so I walked away with my head up. I even glanced over my shoulder and winked at her.
“You killed her.” It was a statement and it was like she had to say the words herself to believe them. “What about the farm?”
“We’ll find it.”
Her eyes narrowed and she stiffened. “You haven’t found it though.”
“Not yet.”
She reached up to the bookshelf and the candlelight caught the edge of her chin where a purple bruise glowed. Vault never marked a face and they’d left Chess alone for years. “Who hit you?”
“Connor.” She walked over to her bed, reached under her mattress and pulled out what looked like a necklace. She scrunched it up in her hand and put it in her pocket before I had a good look. “Not his fault. The drug is unstable and Mother knows it. Or she did, that’s why they aren’t using it on any others yet.” That was why Mother agreed to let London live after Deck rescued her from the auction. “He can’t control the rage. It’s like he’s pumped up on something and it has nowhere to go, so he loses it. Not all the time, it’s sporadic and, Kai, he has no idea what he’s doing. His memories are all screwed up.”
“When did you last see him?”
“A couple of days ago. I overheard the guards mentioning Connor leaving for Toronto.”
Fuck. We had to get to London. “We need to go, Chess. No one will know Mother’s dead until tomorrow. If we’re lucky, the next day.” I dropped my black bag on the floor. “I have her laptop and we can find what we need on it.”
“That’s if you can get into it.”
True, but it was all we had. “Our flight leaves in an hour. Pack what you need.”
She sat on the end of the bed, her hand in her pocket.
I was silent, too. There was no excuse for how I lived my life. I’d accepted my decisions and I’d done what I thought I had to. And now, I was doing what I had to. Chess was alive. My sister lived and breathed and stood in front of me and I wasn’t leaving without her. “I did what had to be done, Chess. There is no other reason than that.”
Her eyes softened. “I know, Kai. I never asked you to save me.”
No, she hadn’t.
“You need someone on the inside.”
I tensed and a wave of cold shifted through me.
“With Mother dead, the board members will meet here. There’s a chance I could—”
“No.” I picked up my bag again and threw it over my shoulder. We had until morning before anyone noticed Chess was gone and even then, if the goon who delivered her breakfast didn’t pay attention, we had longer. “Put your pillows under your sheets so if they check on you they’ll think you’re sleeping.”
“Kai, he’ll be here. I know it’s him. I know he’s the one who had the farm when it was moved.” I knew exactly who she was referring to—the one board member who kept his face hidden. “Maybe I can get a good look at him and sketch him. Then I’ll be able to send it to…” she stopped.
“Tristan?” I said, brows rising.
“You know him?”
“You’ve been feeding him information ever since you got your ‘privileges.’ It’s how he knew about Georgie—Chaos. You’re his contact on the inside.”
She whispered, “He promised.”
I didn’t know what he’d promised, but the pieces were falling into place. Chess cared about him. It was all over her with the way her shoulders slumped, her head hanging forward, hair curtaining one side of her face. But the most telling was her hand in her pocket fisting around the necklace.
Tristan had been the boy she’d been talking to that day coming out of the classroom. “How did he escape the farm, Chess? Did you help him? You had to be only what…?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, fourteen, maybe. It was the only way.”
“Jesus, Chess. You didn’t get out and he did.”
She looked at me. “We needed a diversion.” Fuck. That was why Tristan had spent his life working to get to this point. “It was impossible for both of us to go.”