We go our separate ways, Amber heading out with the flow of Colonists and us following the cannibals back to the shower room. More members of the Guard have joined our group, some leading and more following, and I’m grateful that Ryan, Trent, and I aren’t lumped in with the cannibals; we’re allowed to follow freely behind the herd.
“All right, what’s wrong?” I whisper to Ryan as we walk.
“With what?”
“With Amber’s story about the overthrow. You didn’t like it.”
Ryan pauses, his eyebrows coming together in concentration. “It’s not that I didn’t like it, it’s… I think it worries me. The sort of hero worship vibe I got from your friend could be bad news.”
“Why?”
“Because it reminds me of what Sam told us about Westbrook and how the Colonies first got started. And also because it’s not really true. In that story of him surviving two assassination attempts, where were you?”
“I was with him by the wall when Caroline stabbed him.”
“I know that and you know that.”
“Caroline knows that,” Trent remarks.
“But Amber didn’t mention it. Does she not know that you’re the one who saved Vin that night?”
“I don’t know,” I reply, not sure what it matters.
“If you’re being left out of that story, are more people being left out of the other story? The other attempt on his life? If he was already injured, I’m thinking he wasn’t alone for that second fight.”
“Okay, probably not, but who cares? He still survived. She’s right—they tried to kill him twice and he survived both times.”
“But why did they try to kill him? Why did Caroline do it the first time?”
“Because she was crazy and in love with him and she thought I was stealing her man.”
“So it wasn’t an assassination attempt at all. It was one person acting on jealousy. And the second time, why did that girl try to kill him?”
“Probably because Caroline was her friend and Breanne was kind of nuts. She went native the second we got here. She was insanely loyal to the Colony by the time I left.”
“So neither attempt on his life was actually ordered by the Colonies or by the Team Leaders as a group—it was all personal and emotional, but that’s not how the people here are looking at it. They’re looking at him as some messiah who their enemies tried to strike down but couldn’t. It gives him this legend status and puts him on a pedestal. It’s no wonder they follow him like they do.”
I hadn’t thought about it, but he’s right—these people are looking at Vin as their savior, but he’s actually nothing more than a gangster pimp with bad taste in women and a habit of getting shanked.
“If he gets them where they need to go, then what’s the problem?” I ask, trying to convince myself as much as Ryan.
He shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe nothing.”
“Are we staying here tonight?” Trent asks out of the blue.
“I’m not really sure,” I reply hesitantly. “We’ll have to talk to Vin, I guess.”
“Do you think it’s safe?” Ryan asks.
I want to say yes, of course it is, but after what happened upstairs just now I’m not so sure. Vin didn’t turn on me, but he didn’t exactly help me either. He left me to fend for myself, and something about that royally pisses me off. Whether we’re staying here tonight or not, he and I have to talk.
“Probably not. It might not be a bad idea for us to sleep behind locked doors tonight, wherever we go.”
“Careful what you say. I’ll think you’ve grown to love prison life.”
“I do miss the bathrooms. And the soaps.”
“I miss the pillows.”
“I miss the books,” Trent adds.
“Was Sam right?” I ask him. “Could you have busted us out of there?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe or probably?”
“Definitely.”
My jaw drops. “Why didn’t you?”
“I didn’t need to,” he says like it’s obvious. “You wanted to stay.”
“How would you have done it?”
“Picked the lock.”
“Is that easy to do?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know you could have done it?”
Trent grins. “Because I did it.”
“What? When?”
“While you and Ryan were sleeping. Sam was out cold too. I was up and I was bored so I picked the lock. Wandered around a little. That house was nice. Big kitchen. They had oranges.”
“Are you kidding me?” I cry incredulously.
The guards ahead of us look back at Trent warily.
“No.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Ryan demands.
“You guys wanted to stay in that room and play by their rules until they let you talk to their council, so I played by their rules.”
“Not really. You ninja-ed around their house in the middle of the night.”
“Just for a few minutes. I told you, I was bored. Besides, if they had found out I could do that we’d have been killed or kicked off the island immediately.”
“If you had been caught,” I begin.
“But I wasn’t.”
“But if you had been—”
“But I wasn’t.”
“Oh my God,” I grumble, closing my eyes briefly. “Ryan, I can’t.”
He rubs his hand on my back in small circles. “I know. Believe me, I know.”
Luckily, before I lose my mind we reach the showers. The body has been taken out—probably to the gardens, which is kind of fitting considering where Rebecca worked—but her blood remains. There are two people in the room cleaning along with two guards standing nearby watching. The cleaning crew pushes pink-stained mops toward the hole in the floor, water washing away the red remains of Bryan’s mistake.
It changes everything, what he did. This could have been easy. Well, easier. The Colonists didn’t even have to know these people were cannibals. They could have been a random group of gang members we rounded up, something that would have gone over perfectly with the mixed company inside a Colony. But no, Bryan had to go and get hungry and murder some innocent girl and now we’re all screwed—Vin included. This castle of his, no matter how sturdy it looks from the inside, is made of sugar. And the rain is coming.
“Warn Elijah to stay away,” Ryan tells Macy as they approach the drain. “It’s not safe to come here again.”
“No joke,” she mutters.
“I think we’re all assuming the plan is off,” Kyle agrees bitterly.
Ryan steps up to him, catching his eye. “Not yet. It’s not over yet.”
“They’ll kill us if they ever see us again.”
“If they ever see you here again.”
“What’s your point?”
“This place was meant to be a battle, but it’s not the war.”
“You really think they’re going to fight side by side with us someday?” Macy asks, her tone disbelieving.
“I think very soon they aren’t going to have a choice.”
“You think the Colonies are coming,” Kyle says.
Ryan shakes his head. “Worse. I think The Hive is coming.”
“Marlow knows what we have planned,” I mutter, catching on. “He knows Vin is here. He knows we don’t have a prayer without him or the Vashons, and he definitely knows the Vashons told us no.”
“It won’t be long before he comes here. He’ll rally a small army and storm this place, just like we did. The thing that worries me is what will V—”
“No,” I blurt out, interrupting Ryan.
He looks at me with surprise on his face, but I shake my head firmly and shift my eyes to the guards; they’re standing on the edges of the room, listening.
I don’t know what Vin was doing up there in the rec room letting me drown myself in stupid, but I’m not willing to undermine him in his own house. Not yet. Not until I know what his deal is. Ryan must pick up at least part of what I’m trying to convey because he drops the issue immediately.
“Tell Elijah we’ll send word on the plan,” Ryan tells Kyle, offering his hand. “Until then, please ask him to sit tight.”
“What about Bryan?” Macy asks suspiciously.
Ryan sighs. “Tell Elijah about Vin’s demand, but I won’t be shocked when he says no. We’ll have to figure out a way around it.”