simple pressure.
“Do you hate me?” she asked, her voice close to cracking.
“Of course not, babe.” It was the first time I’d called her that since we’d been reunited. And as Vi radiated gratitude, I knew I’d said the exact right thing at the exact right time.
“Where to next?” she asked.
“I have no idea,” I answered. I closed my eyes and wished for sleep. Thankfully, my wish came true.
I jerked awake, brushing my hand across my—thankfully—insect-free face. The air around me was filled with light.
“I don’t think they ever did,” Vi said from beside me. “I think that was a mind trick.” Her skin looked gray, her eye sockets sunken.
“Did you sleep?” I asked.
“No.”
Guilt and relief cascaded through me. “How long have I been out?”
“It’s okay to feel relieved. I wouldn’t want someone living inside my nightmares either.”
I shoved the blanket in my backpack. “That’s not what I meant,” I said. “I just—I don’t want you to have —”
“You don’t have to explain,” Vi said. From the detachment in her face to the position of her body to the violet fire blazing in her eyes, everything screamed,
“I’ve seen that,” I said before I could think.
Her eyes narrowed. “You’ve seen what I wanted you to see.”
I stood up, anger battling the fear that swelled in me. “Are you threatening me?”
She stood too, her movement fluid and graceful. I held my ground as she advanced. Adrenaline surged, making my blood race through my body. I hadn’t felt this alive in a long time.
Vi marched up to me and put her hands on my chest. I tingled at her touch. She stretched up to kiss me on the mouth. I grasped her too tightly. I returned her kiss too roughly.
She laughed as she pulled away. “There you are,” she said. The fire in her eyes had been replaced with her usual Thinker edge.
“There I am?” I asked. “What kind of freaky game was that?”
“You’ve been wallowing,” she said.
“I—wallowing? I have not.”
She cocked her head to the side. “I think I would know.”
I shouldn’t argue with that, but I said, “You don’t
“Right. Like you don’t
I threw my head back and laughed, which felt foreign and freeing. “You win.”
She let me kiss her again before she set about packing up her blanket. “But I do believe the insects were all an illusion.” She said it casually, as if we were talking about the humidity.
“Why do you think that?” I kept my gaze on the horizon, noticing a blur in the blue.
“I couldn’t enter your mind,” she said. “All of the other times, I was you in the dream. I lived it through you.” She swung her backpack on and shouldered her hoverboard. “This time, I could only watch. I don’t think it was real.”
I nodded, again wondering which was worse. The mental violation, or actually being covered in writhing snakes and hairy spiders.
“I think someone’s coming,” I said, looking into the midday sun but seeing only bright light.
“Indiarina,” Vi said, a definite bite of jealousy in all five syllables.
The shock surely showed on my face. “How do you know?”
Vi cast her eyes to the ground and then quickly back to mine. “I can sort of find people I’m connected to.”
“You’re connected to Indy?”
“No.” She practically spat the word at me. “But I am connected to Thane, and he’s with Indy. They’ll be here in a few minutes.”
“Nice,” I said, but not thinking it was nice at all. I didn’t want to have a close encounter with her father when my emotions were still spiraling.
“They found a safe house in Grande.” She smiled, but it clashed with the true emotion riding beneath her calm exterior.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I asked. She opened her mouth to lie about her nerves, but I cut her off. “I can feel it, Vi. You’re anxious. Why?”
“Indy—”
“This has nothing to do with Indy.” I tipped my head to the side, trying to get a better read on her wavering emotions. She was getting better at concealing them. Still, I tasted uncertainty, some fear, but mostly anxiety. Anxiety over the unknown. Anxiety over her—
“My mother is at that safe house.”
Zenn
26.
I loitered in the Greenhouse across from Eighty, peering through the soil-stained glass at the door. It didn’t move, even when I sent a southern breeze to knock on it. The windows were black, covered by plastic on the inside.
With my limited mind capabilities, I couldn’t find anyone. Yet Greene had said Saffediene was there. I took a deep breath and moved to exit my hideout and enter Greenhouse Eighty.
I halted when two men who were just as tall as Greene, but twice as wide, advanced down the path toward me. I melted into the shadows of a towering tree, grateful that the disorganization of the Greenhouses could conceal me.
They paused outside Eighty, casting furtive glances down the path before they each raised one fisted hand and together rapped four times on the metal door. The thuds echoed across the path, shaking my bones.
Not half a heartbeat later the door swung open, and the two men disappeared inside. I coerced the wind to jam the door, but it settled shut despite the force of the elements.
With little choice left, I squared my shoulders and marched across the path. Using both my fists, I pounded four times on the door.
It immediately opened, revealing a tangle of vines amid the darkness. I slipped in, allowing the door to latch behind me.
I hadn’t thought past getting into Greenhouse Eighty, and before I could take one step, four hands grasped me, two on each of my arms. My first reaction was fear, but anger wasn’t far behind.
A rough voice spoke in my ear. “Who are you?”
“How’d you get here, outsider?” another asked.
“He knew the knock,” someone else said.
