Devin’s pale gold skin turned pink from his neck to his ears. Oh, that was funny, especially after all the shit he’d given Flix about his crush on Joe.
Flix couldn’t make himself be nasty about it, though, and his good humor evaporated quickly. “Why did you come in, Sadie?”
“I’m nosy and have poor impulse control. Also, I finished dinner.”
Peter laughed and sat next to Sadie. “I bet it tastes amazing.”
Devin shook his head and crossed the room to stand next to Flix. He folded his arms over his chest and asked Sadie, “Do you know the guy that Sanders brought in?”
“Not really. He’s one of the Sons. They were out doing a raid in New America last night. Must’ve run into someone with a weapon. It happens sometimes.”
Peter’s mouth dropped open like Sadie had popped out kittens. “How did you know what they were doing?”
“My sister’s one of them. Do you really think I don’t talk to her?”
Flix shook his head. “But the other night at dinner, you said —”
Sadie waved her arm dismissively. “I say what Lili and Navi want to hear. Aria’s my sister, and even if I think she’s horrible right now, I’m not writing her off. I hate the Sons because of how they hurt Navi, but they’re right, trying to get back some of what we lost when the United States folded.”
Peter nodded like a sycophant. If he knew what Sadie meant, he was a lot smarter than he’d given any indication of so far.
Flix squinted, turned to Devin, and mouthed, “What?”
“So, Sadie” — Devin rested his forearm on Flix’s shoulder — “how’d the Sons hurt Navarro? And what did you lose when the United States stopped being a country?”
“It was awful.” Sadie plucked Peter’s hand from the bed and threaded their fingers. “The Sons tried to recruit Navi, only he didn’t want to do it. He said he wouldn’t be a terrorist, wouldn’t hurt people. He and Aria fought about it. She said he was weak. That if he was a better man who had some pride he’d fight for what was his. He said she didn’t understand the first thing about pride. So she said if he wouldn’t join, she would. She left and hasn’t lived here since.”
“Okay, so...” Flix tried and failed to see how that explained Navarro’s injury.
“And the next night” — Sadie took her time, almost like she enjoyed the audience — “the next night, there was a knock on the door. Lili wasn’t home. I opened the door, thinking it was someone sick or hurt. Sanders and a couple of his men came in with Aria. One of them pinned me to the wall. Navi came out of his office and they attacked him. Held him down.”
Devin groaned. Flix didn’t want to hear more.
But Sadie didn’t seem to want to stop. A tear dripped from her eye, and Flix realized she wasn’t enjoying herself. She was pausing because she couldn’t keep it together.
“They handed Aria the cane, and she hit him in the knee over and over. She cried the whole time, but she did it. When it was finished, she said she loved him but she didn’t respect him.” Sadie laid her head on Peter’s shoulder and wiped her nose with her hand. “Navi’s important. He’s the only person we’ve come across with medical training. They couldn’t kill him, not without risking the support of the town.”
Flix dropped to the floor and rested his back against the wall. This was too much. He knew, understood even, hurting others to survive, but to do it over nonsense like ideals? Devin sat heavily next to him, and Flix was surprised by how comforting it was to have him close.
After a long silence, Devin cleared his throat. “Sadie, what did you lose when the United States folded?”
Peter glared at him. “They lost the chip. Don’t be so insensitive.”
What? Flix turned again to Devin, who was rubbing his hip, looking lost in thought. “What are you talking about?”
“Around twenty years ago,” Peter said, “the United States and Canada decided to form a new union to pool their dwindling resources. New America was formed.” He sounded like he was reciting something he’d memorized.
“I know.” Flix had learned about the Reformation in second grade.
“I’m not done,” Peter snapped. “In order to conserve resources, New America limited its citizenship. It was decided that genetically superior humans would maintain their citizenship status and the inferior groups would become Secondary citizens and no longer be fitted with the chip.”
“What chip?” Flix had long ago realized that the white people thought they were better. He knew he wasn’t a citizen of New America. It made sense. He didn’t live in New America. But he’d never heard of a Secondary citizen or a chip.
“We’re fitted with an identification chip in our bones,” Peter said. “Citizens. We have rights. You don’t. Not that they’d give you any rights anyway since you’re a plastic boy, but still. Old people like Navarro had their chips deactivated when they were deemed Secondaries, which don’t legally exist anymore. I don’t know about Joe. He was probably born after. But I bet Devin’s got a chip. People born in the territories still get them. They just have to be the right people.” Peter clamped his mouth shut. In a much gentler voice, he said, “The government is wrong, Sadie. There’s nothing inferior about you.”
“Just me, huh, Petey?” Flix didn’t even try to keep the bitterness from his tone. He rested his head against the wall and sighed. Why even bother going north? He wasn’t wanted. Hadn’t been wanted by his mother. Wasn’t wanted now.
He turned his head to see what Devin thought. The guy’s boyfriend was in the same boat as Flix. Devin had to be furious.
So close, Devin’s pale blue eyes made Flix think of lightning. Freckles dotted his nose and cheeks. He tilted his head and frowned.
And Flix thought about the way Devin had rubbed his hip. “You knew, didn’t you?”
“Not until Joe told me. He said...”
Flix stopped listening. Joe knew.
