beats per minute (22 page)

But eventually she shook her head. ‘Bree’s my friend. I
can’t do that to her.’

Immediately, the vulnerability in Adriana’s eyes was
replaced by something harder. ‘Noble, but that’s not your choice to make,
sweetie.’

‘Tell Max,’ Raegan replied simply. ‘I think deep down you’re
an okay person, Adriana, so it’s too bad if you want to behave like an arse –
but if that’s what you want to do, go for it. I’ll accept whatever punishment
he gives me.’

Adriana nodded slowly. ‘I believe you.
But
what about him?’
She jerked her thumb in Jasper’s direction. ‘Will you
really let him lose his job over some sense of loyalty to Bree?
Which, FYI, is totally misguided.
’

Both pairs of eyes were on Jasper now, and he hated it. He
wished he could be brave and say to hell with it, as he knew Raegan wanted him
to. It would sound much more impressive than what he was bound to say. Then he
remembered the phone call with his father that very night; he remembered the
desperation in his voice, how old he sounded, and how fragile. He could not
forget his purpose. No matter how much Raegan meant to him.

Yet the words would not come. They strangled in his throat.
Instead, mute and with a leaden feeling in his stomach, he returned Raegan’s
gaze beseechingly. Silently he pleaded with her to forgive him.

There was no room for misinterpretation: Jasper needed her
help. And, ultimately, Raegan knew she deserved this; it had been her idea to
break the rules and drag her friend into it. She was so obsessed with finding
out the truth she couldn’t see straight.

Sickeningly, it reminded her of the mistakes she had made in
the past, like flying off to see Mr Fettes about her necklace; mistakes she
made before she even came here, mistakes that had led her into the hands of the
Fay. The necklace, but most of all her, always thinking she knew best, messing
things up again and again! Why didn’t she learn?

Heart sinking, all she could do was nod. Adriana’s malicious
cackle barely even stung.

But when she had seen Jasper safely back to the workshop and
was alone once more, she uttered a silent prayer. Maybe Adriana would change
her mind; maybe she could persuade her to talk to Bree instead; maybe Bree
would not leave her room, at all; maybe Bree wouldn’t spot her.

So many variables flitted through her mind and yet the only
certainty seemed that none of them would occur.

There was one other thing she knew without a doubt. Bree was
not big on forgiveness. Those who fell short of her expectations were simply
cut out of her life. Like a door closing, the removal of her affection, without
so
much as a cross word, was more shocking in its
indifference.

A heavy rain fell the following evening. Mist drifted over
the battlements of Unit Prime; grey, fine, but strangely powerful, it soaked to
the bone with the lightest contact. Raegan sat in the library. With a hot cheek
pressed against the cool glass, she watched Yali scoot across the courtyard in
an attempt to avoid the vicious gusts of wind.

The greyness of the evening reflected her mood. It would
also make tracking Bree discreetly even more difficult. Earlier, with a faint burst
of hope, she mentioned this to Adriana.

Adriana didn’t even blink. ‘Nice try – but tonight is the
night. I don’t know what you’re so worried about, anyway. It’s not like Bree
will be suspicious: she’s on home turf, it’ll be late at night...and you are
her friend.’

The word ‘friend’ made Raegan wince. She tried to reason
with herself: on paper, what she was doing wasn’t all
that
bad. She
wasn’t planning to get Bree in trouble. She was simply keeping up to date with
her. But the squirming sensation in her tummy refused to listen to logic. She
knew that it was the principle of the thing – and principles were something
Bree took very seriously. Betrayal was betrayal.  A ‘shades of grey’
argument would not be tolerated.

Raegan had been up all night trying to think of
alternatives. Though Jasper didn’t spell it out, his fear was palpable; she now
had a bad feeling that several of his ‘inventions’ were fairly illegal. If this
was true, and the Sentinel found out, getting fired would be the least of his
problems. The Sentinel’s ‘rehabilitation’ facilities were a closely guarded
secret: the whispers that Raegan had heard of their procedures were
shudder-making. With that in mind her options were limited. The Praetor could
disappear all of Adriana’s ‘evidence’, if he wanted to: could she go to Max and
beg for leniency on Jasper’s behalf? That way Adriana would have no hold over
her.
No – she couldn’t risk even mentioning Jasper, in case
Max took the case to the Sentinel.
Could she go to Warwick, and confront
him about Bree? No – even if he denied it, she only had his word, and Adriana
would kill Raegan for saying anything.

Her head began to hurt, and not for the first time she
wished she could call home whenever she wanted. She would give anything to hear
her grandparents’ voices right now.

 What about going directly to Bree? It was none of her
business what Bree was up to, and she was happy to accept what she was told –
bloody hell, who was she to judge? Eventually, though, she shook her head. That
wouldn’t work either. Even if Bree agreed not to confront Adriana, how could
Raegan be sure that Adriana would buy whatever story they came up with to cover
Bree’s disappearances? Besides, she didn’t trust Adriana; she wouldn’t be
surprised if she did end up following herself, just to check that Raegan was
doing as she was told.

 No matter what she did, Adriana would still have
Jasper’s gadget. She cursed herself for ever handing it over; why hadn’t she
refused?

You were scared,
a small voice reminded her. It
sounded like her mother’s voice, which hurt even more. But it was true, she
admitted to herself wretchedly. Adriana had several years of training on her
and a heap of aggression. The little triumphs Raegan had enjoyed – slowing down
the water, locking in with Sam – seemed like nothing when Adriana was standing
in front of her. She was a young, inexperienced cadet who missed her mother.
And now the little life she had tentatively constructed for herself, with the
few friends she had found, was falling apart.

One step forward, two steps back.

***

The evening came too quickly; but despite her nerves Raegan
started off surprisingly well. Keeping close to the shadows but well behind her
target, thanking the skies for her enhanced eyesight, an asset that had
developed steadily since her 16
^th
birthday, Raegan stole after.
These days she could glide quickly over any surface without making a sound.

And then Bree made a sharp left down
the
via
principalis,
entering the
principia
without a backward glance.

Raegan was dumbfounded. Was this where Bree came at night –
to visit Max?

Her instincts kicked in: she’d wandered out into the open
during her hesitation, and Bree would easily spot her if she returned. Quickly,
Raegan ducked into the entrance for the Level One dormitories just opposite the
edge of the
principia.
Once satisfied that she was undetectable, she
leaned against the wall with a sigh. All she could do now was
wait
.

Ninety minutes passed and she began to feel pretty fed up.
It was cold, she didn’t want to be here, and her left foot was falling asleep.
She was just contemplating whether to give up – her little room with its hard,
single bed had never seemed so appealing, and could Adriana really object?
 -
when
she heard a noise.

A shadowy figure stepped out of the
principia
, hands
in pockets, long plait swinging.

Raegan’s heart picked up. Bree, at last!

But she did not turn back to her room. In fact she was
moving more quickly now. Silently, Raegan stepped out onto the path. Bree’s
sudden reappearance had caught her off guard and so she did not take note of
the route as carefully as she would have. Raegan kept as much distance as she
could, stopping and taking cover behind dumpsters and in the odd doorway, but
it wasn’t easy, especially when her target was moving at speed.

The camp looked different at night. Both forbidding and
foreboding, the tall buildings loomed like vast predators overhead, casting
pitch-black shadows in the rare patches of moonlight.

Bree disappeared down the side of a building and Raegan
found herself in a long, thin exterior corridor between the stores building and
the edge of the classroom block.  This was entirely unfamiliar turf, as
the gates at either end of this corridor were usually closed. Rounding the
corner, responding as she had been taught to in unknown territory, Raegan threw
herself against the wall, moulding her body into it as flatly as possible.

But there was no sign of Bree. Swinging round, her
suspicions were confirmed by emptiness in both directions. Bree was gone.

Alarm bells should have been ringing; but Raegan was too hot
with irritation, annoyed with
herself
for losing sight
of her quarry, to think. Falling into a crouch, she carefully remembered her
lessons, and scanned the floor for uneven ground – the signal of footfall.

After a moment, she found what she was looking for. Bree was
not lying when she told Adriana that Raegan had a natural talent for tracking.
There, at the end of the path by the West Wall of the battlements, was the
faint imprint of Bree’s size five
boot
. Hastening over
to it, she frowned. Had Bree gone over the wall?

This part of camp was completely unlit. Groping forward
blindly, Raegan’s hand met air instead of the solid wall she expected. She
nearly toppled over with surprise.

Smooth, Raegan, she chided herself, and proceeded to inch
forward, squinting into the gloom. Her heart began to thud with excitement as
she realised that what looked like a solid wall in fact concealed a parting;
whether it was magick or just optical illusion, she was unsure. But here was a
doorway.

A doorway into a part of camp she had no idea existed.

She should have stopped to consider her options. She should
have edged into the unknown with extreme caution, as she’d been taught. Not a
chance. Raegan was too far gone: the Regent in her had taken over and she
hunted for her target with single-minded determination.

She burst through the doorway to find a tiny courtyard, so
small it was more like an outdoor room. It was empty. Dim lamps hung from each
corner, faintly illuminating the high, stone walls. The silence echoed.

And suddenly it dawned on her.

She had been hunted: herded like sheep into a pen. The
mistaken notion that she was the predator had fooled her into overconfidence.

She was the prey.

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than it seemed
like the sky had fallen. A shadow slammed into her from above and at once she
was sprawled against the cold hardness of the floor. The metallic tang of blood
burned her tongue.

Now she was being yanked to her feet. It all happened too
quickly for her to protest – not that she would have. Then she was moving once
more, roughly pulled around by her shoulders until she was nose to nose with
her attacker.

Bree’s face was white with anger. 

‘I can explain,’ Raegan was embarrassed by how pathetic this
sounded. Her nose was running.

‘You were following me.
For hours.
Tracking me.’
There was no reading her friend’s voice, but
the grip on Raegan’s shoulders was like iron. Bloody hell, she was strong.

 ‘Yes.’

Bree did not expect her to confess so easily. The usually
smooth, impassive face showed a glimmer of hurt.

‘But why?’

This scenario had played a hundred times before Raegan’s
eyes since her encounter with Adriana the previous evening, but in the flesh it
felt oddly unreal.

Bree shook her, hard. ‘Answer me! What do you know?’

She fumbled for words, but these wouldn’t come. Her sudden
paralysis accentuated unusual physical realities of the scene; the rustle of
Bree’s fingers against the cotton of her t-shirt; the faint creaking of some
far-off door; the cold breeze that lifted the hair on the back of her neck; the
gentle pitter patter of a sluggish, intermittent rain. Wetness ran freely from
her nose to her mouth now. Instinctively, she touched her tongue to it,
wondering if it was a fat raindrop.

Not water.
Blood.

 ‘It’s broken.’ Bree said coldly. She would not look at
her. Instead, she stalked up and down, pushing a hand against her temple as if
the added pressure would slot the puzzle pieces in place.

 ‘Is this Max?’ she demanded, stopping suddenly. ‘Is he
playing us off against each other now? I do it, and then you do it?’

At last Raegan’s tongue began to work.

‘No!’ she exclaimed. ‘Max has nothing to do with this.’

‘Then
what-‘

‘Adriana,’ Raegan admitted. With the name came the sensation
of a huge weight lifting. She should have been straight with Bree from the
start.

Bree was dangerously still. ‘Adriana?’

The stars seemed unfairly bright this evening, Raegan
thought dully, as she leaned her head against the wall. ‘Yes. I’m... I mean, it
wasn’t my idea. I’m not trying to make excuses. But Adriana – well, she can’t
stand me, for some reason, and she had something over someone that I care
about. She threatened to use it – unless I followed you. I didn’t want to. I
didn’t know what to do.’

‘You could have come to me.’ Bree snapped. Her eyes
narrowed. ‘But why would Adriana ask you to follow me?’

‘She knows you’ve been sneaking out. She thinks you’re
seeing Warwick.’

She was startled to hear Bree chuckle mirthlessly.
 More surprising still was the note of fondness in her voice. ‘The little
fool,’ she murmured.

‘You’re... not?’

‘Of course I’m not!’ Bree howled. She clenched her fists and
it took most of Raegan’s remaining courage not to duck – but she simply raised
them to heaven. ‘This has nothing to do with Warwick!
Of all
the trivial, paltry, petty ideas!’

She followed this with an impressive list of swear words.
After a few moments, apparently exhausted by the outburst, she collapsed back
against the wall next to Raegan.

With a sideways glance, she held out a hanky. ‘Here. You
look a fright.’

‘Cheers,’ Raegan said thickly, holding the crisp linen over
her nose.

Though a lengthy silence followed, the brief contact broke
the ice.

Eventually Bree cleared her throat. ‘I was a bit tough on
you. Sorry.’

Raegan’s response was
a gabble
: ‘I
deserved it. I don’t know what I was thinking. I should never have done it. I’m
a prat.
Worse than a prat.
I’m-’

‘Enough with the lamentation, Saint Raegan!’
Bree nudged her downcast friend forcefully but not unkindly. ‘We both made a
hash of things.  I should have given you the benefit of the doubt instead
of jumping you.’

‘I should’ve come to you in the first place,’ Raegan scuffed
her shoe against the side of the wall. ‘Would have, if it was just me I was
trying to protect.’ She stared at the floor gloomily. ‘I told Adriana I’d give
myself up to Max, you know. But that wasn’t enough for her.’

‘What on earth did she catch you doing?’

It was on the tip of her tongue, but Raegan knew she should
keep Jasper’s secrets to herself. She sighed.
‘Oh, nothing
much.
Wasting my time.
It seemed like a great
idea at the start.’

‘A bit like tracking a master tracker?’

Raegan took it on the chin. ‘Hey, I wasn’t the one who
overestimated my abilities... though I did
almost
keep up with you.’

‘’Course you did. I had you pegged before I stepped into the
principia.’

With that, Bree pushed off the wall. ‘Come
on,
let’s go to the hospital wing. You’ll look like
Quasimodo if we don’t get that nose sorted.’

She’d gone a few steps before she realised Raegan wasn’t
following.  

‘Earth to Raegan?’

Raegan was motionless by the wall, an odd expression on her
face.
‘The
principia.
’

‘Yes?’

‘You were in there for ages, tonight.’

‘Yes.’ Bree’s smile wavered slightly.