Outcast: A Corporation Novel (The Corporation) (25 page)

“How awful. Did you know him? The boy?”

I look at the floor. “I grew up with him. He was my Pair.” My voice is monotone and without emotion. “His name was Kavin.” I hate awkward silences, so I pretend they’re not there and move on. “Ella’s a Medic from Dahn and the one who helped me when I was there. She also pretty much raised Ethan ever since he can remember.” Eta looks like she's sizing up potential competition, Déjà looks critical with his squinting stare, and Journey looks positively excited to be meeting someone from Dahn.  I look over at Ella and I feel a little swell of pride. She’s taking it all in stride and isn’t letting it get to her. She knows she’s on our side, and she knows she’ll be able to show them that.

“Please, sit, everyone,” Papa says. “We were just getting ready to talk about what happened in Dahn, what kept her away from us for so long.” He turns to Ella and guides her back to her spot on the couch, settling in next to her. “We were starting to think you weren't going to make it—that something had happened to you.”

Eta sits on the other side of Ella and Journey tucks her legs underneath her dress and sits on the floor next to my chair. Papa comes back and hands each of us a cup of tea.

Ella smiles a little painfully before she answers. “Things did happen. Nothing too serious. Nothing I couldn't manage. I wasn't able to gather much information before I left,” Ella’s hand is back around her cup of tea, “but I picked up as much as I could. The Corporation suspects something is going on in Neech, but they don't know what.”

“How can you be sure?” Journey asks.

“I still have some reliable sources on the inside.”

I know one of her sources is my mother, Rebeka, but I don't know how reliable she is. She left me, Papa, and Ajna behind a long time ago. And never looked back. That makes her as about untrustworthy as she can get. She's the one who gave Ethan and me the cure for my faulty Mark and Maute for Ajna. But it's going to take a lot more than handing over a couple of cures to prove to me that she can be trusted. And there's no way I'm going to let Papa know where she is or that I've seen her. His heart has barely finished mending, and it's been over fifteen years.

“These sources can be trusted?” Papa asks.

“With my life.”

I snort out a half laugh. When the group looks over at me, I quickly study my nails until I feel their stares turn away. I try to pretend it was the tea that made me cough.

“We were expecting you weeks ago.”

Her shoulders sink a little as she goes back in her mind. “It wasn't even the morning after you two left, Karis, that Akin came for me. I knew he would, which is why I left right after you. I stayed close enough I was able to keep an eye on everything, but it was hard keeping out of the Guard's and the Corporation's way. I knew I couldn't just leave the city with nothing in hand. I'd been inside the Corp's labs before, and I knew I had to risk going back there to try and get as much information as I could. On what, I could only hope to know when I got there.”

“But Akin was looking for you,” Papa says. “How did you manage to get into a place, I imagine, that is heavily guarded?”

Ella's eyes flit to mine before she answers. “I had help from the inside.”

My mother.

“The same sources as before?” he asks.

Ella nods. “I haven't been shown a reason that they can't.”

“Yet,” I say. They ignore me.

“Did you find anything useful in the labs?” Eta asks.

“What I was able to access was very useful. Actually, I'd like to go over it with you, when you have time. I'd rather not make the information known until we know what it means. Right now, as it sits, it's just raw data. It needs to be translated, in order to be useful.”

“Tomorrow, after my morning rounds. Jeret can tell you where my place is.”

“Wonderful,” Ella says, with what seems to be, relief.

“I take it you got out of the labs without being caught, then?” Journey says.

“Almost. It was a close call, but I had to go into deep hiding after that. Some of my contacts were willing to help me, others were not. And how can I blame them? They would be risking their lives for someone who was being hunted by the Corporation.”

“So who finally took you in?”

“D'mitri.”

“Ella, was that wise?” I ask.

“When it's the only option one has, it's very wise.”

“D'mitri is a very powerful player in Dahn, but he's also very expensive,” I say to try and help clear up the confused looks. “What was his price?” I ask Ella.

“A favor when he needs one. It doesn't matter, I would have paid more. All of the exits were being guarded, heavily. I stayed in the confines of D'mitri's compound for the majority of the time I was there, waiting and watching for my time to leave. Things are changing in Dahn. Something has the Corporation, and especially Akin, on edge.”

“How did you get out of the city, if the Gates were over guarded?”

“D'mitri sent some of his employees to me, in the middle of the night, and said it was time to go.” Ella turns to me. “Remember how Ethan said he hadn't yet explored all the sewer tunnels? Well, D'mitri has. We exited that way, using old tunnels that feed into Neech. I came right here.”

“Is Akin on to us?” I ask, because at this moment, that is what's most important.

“You made a deal with him, Karis; he's not going to forget that. He knows where you are and what you're doing, for the most part. Along with your family and close friends. Nothing is safe for any of you. The only thing that's working in your favor right now is that something else is preoccupying his mind. All available resources are being funneled in that direction, so he has no extra men to track your every movement with your Marks.”

I let out a breath. That gives me a little bit of relief. “He doesn't know what we're planning? How do you know?”

“Not to my knowledge, but I left in a hurry and didn't really have access to that kind of information. But,” she says, “my contact would have told me if he did, and they’ve said nothing.”

“And what of Ajna? Have you been able to see my brother?” I ask.

Ella's eyes go a little sad and she sets her tea cup down on the table. “I wasn't able to get to him to see how he was doing. By the time word got to me that the Corporation had taken another Sponsor, it was getting too dangerous for me to stay in Dahn. I had to get out. But I felt pretty confident that they had taken your brother.” She shakes her head. “But even if I had stayed, Sponsors aren't made available to the general public for a few months after they're brought in.”

“How?” Papa says.

“No one crosses Akin the way Karis did and comes away unscathed. Even with him taking your brother, you got off easy. There are rumors that some have died. Believe it or not, though, he's safe for now.”

“That's what Ethan says, but I find it hard to swallow.”

“Ajna is the Inner City's new golden boy. When I was leaving, they were preparing for a parade and party to welcome him.”

“Don't they know he was stolen from a family that loved him?” I say in disbelief.

“They don't see it that way.” She reaches out and rubs my arm. “We will get him back, Karis. But we need to be smart about it. For now, we have to wait it out.”

In my heart of hearts, I know she's right

“What’s been happening in Neech? There rumors spread like fire in the short time I was there, but information that way isn’t reliable. 

I take a breath. “Um, I don't really know where to start. Ethan and I found out that Maute was being delivered to Neech through the filters. We still don't know why some people are infected while others aren't, but I spend a lot of my free time disabling them.”

“Have you made a lot of progress?”

“Some,” I shrug one shoulder. “But the Corporation is making their rounds as well, so they've put some back. I get as many as I can and bring them to Eta.”

“To study?” Ella asks Eta.

“Trying to find out what its makeup is, in hopes of creating a cure and finding out why some are safe and others aren't.”

Ella's eyes brighten. “I'd like to help with that, if I could. I used to be one of the few Medics with access to Maute.”

“It couldn't hurt to have a second set of eyes on the problem.”

“Tension is high in Dahn, everyone can feel it, but they can't see why.”

We all nod slowly. “There are more Guards in Neech than I've ever seen. They look for any reason to harass a citizen. It doesn’t help that citizens keep going missing.”

“Karis has been at the receiving end of the Guards’ frustration,” Journey says.

I wave away the instant appearance of concern from Ella and Papa. “It was nothing, they were just bored.”

“Karis, you should have told me.” Papa is more irritated and disappointed than worried.

Ella pats Papa's knee in comfort. “You should have told your father. He worries about you.”

I wrinkle my brow a little at what I'm seeing. “Anyway, the increased patrols are making it really hard for us to organize and meet. But we manage.”

Ella looks around the room, a little confused. “In all the excitement of finally getting here, I didn’t even notice Ethan isn’t here. What’s he off doing that’s more important than seeing me? And Jeret, could I please get a fresh cup of tea?”

I know this won't be easy for her to hear. Ethan is like a son to her, she basically raised him for as long as he can remember. And I know that Ethan loves her like a mother. There's no easy way to answer what she's asking.

“Things have been tense here in the Outer City. More so than normal. Our efforts at trying to get people together to start a rebellion are being met with fear and defensiveness.”

“That would make sense, Karis. Your people aren't used to taking a stand for themselves. This would be a big risk for them.”

“Exactly, and in order to take that risk, some people are asking for proof that will make the fight worth it for them. Ethan thinks it's his responsibility to give them this proof.”

Papa comes over and hands me a cup of steaming tea. He presses one into Ella's hands as well, his fingers brushing hers. She looks up at him with warm eyes and an inviting smile. I look at Papa. He smiles back, almost shyly, and goes back to the kitchen for his own cup of tea. I've never seen him look like this, almost like a little boy. I look back at Ella, my eyes narrowed. She smiles at me over the top of her cup, like nothing is weird. Mentally, I give myself a shake. This isn’t what’s important right now.

“What kind of proof were they asking for? What could Ethan possibly give them?”

“That's what I told him, but he said that if we expected them to follow him, he had to do what he could.”

Things start clicking for Ella. I can see it in her straightened posture and the tight fingers that are gripping her cup. “Where did Ethan go to get this proof? If he went back into Dahn, I’m going to skin him alive.”

“The Further.”

Ella sighs and sets her cup down on the small table next to her. “Ethan Hughes,” she says under her breath, “what am I going to do with you?” She doesn’t react the way I imagined her to. She doesn’t seem scared or angry, more resigned to the fact that he’s chosen not to listen to her, and that this time it’s going to cost more than the last.

“Earlier, you said you weren't worried about Ethan being out in the Further. What did you mean by that?”

“I'm always worried about citizens going out into the Further. But the Further isn't what the Corporation would have you believe. Yes, it's deadly and there are Untouchables, no resources, and other dangers, but those aren't the most hazardous things Ethan and Dhevan could run into.”

“There are things more dangerous than what you just listed?” Journey's eyes widen and her voice struggles to remain steady. I reach over and squeeze her hand. Her fingers are cold.

“Potentially, yes. Akin has been sending out small parties into the Further. Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't. The Corp has camps set up out into the Further. Stations for exploring parties to re-supply. There are nomadic bands of Untouchables that have been attacking the groups that have been going out, lately.”

“Exploring parties?” Déjà says. “What do you mean? What are they exploring?”

“The Further. Akin has been looking to extend his reach, and this is how he's doing it. They're going out and searching the Further, setting up small self—sufficient camps along the way. If they come across another settlement, they take it over, if they can. He has an interest in the space beyond our walls. And a fear of it.”

“Back up,” I say. “Other settlements?”

Ella nods her head. “We're not the only ones out here.”

The rest of us exchange looks, all of us thinking about the same thing—Adami.

“What is it? What are you all debating on whether to tell me or not?”

I let myself smile. I’ve missed Ella's uncanny ability to know what is going on around her with the smallest amount of clues.

Papa clears his throat. “A few days or so before Ethan and Karis came back, an Untouchable came into the city.”

Ella's eyes go wide, but her voice stays even. “He just walked straight into the city?”