The Unspoken: Book One in the Keres Trilogy (25 page)

There is a slight scuffle behind us, as a boy pulls on a girl
’
s hand to hold her back. When I turn my head to look, her flashing green eyes meet mine for a split second and I am forcibly reminded of a wildcat we once saw trapped in the metal jaw traps that Fauna Management sets around the fields. The girl is savage with fear and anger and determination. She is in the same year as PG3456- I recognize her from the Oath of Service. I try to remember her line assignment. Keepers maybe?

“
I did it, it was me!
”
she screams out, and the boy flings her hand away from him in disgust.

The crowd turns and moves away from her as she makes her way to the stage.

“
Take them down, it was me,
”
with the last word her voice falters. There
’
s perfect silence as PG3420 is lowered to the ground. The Mother on stage hungrily watches the green-eyed girl walking up the steps towards her.

“
And what did you take, Sotter dear? Tell us,
”
she asks holding out her hands to grasp both of the girl
’
s.

“
I didn
’
t know, I thought they were being thrown away.
”

“
Never mind that, dear, tell us what you took.
”

“
It was behind one of the fabric factories, it was a pair of scissors,
”
the girl hangs her head and assumes the attitude of a naughty child caught taking more than the allotted sweets ration.

“
Exactly so,
”
The Mother says, twisting her hand around a lock of Sotter
’
s hair then pulling up her chin so she can look into Sotter
’
s face.
“
PG3453, come forward.
”

The boy who was holding her back makes a noise of contempt and leads the other four members of PG3453 through the crowd to the stage. Frehn grips my shoulder, digging his fingers in. I can
’
t take my eyes from Sotter. Something strikes me about her posture. It is too perfectly submissive, too forced, too trained.

“
PG3453, Sotter has shown great bravery in coming forward. You should all be proud to have her in your Play Group. Her clear repentance for taking something that did not belong to her endears her to us.
”
The Mother smiles sickeningly at Sotter and then turns to address the crowd, who are now straining for better views of Sotter and PG3453 projected on the screens.
“
Children, you should all thank Sotter for her honesty.
”
A smattering of half-hearted applause rises up.
“
She has saved you all from these consequences,
”
The Mother waves her hand at PG3420 who are still lying on the stage floor bound to the spiral hooks.
“
You are all released now, please continue with your schedules.
”
The Mother tightens her grip on Sotter, pulling her into a side embrace.

Novices climb the stage to start untying PG3420. People hurry away towards the residence compounds, anxious to be out of sight of The Mothers. Younger children are sobbing now. The Mothers in charge of them carry them away, cradling their small heads, making shushing sounds to calm them. PG3456 stands where we are. Frehn
’
s fingers feel like they have reached down to my collar bone.

“
She serves with me,
”
Harc tells us without moving her lips.
“
She was there when I took the scissors. I didn
’
t think she saw me.
”

The Mother leads PG3453 off the stage. She talks to them a few minutes and sends them to their residence compound. The Mother then folds her hands under her apron and glides over to a cluster of other Mothers. They pull their heads down in fervent discussion.

As Sotter turns to close the residence compound door behind her, she looks across the Quad at us, the only people left in the courtyard. Frehn
’
s fingernails are digging into my skin and his hand begins to shake,
“
It is. It
’
s her,
”
he gasps.

“
Her who?
”
Wex asks him, alarmed.

“
My twin,
”
Frehn breathes.

“
Inside, we can
’
t talk here,
”
Merit says quickly.

Back on our block, I drop Doe on the sofa and walk directly into my room, look up at the thumb
’
s out fist painted above my door. All of the fingers remain dark. Returning to the common room I find Wex, Merit and Harc franticly turning furniture upside down. Frehn is wringing his hands and jumping around the room in nervous agitation.
“
It
’
s fine, we are alone,
”
I tell them. Everyone stops, mid-action to look at me.
“
The room is safe,
”
I repeat.

“
She must have something from the Unspoken that sweeps the room,
”
Merit says.
“
Secrecy has to be a big part of whatever they do, they would need some way to be sure they have it.
”

Everyone accepts this and they sit down, except Frehn, who resumes the odd nervous jumping around the room.
“
She
’
s got the same eyes,
”
he says to the ceiling.

“
Tell us what you know, Harc,
”
Wex says to her.

“
Sotter is in the factories with me, she and I have been assigned to the same row. So she is always nearby, no matter what building or machine we are on that day. I was taking out a roll of fabric clippings to the incinerator when I saw the scissors on the ground by the steps. I dropped the fabric and pretended to adjust my shoe and slipped the scissors up my pants leg. When I picked the fabric up again, she was just coming back from dropping her clippings roll in the incinerator. I didn
’
t think she saw anything.
”

“
I guess she did. Any reason why she would say it was her who took them?
”
Wex asks in a troubled voice.

“
None, I keep to myself. It
’
s too loud to get chummy with each other anyway.
”

At this Frehn lets out a strangled noise somewhere between a yell and a squeak. We all turn to him.

“
She knew already. She knew she was my twin.
”

“
How could she, Frehn? It hardly seems possible that she could know without you knowing too.
”
Harc says.

“
I don
’
t know, but she must. That
’
s why she took the blame. She must have known that if you were caught it meant I would be punished again. And given our history with consequences and Keres being what she is, Sotter knew that whatever punishment was handed down- it would be carried out in the Amendments Spire at best or by the five at worst. If she took the blame, PG3453 would get a light consequence, go without something for a while because they haven
’
t been on the corrections list for years. It
’
s the only thing that makes sense. She knew. She knew she could help me.
”
Frehn slumps in a chair and puts his head in his hands.
“
I have a blood sister. Her name is Sotter,
”
he says to himself as if trying to make the unreal real.

I feel an unreasonable jealousy swish around in my stomach. He has a family, someone outside of PG3456. Frehn will try connecting with her now, try to build a relationship. And where will that leave us? Our plans to escape?

“
PG3453 will have to come with us,
”
Doe says from her corner of the sofa.

“
What?!
”
Harc almost shouts in surprise.

“
Sotter knows,
”
Doe says simply.
“
She saw you take the scissors and who knows what else. She knows we are planning something and has probably guessed escape. If she knows, then PG3453 knows. And they have to come with us. I won
’
t leave them to the five in black,
”
Doe says in a deadly calm way that makes me feel like ice water has been dumped over my head.

“
Even if she hasn
’
t figured it out, we can
’
t very well leave her now that we know she
’
s Frehn
’
s twin.
”
Wex says with a resigned sigh.
“
Doe
’
s right. They have to come. The only question is how do we get them out? We can
’
t ask them to join us, what if they report us to The Mothers?
”

“
Leave it to me, I
’
ll manage it,
”
Frehn says firmly.

Wex looks at him appraisingly and nods. Then he stretches out on the sofa, resting his head in Doe
’
s lap. She smoothes the worry lines between his eyes with the tips of her fingers while Merit and Harc have a whispered conversation in the window seat. The jealousy I felt for Frehn transfers instantly to Doe. Wex chose her to comfort him.

Frehn paces the room, muttering disjointed words like
“
Sotter, sister, eyes, twin, escape, sacrificed.
”
I go to my room, impatient with the entire situation. Resentment of Frehn
’
s newfound blood connection, envy of Doe being chosen by Wex, anger at The Mothers
’
constant reminders of supreme power, and uneasiness for what PG3453 will undergo because one of them chose to step forward to save her brother.

I try to imagine myself in Sotter
’
s place, but I can
’
t begin to understand what it means to have a brother, a bloodline. A family. It
’
s easy to picture myself sacrificing my safety for any one of the members of my Play Group but it
’
s much harder to imagine myself doing it for someone I don
’
t know. Would I have stepped forward for Abbot or Zink? Possibly. I hope I would. But our situations are so different. As members of the Unspoken service, we are immune. And safe.