Enders(32)

“Is this low enough?” I asked.

“Go one more,” he said.

We climbed down to the lower level. We’d cut off the signal and she became limp. She felt much heavier.

“He’s gone,” Hyden said, nodding to the girl’s body.

“Who?” I asked.

“Whoever was jacking her. One of my father’s men.”

We pushed the door open with our feet and came out into the underground parking area. Not seeing any guard on this level, we put her down on the ground.

“I’ll go get the SUV,” he said.

I looked down at her. She was suddenly so harmless, so peaceful, her brown hair flowing around her shoulders. I held out my hand and stared at my pinky.

It was still. Motionless. The way it should be.

Before long, Hyden drove up in the SUV. He leaned out the window.

“How should we do this?” I asked.

He looked past me. “Hey there,” he said.

I turned around and saw that she was awake and sitting up.

I walked toward her. “Hi. I’m Callie.”

She put her hands on the ground as if she was going to bolt like a feral cat. I came a little closer.

“It’s okay, I’m like you.” I turned and lifted my hair to expose the scar. “See?”

“You’re a Metal,” she said with a Southern accent.

“Yes. And I can help you.”

She relaxed. “Do you get strange dreams? Not just at night?” Her lip trembled. “They’re so weird.”

“Yeah, I get them,” I said. “Come with me. We’ve got food, and you’ll be safe.”

“Y’all have food?”

“Supertruffles in the car,” I said.

She gestured at the SUV. “Are there Enders in there?”

“No,” I said. “Just us Starters.”

She approached cautiously. Hyden stayed in the driver’s seat and unlocked the passenger’s-side back door. She hesitated, looking at me with a question in her eye.

“He’s okay. He’s with me,” I said.

Hyden’s eyes connected with mine, and the Starter climbed inside.





CHAPTER ELEVEN





The girl’s name was Savannah. She ate three Supertruffles while we sat in the car. We had to stop her before she ended up emptier than when she started.

“You’re right. I should know better,” she said as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “My father was a nutritionist.”

“So do you know anything about medicine?” I asked. We could always use more medical help.

“A lot. My mother was a surgeon,” she said. “I wanted to be premed, but then everything changed with the war.”

“What made you go to Prime Destinations?”

She stiffened. She looked at me out of the side of her eyes. I could see she was trying to decide whether she should reveal her story.

“It’s okay. We understand better than anyone,” I said. “I went there to get money for a home for my sick brother. He had this respiratory condition, and living in abandoned office buildings was just making it worse. I saw it as our only way out.”

“I wasn’t going to let the marshals take me. I saw them taking the other kids on our block,” she said. “I could have stayed in the house, but the government condemned it, said it was contaminated. So I did the body bank.”

“When?” Hyden asked.

“A few months ago,” she said. “But then some renegades stole all my money. The first day back.”

I nodded. I’d heard that story before.

“Guess that didn’t happen to you,” she said, looking at the SUV.

“We’ve got plenty of time to tell our stories,” I said. “The main thing is, you can trust us.”

She hugged her knees to her chest and rested her head against the window. “That sure sounds good to me.”



When we brought Savannah into our place, I tugged on Hyden’s shirt. I mouthed, What about … ? and gestured to Jeremy’s body.

He shrugged.

“Wow, this is nice,” Savannah said as she walked into the main room. “Thanks so much for bringing me here, y’all,” she said, turning to us. “So this is your place, Hyden?”

“Yeah. By the way, this isn’t my body. I’m just borrowing this one,” Hyden said.

“Really? I thought only Enders wanted to rent out our bodies,” she said, squinting.

“Usually, that’s true,” Hyden said.

“Where is your body?” she asked.

“In another room,” I said. “Why?”

“Can I see?” she asked.

Hyden started to shake his head, but I stepped forward. “Sure. You might as well meet the real Hyden.”