Enders(61)

Dawson stared at us with his deep-set eyes. His hair gleamed under the bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling in the hallway.

“No.” His eyes shifted between us. “He knows too much,” he said, nodding at Hyden. He turned to the guard. “Lock them up.”



They put us all in the same padded cell this time. We figured the room was bugged and they hoped to learn something from our conversations. Any smart person would have kept their mouth shut, but we were exhausted to the core and didn’t care anymore. It seemed like they knew more than we did, anyway.

Michael, Hyden, and I sat on the floor. We kept our voices down. If they were listening, we weren’t going to make it easy for them.

“I can’t believe she’s gone,” I said. “We didn’t even get to say goodbye. “

“This is going to sound pretty insensitive, but … did anyone really like her?” Hyden asked.

“There wasn’t much time to get to know her,” Michael said.

“And what’re you supposed to say, anyway?” I asked, fighting a rising tide of hysteria inside me. “ ‘I’ll say my goodbyes now, in case something horrible happens to you’?”

Michael sighed. I put my head in my hands.

“So you really didn’t know your father was working on transposition?” Michael asked.

“No, of course not. I would have told you.”

Hyden leaned his head against the wall. “They’ll want to learn whatever they can from what’s left of Emma’s chip.”

“Are they going to be able to duplicate the chip now?” Michael stretched out so he was lying on his back.

Hyden shook his head. “There won’t be enough left to go that far.”

“And you can’t make more neurochips?” Michael asked Hyden.

“Not without my father. His strength was the hardware.”

“And he can’t make them without you?” Michael asked.

“No. That’s why he’s collecting all the Metals.” Hyden looked around at the padded walls. “I don’t think they’ll be content to keep us locked up in here.”

“What do you think they’ll do?” I asked.

“Whatever they can.”

We fell into a hushed silence. I lay back on the floor, hoping to get some sleep, but thoughts kept rushing through my mind. What happened to Emma could have happened to any one of us. Being Metals, we were vulnerable.

My father, working in neurochip technology? I remembered that argument between my parents about the vaccine. My mother had been angry that some adults were getting the vaccine either through the black market or because the government decided some key players in government and research should have it. Plenty of Enders and Starters didn’t get the vaccine. Some parents were terrified of it, paranoid of claims that it could cause paralysis or worse. Many just refused to get it. But she thought my father could get it. She must have known what he was working on and how important he was.

My mother wasn’t a bad person. She’d just fought to keep her family together. Alive.



I dreamt that I heard my father talking to me. He called my name, over and over and over.

My eyes opened. I could still hear him.

Callie?

My heart leapt. “Dad?” I whispered.

Michael lay on one side of me, sound asleep with his back toward me. On the other side, Hyden slept on his back, one leg bent at a right angle underneath the other. The vacuuming sound of the toilet helped cover the sound of my voice. Maybe I had imagined hearing my father. Or just dreamt it?

“Daddy?”

Can you hear me?

It was him! His voice.

“I hear you, Daddy, I hear you.”

Cal Girl.

“Tell me it’s you,” I said, my voice cracking.

I’ve been trying so hard to get through.

The warmth in his voice. I wanted to run into his arms, have him sweep me into a bear hug and protect me.

“They said you worked with the neurochip. How did you know I had one?”

Please listen, Cal. There’s little time. I left a z-drive at a place called Club Rune.

“I know. I have it, but it was encrypted.”

It’s valuable.

“Tell me where you are.”

I don’t want you to try to come. It isn’t safe.

“What city? Daddy, tell me how to find you.”

No, it’s too far, all the way in the desert. And this man is dangerous.

Garbled sounds followed.

“Daddy? Daddy.” My voice woke the guys, and they began to stir.

“Who are you talking to?” Michael asked, his voice groggy.

I put my fingers in my ears, willing my father to return. To talk to me again, help me get to him. Help me get out of this place. But it was as if someone just disrupted his transmission. My chest tightened.