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Cole caught my arm and drew me back "Let them cool off They’re just upset, but it had to play out this way"
"Did it?" The question escaped before I could stop it, the doubt trickling in through the cracks in roan of protest froot me on my feet, and both of us rushed out into the hallway I was so sure that I’d see Cate charging down into the darkness, about to ood on her proht kids standing there hit me like a blow to the chest
Each of them looked a little ht up the rear, brushing away all of the hands that reached in to help her cli the assessing look from Dolly as she appeared toeach of the a few ss "Did you have any problems?"
"No, ere a little confused about the instructions you gave us on how to get down into the base froured it out" Zach, a tall, tan-skinned leader froue’s Blue teaed a hand back through his dark hair and surveyed the place
If Zach looked relaxed now, confident, Nico had swung to the other side of the spectru up every which way, like he’d spent the last day running his hands back through it in dis his elbows, breathing in deep At least, until he saw Cate She pushed toward hients, but instead of flinging himself at her the way Vida had done, he reached up, covered his face with his hands, and began to weep
It was the only word to describe the sounds co from him They rose over the excited chatter, shter until it died down to a whisper My guts twisted until I finally had to look away, and let gray static fill my ears instead None of the other kids moved toward him, only Senator Cruz, who ht of us for that Her arms were around him even before Cate’s
I turned to Dolly and asked where to find the showers and the sleep rooet away fro, fro excite almost uninhabitable
Fro two hallways that ran parallel to each other and were connected by double doors at either end The lower level had the same floor plan as the upper one did: two narroin halls with over a dozen closed doors lining each of them One hall the stairwell emptied into was little more than a series of bunk rooms to sleep in, the kitchen, and a laundry roolanced inside at the four bunk beds
The voices in the next roonized Chubs’s "What?" when it burst out of hiripped the door handle, wondering why they’d shut it at all
"--she couldn’t have just told us?" Vida was ranting "Un-fucking-believable If our lives were in danger, she shouldn’t have dicked around with Cole We should have been the first people she told!"
I leaned toward the door, pressing ainst it as I listened
"She and Cole have been acting all buddy-buddy for a while," Chubs said "I’ like this"
"It doesn’t h that I couldn’t hear it, but I was already backing away, blood pounding in h their voices
I made my way down the hall, to the linen closet that Dolly had mentioned All of the towels had been claimed, but there was a soft, oversized black shirt tucked into a bag of street clothes the agents hadthe joint out I took that with rateful I wouldn’t have to change back into all oftook on an unreal quality as I stepped into one of the shower stalls, stripped, and stepped in before the water could warm The water burst out of the rusted showerhead and hitthe prickling on my scalp They’d installed pu, industrial-sized containers that were already half-eaze dropped down to the water swirling deep, doay under my feet I breathed The patches of dirt that didn’t wash away on s turned out to be bruises I breathed I breathed
I just breathed
6
I DON’T KNOW IF I ACTUALLY SLEPT, so much as dipped in and out of unconsciousness Flat on my back, my hands folded overup Voices called up and down the hall to each other, asking about the laundry they’d put in, co--I closedfor me
Get up, I ordered s over the side of the bunk, scrubbingto smooth my hair back into a ponytail By the tihts and opened the door, Vida was already at the other end of the hall, doubling back when I stepped out
"What’s wrong?" I asked
"Oh? Finally done getting your beauty sleep, boo?" she sniped "They waited for you--they waited an hour for you and you didn’t show! What? You’re too fking good to even say good-bye?"