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New York City was unlike DC in so many ways that at first I wondered if ere still in the sas as tall as the sky rose around us, and there were so many people that the sidewalks seemed to overflow

The streets were blocked off to other traffic, and as we passed by in a li is this place?" I said as we turned yet another corner I craned my neck to try to see the top of the skyscrapers, but it was i that tall existed

"It’s the biggest city in the country," said Knox We’d barely spoken for the rest of the flight, but once we stepped off the plane, I hadn’t been able to contain hold, I’d never been outside the District of Columbia before

Was this what the rest of the country looked like?

"How lued to the skyline

"Now? Ten million Before the population laere put into effect, there were over twelvehere"

"And they have the rank system, too?"

"The entire country uses it"

"Oh Right" My cheeks grear out how s, but we drove by too quickly

"You’re pretty when you blush," he said, which only ot embarrassed" He shifted closer to me, and the leather squeaked underneath hi to do about Benjy Seems he’s quite in love with you"

"What do you e to o anyway

Knox’s lips twisted into an airlfriend when you’re sleeping in auzy fabric ofaway froain "Unlike soet jealous"

"Are you sure?"

Knox’s lips were so close to ertips danced across the back of es underneath , but from Knox it felt like a promise

I shivered If it weren’t for the fact that I needed hiht then and there

Seconds passed like hours, and by the time I found the words to tell hi bored and distant, not te to kill him

"Do you have your earpiece?" said Knox, and I nodded, forcingto play these kinds of gah"

"Oh?" he said "Do you have the entire thinghie of hearing this afternoon?"

"I already told you, Celia and I had a deal She didn’t hold up her end, so I won’t hold up mine I’m not your puppet"

"Yes, I realize that," said Knox, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw his jaitch Good

Ten e stadiue ainst the , and my eyes widened

Lila, Lila, Lila--

The audience was chanting her naet confused," said Knox, not see off both speeches, would we?"

Myto be there?"

As the chauffer opened the door for us, Knox slid out first and offered me his hand I didn’t take it "It’s an open event, so anyone anted to come and could afford to take a day off will be there Mostly IVs and above, but I suspect there will be some IIs and IIIs in the audience, too Many of them are Blackcoat supporters, but the majority will be everyday citizens who’ve come to see you, and every last one of the to worry about"

I wiped ether alked into the building, where ere uide who bowed but said little else As he led us through the rew louder, and the very walls seean to stomp their feet, and by the tie, I could barely hear myself think

"You can do this," shouted Knox He set his hands on ht in the eye, dead serious now Whatever he’d tried to do in the car, those thoughts were gone now "Those people are here for you

Remeive Augusta’s speech, I won’t stop you, but do me and all twenty thousand people out there a favor and remember what it was like when you were a III

Then decide what you’re going to say"

My heart nearly stopped "Twenty thousand people?"

"If I’d told you ahead of time, you would never have left the car"

Now I had no choice I yanked my earpiece out

"Here" I closed his fist around it and stepped backward onto the platfora’s in your hands, Kitty You’re in control This is your chance to prove what kind of person you really are underneath that face"