I’ve watched them through squinted eyes, not wanting to fully open them to the horrors human beings are willing to inflict on each other. But there has always been a deeper part of me, shameful and dark, that has been morbidly drawn to them. The Dark World has no laws, save one: thou shalt not murder. A place with no rules, no Keys, where a person is only answerable to one’s own conscious is both terrifying and alluring.
“Mirren,” the whispered sound of my name is so unexpected that I nearly fall over, my heart jumping suddenly into my throat. I whip around, a cold sense of dread sinking low in my stomach. Nothing moves as I peer into the shadows.
I should flee. I’ve always been a good runner, something I’ve prided myself on during our fitness time, but I’m not sure I can outrun a Boundary guard. Or the Covinus. And besides, there really isn’t anywhere to run.
“Where are you going?” A muscled frame topped with a shock of golden hair steps forward.
“Harlan,” I breathe in a mixture of surprise and irritation. Of all the nights for the golden boy to break curfew, for some reason he chose this one. “It’s none of your business where I’m going,” I hiss, turning on my heel. My heart flutters in my chest.Please don’t ask me again.My nerve has grown thin as water and one challenge will cause it to leak out.
Harlan reaches out and softly catches my hand in his. The touch is so shocking that I freeze immediately. If Harlan were to do this in the daytime, he would receive a reprimand. Touching, especially in public, is not allowed.
His skin is soft and warm against mine, his fingers thick and strong. I can’t remember the last time someone touched my bare skin willingly. “You can’t do this alone, Mirren.”
“I…do what alone?” I say, distracted. His skin against mine makes my head feel fuzzy, my thoughts tangled up.
He steps closer to me, close enough that I can see the color of his eyes, the lights casting them in a soft yellow. “I know about your brother.”
“I know that,” I say slowly. Once again, we are dancing at the edge of a ravine, but now, in the stillness of the night, it does not feel innocent. It feels dangerous. “You told me this morning.”
Harlan grips my hand tighter, his pale skin sparkling in the moonlight and his face deadly serious. “You can’t save him alone.”
I stare at him, my mouth agape. How has Harlan come to be in an alleyway so far from his sector on the very night Easton is pronounced doomed?
Maybe he is part of the Covinus. It isn’t unheard of for members of the younger generation to be participants. Not full-fledged members, but as eyes. Harlan has already seen enough to get me sanctions. Possibly enough to see me Outcast.
“I’m not going to save him,” I say, keeping my voice light. I relax my face and widen my eyes. “I am trusting in the Covinus. The Covinus knows best.”
If he truly is a Covinus member, it’s probably already too late for me. But saying what’s expected can’t hurt.
Harlan drops my hand and shakes his head, something like sadness flashing briefly across his face. “Mirren, I know you’re going into the Dark World. Let me help you. We are life partners, Bound for eternity. Don’t start your eternity without me.”
If he is Covinus, this seems an odd thing to say.
It doesn’t feel Covinus fed though. It feels like…like Harlan. Exactly the kind of obtuse, self-flagellant thing the golden boy would say.
I turn away from him and begin walking, quickening my pace. “They will find you a new life partner. One that won’t make everything so difficult for you.”
Harlan doesn’t respond to this. Instead, he falls into step beside me just like he did the afternoon after the Binding. He lets me set the pace but never falls behind as we walk for what feels like hours through one sector and finally, through the one closest to the Boundary. My shoulders hunch with every step, the weight of what’s to come bearing down upon them.
Finally, we reach the last quarterage. The only thing between the Boundary and I is a large, empty plot of land. The dirt is overturned, ripe with new planting.
“Mirren, I—
I brace myself for whatever he’s about to say, but he cuts his words off abruptly and whips his head to the north. Toward the sector we just came from.
“Harlan, you have to—"
I fall silent at the shake of his head. He motions for me to follow him, around the quarterage and down a small sidewalk that connects to another residence. The squeal of a siren rents the air. The sirens of the Covinus.
Someone has broken the law.
With a delayed deference, I realize it’s me. I’m the one the Covinus is coming to punish.
“Harlan,” I cry, desperate. I try to push him away, but his chest is solid beneath my hands. I want him to leave and keep himself safe. I want him to stay and tell me what to do.
But he can’t tell me what to do. What I am doing is beyond the bounds of what Harlan, or any Similian, is familiar with.
He shakes his head at me again and peers around the corner. The swirling lights of the Covinus vehicles are visible now, casting oddly shaped shadows dancing across the gray walls. “The hole in the Boundary is across that field. You’ll never be able to outrun them.”
