And I can’t help it; I roll my eyes.
“Well, how am I supposed to trust you?” she says, her voice breaking. “Everyone’s been lying to me—”
“J,” I say, “c’mon.” I shake my head, hard. I can’t believe I even have to say this. I can’t believe she doubted me—that she didn’t talk to me about this sooner. “You know me,” I say to her. “You know I don’t bullshit. That’s not my style.”
A single tear escapes down the side of her face and the sight of it is simultaneously heartbreaking and reassuring. This is the girl I know. The friend I love. She’s all heart.
She whispers, “You promise?”
“Hey.” I hold out my hand. “Come here, kid.”
She still seems a little skeptical, but she takes thenecessary steps forward and I reel her in, pulling her against my chest and squeezing tight. She’s so tiny. Like a little bird with hollow bones. You’d never know she was technically invincible. That she could probably melt the skin off my face if she wanted to. I squeeze a little tighter, run a hand up and down her back in a comforting, familiar gesture, and I feel her finally relax. I feel the exact moment when the tension leaves her body, when she collapses fully against my chest. Her tears soak through my shirt, hot and unrelenting.
“You’re going to be okay,” I whisper. “I promise.”
“Liar.”
I smile. “Well, there’s a fifty percent chance I’m right.”
“Kenji?”
“Mm?”
“If I find out you’re lying to me about any of this, I swear to God I will rip all the bones out of your body.”
I almost choke on a sudden, surprised laugh. “Uh, yeah, okay.”
“I’m serious.”
“Uh-huh.” I pat her head. So fuzzy.
“I will.”
“I know, princess. I know.”
We settle into a comfortable silence, the two of us still holding on, and I’m thinking about how important this relationship is to me—how important Juliette is to me—when she says, suddenly:
“Kenji?”
“Mm?”
“They’re going to destroy Sector 45.”
“Who is?”
“Everyone.”
Shock straightens my spine. I pull back, confused. “Everyone who?”
“All the other supreme commanders,” Juliette says. “Nazeera told me everything.”
And then, suddenly, I get it.
Her new friendship with Nazeera.
This must be the secret Warner said she was hiding—Nazeera must be a traitor to The Reestablishment. It’s either that, or she’s lying to all of us.
The latter doesn’t seem likely, though.
