“You can tell Sam and Nouria whatever you want,” Warner says. “But I need to talk to Castle.”
Something in his tone frightens me. “Why?” I demand. “What is going on? Why are you so obsessed with Castle right now?”
Finally, Warner stops moving. “Because,” he says. “Castle had something to do with this.”
“What?” I feel the blood drain from my body. “No way. Not possible.”
Warner says nothing.
“Come on, man, don’t be crazy— Castle’s not perfect, but he would never—”
“Hey— What the hell just happened?” Winston, breathless and panicked, comes running up to us. “I heard a gunshot coming from the direction of your tent, but when I went to check on you, I saw— I saw—”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?” Winston’s voice is shrill. Terrified.
At that exact moment, more people come running. Winston starts offering people explanations I don’t bother to edit, because my head is still full of steam. I have no idea what the hell Warner is getting at, but I’m also worried that I know him too well to deny his mind. My heart says Castle would never betray us, but my brain says that Warner is usually right when it comes to sussing out this kind of shit. So I’m freaking out.
I spot Nouria in the distance, her dark skin gleaming in the bright sun, and relief floods through me.
Finally.
Nouria will know more about the girl with the scorpions. She has to. And whatever she knows will almost certainly help absolve Castle of any affiliation with this mess. And as soon as we can resolve this freak accident, Warner and I can get the hell out of here and start searching for J.
That’s it.
That’s the plan.
It makes me feel good to have a plan. But when we’re close enough, Nouria narrows her eyes at both me and Warner, and the look on her face sends a brand-new wave of fear through my body.
“Follow me,” she says.
We do.
Warner lookslivid.
Castle looks freaked out.
Nouria and Sam look like they’re sick and tired of all of us.
I might be imagining things, but I’m pretty sure Sam just shot Nouria a look—the subtext of which was probablyWhy the hell did you have to let your dad come stay with us?—that was so withering Nouria didn’t even get upset, she just shook her head, resigned.
And the problem is, I don’t even know whose side I’m on.
In the end, Warner was right about Castle, but he was also wrong. Castle wasn’t plotting anything nefarious; he didn’t send that girl—her name was Amelia—after Warner. Castle’s mistake was thinking that all rebel groups shared the same worldview.
At first it didn’t occur to me, either, that the vibe might be different around here. Different from our group at Point, at least. At Point we were led by Castle, who was more of a nurturer than a warrior. In his days before The Reestablishment he was a social worker. He saw tons of kids coming in and out of the system, and with Omega Point he sought to build a home and refuge for the marginalized. We were all about love and community at Point. And even though we knew that we were gearing up for a fight against The Reestablishment, we didn’t always resort to violence; Castle didn’t like using his powers in authoritative ways. He was more like a father figure to most of us.
But here—
It didn’t take long to realize that Nouria was different from her dad. She’s nice enough, but she’s also all business. She doesn’t like to spend much time on small talk, and she and Sam mostly keep to themselves. They don’t always take their meals with everyone else. They don’t always participate in group things. And when it comes right down to it, Sam and Nouria are ready and willing to set shit on fire. Hell, they seem to be looking forward to it.
Castle was never really that guy.
I think he was a little blindsided when we showed up here. He was suddenly out of a job when he realized that Nouria and Sam weren’t going to take orders from him. And then, when he tried to get to know people—
He was disappointed.
