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When he braved to look at the boy who’d pushed his way deep inside his chest, he didn’t see Telex eyes. Just Saren’s. The palest lilac. “Everything you have—hot water, electricity, vehicles—all of it is because of the mines. Oil. Humans are sent in to find the deposits and sometimes, they are left in there.”
“W-what? We use solar power. The grids—”
“Haven’t worked.”
Saren shot to his feet. “No. No, that’s wrong.”
Sighing, Ryx tried again to make the brainwashed child see reason. “Have you never wondered why no one maintains them? How come there are no wires or power sources?”
His red eyebrows furrowed. The freckles dotting his cheeks moved with his scrunched button nose.
“Or how come only humans tend the crops and livestock?” He pressed, hoping that brilliant mind would catch on. Saren was so much smarter than he could ever hope to be, but fuck was he blind. “What about the sectors? The tags?”
“It’s…it’s…the rules. The law. And people…they.” Saren stopped, his face contorting.
Yes. See it. Please see it, Saren.
“If New Grove used oil, surely it’d be delivered,” he continued, countering Ryx. Desperate to be right and him wrong. It was a horrible flaw.
Any other time, he enjoyed it. Happy to let Saren win just to see him smile. But this wasn’t the time for smiles. Ryx had a true opportunity to convince Saren that everything he knew was a fucking lie. He was so close he could taste it. Just a little more…a little shove.
“It is,” Ryx said smoothly, confidently.
“When? How? All the convoys enter and exit through the gate.”
Ryx debated if he should tell Saren. After all, he thought Ryx only snuck out for cigarettes, but the information he was gathering was far more important than a poorly wrapped smoke. “What was it that Patryn always says? Some whispers aren’t—”
“Meant for my ears,” Saren finished, slouching beside him.
“They are lying to you. They always have been.”
The Telex boy had grown pale, his eyes welling with tears. “Patryn…he wouldn’t. He—”
“Is a fucking liar.”
“And you’re not?” They shared a long look. Saren was crying, and Ryx felt like a monster for making it happen. He’d never seen someone cry as frequently as Saren. Especially at night, when he thought Ryx was finally asleep after being racked with nightmares. He’d suck his thumb and cry himself to sleep.
“No,” Ryx whispered. “No, I’m not. I’m…your friend.”
“So what are you doing then? When you sneak out? Looking for their secret entrance?”
Even with those glistening tears and painful realizations, Saren was still so smart. He loved that about the Telex boy. Brilliant to a fault, but too loyal for his own good.
That’s why he needed to find a way out. He had to not only free himself, but the boy who held his heart in an iron grip.
“Yes. And when I find it, I’m leaving and taking you with me.”
***
Their argument had been explosive—the worst one ever. Ryx stayed in their room while Saren raced off to the library. He knew he’d taken a risk, revealing the truth to someone who refused to witness it even with evidence. But despite everything, Saren was Ryx’s friend. The only one he’d ever had in all sixteen years of his life. Sure, the start of their friendship was rocky, but he was mostly to blame.
He hated Telex. How could he not, with all he’d experienced? They were the reason he was left behind, his parents probably dead in the Barrens. Ryx didn’t remember exactly when they’d snuck him into Red Hill, only that they left right after, fearful their presence would only draw attention. Small and petrified, he did whatever they asked. He’d once been stuck in a cavern for three months before anyone noticed he was gone. For years, he’d stayed locked in that foul, dank darkness, and only after Beatrice discovered his identity did he glimpse real, natural light.
She was supposed to help him. She was supposed to get him to the rebellion where he’d be safe. Ryx was Other and an alpha. Beatrice said he was special—important. Hell, she said he would grow up and change the fucking world. It was no use dwelling on it now, though. He would escape New Grove and find them himself—the people he was supposed to be with. But he needed more time. Patryn, Saren’s guardian and, by extension, his, was making that difficult. While Saren brooded in the library, Patryn knocked on the bedroom door and let himself in.
At times, Ryx enjoyed the Telex alpha. But right now he couldn’t stand the sight of him. Especially knowing why he was there. Another secret kept from Saren.
“You two haven’t argued in some time.”
