The Sowing

Ignoring the pain, I raise my head, looking for Cole. But he’s gone, along with Delvecchio. The Prime Minister’s guards have already escorted her off the stage to safety. In the square, enforcements have arrived, ringing Cage and his team and seizing the remote from his hands. As the Imposers lead them away in energy cuffs, Cage glances my way, his face a mixture of disbelief and disgust.

I’ve betrayed him. I’ve betrayed them all.

I had no choice.

There’s always a choice.

“Put him in the brig,” I hear Cassius say.

Then I give into the pain, the dizziness, the nausea and close my eyes, wondering if I’ll ever open them again, not caring if I ever do.

———

I wake up alone, in one of the Citadel’s holding cells.

As I flex my jaw and finger the tender skin, all I can think about is Cole. Where is he now?

There’s a bandage covering the crook of my elbow. Once I’ve checked to make sure nothing’s broken, a panicked thought hits me and I check the hidden compartment in my uniform. Digory’s video journal is still there.

Sighing, I pull it out and clutch it in the darkness, a shield against the desperation creeping in. There’s no reason they won’t kill me now, and probably Cole, too.

What the hell can I do now?

After what seems like hours pass with no one making an appearance, I decide to risk it and activate the holocam.

Digory’s face appears once again, eclipsing the dread of loneliness.

“There’s no reason why Lucian has to be recruited,” Digory says, continuing from where I shut the recording off before. “He can be a very valuable ally.”

Valuable ally? Me? We’d barely said two words to each other at that point. Besides, I don’t think Cage, Arrah, and the others would agree.

Digory’s face seems different now. More… I don’t know. Clinical. Detached. “All I need is a little more time with Lucian and I’ll be able to get results. One way or another, as instructed, I’ll find out where his loyalties really lie. If it turns out he can be trusted to join our cause, I’ll personally deliver him.”

My finger jabs the pause button, freezing Digory’s face.

So Digory was working with the rebellion to actively enlist me? And the meeting in the alleyway that morning was scripted, not just random? But why am I so important to the rebellion that they’d actively seek me out? What the hell could I possibly have to offer? It makes no sense.

And if Digory meeting up with me that day wasn’t chance, then what about everything else he said and did? What about the way he felt?

My head throbs and my mouth goes dry. I hesitate for an instant, and then my trembling finger presses the play button.

Digory’s expression grows colder than the blood churning its way through my system. “If it turns out Lucian Spark can’t be trusted, then I’ll make sure he gets recruited myself.”

I pause the playback again. Staring at Digory’s face. Trying to reconcile those last words with the memories of what we meant to each other.

There has to be a rational explanation. Yes, he made this recording shortly after our not-so-fateful first meeting. He didn’t really know me, didn’t have deep feelings for me yet. But he told me, later, that he’d cared for me since way back in school, before we’d ever spoken.

Whatever the truth is, it doesn’t change the look in his eyes. It’s a look I’ve never seen before. Cold, emotionless.

Who is this Digory?

There’s movement, right outside the cell, and I turn off the holocam and jam it back into the hidden pocket just as the cell door opens.

Styles and Renquist barrel in. “We’ve been ordered to take you to the Recruitment Ceremony,” Styles hisses.

My eyes bug out of my skull. “The Recruitment? You mean I’ve been out a whole day?”

Styles snorts. “That’s right. The Recruitment is already underway.” He aims his weapon at me.

Renquist drags me out of the cell and shoves me into a line with Dahlia, Leander, Rodrigo, and Arrah. From the circles under their eyes and the bruises on their skin, they don’t seem to be doing much better than I am.

Leander grabs me by the collar and shoves me against the wall. “This is all your fault! One second we’re getting promoted, the next we’re being hauled off and interrogated by our own people about some plot to assassinate the PM, all on account’a that stunt you pulled on stage! Start talking, Spark!”

“Don’t forget the blood they drew!” Rodrigo adds.

This revelation has a sobering effect. “Blood?”

“Yeah, blood,” Arrah hisses.

I can barely look her in the eye and turn away.

Dahlia nudges her chin in the direction of my arm. “From you, too.”

So that’s what the bandage on my elbow’s about.

Leander shoves me again. “Just what the hell have you gotten us mixed up in?”

“Move!” Styles commands, leading us down the corridors.

———

“I give you… this season’s Recruits!” Cassius announces from his balcony to the cheering crowds below, just as we’re escorted onto the observation deck behind him.