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He slips out, my heart hammering from his kiss and the threat of being caught. I scramble to the counter where he left the delivery, picking up a bottle just as the door opens. Healer Bloom narrows her eyes at me.

“What are you doing in here?”

I keep my hand steady, hoping she can’t see the red of my cheeks in the dim light. “There was a delivery from the apothecary. I figured since everyone was busy with Anex’s visit…”

Her lips set in a frown. “Make sure you check everything off the list. And put everything in the correct place.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She gives me one last glare and exits the room. I exhale, but don’t fully breathe until hours later, long after Anex has left, and it’s clear that Silas escaped undetected.

6

Levi

Elon never sleeps until the sun rises, and today is no different. He finally succumbs, still drunk, but exhausted. And if the pattern he’s kept up the past few weeks maintains, he’ll stay this way, until he goes back tonight and repeats the cycle.

He pretends he does it for money, but we both know the truth. It’s self-punishment. Correction. Why? It’s how they were raised. Those lessons are impossible to break—inside or outside of Serendee.

Probably even more so now that we’re out, which is exactly why Anex banished us. He knew how bad it would hurt. How devastating. It’s exactly what I would have done, if I’d been the leader.

I shrug on my jacket and step into the hall, quietly locking the door behind me. The hallway smells damp, like mildew and moisture. Like the stale cooking odors behind residents' closed doors. The stairwell is worse, reeking of piss and beer. I hold my breath as I take the steps, not inhaling until I reach outside. The air is better, but clogged with the gust of the idling bus. I long for the clean air of my home, the fresh homegrown food, and my classroom.

I need a purpose, and over the last few days, while Elon succumbs to his demons, I’ve come up with a plan.

A plan to earn our way back into Anex’s good will and Serendee.

A way back to Enlightenment.

Using a few of the dollars Elon won in the fight, I step onto the bus and pay the fare. I take a seat and watch the buildings change from deteriorating, to the crisp, clean façade of Whittmore University. The passengers change, the bus filling up with students on their way to class—on to learning about the secular world. Greed and destruction. Wars and wealth. Science for profit. I shift, leaning forward, squashing the nerves as we approach the long strip of businesses where The Center is located.

For a heartbeat, I consider aborting the plan. Passing by and heading back home, but that lick of desperation tickles my spine and I stand, yanking the cord for the driver to stop. The bus lurches forward, and I stumble down the stairs, expelled into the street. The bus hisses and drives off, leaving me in a cloud of exhaust. Two blocks away, I see two women, wearing pale blue long dresses, their hair long and twisted into tight braids.

Turning quickly, I duck into the alley next to the building and make my way to the back. As much as I’d like to walk in the front door of The Center and demand an audience with Anex, I know I wouldn’t make it past the threshold.

But I’m not just any member of Serendee—I’m one of the inner circle. I know the workings of this building and many of the others. I step behind the building and search for the brick with Serendee’s logo stamped in the side. I pause, considering the last time I saw this design it was branded into Imogene’s flesh. Property. His intention was clear. Imogene belongs to him, the same way this building does.

Using the tips of my fingers, I work the edge of the brick out and peer inside. A flat key rests against the back. I remove it and replace the brick. Standing before the door, I have a brief fear that maybe he changed the locks, but it’s quickly replaced with the knowledge that no, Anex wouldn’t change his locks. It would never cross his mind that I would return without his blessing. That I would ever go against his will.

Anex may understand me, but he doesn’t understand this emotion coursing through my veins—this desperation.

As expected, the key slips in, and I turn it, releasing the bolts. A moment later, I’m inside.

The room is the same as the last time I was here. The table in the center of the room where Imogene bent over and I lashed her backside with a leather strap. Where I became so angry, so lost in my own desires, that I left and Elon came in to finish the job.

Well, this time I will finish what has been started.

I approach the wall and stare at the point where I know a camera is placed and speak aloud, “I know you never want to see me again, and you can send your guards to toss me out, but I think it’s in your best interest to come talk to me.” I swallow back the fear rising in my throat. “Alone. I’m pretty sure I have something you want.”

Five minutes later,my stomach drops when the door opens and a guard walks in. His hand is on the butt of his pistol, chin jerking toward the table. “Face the table. Legs spread.”

My mind blanks, wondering if this is the end, a bullet to the back of the head. A quick and quiet removal. No one would ever know. Not Elon, who I left without a note or any indicator of where I was going. Not Silas or Rex… not Imogene, who I wanted to see more than anything.

I do as I’m told, placing my hands on the table, legs slightly spread. The guard shifts behind me, hands running down my sides, patting my hips and legs. “He’s clear,” he says, and it dawns on me that he’s just looking for weapons.

Anex thought I came to kill him.

No, this man doesn’t know me at all.