The Pledge

“Most of these passageways haven’t been used in years; some didn’t even exist before the Outcasts began to move down here. We’ve even created new channels that connect the old subway lines to the mines outside the Capitol. It’s like our own city down here.”

“Don’t you worry about getting caught? About the queen’s men finding you?”

Brook made a face as if I was speaking nonsense. “She’d have to know where to look to find us. Even if they could find an entrance, the tunnels are long and winding. They’d get lost before they ever reached us.” Her teeth flashed, dazzling and white. “We’ve been down here for over a decade; no one’s found us yet.”

Angelina let go of my hand when we came to a group of children playing. She stood silently, watching them.

The same checkerboard pattern we’d watched the girl drawing in the dirt when we’d first arrived was also outlined in the dirt before us. Their game was already underway, and they took turns as they tossed pebbles into the squares. Then the players took their places in the square in which their stone had landed. When the last pebble was tossed, they would use their bodies as game pieces, trying to eliminate the other players.

I recognized the game immediately as princes and pawns, a game of strategy that every child in the realm knew.

The children were giggling, something Angelina rarely did.

But she reached again for my hand, jerking it, asking me without words if we could get closer, asking me to help her get closer.

“Go ahead,” I whispered, squatting in front of her so that we were eye to eye. “See if they’ll let you play.”

I grinned at Brooklynn as Angelina left me, easing her way toward the energetic group at play.

“So, what about you, Brook?” I finally broached the subject, once I was certain Angelina could no longer hear. “How did you end up here?”

She didn’t hesitate. “I’ve always been here, Charlie, you just didn’t know it. I was practically born here. My mother was part of the resistance long before Xander was around to lead us. She believed that things would be better if there was no class system at all.” Brook’s brown eyes warmed as she spoke of her mother. “It wasn’t until I was older—just before she died—that she confided her true beliefs, and her passion for the cause. By then, I knew these people; I’d spent so much time down here that I felt like I belonged with them. No one has to pretend down here. There is only one language, one class.” Her voice drifted off. “Sometimes, when I’m supposed to be at home, I come here to sleep. My father never even notices I’m gone.”

I felt ashamed that I hadn’t realized how lonely she’d been. “So your dad, he’s not part of the cause?”

S

he made a face. “He doesn’t have a clue. He was always happy with his lot in life; he would never want to cause trouble. Besides, he would never cross the queen.”

“And you would?”

She shrugged as if her answer was inconsequential. “I think if my dad had ever known about my mother, he probably would have turned her in himself.”

“Really?” I was shocked by her statement. “But he was devastated when she died. He doesn’t even seem like the same person anymore.”

She raised her eyebrows. “I didn’t say he didn’t love her.”

“Were you ever going to tell me?”

“No,” she stated, and even though her denial was absolute—final—I couldn’t help thinking I’d heard just a trace of regret in her voice.

Then she turned her back on me and walked away, leaving me feeling deceived and abandoned. And in need of some answers.

in total blackness.

XVI

I pounded my fist against the wall, my frustration bubbling over. “What do you mean, you’re having a hard time finding them? You told me yourself that the fighting is over. How hard could it be? They must have returned from the shelters by now.” I hated the feeling that he was holding something back, that there were things he was leaving unsaid. “They checked our house? And the restaurant?”

Xander nodded, folding his hands in front of him so casually that it took everythi Ktoo weng I had not to run over and shake him, to scream in his face that they’d made some sort of terrible mistake. That they’d gone to the wrong places.

Except I knew that they hadn’t. Brook had been in charge of the search team, and she knew exactly where to look for my parents, exactly where they should be.

“We’ll keep looking, Charlie. I swear we’ll find them. Until then, you need to get some rest. Did you sleep at all?”

I didn’t answer his question; I wasn’t in the mood to discuss my sleeping habits. “How do you expect all of this to end?” I threw my hands up in exasperation. “Even if you can overthrow the queen, what then?”

Xander grinned, and I got the impression this was a topic change he wasn’t opposed to. “What are you asking me, Charlie?”

“What becomes of the queen? Who do you expect to lead the people once your revolution overthrows the throne?” I leveled my gaze on him. “You? You can’t possibly expect to rule without a queen’s power. It’s been tried before.”

Xander’s voice was calm; he didn’t seem to share my doubts. “I’m not sure what becomes of the queen.” He shrugged. “I suppose that’s up to her. If she wants to make things difficult, I imagine she’ll have to die—”