Rose Tinted (14 page)

Chapter 17: Initiation

“Until you build a submarine, a car, and rewire a Worker train to do your bidding without
their
knowledge, you can’t call yourself a proper genius, that’s all I’m saying,” Rusty stated matter-of-factly to Tate in the dusty old living room where the group seemed to spend most of their time.

Over the course of their stay and in the days leading up to their trip back to Halcyon
, Brynn had gotten to know most of the people in the house pretty well, with the exception of Rift and Dash. Rift was always gone trying to find new recruits to build their numbers, and Dash was constantly running messages back and forth to other groups who might be interested in joining The Alliance. He was also busy spying on Workers, and just generally being a good little spy.

A girl named Royter
, with short black hair and dark eyes had introduced herself to Brynn and her friends briefly before she was gone again.

“She’s out being sneaky,” Tate informe
d them fondly, running his fingers through his long hair as he plopped down on a couch that instantly gave off little puffs of dust. “She’s our spy.”

“I thought Dash was your spy,” Amber said, confused.

“Dash had to learn it all somewhere, didn’t he?” Tate asked.

He was apparently a big fan of the mysterious girl who they’d barely been able to meet.

“We send Dash on the less dangerous jobs,” Cambria said from the doorway, carrying a small tray of food into the room for the group. “Royter goes on the more difficult missions because she’s…,” Cambria let her voice trail off, not the type of person to feel comfortable calling someone ‘better’ than someone else. “Older,” she finally finished decisively. “Here’s some dinner, by the way.”

The
petite, pale girl brought the tray into the room and sat it on the small wooden coffee table that was, of course, covered in dust just like everything else in the dark and dreary house.

“Sorry it’s not much,” Cambria said self-consciously, knowing that they were used to eating much more with their endless supply of food on Halcyon.

“We normally don’t eat much, but this is just ridiculous,” Tate said. “What happened, Cam?”

“We’ve had a lot of people leave The Alliance,” she explained quietly, her voice barely above a whisper and her eyes downcast.
“They either got scared when they found out we’d be going to Halcyon, or they got tired of waiting. Now we don’t have as many people to put in hours of work for food.”

“What about all the food Rusty brought back from Halcy
on?” Brynn asked, knowing first-hand that she had stuffed her bag to bursting with various food items.

“We have to ration that,” Rusty said seriously. “For this very reason.”

“Is The Alliance only made up of the people in this house? Or are there more of you?” Jonah asked from his spot beside Brynn.

“There
were
more of us,” said an all too familiar unpleasant voice from the hall. Devey entered the room on silent feet, padding over to the pathetic tray of food and sniffing at it. “Then everyone decided that they cared more about themselves than saving the world, so now we have to do it for them.”

“And I can tell that you’re just thrilled by that prospect,” Amber said sarcastically, never quite meshing with the unhappy girl.

“Don’t talk to me,” Devey responded simply, taking an apple from the tray and retreating back upstairs once more.

“Sorry about her,” Cambria said apologetically, following her sister up the stairs quickly.

“How are
they
the same person?” Amber asked. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand that.”

“Twins just look the same,” Rusty informed them as she bit into one of the rolls she’d brought from Halcyon. It was now so stale that it crumbled into little pieces on the couch around her but she continued to eat as if she didn’t care. Apparently any food was good food to her.
“They don’t have the same personalities or anything.”

“That’s for sure,”
Ty said with a small laugh just as a loud
boom
came from Hadlock’s room upstairs.

“What was that?” Brynn asked in shock.

“Oh Hadlock is just working on something. Don’t pay any attention to him,” Rusty answered with a wave of her hand, her mouth full of the dry bread.

A door slammed upstairs and suddenly Devey and Hadlock were stomping down the staircase shouting at each other.

“If you’re going to share a wall with me you’d better stop those stupid experiments!” she yelled at him. “It’s not like they’re getting you anywhere as it is.”

“You don’t even know what I do all day, how can you say I’m not making anything valuable?” he asked incredulously, walking into the living room to grab one of the remaining rolls.
“What do
you
do all day? Talk about how bitterly unfair your life is? Poor baby,” he said harshly.

Devey was fuming now, her eyes burning a hole through Hadlock’s head as she opened her mouth to retaliate.

“Hey!” Rusty shouted over the din, effectively shutting them up for a moment. “We haven’t put our new guests through initiation yet.”

Brynn wasn’t quite sure what that was supposed to mean
, but the fact that it instantly stopped the argument and brought a smile to Devey’s face for the first time since they’d met her, frightened Brynn to no end.

“Finally
, we get to have some fun,” Devey exclaimed much too happily, clapping her small hands and grinning wickedly at Brynn.

The landscape on Panurgic was vastly different from the one on Halcyon. For all of the flaws of the continent’s social structure, Brynn couldn’t deny the beauty she saw all around them.

There wasn’t a brown patch to be found in the lush green rolling hills. The constant fog that hung thickly in the air clung to their clothes in damp layers, making the group shiver as they walked closer and closer to the sea.

The smell of salt permeated the air and the wind began to gradually pick up as they neared the edge of a sheer rock cliff. The grass never really ended, it simply ran out of room to grow at the rocky outcropping that protruded over the crashing waves far below. A few trees dotted the land, but the most bizarre thing they noticed, was one lone tree that grew right at the edge of the cliff, completely horizontal as its thick roots clung to the rock face.

“That,” Devey said happily, “Is your initiation.”

“Devey, Rift is going to kill us if we make them do it,” Cambria said timidly. She hadn’t stopped looking around nervously or picking at her fingers since they’d left the boarding house and now, Brynn knew why. “He told us we weren’t allowed to do this anymore.”

“Then don’t tell him,” Devey shot at her sister coldly.

“He said we shouldn’t waste the lives of people who are actually willing to help us,” her sister persisted, not willing to back down.

“Fine,” Rusty said with a roll of her eyes, obviously upset that her fun was being taken away. “They don’t
have
to do it if they want into The Alliance.”

“They just have to do it if they want our respect,” Hadlock finished with a grin.

“I don’t want your respect,” Bennett immediately said, stepping to the back of the group quickly.

“I kind of figured,” Devey
remarked.

“Have you all done this?” Brynn asked, feeling an odd rush of excitement at the prospect of doing something so reckless.

She had spent weeks feeling weak for her fear of Eris, out of control of her own body because of her mysterious headaches, and completely useless because she hadn’t gone back to A1 to finish what she started.

Now, standing on the sheer cliff with the ocean far below them, she knew she wanted to do something to get her old adventurin
g spirit back in working order. It felt just like the time she’d stood at the edge of the sandy beach in Seaside, about to immerse herself in the icy water.

“It’s not that hard,” Devey answered with a sigh. “All you have to do is walk out on the trunk and touch the first tree branch.”

Not wasting any time, the small wisp of a girl walked slowly over to the trunk, placing one foot in front of the other on the narrow strip of wood. Her weight barely registered on the tree as she continued until reaching out with one small arm to touch the first branch.

Turning around carefully she practically sprinted back before jumping onto the ledge once more.

“Easy,” she said proudly, her cheeks flushed with adrenaline.

“I hate it when you do that,” Cambria said under her breath, her arms red where she had been
grasping them nervously.

“Who’s next?”
Devey challenged.

“Don’t even think about it,” Ty said to Brynn, reading her mind far before she had made any move to walk out onto the tree.

She knew there was no use in arguing with him, so instead she ran over to the ledge and placed one foot on the horizontal tree trunk carefully before gingerly setting the other foot on the narrow strip of wood, allowing her whole weight to rest on it.

The tree groaned slightly as she shuffled forward with Ty yelling at he
r to come back. Wind whipped her long dark hair around her face and she stretched her arms straight out at her sides to keep her balance. She felt like she was flying. The open ocean stretched on forever in front of her, and underneath her was nothing but air and a small tree trunk to keep her from falling.

Brynn tried not to look down at the tumultuous ocean far below he
r feet, knowing it would throw her off balance. Instead she kept her eyes trained on the tree branch that was just within reach. She stretched her arm out as far as it would go, barely grazing the rough wood with her fingertips.

“Ok
ay, you touched it Brynn,” Ty said, slightly hysterical. “Now come back.”

“Be careful when you’re turning around,” Jonah insisted, sounding much more like Ty than himself with the worry that had suddenly come into his voice.

Had Jonah not said anything, Brynn would have felt completely safe, knowing that others before her had done this. Now, hearing her friend who wasn’t supposed to be scared of anything with fear in his voice, her confidence left her.

If Jonah thought something was to
o dangerous, it definitely was.

“How do I turn around?” she called over her shoulder, noticing for the first time how slipper
y the hard soles of her boots were.

Her ankles began to wobble as she tried to slowly pivot, praying she wouldn’t get one of her dizzy spells as she walked back to the cliff.

Placing one foot in front of the other carefully, she inched along the trunk, keeping her eyes locked on Jonah. His black hair that had gotten shaggier since their trip began, was flying into his blue eyes, but he never once blinked. He kept his wide-eyed look of panic locked on Brynn, urging her to get back to him safely.

“Brynn,” he
whispered simply as her foot slipped and fell through the open air.

It didn’t seem humanly possible how fast Jonah
slid on his knees to the edge of the cliff and grabbed her by the wrist, his free hand holding the tree trunk tightly.

“Brynn!” Amber shouted as she and her friends rushed forward to the edge of the cliff.

Even Devey looked concerned as she peeked over her sister’s shoulder.

The feeling of nothing but open air under her feet was a thrilling one
, but even in her current state of adrenaline filled bliss, she couldn’t deny the sheer terror she was feeling, swinging from the ledge like a pendulum in a clock.

Jonah’s
vice-like grip hurt Brynn but she wasn’t about to complain as he pulled her back up onto the soft, safe grass. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and buried his face in her neck, acting more protective than Brynn had ever seen him.

He didn’t let her go as he looked over the group with a serious expression and simply said, “We’re done.”

Chapter 18: Sanctuary

With her eyes closed and her head
resting against a soft pillow, Brynn had a feeling she hadn’t possessed in a long time; she felt relaxed. She wasn’t sure if she was dreaming or awake, but at that moment it didn’t matter. She didn’t feel the normal panic that usually controlled her every waking moment (or her moments asleep for that matter).

Embracing the brief reprieve from the norm
, she took a deep breath, letting a smile play on her lips in the semi darkness of wherever she was. It wasn’t until she heard someone take a deep breath next to her that her eyes snapped open, suddenly aware that she wasn’t as alone as she thought.

The white ceiling and walls that surrounded her were enough to inform her that she was back in A1, though the dim lighting suggested that she wasn’t about to be tortured by Eris for no reason in particular.

Turning her head lazily to the side she saw Maxwell lying next to her, his eyes closed and a smile playing on his lips. He wore the ever present white lab coat that Brynn had come to recognize and his thick black glasses still rested on the bridge of his straight nose, but he looked completely at ease.

Lying next to him made Brynn wonder just how close Rachel and Maxwell had been, though her current situation seemed innocent enough.

“Isn’t it great that instead of staying home and getting normal jobs where we get to leave work, we opted to come on this mission so that we never really get away from our responsibilities?” Maxwell asked sarcastically, his eyes still closed and his smile still present.

“What? Y
ou don’t think it’s nice constantly being reminded that we have a job to do?” Brynn found herself asking, though she had absolutely no control over what Rachel said.

“One day off, that’s really all I ask,” Maxwell answered.

“Well,” Rachel began, propping herself up on one elbow and turning to face Maxwell.

She still wore her own white lab coat and Brynn wondered fleetingly if there were any sugar cubes in her pockets.

“We could always say we need to do
a little research amongst the natives and go to our place,” Rachel suggested with a slow smile, leaning over Maxwell and letting her nose touch his.

The gesture was far too intimate for Brynn to be comfortable
, though she couldn’t ignore the warm feeling in her belly that it brought on.

“Our place,” he repeated, his eyes still closed as he breathed in slowly.
“If only we really did have a place where
she
couldn’t find us.”

“She doesn’t know about it
, Maxwell,” Rachel said, lying down once more and resting her hands lightly on her stomach.

She stared up at the ceiling, counting the tiles above her head and waiting for the boy beside her to respond.

“We don’t
think
she knows about it,” he corrected her.

“Trust me, she doesn’t,” Rachel answered resolutely.

“I miss the yellow plants,” Maxwell said suddenly, quite out of the blue.

“And the smell of the ocean.”

“And not worrying about psychotic A.I.s who want to ruin our lives.”

“Yeah
, there is that,” Rachel agreed with a laugh.

A real laugh.

It felt like the first time Brynn had ever heard Rachel laughing or joking. It was a nice change from her usual nightmares and suddenly, she didn’t want to wake up. It was amazing to her that normal people were lucky enough to experience normal dreams every night; that other people didn’t dread going to bed, and just for one moment, Brynn joined their ranks, feeling like she never wanted to wake up from this memory.

“Why did you pick Arcadian?” Maxwell asked her, piquing Brynn’s interest.

She hadn’t heard much about the third continent and wondered if she’d ever see it. Hearing Maxwell mention it now was an unexpected surprise for her.

“What do you mean?” Rachel asked.

“Why did you pick Arcadian for our little place? Why not Panurgic?”

“Oh
, I see what this is,” Rachel teased. “You’re offended that I picked someone else’s continent design over yours.”

“I’m not offended,” Maxwell mumbled, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips.

“Jealous, then?” Rachel asked, bringing her hand to his face and running her thumb lightly over his lips.

His ghost of a smile turned into a full blown grin at this gesture as he opened his eyes to look over at her.

“Maybe,” he answered neutrally.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love the whole Irish feel of Panurgic,” Rachel began, “But Arcadian looks like Iowa and Seattle had a baby and made the perfect rural, forested
, coastal area.”

“I don’t think a rural, forested
, costal area is a real thing,” Maxwell said, laughing softly.

“You’ve been there,” Rachel countered. “You know it is.”

“I think our place could be in the middle of the desert and I’d still love it,” he told her, turning his head and giving her a light kiss.

Brynn felt slightly embarrassed to be reliving this particular memory of Rachel’s. It seemed much too intimate for her, like something private that she shouldn’t be witnessing. But
she supposed it was important for her to understand every aspect of Rachel’s life if she was ever going to try to figure out the last thing Rachel had left behind to sabotage Eris. And hearing that she had some sort of house or hiding place on Arcadian where information might be stored was definitely the kind of thing that would earn her the respect of The Alliance.

“You’re sure Eris doesn’t know?” Maxwell asked again as the walls began
to melt away around Brynn, much to her dismay.

She didn’t want to leave.

“Positive,” Rachel answered, just as the world faded away completely.

Brynn woke on the hard wooden floor without jumping or being shocked awake. For the first time since she could remember, she simply opened her eyes and found that her dream had ended. There was no cold sweat; no panting or panic attacks. She was simply awake and slightly colder than she had been when she’d first fallen asleep.

W
ith just one blanket to cover her in the drafty room, she went over the dream in her head again.

Finally having a peaceful dream meant that Brynn actually wanted to remember it, though she found she was already beginning to forget the details. Instead, she was left with a fuzzy recollection of a secret place Rachel and Maxwell had
built, and a general feeling of contentment.

She tucked away the idea that Rachel may have hidden information somewhere other than A1 and instead
replayed the events of the previous day in her head. The ‘initiation’ she’d been put through had riled her up quite a bit but the most shocking thing to Brynn, was the look on Jonah’s face right before she fell from the horizontal tree trunk overhanging the ocean. She wondered if Jonah were beginning to realize how serious everything they were doing was.

It had always seemed
to Brynn like Jonah was along for the ride. He had agreed to help Brynn with finding A1 because he just wanted an adventure, or something out of the norm. Jonah hadn’t ever been the type to think before he leapt, but the way he reacted when she had fallen from the tree trunk made her rethink her view of the carefree boy.

Brynn could hear the rhythmic breathing of Rusty, Devey, Cambria, Bennett, and Amber in the room and she suddenly felt claustrophobic. The house was easily too crowded when everyone was in different rooms. But now, as Brynn tried to sleep in a small, cold room with five other girls
, she realized just how much she needed some space.

Trying to be qui
et, she walked on bare feet through the house, holding the brown boots Rusty had given her against her chest as she attempted to keep her breathing silent. Wind whipped through the trees outside and made howling sounds as it rushed through the old windows. Shadows danced on the walls and Brynn felt an odd sense of unease that seemed deeper and more primal than her fear of A1.

She hadn’t ever been one to be afraid of the dark, but walking through this old house that didn’t speak to her, she was beginning to understand where that
particular phobia came from. A complete lack of technology was a frightening thing. It made her feel alone.

Walking over to one of the windows on the top floor of the boarding house
, Brynn pressed her warm palms against the cool glass, a thin layer of condensation forming a perfect halo on the pane around her skin. She looked out at the turbulent and stormy world just beyond the safe confines of the building and felt a desire to be out among the chaos, rather than contained within the house.

Grasping
the wooden window frame and pushing it open with the palms of her hands, she tried to ignore the loud scraping sound it made as it inched upward. Wind instantly rushed through the hallway, ruffling her clothes around her and sending a chill through her body.

Brynn slipped her boots on, hoping they would offer her some sort of grip as she attempted to find a place of solitude in the
overcrowded house.

Crawling through the open window and standing up on the sill
outside, she stretched her arms high over her head, trying to reach the lowest portion of the roof above. It took a moment for Brynn to convince herself that she could easily hoist herself up onto the roof, and an even longer moment for her to pretend she had any idea how to get back down once she was ready to stop toying with her safety.

E
ventually she pushed off of the window sill with her boots and used all of her arm strength to pull herself onto the roof.

Her feet scrabbled against the side of the house as she slowly and shakily got herself into a safe position on the very slanted
ridge. The wind did nothing to silence her fears and she rubbed the bumpy bottoms of her boots, hoping they would give her some traction on the loose shingles.

Brynn crawled
up the roof, taking refuge on the highest point and squinting her eyes to look out over the place Rusty called The Moor. The wind whipping her hair around was enough to convince her that finding a little peace and quiet in the too crowded boarding house wasn’t worth falling off of a rooftop and breaking her neck, but she had already made it to the top and figured she may as well take advantage of the solitude.

Lights twinkled in the distance and Brynn could almost make
out people walking around in the city that lay just beyond the foggy field, keeping the boarding house safely separated from the rest of The Moor. She thought briefly that the residents of Panurgic may be coming home from a party at this late hour before reminding herself that they were more than likely returning from a shift at one of the many factories that spewed dark smoke into the constantly overcast sky.

Tall smoke stacks dotted the skyline, backlit by orange factory spotlights that never seemed to be turned off.
The wind sent the dark billowing smoke that hung over The Moor skittering across the murky night sky and the sight instantly made Brynn realize just why Rusty and the rest of The Alliance hated people from Halcyon so much.

How could they not dislike someone who was constantly surrounded by beauty and leisure when they were faced with the dark and dreary existence of Panurgic?

“Not much to look at, is it?” said a voice directly behind Brynn, causing her to start and almost sending her rolling down the steep incline of the roof.

Brynn whipped her head around as quickly as she safe
ly could to find the Royter, the one member of The Alliance she hadn’t really spoken to, standing behind her. She didn’t understand how the girl had gotten up onto the roof, let alone how she had managed to sneak up on Brynn without making a sound. Her short black bob framed her face, making her olive skin seem lighter than it really was.

“What are you doing up here?” Brynn asked
, a bit more loudly than she had intended.

The wind was beginning to die down, leaving the girls in silence as it slowly turned from the raging wind storm it had just been, into a light breeze that picked up the ends of Brynn’s hair and made them dance across her shoulders.

Royter studied Brynn’s face with her dark, slanted eyes, a small scar near her mouth creasing when she smiled at her.

“I could easily ask you the same question.”

Brynn had to admit that the girl did have her there. She didn’t exactly have a great excuse for nearly getting herself killed as she climbed onto the unstable roof, so instead of fabricating an interesting lie, like her gut told her to, she settled for the less impressive, but more reliable truth.

“I needed somewhere to think and the house is way t
oo crowded,” Brynn said honestly.

“That’s not a crime,” Royter
replied easily, taking a seat next to Brynn and crossing her long legs in front of her. “What did you need to think about?”

“I don’t know if you know this or not,” Brynn began, not sure how much Royter was kept in the loop of everything that was going on, “But I dream in Rachel’s memories.”