Page 110 of The Commons

Suddenly, she cuts it and moves on without a hint of emotion. “What about you? Why did you come to The Commons?” she asks.

“I didn’t.”

“What do you mean you didn’t?”

“I mean I did apply several times, I just never got accepted. I had an “in,” but she backed out at the last minute.”

“As in every time, you mean.”

“Rub it in, why don’t you!”

“I can elaborate if you’d like,” she says, hiding her smile.

He smiles, rolling his eyes.

Levon raises her chin and looks at him with a furrowed forehead. “So if you didn’t go to The Commons, then how did you end up in The Seventh Zone?”

“I went to get revenge.”

“I don’t follow. Revenge for what? And what do you mean? I didn’t know they take workers who aren’t students.”

“Unless you were bait for a crime.”

“You were bait for a crime? Whose crime?”

“My parents. And it was a debt. They were part of the Aristocrats, but they got on their bad side and weren’t able to pay what they owed. Because of this, they had to give up their son as a worker in The Seventh Zone… but they refused. So, the other Aristocrats got rid of them. And I was blacklisted in the system because they sensed that my parents might have told me information they shouldn’t have. They put up a private ransom to anyone who found me—Erelevant.”

“That’s crazy, so what did you do?”

“I killed myself.”

“What?”

“I killed Erelevant and became Swin. Swin killed Erelevant. I killed Erelevant as Swin.”

“Yeah, yeah. I get it.”

He smiles, then continues, “I told them I burnt the body. I burned down my house, then I claimed Erelevant was in it and I did some forensic nonsense to make it believable. The Aristocrats didn’t know what I looked like, so I used that to my advantage.”

“Okay, I’m not even gonna ask how you managed that one, but did they reward you?”

“Yeah, they gave me some money and work in The Seventh Zone.”

“I don’t understand, why would you want to work for The Seventh Zone as a reward?”

Swin opens his mouth to respond but Levon cuts him off.

“To get revenge?” she asks.

“Look at that, you’re completing my sentences.”

Levon shakes her head, a light smile curving her lips as Swin continues to speak.

“Yep, but I’d have done anything to get into The Commons to ruin De Londe and his goons for killing my parents.”

“Wow, that’s crazy. And Doctor Val still thinks you’re dead, so that’s why you don’t want her to see you?”

“Yep. For now, anyway.”