Page 83 of The Commons

“You’re enthusiastic indeed. That’s what we like to see.”

I figured if I picked the first E, I might as well go on with picking the first E in the first E. There is no way I can find Levon and escape without backup in this place. I need Pesh to come through this time, and this is the easiest floor for him to find me upon arrival. Plus, the devil I know is better than the angel I don’t. Cameras look hard to make, but I’m sure it only gets worse from here. Suddenly, a short, chubby woman with ash hair, holding a notepad and pen, walks toward me to take me to my assigned corner.

“Come here. I’ll show you where you’ll start and what to do,” she states.

Before I can take another step, I hear a stern voice behind me. One that I had heard before.

“I need a student!” the voice calls out.

I gulp and turn to see Pesh. I look down, instantly hopeful.

“That’s her!” He points at me. “Shantavia, is it?” he says to me.

“Yes! Sir! I mean, Patron!” I stutter, trying to feign obliviousness.

“De Londe needs her for a special task. Not a word about this to anyone,” I hear Pesh whisper to the woman. The woman bows in respect to him and pushes me toward him. Pesh grabs my hands and heads toward the elevator.

I open my mouth, but Pesh interrupts me in a hush.

“Don’t talk. We don’t know each other.”

I shut my lips instantly, swallowing my spit, my heart pounding with every step past the security guards.

We enter the elevator.

He presses a button on his bracelet, and we begin to zoom downward. We make it outside, and Pesh directs me toward a secret spot under a shade of trees.

We are alone.

I look at Pesh, horrified by what I just saw. My eyes fire in anger, and tears stream down my face.

“How can you be part of such inhuman things!?” I burst out.

“I was born into it,” Pesh exclaims. “I’ve been trying to stop it.”

“To stop it! These students are held against their will, many killed, suffering, working for nothing to enslave the entire world! And my sister, my sister is here! She’s been here for almost a year now! What if she’s dead? Where is she? How could you? I don’t understand!” I barge toward him.

He holds me back, restraining me from screaming. He holds me tightly, pressing into my tense skin, desperately trying to comfort me with tears in his eyes.

“Shantavia! Shantavia! I’m so sorry! I wasn’t her Patron. But when I noticed she was eliminated, I tried to track her, to find her, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t find her exact location. Her tracker said she was both everywhere and nowhere. And I only decoded her exact location recently. I’ve been working on it non-stop, especially since you flagged her disappearance, while trying not to be discovered by Patron De Londe at the same time. But he was on to me. I can’t go against an entire army, an entire nation! Without being two steps ahead of them. He’s my dad; I’ve been collecting information to incriminate him for years, but that’s all I could do to stop him! And help every student I was in charge of pass the test! That’s all I could have done! It’s bigger than me! It’s a hell pit and I can’t change it if I don’t destroy the root cause! Please, believe me!”

Hands on my face in a flood of tears, I draw back from him, trying to calm myself. I pause for a few moments to collect myself. “Okay, what do we do now? How do we find her?”

“I found the files from the guards in charge of the documents.”

“And where is she?”

Pesh gulps and steps back. “The Experiment section.” His voice diminishes in dread.

Oh God.

I can’t breathe.

My eyes widen.

My throat tightens in a short intake of breath, and a gut-wrenching tremor rips through my chest. My heart feels like it’s suffocating. Moans emerge from my throat, and I begin to cry uncontrollably with choking hiccups. “That’s the worst! That’s the worst!!! Oh my God! Levon! Levon!” I scream.

Tears race down Pesh’s face as he turns his face away, unable to face me, at a loss for words.