Had he done so already?
No. I refused to believe he could have gone along with this. If he hunted, Daxton would have invited him along. Besides, Knox had been there when I’d watched Lila’s speeches. He was as much a part of that as Celia.
But how many children of ministers changed their tune once they had power? How many stopped caring when they no longer had to worry about becoming one of the hunted?
By the time Daxton returned, I was curled up in the armchair in front of the fire, shivering despite my layers of fur. He said nothing as the jet took off, and it wasn’t until we were well on our way that he settled into the seat next to mine.
“How did you get a III?”
The sound of his voice made my stomach churn again, but there wasn’t anything left to come up. I stared resolutely at the fire.
“You seem too clever for it,” he continued. “I was sure Mother would make us wait another few weeks for you to get more practice, but you’re perfect as Lila. No one there suspected a thing. Did you throw the aptitude test on purpose?”
I shook my head, dumbfounded. “Do you not get how important that test is to your people? Do you really think someone would ever purposely fail? ”
Daxton drummed his fingers against the arm of his chair, perfectly calm. “Then what was it?”
“I ran out of time,” I said through gritted teeth. If Celia and Knox hadn’t told him I couldn’t read, I wasn’t about to give him something else to hold over my head.
“I had to leave a third of it blank.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You left a third of it blank and still received a III?”
My nails dug into the soft leather of the chair. “You want to talk about my test when you just killed the only mother I’ve ever had?”
“You have Celia now,” he said. “You are in need of a mother, and she is in need of a daughter. It’s a perfect fit.”
“What about the other people you killed? What about their mothers and daughters?”
“They were criminals,” he said. “Ones who were warned ahead of time what the penalty of their crimes would be.”
“What did they do? Steal a bit of food? Talk back to a Shield? What did Nina do to deserve to die?”
“She hid you,” said Daxton, and he might as well have punched me in the gut. “You think I don’t know about that? I know about everything, Kitty, and you would be wise never to forget that.”
I struggled for air, and the walls of the plane pressed in on me like the trees had done in the forest. It really was my fault. All she’d done was try to protect me, and she’d died for it.
Oh God. Benjy.
“Did you know,” said Daxton as he folded his hands and studied me, “that if we did not punish every criminal, there wouldn’t be enough to feed everyone?”
“Then why don’t you sell the damn jet and buy more food?” I choked, my eyes watering with anger. What if Benjy was there, too? Had he been one of the others Daxton had killed?
He shook his head. “You don’t understand. Shortly after my grandfather was elected into office, our economy collapsed, and everyone was destitute—no one had enough, and people were starving. The country had— still has—a finite number of resources. There is only so much food and drinking water. There are only so many teachers, so many doctors, and so many scientists. The mediocre and the dim vastly outnumber the intelligent, and it has been that way for far too long. We outgrew ourselves. Our economy suffered, and so did our people.
Crime was astronomical, and no one had any hope of a better life. That is why he helped turn the ruins of the United States into the shining beacon it is today.”
“At least then you didn’t get shot for stepping out of line,” I spat.
“At least now you have enough food to eat,” he said.
“At least now you can sleep safe in your bed and not fear your neighbors ransacking your home and murdering your entire family.”
“Why would I fear my neighbors when my government does it for them?”
Daxton took a deep breath. “I did not make the laws.
My grandfather did, and he did so with the welfare of the entire country in mind. Without Elsewhere, the overpopulation would be so bad that we would still be where we were seventy-one years ago—too many mouths, too little food, and no one had enough. There was no clean water. The currency was useless, and everyone had to fend for themselves. Do you understand what kind of chaos that brings?”
I knew what kind of chaos this government brought, and that was enough for me.
“We needed a way to help average out the country,” said Daxton once it was clear I wasn’t going to answer.
“Yes, there are winners and losers. Yes, it is difficult for those who are at the bottom of the heap and those who lose loved ones to Elsewhere. But our society must make those sacrifices in order to survive.”
“Like the Harts make sacrifices?” I muttered.
“Someone must rule, and it is imperative that those who do know the ins and outs of the country. America has thrived under my family’s reign. This world exists because my grandfather had the courage to step up and give everything he had to fixing this country. Now, because of him, we have a controlled population whose value is decided through identical measurements, and they are given resources to equal their worth. Everyone contributes what they can. As a III, you could never hope to do the work of a VI.”
“But I can be a VII.”
“Yes, because VII is inherited, not earned.” He patted me on the knee, and I jerked away.
“Don’t touch me.”
Daxton leaned in close enough for me to smell the faint trace of whiskey on his breath. “Like it or not, this is how it’s been for decades, and this is how it’s going to stay. Everyone gets what they deserve based on what they’re worth, and if they do anything to take away from our society, they pay the price. The elderly can no longer do the jobs the young people can do, so they go.
The criminals choose to take that risk, and when they’re caught, it’s usually not their first offense anyway. And the Is—” He shook his head. “Useless, drooling idiots, the lot of them. Some of them show signs of worth, and they’re kept in special facilities until we can determine that. But the vast majority do nothing but eat, sleep, and use up resources they do not earn. They have no place within society.”
“So you kill them.” It wasn’t a question. “Not even humanely, but as entertainment.”
He shrugged. “Occasionally, if they’re still alive after we harvest their organs.”
Sickened, I stood. Before I could storm off, however,
Daxton grabbed my arm and held me in place. Remembering Celia’s words, I didn’t struggle. As much as I wanted to kill him for what he’d done to Nina, the price was my life, and she wouldn’t have wanted me to die because of her.
“Let’s get something straight,” he said in a low voice that slithered through me, chilling me to the bone. “You might have a VII on the back of your neck, but it only entitles you to the privileges that come with it as long as I say so. You aren’t here to change the world, Kitty.
You’re here to do what I tell you. Don’t mistake your face with who you really are and what you’re worth to society. You are just as replaceable as Lila.”
“You think I don’t get that?” I said. “I know you own me. You didn’t need to kill Nina to prove it.”
His grip tightened, and I hissed in pain. “Do you know how we found you at that filthy club?” His eyes glittered with malevolence, and every trace of his usual charm-ing facade was gone. “We looked you up, Kitty Doe. We tracked you down. We went to your group home, and your matron lied for you. Now she’s paid the price, and you only have yourself to blame.”
I blinked back tears, refusing to give him the satisfaction of making me cry.
“Luckily we did manage to find someone who knew where you were going,” said Daxton. “Benjamin Doe.”
All the blood drained from my face, and my knees buckled. “What did you do to him?”
His lips twisted into a calculating smile. “I see I’ve hit a nerve. How fascinating.”
“Tell me what you did to him, or I’ll throw you out of this jet.”
He chuckled. “I would love to see you try. We’ve done nothing to him yet. He shows quite a bit of promise, and we are of course keeping an eye on him, but he’s safe for the time being. You have my word that as long as you behave, he will live a long and happy life.”
So that was it. As sure as I’d been that they couldn’t possibly have known about Benjy, they knew anyway, and now his life was directly attached to how well I could sit, stay, and roll over.
There was nothing Daxton could possibly do that could ever make me hurt Benjy. Even if it meant putting up with this and staying silent about the things Lila had the courage to fight, Daxton had me, and he knew it.
When the jet landed and the pilot welcomed us back to the District of Columbia, I was so worn down and weary that I allowed Daxton to take my arm and lead me down the steps. Just like every other decent thing Daxton did, I knew it was only to show a waiting Celia that he had me, and her expression hardened as we walked toward the cars.
“Have a nice hunt?” she said. Daxton released me, and Celia wrapped her arm protectively around my shoulders.
“Lovely,” said Daxton as a guard opened the door for him. “I’m afraid all the excitement seems to have worn
Lila out, though, so as soon as we get back to Somerset, you may want to put the poor dear to bed.”
“I’ll make sure to do that,” said Celia coldly. After Daxton got into the first car, Celia ushered me into the second, where Knox was waiting. I said nothing until the door was closed and we were driving away.
“Why didn’t you warn me?”
Celia fixed a drink from some sort of icebox in the side of the car, and she thrust the cold glass into my hand.
“Because you needed to see it for yourself. Drink.”
“He killed Nina,” I said. “She was practically my mother.”
“I’m sorry,” said Celia. “Truly. But there’s nothing we can do about that now, and you need to calm down.
You’re shaking. Please, drink.”
No, but there was something she could’ve done about it that morning. I took a sip and nearly spat the burning liquid out. “That’s disgusting.”
“It’s brandy,” she said. “It’ll help calm your nerves.”
I wrinkled my nose and set the drink aside. “What I need is a damn phone.”
“Don’t say damn, ” she said, and Knox wordlessly fished something out of his pocket and offered it to me.
“What is that?” I said, taking it warily. It was a piece of glass roughly the size of my little finger, and it was so thin that I was afraid I would snap it in two.
“A phone,” he said. “Touch the screen.”
I brushed my fingertip against the surface. It lit up with blue symbols, and there were so many that I didn’t know which to press first. “How do I dial?”
Celia snatched it from me. “Who are you calling?”
“None of your damn business,” I said. She narrowed her eyes.
“I’m not trying to stop you. Tell me the number and I’ll dial it for you, but first I want to know who you’re calling.”
“A friend,” I snapped. “To make sure he’s still alive. Is that all right with you?”
Knox grabbed his phone. “Both of you, stop it. Kitty, what’s the number?”
I rattled off the number of the group home, and he dialed and pushed a button so I could hear it. Instead of ringing, however, the line clicked, and a cheerful voice spoke. “We’re sorry, but the number you have dialed is no longer in service.”
Knox pressed another button, and the blue light went dark. “Are you sure that’s the right number?”
“Positive,” I said numbly. “I’ve known it forever. Can you—can you try again?”
I repeated the number slowly, but the same message played. My chest tightened as if someone were squeezing a fist around my heart. “I don’t understand. It was working before.”
“Any number of things could have happened,” said Knox. “Nina was the matron of your group home, right?
They probably shut it down after she was arrested and sent the kids somewhere else.”
“They wouldn’t hurt him, would they?” I said. “He’s not even seventeen yet.”
Celia sat across from us, her legs crossed and her foot bobbing up and down as she studied me. “What did Daxton say to you?”
“Does it matter?” Knowing Daxton, Benjy was probably already dead.
“It matters a great deal,” she said. “If there’s something I can do to help you, I will.”
“You’ve done a great job so far, seeing as how I’m stuck in this situation to begin with.”
“You’re the one who agreed to this mess, Kitty, not me, and whining about it isn’t going to change a thing.
You’ve been given an incredible opportunity, and if you waste it by letting Daxton blackmail you into being his puppet, I will kill you myself. So tell me,” she said.
“What did he say to you?”
I turned away and rested my forehead against the cool window. It was tinted so that no one outside could see us, but I could see everything through the waning light of dusk. We drove through a part of the city I’d never been to before. Shining glass buildings rose high above us, and everything looked brand-new. Even the streetlamps were so bright that I had to squint. The wealth in this section, undoubtedly meant for Vs and VIs, was obvious. The buildings in the Heights were squat, made of brick, and older than any citizen who occupied them. There was no newness, only old that was no longer needed and could be handed down to us, the people who weren’t valuable enough to merit glass skyscrapers or shiny cars or fruit that wasn’t hours away from rotting.