Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles #1)(57)

It’s a blur for a while, but I fight the unconsciousness while he wraps more bandages around the arm that was shot. The next thing I know, I’m being asked if I think I can keep moving.

“I think so. But it’ll be slow going.”

“It’s okay,” Gavin says. “We’re not in any hurry. Just go as fast as you can. I’ll be right behind you.”

It’s a painstakingly slow journey to the ladder to Macie’s quarters, but we finally make it.

I stare down into the reddish light and darkness of the ladder well. “I don’t think I can go down on my own.”

There’s silence behind me and I glance over my shoulder to see Gavin watching me with a considering look on his face.

After a few seconds he nods to himself. “Right. Well, you’ll just have to ride piggyback.”

“What?” I ask.

“I’ll carry you. Just hang on to me.”

It worries me that he may not be able to handle both our weights on the ladder, but I don’t have a choice. He scoots by me and takes a few steps down before I carefully crawl onto his back. I grip him around the waist with my legs, using my thigh muscles to carry most of my weight.

He slowly lowers us to the ground. When we reach the floor, my legs wobble, and I crash onto the floor.

Gavin sits next to me. “Are you okay?” I nod and he’s silent for another minute before he asks, “Are you sure we can trust her?”

“You asked me that before,” I say. “My answer hasn’t changed.” I try to stand, but he stops me.

“But she already said she wouldn’t help us.”

“Because the last time she did, she got punished. But she didn’t run to tell the Guards or Mother. We can trust her.” I push him away and this time he doesn’t stop me.

“It could be a trap to get you back into the Palace.”

“It’s not.”

“But—”

“It’s not, Gavin. I know her as well as I know myself. It’s not a trap.”

He meets my eyes and his are swirling with so many emotions, I can’t distinguish one from the next. “How well do you know yourself, though? Really?”

He has a point, and it stings, but we don’t have a choice, just like he didn’t have any other choice but to trust me.

“You may be right,” I say slowly, “but it’s better to move forward at this point than to sit around and wait for Mother to find us. It’s only a matter of time and, at this moment, we have the power of surprise on our side. She has no idea what we know. Or what we’re doing.”

Gavin looks at me, considering. “Why is it so important to get into Mother’s computer again?”

“I have to get to Mother’s computer because it can put us back into the system so the turrets and cams don’t take notice of us. And because she probably has the only true map of the facility, which while not strictly mandatory since we have the journal telling us how to get to the submarines, there might be something in this area we can use instead. The quicker we get out of here the better, and even if there isn’t any other emergency exit, then knowing what the scientist was talking about regarding EMFs would be extremely beneficial to me, since I know EMFs can damage my nanos. So if there is one, I need to know how to deal with it. Mother, I’m sure, has detailed instructions on the things. For her own safety, if nothing else.” And, of course, to find out what Mother was planning for me since I know the truth about almost everything else now. But I don’t tell him that, I just say instead, “And since no matter whose credentials we used, we couldn’t access her system, I have to go and get on to it manually.”

“You’re set on going to the Palace Wing, then?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’m going with you,” he says.

“No. You’re not.”

“I am. You can’t stop me. You couldn’t even make it up the ladder by yourself. You need me.”

I don’t say anything. I know he thinks I’ve given up and will let him go, but I’ve already made up my mind and no amount of arguing is going to change it. I will go to the Palace Wing by myself. I’ll just have to find a way to keep him from following me, which will be easier said than done.

Despite the fact I’d told Gavin the truth—I trust Macie completely—my heart beats a little faster. It is also completely possible I don’t know her as well as I think I do.

People do things that are completely out of character for them in the name of love. And there is no doubt in my mind how much Macie loves Nick.

But we’d been friends for so long. Would her disappointment over Nick be enough for her to betray me?

Turns out I have no reason to worry because Macie is alone and waiting for us next to the grate, and she quickly ushers us into her quarters before anyone can see us. She narrows her eyes when she sees there’s more bandaging on me, but doesn’t ask.

I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

The apartment is the same as every other apartment in the Residential Sector. But it’s smaller than the one we broke into in the abandoned Sector, since she’s sixteen and living on her own. If she and Nick became Coupled, they’d get a larger “family apartment.”

I sit on the couch and drink the water she offers, but Gavin is far less trusting—not that I blame him—and stops me from drinking the water until he’s had a chance to scrutinize it. He gives it back to me with a huff. Then he searches her quarters for anyone that shouldn’t be there.