Graduation Day (The Testing, #3)(66)

Malencia Vale.



Age at Testing: 16



Colony: Five Lakes



Group: Wide range of aptitude



Defining attribute: Mechanical Ability



First round Testing: Pass



Notes: Strong emotional reaction to candidate self-termination. Will watch to see if this affects future Testing.



Second round Testing: Pass



Notes: Again, strong emotional reaction to candidate failure. Yet still completed this test.



Third round Testing: Pass



Notes: Unusual need to aid teammates when allowing those teammates to fail would bring candidate closer to achieving her goal. Her personal beliefs are in conflict with the committee’s criteria for passage to the University. However, strong demonstration of candidate’s ability to trust her instincts and persuade others makes her unique. I believe she is my best chance and have taken steps to go around my colleagues in an effort to aid and test her further in round four.





Best chance? I read the line again. Best chance of what? Was Dr. Barnes the reason Symon gave me food, water, and the vial that helped me in my interview? From what I see here, it appears he must be. But why? I don’t understand.





Fourth round of Testing: Failure recommended by staff. Candidate is not questioning enough of others and not committed enough to her agenda to do whatever is necessary for the country’s future development. Does not have a strong enough personality to make difficult choices.





Failure. I shake my head and read the words again. Not a strong enough personality. If the committee sought to eliminate me as a candidate, why was I accepted?





Interview: Candidate surprised committee with emotional restraint and strongly worded responses. Some have been swayed to allow her passage. Most have not.



Committee recommendation: Failure



Final result: Pass





Despite everything I did, the committee believed I had failed. Those words on the page make my knees go weak. It shouldn’t matter what The Testing officials believed. But seeing proof that I was not good enough or strong enough to them is like a slap in the face. My best wasn’t worthy of their acceptance.

“None of this makes sense,” I say, looking up from the folder. “Why did I pass The Testing if the committee recommended I fail?”

Raffe shakes his head. “It looks like Dr. Barnes intervened. Maybe that’s the reason Professor Holt has been upset about your presence at the University from the first day you arrived in her residence. She would have known you had been marked for failure and yet somehow survived. What do you think it means?”

“I don’t know.” And there is only one way to find out. I pick up my bag and shove the folder inside. “We have to find Dr. Barnes. Let’s go.”

Raffe glances around the room. “I don’t know if it’s important, but it just occurred to me what’s been bothering me since we got here. The lamp in this room was on. Dr. Barnes would never have left a light on all day by mistake.”

“Why . . .” I don’t ask the rest of the question because I guess the answer. Dr. Barnes left the light on because he wants people to think he is here. The Safety patrols that roam this street, even though all other officials are looking on the other side of the city for whoever set the explosives.

This is a trap.





[page]Chapter 18


RAFFE AND I look around the room for a sign that I am right and find it beneath the desk. A black box with wires and a blinking light. An explosive. Is it on a timer or is it waiting to be tripped by something else? It’s impossible to say. Only one thing is clear. “We have to get out of here.”

Raffe must agree, because he grabs his things and is right behind me as I hurry into the hall. We are halfway down the stairs when a door somewhere below us closes.

I turn off my flashlight and consider our options. Going upstairs will get us out of sight, but this is the only staircase down. If we hide in one of the second-story rooms, we risk being stuck in our hiding place. So I hurry down the stairs as quickly as I can. The front door is only about twenty steps to the right, but when I calculate the time it will take to get there, unlock the door, and get out, I discard that option. Especially since I hear the sound of footsteps from somewhere in the back of the house.

Grabbing Raffe’s hand, I race down the last six stairs, race to my left, and duck behind the sofa. Raffe joins me just as the lights in this area flare to life.

“You two, stay here,” a familiar voice says quietly.

Symon. If he’s here, what happened to Zeen?

Raffe stiffens beside me. He too has recognized the voice.

The carpet dulls the sound of footsteps as Symon climbs the stairs, but what I do hear makes me think more than one person made the ascent. A few minutes later, Symon calls down, “He’s not here yet. We’ll wait. Turn off the lights. One of you go to each end of the block and hold that position. The minute you see him, signal me.”

The lights blink out. Footsteps disappear down the hallway, toward the back of the house. A door slams upstairs. The minute Raffe hears that, he peers around the side of the sofa. He waits for a moment and then whispers, “Stay there,” as he slips out from behind the couch. Several seconds later he returns, taps me on the shoulder, and motions for me to follow him.