Rebel (Legend, #4)(33)

I straighten a little from my perch on the back wall. In the shadows, I know I look like little more than a moving silhouette, and no one seems to notice me as I swing to the crisscrossing steel supporting one of the side buildings and pull myself soundlessly up onto the lowest horizontal beam, then the next one.

I keep climbing until I reach the circuit breaker. The wires connecting all the ceiling’s bulbs bunch together here in the upper corners. Aside from those bulbs, this clearing is lit only by the weak light coming from the surrounding buildings’ apartments.

I pull a knife out from my boot. Down below in the clearing, Hann pats my brother on his shoulder.

The sight’s enough to send a shudder deep through my bones. I slash once through the red bulbs’ wires.

The entire space plunges into darkness.

No time to waste. I turn on my system’s grids. In the chaos, a series of thin, neon-blue virtual lines light up over my view, showing me where to go and where people are. I swing down from the beams one at a time, as fast as I can. My feet hit the ground in seconds. Then I’m bolting into the crowd, shoving past people as I seek out my brother.

I reach him. In my grids, he looks like a sickly green animation.

He lets out a startled shout before I clap a hand over his mouth. Then, without a word, I pull him with me and run. To my overwhelming relief, he doesn’t resist. He just follows me.

We dart through the crowds to one of the narrow alleys that other people are running toward, one that dead-ends at a nondescript shop, then leads out into a main street. Everyone around us jostles past, panicked that the clearing is being raided.

Somewhere behind us are Dominic Hann and his men. But I don’t dare look back.

“You followed me down here,” Eden snaps at me as we go. In the darkness, his eyes glitter once, livid. He doesn’t have a clue how close he came to death.

“You don’t understand,” I say. “That man was Dominic Hann.”

At that, Eden blinks at me. “So?” he asks.

“So,” I answer grimly, “you have no idea what you’ve just gotten yourself into.”





EDEN



Dominic Hann.

Daniel says his name again as we sit back in our apartment. For the first time since I can remember, he tells me about one of the missions that he’s working on. Apparently, he’s been on the trail of this guy for months.

He tells me that Dominic Hann is wanted for at least a dozen murders and has probably committed many more that have never been linked to him. Undercity victims indebted to him, unable to pay back their money. People who have crossed him, whether on purpose or accidentally. And now councilmen, given the murder that happened tonight.

“And there you were,” my brother says, pacing in front of the couch where I sit. “Having a conversation with the deadliest murderer in Ross City like you two were goddy friends.”

“He just wanted to profit off my winnings,” I say, trying not to show my shaking hands. In my view, I can see messages from Pressa coming in, each more frantic than the last. Your brother was there! she’s exclaiming. Are you home? I’m back at my dad’s shop. Everything just went pitch-black! Are you all right? Eden?

Can’t talk right now, I quickly message her back. Tell you later.

“Right.” Daniel flashes me a look. He seems even more annoyed as he notices I’m messaging while he’s talking. “Because that’s all a notorious killer needs, a few extra corras in his pocket.”

“He liked the design of my drone, he offered to be my patron so that he could see it race, and he pocketed a bunch of money for my win. He never seemed interested in hurting me.” My voice turns urgent, as if I’m trying to convince myself too.

I try to picture Dominic as a ruthless killer. But his calmness still lingers in my mind, the way he understood me with a single observation, more than my brother does right now. The contrast between these two thoughts makes me shiver.

Daniel stops right in front of me and sighs. “Eden, I know you don’t know what it’s like to truly live on the streets. I’ve worked my entire life to make sure that never happens to you. I know you don’t understand a lot of what happened tonight, or what made it so dangerous. But—”

His tone makes me recoil. I know you don’t understand. Like I’m still ten years old. Like I don’t know what the hell I’m doing with my life. “Don’t talk to me like that,” I say.

He frowns at me. “Like what?”

My temper starts to boil over. “Like that,” I say again as I get to my feet. “This isn’t a conversation or a discussion. We’re not even having an argument. You’re lecturing me.”

“You were down in the Undercity again! In a drone race! Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?”

“Then scream at me!” I insist. “Tell me how you can’t believe I did what I did tonight! Anything’s better than your pity!”

“I don’t pity you!” he yells. “My life would be a lot easier if you weren’t disappearing off to the dregs of this city every night!”

The Undercity is nothing but a pit of filth to him. When had he changed so much? “If the agency you work for wasn’t so tyrannical,” I yell back, “Pressa’s dad wouldn’t need to be a millionaire just to survive. We wouldn’t need to gamble on the races. And I wouldn’t have to explain myself to you as if I were talking to a damn stranger.”