We sit in silence while Lena continues flicking between camera feeds. The endless cycle of placards, stomping feet, and distressed VIPs makes me sick.

I focus on my breaths, inhaling deeply to settle my stomach, get my bearings. The noise outside has risen to a fever pitch, anger and resentment bubbling out into the streets, pounding the pavements, swarming the civic centre.

A part of me wants to join them. They were my people. I was one of them. The workers, the downtrodden.

But the other part of me doesn’t belong. They’re not my people anymore. My people were abandoned, thrown in reform and used for slave labour, mistreated and abused.

And all of this was ignored. By workers.

It happened right under our noses, and I can’t say I didn’t know it, deep down. Part of me always felt like this was how the abandoned were dealt with. There’s a reason the thought of Reform always struck fear in our hearts. But feeling it isn’t the same as seeing it. Once you see something, you can’t plead ignorance anymore. You’re either against it, or you’re complicit.

I’m no different from the angry mob on screen. Just like me, they can’t plead ignorance anymore. They have to take action.

And all it took was my brother’s on-screen death.

I can’t stop myself from snorting in disgust, both with the mob and myself.

“What’s up?” Dani settles next to me, placing a hand on my knee and squeezing gently.

“Nothing,” I lie.

My eyes are drawn to Dani’s fingers—skinny and weak, the knuckles poking through the skin from weeks of hunger. They’re so cold, I can feel the chill through my cotton dungarees. I take their hand in both of mine and rub to warm their fingers.

“You really are a terrible liar, Kyla.” Dani doesn’t quite laugh, but there’s a ghost of humour in their eyes again—a ghost I haven’t seen in weeks. That familiar sparkle, a little dimmer than when I first met them, but such a welcome sight that I almost break down and crumple into their arms.

Almost. Somehow, I’m able to hold myself together. I have to. We’re still not done here.

We might be out of reform, but just like the rioting workers on the streets, I can’t sit idly by knowing what I know, seeing what I’ve seen. I came into this fight because I felt bad for what happened to Dani, and my part in it.

But something’s shifted since the warehouse. Since Harding hit me on the back of the head, when I was at my most defenceless. It’s not all about Dani, anymore.

Guess I’m still as selfish as ever.

“Come on, you little bitch…” Lena grunts as she clicks through more of the feeds, her eyes searching every corner of the screens.

“What are you looking for, Lena?” Dani asks. “Can you find Ike?”

Lena presses her lips together and gives a slight shake of her head. “Sorry, Lutz, I got nothing in the service tunnels.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Dani looks disappointed, but nods. “Then what are you looking for?”

“Sheridan.” Lena grits her teeth. “She’s fled the Civic Centre. Coward’s gotta be around somewhere.”

“What about Harding?” I ask. “He’s Sheridan’s number one. Maybe he’s guarding her.”

“Didn’t he follow you out of reform?” Frank asks.

“No,” I reply. “I’d have known his voice anywhere. One might have been Harris…”

His jaw clenches. “Ike told me all about him.”

“That bad?”

He nods, his glare unfocusing, as if he wants to murder the air between us.

I think about all the ways I’ve screwed things up for Frank, all the ways I could have helped, but only made mistakes, or, you know, electrocuted him. I thank the gods that he’s never looked at me that way. But it doesn’t take much of a stretch to understand what could make Frank hate him so much. I saw how handsy he got with the female inmates.

“I doubt he’s the only one,” I mutter, holding Dani’s hand tighter.

Frank’s cheek twitches with irritation, and he turns his burning gaze to me. “If he touched you—” His voice trembles, his knuckles turning white at his sides.

“No, it’s alright Frank.” I’m surprised by his reaction. Why would he care so much? If it were Dani, I could understand, they’d practically adopted each other as family. But I was still relatively new in his life, and not much more than a nuisance at that.

He squints as if trying to read my mind, then relaxes, his shoulders softening slightly. “Well, alright then.” He turns away and rustles through Lena’s food supplies.

Dani pulls me closer. I tuck my legs up and lean against their chest, savouring the warmth of their skin against my cheek. They stroke my hair, gently untangling it and smoothing it down my back. A tingle of pleasure trails behind their fingers, melting away the tension in my neck, my shoulders. I sink further into their arms, making a mental note to secure a large supply of Composure. If they have any chance at a normal life, they’ll need it…

At this thought, a question bubbles up like heartburn—one I really don’t want to know the answer to. “What do you think they’ve done with Ike?”

Dani sighs. “I dunno. Maybe they’re questioning him…”

Torturing him, I correct inwardly.

“…or maybe… uh…”

Or maybe they killed him. Maybe he’s lying dead in the sewers, rats picking at his lifeless body—

“I can’t do this.” I stand, brushing Dani away and getting to my feet abruptly. I feel bad for pushing them away, especially as I’ve been craving their comfort for weeks. But I can’t indulge it while people get trampled on the roads outside the door.

Dani looks crestfallen, but covers it quickly, nodding with a tight smile. “Alright…”

“No, it’s not.” I pace the floor in a tiny circle, ignoring Lena’s irritated tuts and Frank’s muttering as he rifles through empty cracker packets and tin cans. “I want to… I’m so glad you’re… you, again. And I’ve been dying to hold you for ages, to talk to you, to make sure you’re okay… But with all this—” I wave a hand at the CCTV screens, “—it’s just so fucked up, Dani. I just want this to be over.”

Dani stares at me for a moment, their expression unreadable. Then it’s like the skies have parted, and the sun shines from their eyes again.

Damn, but they’re too good at that. It makes me wonder if that light had always been an act, a mask they wore for the patrons. I store the thought away and lean in to give them a peck on the cheek. I meant for it to be quick, a pause button to come back to later, but when I feel their soft skin under my lips, I stay a little longer, absorbing every bit of their warmth that I can.

“Found you!” Lena calls out triumphantly, slamming her hand on the desk and making us all jump. “Thought you could hide from me, you little worm!”

Frank scrambles to the desk and stares at the screens, a small packet of nuts crinkling in one hand. “Where is she?”

“Warehouse 22. Just off Miller Square.”

I frown. “Premier Sheridan is hiding out in a warehouse? That’s the best they have?”

“Not a place people would expect.” Lena shrugs. “Maybe it’s temporary.”

“Then we need to move now,” Frank says, leaning so close to the screen that his nose almost touches it.

Dani and I share a confused look, enough to tell me they have no idea what Frank is planning either.

“What’s the move?” Dani asks.

“We’re going to meet with the Premier, and get an interview, broadcast it over the riots.” Frank grins at me, so wide that it makes him look like a wild animal. “And thanks to you two, she’ll have to tell everyone the truth.”