Outcasts (37 page)

Shaylinn smiled at Jemma’s words. “Is that from a book or a movie?”

“Papa Eli.” Jemma tucked the end of the braid into the neckline of Shaylinn’s tank top.

“I miss him. He was such a sweet man.” Shaylinn fell back on the bed. “Everything was so much easier when I believed I was ugly and Omar would never, ever want me.”

Jemma brushed a loose wisp of hair off Shay’s forehead and looked down on her face. “Longing is good for a season. And while living in that wanting place might feel safe, it’s hiding from real life. Live your life, Shay. And seek out — ”

A knock on the door made both girls sit up. Chipeta came in. “Come quick — Naomi’s in labor.”

T
he sound of nine pairs of feet sloshing through ankle-deep water set Levi’s nerves on edge. He wished they’d all take more care and walk on the sides of the pipe — at least try not to announce their presence to enforcers who might be on patrol.

But despite what Levi wanted, he wasn’t fully in charge of this mission. Getting Ruston and Zane’s help tonight meant he had to trust them, like it or not.

He and Ruston had done a run-through that morning, so Levi, at least, knew what to expect. They’d already removed the storm drain cover in the alley and covered it with a maintenance sign, so there’d be little delay getting above ground. The bridge board was waiting there too, behind a dumpster. Levi was most concerned with Yivan, who’d tripped three times since they’d started out. He wished they’d left the fifteen-year-old klutz behind.

Soon they were climbing to the surface. Levi waited with Ruston until all nine of the men had climbed up. Jordan retrieved the bridge board and tucked it under one arm. They all had stunners on gun belts Ruston had provided. Even Mason had taken one. But they were SimScanners, not regular stunners. SimScanners read a target’s
SimTag, then stunned them, without the shock wires even coming out. And the best part was that the guards’ SimScanners wouldn’t work on the rebels since they had removed their SimTags. Levi greatly appreciated their odds.

The alley stretched between an auto repair shop and the back of the Nordic apartment building. Treasury Road wasn’t much wider than the alley. There were no streetlamps. The west side of the road butted up against a fence that was the back of the ColorCast lot, where they filmed much of what appeared on TV. The east side of the road was the back end of the auto repair shop. From where the road dead-ended at the Midlands wall, it stretched about 100 yards to where it met Eammons, which edged the north side of the Rehabilitation Center.

Levi didn’t like being so close to the RC. He removed his SimScanner from his belt and held it by his side.

“Okay,” Ruston said, stopping behind the Nordic, where the smell of clean laundry blew strong. “Farran, Nash, Levi, Mason, and Jordan — with me. The rest of you, wait here. We shouldn’t be long.”

Ruston led Levi and the others down the road, which had no sidewalk until they reached Eammons. They circled the building and stopped outside the front entrance.

“We’re at the Nordic,” Ruston said. “You ready, Zane?”

Zane’s answer came as a soft gurgle from Ruston’s SimTalk implant. “Ready. I own the cameras.”

Ruston pushed through the front entrance and walked toward the elevators. Levi followed, nerves on high alert, scanning the tiny lobby for the doorman.

No sign.

Ruston reached the elevator and turned. “No doorman, Zane.”

“He was there a minute ago,” came Zane’s muffled reply.

“Should we go?” Mason asked.

Levi was just as anxious to get out of sight. “Not if we don’t want to happen upon him on the way back down.”

Ruston took a deep breath and panned his gaze across the lobby. “He can’t have gone far, and we need to take him out.”

“Maybe he went up to one of the residents’ apartments to deliver something,” Mason said.

Levi started to walk the perimeter of the lobby. It was small, about the size of a living room, with glass windows facing the street. In the far corner opposite the elevator, Levi passed a door to the stairwell. Three more steps, and he came to another door. This one said “Restroom.” A stripe of yellow light lit a crack at the bottom of the door.

Levi snapped his fingers three times. The men’s gazes locked on his, and he pointed to the bathroom door.

Ruston and Farran came running, clutching their SimScanners. A quick look and Ruston said, “Farran, come with me. Levi, stand watch.”

Ruston pulled open the bathroom door and entered, Farran on his heels. Mason joined Levi next, then Jordan, who set down the board and made to follow the men into the bathroom, but Levi stopped him.

“They got it, Jordan.”

A loud bang preceded a man’s shout. “What are you doing? Get out of here!”

Jordan chuckled, delighted with the situation. “They got the maggot on the pot.”

Levi rolled his eyes at his friend’s boorish sense of humor.

A minute later, the bathroom door opened, and Farran stuck out his head. “Nash. We need you.”

Nash walked past Levi and Jordan and went inside.

“I’m stronger than that weed,” Jordan said.

Jordan was simply anxious to be put to good use. “You’ll get your chance to be a hero,” Levi said. “For now, we trust Ruston.” No matter how hard that might be.

Another minute passed, and the three men exited, Nash wearing an extremely tight doorman’s shirt.

“Go fetch the others,” Ruston told Farran, who headed for the exit.

“What’s this?” Jordan asked Nash.

“My dim brother neglected to warn us that the doorman was a child,” Nash said.

“Shortest man I’ve ever seen,” Ruston said. “Skinny too. No way Farran could fit into his uniform.”

“I couldn’t get his pants past my knees,” Nash said.

Jordan busted up laughing.

Farran returned with Beshup and the three Jack’s Peak teens. Ruston, who was wearing gloves, pressed the Up button on the elevator, and the door slid open immediately.

Inside, Ruston hit the button for five and the elevator sailed up. From the fifth floor, Zane worked his grid magic and unlocked the door to the stairs that led to the roof.

A cool breeze hit Levi when he stepped out onto the roof. It didn’t take long to locate Penelope’s plank. It was no more than twelve inches wide and stretched four feet across the narrow space between the Nordic and the school. Five stories down there was nothing more than a dead-end alley with a dumpster. Anyone who fell would hit the ground hard.

Jordan walked up beside Levi and stopped, the bridge board under his arm. “I could jump that.”

He probably could. “But you won’t,” Levi said.

“I won’t. But I could. And my board is bigger.” Jordan hefted it out until it crossed the gap, then he moved it until it was right next to Penny’s board. Jordan’s was twice as wide.

“Levi,” a voice called out from the other roof. “Mason?”

Levi scanned the roof of the school and spotted Penny and Nell standing by a shed that looked like the access to the stairs. Nell squealed and jumped up and down. Levi waved and set his finger against his lips.

“Girls
,
”
Jordan mumbled. “If we make it out of here with everyone, it will be a miracle.”

“Then pray for a miracle,” Mason said.

Indeed. Jemma had promised to have the women praying all night, but Levi tossed up a quick prayer of his own.

“So what am I supposed to do?” Farran asked. He’d been planning
to act as the doorman downstairs and Nash as the lookout, but the tiny uniform had changed their plans.

“Cross over with us and perch on the edge of the roof overlooking the courtyard,” Ruston said. “You see trouble, talk to Zane, who’ll talk to me.”

While Ruston was coaching Farran, Levi holstered his SimScanner and crossed the board. Penny ran to him and gave him a tight hug.

“I’m so glad to see you,” she said.

Nell joined their hug, making it a threesome. Until Jordan and Mason crossed the board, then they each got double hugs as well.

“What’s the plan, Pen?” Levi asked.

“Nell and I are the only two girl thirteens. The thirteens and the twelves have their dorm on the fifth floor. The tens and elevens share, then the sevens, eights, and nines share — and both those dorms are on the fourth floor. Then the threes, fours, fives, and sixes are together on the third floor.”

Should Levi have memorized that?

“Is that the same for the boys?” Mason asked.

“Yeah,” Penny said. “Dakav and Etu, and Trevon, Jake, and Sakima are going to sneak out on their own and meet us in the courtyard, but you’ll have to go back for Joey and Brian and the Jack’s Peak boys. There’s six boys in the littles.”

“That’s what we call the three-to-six-year-olds,” Nell said.

“And the girls?” Levi asked. “You were able to warn them all?”

“Yep,” Penny said. “They should be waiting, if they didn’t accidentally fall asleep.”

“Are the dorm rooms locked?” Mason asked.

“Not the rooms, but the buildings are. That’s why I wanted the bigger boys to help, so they could prop open the door to the boys’ building.”

“And what about guards?” Ruston asked.

“There are two, but they only guard the front entrance to the school.”

“They play Wyndo games all night,” Nell said.

Good. Levi would take any distraction he could get. “So, my team needs to get Meghan from the fifth floor — ”

“No, we got Meghan. She’s guarding in the stairwell.”

Penny would make a smart elder one day. Levi clarified, “So, my team needs to stop on four and three?”

“Two stops on four and one on three,” Pen said.

“And I only need to meet the boys in the courtyard, then go back up to three?” Mason asked.

“Right.”

Excellent. “Pen, lead the way,” Levi said.

Penny took them into the stairwell, where they met Meghan. After a quick hug, they followed Penny down two flights of stairs to the fourth floor.

“Ruth and Lucy’s room is on the left-hand side of the hallway,” she said. “And the Hs are on the right: Hailey, Heather, and Haiwee. You guys should wait in the stairwell. Nell will go and get Ruth and Lucy, and Meghan will get the Hs. Once the girls are out in the hall, get them upstairs. Then you guys should spit up. Levi and whoever can come back down with Nell to get the littles, while Jordan and whoever helps the girls cross the board. I’m going to take Mason and his team to the boys.”

“Pen, you’re so organized you could have gotten out weeks ago,” Levi said.

“Maybe. But I didn’t know where to go once I got out. Come on, Mason.”

Mason grabbed Levi’s shoulder. “Good luck, brother.”

“And to you,” Levi said.

Ruston stopped by Levi as he passed. “If you can free more children, we’ll provide for them.”

“I’ll try,” Levi said, though he didn’t see how to manage it when there was no time to try to explain who they were. Children would be terrified of strangers in the night trying to steal them from their beds.

Penny continued down the stairs with Mason, Beshup, and Ruston.
Levi took out his SimScanner and followed Nell out into the dark hallway, but Nell waved him back.

“Just wait in the stairs,” she said. “If one of the caretakers comes out and sees girls, she’ll get mad at us. But if she sees a man, she’ll call the guards.”

“Okay,” Levi said, backing into the stairwell. Bossy things, these girls were.

Jordan had his SimScanner in hand too. “At least there’s a window in the door.”

“I hate leaving this up to them,” Levi said, “but I guess they know this place better than we do.”

Levi watched through the window, his heartbeat thudding in his ears. Finally Nell came out. But she had five girls, not two.

“How many was she supposed to bring?” Jordan asked.

“Two,” Levi said, cracking the door open.

Ruth came through first. She met Levi’s gaze and beamed. Again he set his finger over his lips. Girls were a bundle of squeals, weren’t they?

Next came the three strangers, then Lucy and Nell.

“What’s this?” Levi asked.

“This is Chetta, Ren, and Leebelle,” Lucy said. “They want out.”

“I hate it here,” one of the girls said. “The others are mean to me, and I love Lucy.”

Lucy hugged her and the girl hugged her back.

“Our caretaker makes me do more chores than anyone else,” another girl said.

“The boys are always picking on me,” said the third. “I hate boys. But not you, because you’re our heroes, like the Owl.”

“Do you know the Owl?” the second girl asked Levi.

“I do, actually,” Levi said. “He’s my brother.”

Nell squealed and clapped her hands. “I knew it was Omar! He’s obsessed with owls and — ”

Levi clamped a hand over Nell’s mouth. “Enough of this. Yes, you can all come, but only if you stop talking.” He turned to Jordan. “Run
them upstairs. Start getting them across to the other roof. I’ll send Nodin up with the next bunch, then Yivan and I will follow with the third group.”

Jordan holstered his SimScanner and saluted him. “You got it, Elder Levi.” Then he started up the stairs with the girls.

Nell ran back out into the corridor. Levi watched through the window. After a few minutes, two of the Hs — the girls from Jack’s Peak — were coming back with Nell. Levi opened the door and the girls ran into the stairwell.

“Where is Hailey?” he asked Nell.

“She and her friend are trying to talk another girl into coming. The girl wants to come, but she’s scared. I’m afraid they’re going to wake the others.”

Levi looked to Nodin, then Yivan. “Stay here. Girls, we need silence.” Then he said to Nell, “Show me.”

Nell pattered down the hallway and into the dorm room. Levi followed and peeked in. It was dark, but he could hear the harsh whispers of girls to his left. His eyes adjusted, and he recognized Hailey. A quick scan of the room showed that the other girls were asleep.

He crept into the room and toward Hailey and her friends.

“Levi!” Hailey whispered. “She’s scared to come.”

Hailey and a second girl were standing beside the bed of a third, who was sitting cross-legged, tears running down her face.