her arms around, trying to lose the tiny pins-and-needles feeling at the tip of her fingers. ‘It hurt, you know. Could you seriously not do that again?’
‘Let’s make a deal. Don’t run away and I won’t stop you from running away,’ said Vivian.
‘That doesn’t sound like much of a deal to me,’ M said as she undid the back of her suit. It wasn’t clenching tightly around her at the moment, but still, she felt better with the magnetized latch open. Then in an effort to keep the chitchat civil despite her hurt pride, she switched conversational gears. ‘So, the Maze, huh? It’s sure something else.’
‘That’s what they say,’ answered Vivian absently.
Getting Vivian to talk was like pulling teeth, but since M had been put in a full-body sleeper hold for most of the day, she was anything but tired now.
‘But you’ve run it, right?’ she asked. ‘Like, it must be standard training around here.’
‘Standardish,’ said Vivian, disappearing behind a partition wall to prepare for bed.
M sat on her bunk, still dressed in her Fulbright suit. Looking at the black webbing and wires, she felt like an off-duty superhero who hadn’t changed back into her secret identity yet.
In a pair of light and airy pajamas, Vivian breezed across the floor and into bed. Her hair was neatly combed and draped loose around her shoulders. M was suddenly ashamed of her rugged wear and rat’s-nest hair in a way that she’d never been at the Lawless School. Pretty wasn’t something the students did there. No, there was alwaysanother safe to crack or trophy to steal. Plus, coiffed hair and painted fingernails rarely survived the Box. Still, the allure of soft pajamas was a siren song to M. ‘Do I have a pair of pj’s, too?’
‘You’ll find everything you need in your closet,’ answered Vivian, who had picked up a book by her bedside.
M stood up clumsily and stepped behind the partition. Through her open closet door, she saw an empty hanger on the rack. Pausing, she stole a glance at Vivian’s closet to see her roommate’s lone Fulbright suit hung there, mask and all. The mask sat motionless and empty, and M couldn’t help thinking of the discarded mask she’d found months ago on the crash-landed plane to Lawless. The hollow eyes, the green webwork of wires – that mask had been a very unsettling sight. ‘Ugh, still a creep factor nine,’ she whispered to herself and shuddered.
Peeking from behind the partition, M saw that Vivian was engrossed in her book. Without a sound, she slipped over to her roommate’s chest of drawers. She needed to get her hands on Vivian’s tablet. That thing was M’s control board, and M didn’t like being controlled. Vivian had the tablet when she’d come back here, but not when she came out. It must be in the drawers, reasoned M.
But she froze as she was about to pull open the top drawer. Taped across all five drawers were tiny strands of blond hair: Vivian’s hair. This was an old and effective security trick. The hair was difficult to see if you weren’t looking for it. Once broken, it would prove that someone had gone through Vivian’s property. A trap like this had to be reset every day, assuming Vivian wanted to getinto her drawers, which meant using a new strand of hair each time.
‘Paranoid much?’ M whispered to herself, but then she realized that Vivian had a very good reason to be paranoid. She was M’s roommate, after all. M pieced together a scenario in which she swung for the fences tonight, breaking into Vivian’s dresser, cracking the tablet, and bolting to find her mom. But no, it was too much for right now. She needed a little more time to gather intel. When she had it, Vivian’s bombshell blond strands wouldn’t stand in her way.
M slid back over to her assigned set of drawers and found pajamas and a brush neatly displayed in the top drawer. So, following Vivian’s example, M quickly hung up her suit and changed. The new clothes were heavenly,
‘Let’s make a deal. Don’t run away and I won’t stop you from running away,’ said Vivian.
‘That doesn’t sound like much of a deal to me,’ M said as she undid the back of her suit. It wasn’t clenching tightly around her at the moment, but still, she felt better with the magnetized latch open. Then in an effort to keep the chitchat civil despite her hurt pride, she switched conversational gears. ‘So, the Maze, huh? It’s sure something else.’
‘That’s what they say,’ answered Vivian absently.
Getting Vivian to talk was like pulling teeth, but since M had been put in a full-body sleeper hold for most of the day, she was anything but tired now.
‘But you’ve run it, right?’ she asked. ‘Like, it must be standard training around here.’
‘Standardish,’ said Vivian, disappearing behind a partition wall to prepare for bed.
M sat on her bunk, still dressed in her Fulbright suit. Looking at the black webbing and wires, she felt like an off-duty superhero who hadn’t changed back into her secret identity yet.
In a pair of light and airy pajamas, Vivian breezed across the floor and into bed. Her hair was neatly combed and draped loose around her shoulders. M was suddenly ashamed of her rugged wear and rat’s-nest hair in a way that she’d never been at the Lawless School. Pretty wasn’t something the students did there. No, there was alwaysanother safe to crack or trophy to steal. Plus, coiffed hair and painted fingernails rarely survived the Box. Still, the allure of soft pajamas was a siren song to M. ‘Do I have a pair of pj’s, too?’
‘You’ll find everything you need in your closet,’ answered Vivian, who had picked up a book by her bedside.
M stood up clumsily and stepped behind the partition. Through her open closet door, she saw an empty hanger on the rack. Pausing, she stole a glance at Vivian’s closet to see her roommate’s lone Fulbright suit hung there, mask and all. The mask sat motionless and empty, and M couldn’t help thinking of the discarded mask she’d found months ago on the crash-landed plane to Lawless. The hollow eyes, the green webwork of wires – that mask had been a very unsettling sight. ‘Ugh, still a creep factor nine,’ she whispered to herself and shuddered.
Peeking from behind the partition, M saw that Vivian was engrossed in her book. Without a sound, she slipped over to her roommate’s chest of drawers. She needed to get her hands on Vivian’s tablet. That thing was M’s control board, and M didn’t like being controlled. Vivian had the tablet when she’d come back here, but not when she came out. It must be in the drawers, reasoned M.
But she froze as she was about to pull open the top drawer. Taped across all five drawers were tiny strands of blond hair: Vivian’s hair. This was an old and effective security trick. The hair was difficult to see if you weren’t looking for it. Once broken, it would prove that someone had gone through Vivian’s property. A trap like this had to be reset every day, assuming Vivian wanted to getinto her drawers, which meant using a new strand of hair each time.
‘Paranoid much?’ M whispered to herself, but then she realized that Vivian had a very good reason to be paranoid. She was M’s roommate, after all. M pieced together a scenario in which she swung for the fences tonight, breaking into Vivian’s dresser, cracking the tablet, and bolting to find her mom. But no, it was too much for right now. She needed a little more time to gather intel. When she had it, Vivian’s bombshell blond strands wouldn’t stand in her way.
M slid back over to her assigned set of drawers and found pajamas and a brush neatly displayed in the top drawer. So, following Vivian’s example, M quickly hung up her suit and changed. The new clothes were heavenly,
Similar Books
