Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion #1)(32)
Author: Aimee Carter

“You’re wearing all black, too,” I said, grabbing a leather jacket from the closet. I’d dressed in a pair of fitted black pants and a black silk tank top, and at the last minute, I’d crammed a matching hat in my pocket. If I tucked my hair up, no one would be able to see the telltale blond, and the silk scarf in my other pocket would cover the VII on the back of my neck. With any luck, I would have a chance of getting to the Heights without being spotted.

“So I am.” He offered me his arm, and when I wrinkled my nose, he chuckled. “Let’s go before someone sees us. Wouldn’t want to get caught before we even leave the wing.”

I trailed after him into the hallway, expecting to head to the atrium. Instead he opened the door to his suite, and I hesitated. No matter how much I trusted him relative to everyone else in Somerset, that didn’t mean I wanted to see his bedroom.

“Don’t give me that look,” he said. “This is how we’re getting out.”

“I’m not afraid to knee you if I have to,” I said as I ducked past him and entered his sitting room.

It was exactly like mine, except decorated in navy blue instead of white. The fireplace crackled, and it had a homey feel to it that my suite didn’t. He led me down a short corridor, and I was so pleased his suite was half the size of mine that I almost didn’t notice when he opened the closet door.

“In here,” he said, and I snorted.

“I am not going in your closet.”

He shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He stepped inside and shut the door behind him, and I stood there stupidly, trying to decide what to do. I heard a rustle and a soft scraping sound on the other side, and with a huff, I yanked open the door.

He wasn’t there. I squinted in the darkness, pushing the jackets aside, but all that was behind them was wall.

“Up here.”

I jumped. Above me Knox leaned out of a hole in the ceiling with a flashlight in hand. The opening was too big to be the air vent I’d discovered the day before, and Knox dropped down a rope ladder.

“How did you find this?” I said as I hauled myself up.

He reached down to help me, but I pushed his hands away.

“Someone else showed me,” he said. “It doesn’t see much use, but it’ll get us out of Somerset.”

I pulled myself up into the ceiling. It was an entire walkway, high enough for me to stand, and I spotted a railing a few feet away. “Are the other rooms connected, too?”

“Just this one,” he said, covering the hole with what looked like a piece of ceiling. “C’mon, and keep quiet.

If someone’s on the other side of the walls, they could hear us.”

The layer of dust on everything made my nose itch, but I held in my sneeze. Knox and his flashlight led the way, and we headed down a rickety staircase that creaked underneath my feet. It wasn’t until we reached a heavy wooden door several levels below the basement that Knox spoke again.

“The tunnel goes on for about a mile underground, and when it ends, we’ll be on the other side of the wall.

Think you can manage it?”

I gave him a dirty look and snatched the flashlight from him. As I marched into the tunnel, which was dark and dank and smelled of earth, he chuckled.

There were no turns, so I didn’t have to ask Knox for directions. Except for the shuffle of our footsteps, it was eerily silent, and I could hear him breathing behind me.

Finally I couldn’t take the quiet anymore, and I glanced over my shoulder to look at him.

“What are we going to do?” I said. “Hang around a club for hours and drink ourselves stupid?”

“Something like that. Don’t you want to be surprised?”

“I hate surprises.”

He smirked. “I don’t blame you.”

We walked along in silence for a few more seconds.

“You said we’re meeting friends,” I said. “Shouldn’t I at least know their names?”

“Lila didn’t.”

“But they were her friends.”

“When you’re as famous and powerful as Lila was, you have lots of friends,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. Lila hated them as much as you will.”

I didn’t ask. If all went well, I wouldn’t have to spend more than a few minutes with them before I had the chance to slip away.

When we reached the other end of the tunnel, Knox took the flashlight back and led me up another old stair- case. This time the door was made of metal, and though it looked rusted, the hinges must have been well oiled, because it didn’t squeak when he opened it.

As soon as I stepped through the doorway, I understood why. We were in an alleyway somewhere beyond the walls of Somerset, less than ten yards away from a busy and brightly lit street. Knox pulled the door shut behind him, and this time he took my arm without asking. His flashlight was gone.

“Just act natural,” he said, leading me to the street.

Despite the late hour, there were people everywhere, laughing and chatting as they leaned against the moving walkways. When Knox and I stepped on, heads turned our way, and Knox’s grip on my arm tightened.

The walkway made me feel like I was floating. There was a rail to hold on to, but Knox was sturdy, and I’d seen pictures of him and Lila out together. They were always arm in arm, so letting go of him wasn’t an option even if I could’ve wriggled away. With any luck, he wouldn’t be as strict about it in the club.

Above us, screens lit up with the same kind of news scrolls that appeared at the bottom of the television. The monitors secured on the sides of buildings loudly adver-tised different products for things that as a III I could never afford and as Lila I would never need, and I attempted to look as bored as possible. Lila had probably been down this street hundreds of times before.

We passed shop after shop, some with magnificent window displays showing off the latest in fashion or electronics, and others that belonged to the intimate cafés where only the rich could eat. They were the same kind of places I’d mocked before, knowing full well I would never be ranked high enough to get in. Now that I was Lila, every door was open to me.

Across the street stood the smoldering remains of a small building, the only reminder that this wasn’t paradise. From the way it still smoked, I was sure it was one of the buildings that had been bombed the night before.

Orange barriers blocked the walkway beside it, and at least a dozen Shields lined the perimeter, each holding a rifle.

Panic slithered through me. The Shields in the Heights were always on the lookout for someone to arrest or kill, and we avoided them at all costs. But here, everyone walked right on by as if they weren’t even there. Was that what being a V and VI meant? Never having to fear the Shields?