6 Digit Passcode (28 page)

“We really have no choice but to try,” Rin says. “They are not immortal; you saw that yourself. Their bodies can be destroyed just as easily as humans’.”

I really doubt that – I’ve seen firsthand how many shots it takes to bring down a Digit, and how few wounds can kill a human – but I don’t respond. The train careens around a sharp turn that sends me sideways against the wall of the compartment, and I wince as I feel the injuries on my neck pull open again; Rin doesn’t even move.

“But you don’t need to worry about any of that,” she continues after the train levels out on the tracks again. “We’re bringing you to Division 4 to run a few tests – we just need to be certain that nothing they did to you has affected your body in any way. After that, we have a safe place where you can stay; we have even made arrangements for your brother to be brought there shortly after you arrive.”

I don’t ask her what kind of tests her people are planning on running on me – I don’t really care anymore. My only thought is of Fray, and the new life we might be able to have together. Is it really possible for Rin to protect us, especially now that I know how badly Division 6 wants me in their possession?

My mother couldn’t be saved, but she gave up her life so that Fray and I could stay alive. For now, that will have to be enough.

Chapter twenty-eight

The first thing I do when we finally arrive in Division 4 – after a ride that felt hours longer than I’m sure it really was – is take a bath. I changed my clothes on the train, and used the on-board bathroom sink to wash as much grime off of my hands and face as possible, but I haven’t properly cleaned myself in days. Even at the camp, there were only showers, and I still felt dirty afterwards no matter how hard I scrubbed.

Rin takes me to a place she calls her ‘safe house.’ She says that this is where she took my mother when she ran away from home, and where she brings other people who manage to escape their own Divisions and seek shelter in hers. Apparently, this happens more often than I would have expected, because the house itself is as large as a warehouse and nearly all of the rooms are full.

I sink back into the warm water, feeling my muscles tense as my injuries are submerged, and rest my head against the edge of the bathtub. Every ounce of pent-up energy I’ve been containing since Rin saved me is washed away along with the dirt under my fingernails and the blood streaked across my chest.

I allow myself to relax for the first time in what feels like months, breathing deeply and swirling my fingertips along the surface of the water. The last time I took a bath, I was at Crissy’s house, on the day before the last time I saw her and her family. I remember how calm I had felt back then – how even my mother’s secrets and Tesla’s lies couldn’t take away from the fact that I had a brother and a family and a
home
.

What do I have now? I have a place to stay – not a home just yet – and my brother is alive. I am in no immediate danger, and I’m as close as I’ve ever been to finishing the puzzle my mother left in my mind the day she died.

Droplets of water gather on the edge of the tub and pool down its sides; I focus on the sound and let my mind wander. My body is warm and I feel so peaceful I almost wish I could stay like this forever. Did my mother feel like this too, when she lived here?

If she did, why did she run away?

***

Rin gives me the rest of the day to relax, and I take full advantage of the rare opportunity. I bathe until my muscles begin to ache, then wash myself again before bed just in case I missed a spot. I carefully brush each tangle out of my hair and tie it back to keep it neat; it has grown down to several inches below my shoulder-blades in the time since I left home, and it is so uneven in certain places that I know my mother would scold me if she could see it.

The room I’ve been given is spacious and luxurious compared to the cell I was kept in during my final day at the camp. The walls are all painted a light beige color that offsets the pale white tiles on the floor, and I’m guessing if I measured it, this one room would be as large as the entire cabin Dori and I shared.

I am served two meals in my room by one of the Digits who brought me here. I change out of my bloody, tattered clothing and into a pair of comfortable pants and a warm sweater that falls over my knuckles and reaches nearly to my knees, and I fall asleep in a bed that feels like it’s made out of feathers.

By the time Flynn comes to my door the next morning to get me, I am more rested, clean, and satiated than I think I’ve ever been in my life.

“I am taking you to another simulation chamber,” she explains to me as we walk down the hall. “But instead of being faced with your own fears, you will be completely cognizant the entire time. This is just an examination to make sure that the people who held you captive left no trackers or other data chips inside of your body. We need to be sure you won’t be followed, you understand. Division 6 can’t find out about this place – it would be the ruin of us all if they did.”

I lengthen my strides to keep up with her pace, shaking off the sleepiness that is still settled in my muscles.

“Why me, though?” I ask, knowing before I do that it’s likely I’ll get the same roundabout answer Rin gave me. “Why risk them finding out about you for someone like
me
? I know Rin knew my mother, but my mother ran away from here – Rin doesn’t owe her my protection. If anything, she should be
upset
with me, because I’m probably the reason my mother left in the first place!”

“That’s exactly
why
you need to be here.”

I expect her to explain her answer, but when she doesn’t, I quicken my pace until I am walking as close beside her as possible and say, “I don’t understand what you mean. I feel like I don’t understand
anything
. When is anybody going to tell me exactly
why
I’m here?”

“We have to examine you first,” Flynn finally replies, sighing and slowing down to give me a break. “Someone could be listening in on us. Once we’re certain they aren’t, then we’ll tell you everything. You are more important than you know, and you need to just trust us for now when we tell you that.”

She leads me down several hallways and up half a dozen flights of stairs; I assume the place we’re going to is on the highest level of the building, though I don’t know exactly what floor number that is.

“My mother didn’t trust you,” I say, sounding braver than I feel. I don’t know if what I’m saying is even true, but my mother
did
run away from Division 4 – she must have had a good reason for doing so.

Flynn smiles, but it looks more like a grimace. “And that was her mistake,” she says, so quietly I almost miss it.

“What – ”

She cuts me off before I can finish, holding her arm out in front of me and stopping in front of a door at the end of the hall past the last flight of stairs.

“There’s someone I think you should see,” Flynn tells me, her hand hovering over the doorknob. “He can explain things far better than I can, and I think you’ll be able to trust him a lot more than you obviously trust me.”

I feel a pang of guilt in my gut at her accusation, and I want to tell her that she’s wrong – that I
do
trust her. But that would be a lie, because I don’t trust anyone right now. Who could she have hiding behind this door that she’s so confident I’ll be willing to put my faith in?

The answer shocks me so badly my legs begin shaking, and I have to cling to the doorframe for support. I shake my head furiously, blinking as quickly as I can, but the image doesn’t fade. I feel to dizzy I can barely see the outline of his face, but I recognize him instantly. Is it possible that this is just another cruel simulation meant to mess with my mind?

Cautiously, I take a step forward and reach my arm out to touch him; my fingertips graze across his forearm, and I can feel heat radiating off of him that no simulation could ever create.

“Papa?” I tentatively ask, and he closes his eyes and nods, a toothy smile stretched across his mouth. Before I even realize what I’m doing, my arms are around his shoulders and I am standing on the points of my toes to reach my hands at the back of his neck. He’s warm and rough, and smells like cedar and vanilla. He is exactly as I remember him – before I watched him being shot down and assumed he was dead.

The image of his blood soaking into the carpet and splattered along the walls of my home hits me like a bolt of lightning and I stumble away from him quickly. I look him over more closely – he’s dressed nicely, cleanly shaven, and without a single cut or scar on his skin. He should be covered in injuries, after the fight he endured against two Digits with tenfold his strength combined. No, he should be dead. There’s no way they would kill my mother and leave him alive, and even if there was, why would he have left us?

His hair is cut short and pushed back around his ears and along the sides of his face, leaving his forehead completely bare; there isn’t a single spot of red on it, and there’s something about his features and the way body feels that tells me that he’s completely human.

“You can’t be…” I whisper, taking a step back. “You died. I saw you. All that blood…”

He moves towards me, but I put up a hand between us and he stops in the middle of the doorway.

“Everly, I’m so sorry.” I try to focus on the room behind him, the chipping paint on the side of the door, the spray of mud on the shoes that I forgot to change before I left my room – anything but him. “I didn’t want to leave you, but I had no choice. I did it to keep you safe. I only wanted to protect you and your brother.”

His words echo in my ears, but I barely absorb half of them. There’s a buzzing sensation spinning around my head and I feel so dizzy I sway on my feet. This can’t actually be happening – it’s not possible. It has to be another illusion. How am I supposed to know what’s real anymore? Did I even manage to escape the compound, or am I still there, stuck inside of another fear simulation?

A hand rests on my shoulder and I turn around so quickly the room spins opposite me.

Flynn removes her hand but keeps it held out. “He’s telling the truth, Everly,” she says gently. “Division 6 was planning on using you as bait to start a war – you know that. Your father came to us for help. Without him, Rin would never have known where to find you.”

I look at my father, blinking back the moisture in my eyes.

“Is that true? Is that why you left us?” He nods, keeping his head bowed. “Why didn’t you just take us with you? If you knew where I was going – what was going to
happen
to me – why did you just leave me behind? You didn’t even write to let us know you were still alive! You left us alone in that house with mom’s… with her… And this whole time we thought you were dead too!”

My voice gets louder the longer I speak, and by the time I’m finished there are tears running down both of my cheeks and my hands are balled into fists at my sides.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” His voice cracks, and I realize his eyes are wet, too. “I wanted to tell you something, but I didn’t want to risk the Digits of Division 6 finding out and making things worse for you. And I couldn’t take you with me – it would have been too dangerous. I only just barely managed to get across the border without being seen; you and your brother could have gotten hurt or worse if you’d come along.”

I sniffle and wipe the corners of my eyes with my sleeve. My father holds out an arm and I let him wrap it around my shoulders, but I don’t hug him back. I stand still, hiccupping sobs in the back of my throat, and feel so many emotions at once that my chest feels like it’s going to burst.

“You still could have… If you had just
done
something….” I ramble, without really realizing what I’m saying. “Fray almost got hurt, and Crissy’s family… And the things
they
did to me, the things I
saw
– you and Mama and Fray being murdered, dying right in front of me without a single thing I could do about it! I watched you
die
so many times, I can’t…”

His grip on my shoulder tightens, and I can feel the rumble of a sob roll through his chest against my arm. Flynn is standing behind us, so silent I forget she’s there, until she clears her throat softly and speaks up.

“We came as quickly as we could. Even with our advanced technology, getting you out of there was difficult – and the worst of it hasn’t even started yet. You saw the things they were training you for; they wanted to numb you, to take away every bit of resistance and
humanity
you have and turn you into the perfect soldier. Can you imagine what an army of nearly invincible people with no conscience could do? Because that’s what’s coming for us.”

I take a deep breath and ask, “What can we do about it? Rin told me that it’s basically pointless to try to guard against them.”

Flynn grins and says, “That was before we found
you
.”

“What does that mean? How am
I
supposed to be any help against an army of Digits?”

My father pats my down my hair and squeezes me in his arms one more time before letting me go and stepping away. He pushes the door behind him open farther and holds it, waiting for Flynn and I to follow him inside.

“Your mother kept secrets from you, Everly,” he says as I pass him. “And it’s time you find out just what they were.”

Chapter twenty-nine

“Just stay calm and try not to move.”

I roll my eyes; how many times have I heard that exact command over the past few weeks? Although, at least this time I won’t be staring down the barrel of a gun or watching my family die in front of my eyes. But, for all I know, this could be even worse.

The room we’re in is clearly meant to be a lab, but it looks more like a hotel suite. There are two huge beds positioned parallel to each other against one wall, with nightstands on each side and a lit lamp next to each one. The walls are painted a pale blue color that I expect is supposed to be calming, and there is a round table on the end of the room farthest from the door that has a computer and some other electronic devices on top of it. The only thing in here that suggests that it’s not just another bedroom is a tall metal dresser beside the table; when Flynn pulls open a couple of the drawers, I see so many familiar medical instruments that I feel like I’m going to throw up.

“It’s okay,” Flynn says when she sees me watching her; she puts the scalpel she’s holding back into its drawer and closes it quickly. “We’re just here to see how you’re doing. No experiments this time. I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”

I nod like I believe her and rest my head back on the pillow behind me, trying my best to avoid watching what she’s doing. I am lying on the bed closest to the table, and my father is sitting in a chair by my side, his hand palm-up on the mattress like he expects me to want to hold it. I don’t.

Flynn rummages through her supplies for a moment before pulling out a headband that looks only slightly similar to the ones I am familiar with. Instead of being a full circle, the band she’s holding is only half, and it looks like it’s made out of a thick, silver metal with a black bar in its center. It looks heavy, but when Flynn places it over my forehead I can barely feel its weight.