Page 33 of The Sin

“Teaches?”

“She’s very smart. I’m not surprised she was assigned a job there.”

Surprise wasn’t the word I’d use, either. I mean, I’d seen how everything was different here. But the notion of Jenna working, teaching reading and writing, was pretty unbelievable. Pretty amazing.

I thanked Lydia and set off for All Saints. My brain was crammed with all her helpfulness, most of which was useless for finding Jenna, but it wasn’t useless.

I’d rather be worked to the bone in The Smoke for measly rations.That’s what Jenna had said all those months ago, when she’d told us that she had no intention of graduating. When she’d insisted she desperatelywantedto be removed from society.

A kernel of peace settled inside me. Jenna wasn’t being worked to the bone in some factory. She had a boyfriend instead of marriage to a stranger. She’d never have to grow another woman’s egg in her belly.

I suspected she’d somehow found the life she wanted.

The community center was exactly where Lydia had said, tucked away behind the stone wall that ringed the church. It was an uninspiring square building with prefab walls that may once have been cream, but now soot and grime gave it the sickly, vomit color Lydia mentioned. The entrance doors stood wide open and I walked straight in.

A woman sat behind the reception desk, her back to a wall of pigeonholes. Her hair was snow white and her wrinkles cut deep, so maybe it was just old age, but there was a weary, trodden look about her.

Her gaze tracked me as I approached, her brows furrowing. “If you’re here for the sock and mittens drive, everyone’s already in the hall.”

“Actually, I’m looking for Jenna Simmons. She teaches here?”

“Mornings only, I’m afraid. Did you want to sign up for a class?”

I was a little old for a reading and writing class, wasn’t I? “Thanks, but no. I was just…” I was what? “It’s personal. What time will she be in tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow is Saturday, my dear,” she said.

I took her word for it. With my house arrest, I didn’t have a clue, what with one day bleeding into the next. “Okay?”

She regarded me with those tired, watery blue eyes. “Our classes run from Tuesday through to Friday.”

“Oh, right.” Which meant Saturday, Sunday and Monday before Jenna showed up here again. “Do you have her address on file?”

“Why would I have that?”

“I don’t know,” I said thinly, battling to contain my disappointment. So close, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to get to see Jenna. “In case she’s sick and doesn’t show up for work?”

“If she doesn’t show up for work, she’ll get docked a day’s credits,” the woman said matter-of-factly. “That’s her problem, not mine.”

Oh. Wow. Could she care any less?

I stared at her.

She stared back at me.

I blew out an irritable sigh, but decided this wasn’t worth the fight. Lydia was doubtful Jenna would be found at her official address anyway.

“Well, thanks for your time,” I said, even sounding sincere as my ingrained manners kicked in. She was an elderly woman, after all.

“Tell you what, if you’d like to leave a message, I’ll make sure Jenna gets it.”

When? Tuesday? I’d be back in Capra long before then.

“I’d really appreciate that,” I said anyway, because it was better than nothing. Maybe Jenna found a reason to pop back in here later today or tomorrow. Highly unlikely, but not impossible.

The woman grabbed a pen and scribbled down my message. I kept it short, giving her my first name only and the apartment address in Gardens...and I sincerely hoped I could trust Jenna with that sensitive information.

I honestly couldn’t see her running off to the Protectors and ratting us out. Either way, if she showed up in Gardens while I was still here, it was worth the risk. And if she didn’t, and if she did rat us out, Roman would just have to deny, deny, deny. I’d be safely home in Capra, and a warden’s word had to count more than a disgraced Capra citizen.

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