Page 124 of Crimson Flames

The weapon fires, sending a wave of shock, fear, and loss through me. We all flinch and bile raises in my throat, threatening to spill over when I realize that he didn’t shoot Cillian.

He shot a guard that walked in behind us right next to Rhea. The guard drops to the ground, blood pooling at his feet, and Rhea laughs the moment she realizes what’s going on.

A smile stretches across the boy’s face, looking even more unhinged than Cillian as he takes in our shock and the fact that none of us raised our weapons except for Alexi, who only raised his tranq gun.

The boy flicks on the safety before crossing his arms.

“Told you they were the good guys,” the kid says.

The other two at the table are breathing heavily as they glance around the room. “We only want out. Guards tell us people outside are bad. You didn’t hurt us when we could hurt you. You are not bad.”

The way his speech is broken reminds me a bit of Ami and Ani. Even though my chest is still trying to recover from the anxiety of losing my insane boyfriend, I step forward.

“We are not good, but we are honest. I give you my word that you will be safe and protected with us.”

The two nod as Damien and the girl with blonde hair stands, shaking hands in agreement.

“I’m going to get the guard they call Striker. He’s got a bald head. If you see him, don’t shoot to kill so this little one can do it.”

Evie gapes at him. “What the fuck is happening right now?” she nearly yells.

We don’t have to worry about the shot fired or yelling catching the attention of the guards because the rooms are soundproofed, but damn, her voice hurts my ears a bit.

“Do you remember when we all watched the Black Widow?” Cillian asks as he stands with the rest of the kids. The one on the end pauses for a second before getting up. Damien hands him a gun, which seems to help him relax. Four boys and one girl here means there are three girls and one boy left.

“Yeah,” I answer. I was hoping while we watched the film that it would give us an idea, but I don’t know where he is going with this.

“About two weeks ago,” Damien says, “right after we caught that Sullivan guy, Cillian and I used Lev to help send them a message.”

The boy who’s been silent speaks up.

“We got a message in our rooms. We’re allowed to have televisions, but we’re limited in what we can watch. The code name ‘Ghost’ came across the screen before the image of Ronan in his office came into view. We watched as he told you about what he did to us. Since then, Ghost has been sending us messages, encouraging us to stand against what the guards ask us to do. Last night, he said he was coming to save us.”

“Oh my fucking stars,” Evie says. “Is that why you insisted I order all of us these ghost pins?”

Sure enough, Evie, Alexi, Damien, and Cillian are all wearing a pin with a ghost on it.

“I want one,” Rhea says, stepping forward.

“Who are you?” the girl next to Damien questions.

“These idiots saved my ass at the last camp. We were supposed to graduate to this Hellhole soon or be sold into some bigwig families. Glad we never made it to either of those destinations.”

“Is that what the guards were talking about when they said we won’t be getting the new recruits?” one of the boys asks.

Cillian holds up a hand. “As fun as this is, I’m assuming the other four left don’t agree with our plan?”

The kids glance at each other before the girl nods at Cillian.

“They said they like the order and don’t want things to change. James doesn’t believe any of this is real. He has a theory that we’re all secretly in the Matrix, and he’s waiting for his ticket out via some magic blue or red pill.”

Cillian and Damien laugh before Alexi steps forward.

“Will you be upset if we tranquilize them in order to get them out of here safely?”

“Honey,” the girl says, popping out her hip and placing her hand on it. Something about her hair color triggers a memory just out of reach. She’s clearly a leader here, and most of the boys defer to her to answer the questions. “I will pay you to shoot James in the ass with one of those things.”

Some of our group chuckles as my mind separates what Ronan said and connects it to this girl. “You killed my mother.”

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