Page 131 of Breaker

I pretend a lot of things.

The door behind us opens, and Fallon walks in, and the air in the room changes. Becomes thick. He’s not wearing one of his suits and little alarm bells clang in my head. Fallon rarely wears a uniform like ours, but today, the gray pants and shirt match mine. There’s a long wooden box under his arm, but I know better than to ask him what is inside. He’ll tell me if he wants me to know.

“Syn,” he says, and I know he means me, not Viper. I still have yet to earn my name. “Come with me.”

A frown tugs at my lips. “I’m not done with my lessons,” I say, feeling Viper’s body tense next to me.

I’m the only one who dares sass Fallon, but the second his face turns cold, his features seeming to go flat, I regret the words.

“Come with me,” he says and walks back out the door.

With a glance at Viper, I scoot around the bench and follow Fallon out the door and into the hall, my breathing unsteady. I sort through the last few days, trying to make sure I did nothing wrong, but come up blank. I must not be in trouble.

The stiffness in my legs eases at the realization, and I keep up with his long strides, our boots clicking on the old vinyl tiles as we make our way to the back of the building. When we reach the heavy metal door that leads to the broiler room in the basement, my stomach lurches.

“We’re going down there?” Heart thundering, I do my best to keep the hint of fear from my voice, but I taste the tang of it in my mouth. We’re not allowed in the broiler room. Ever.

“You are a smart boy,” Fallon says, his tone not matching the darkness flickering in his eyes. Something odd glimmers in them, reminding me of the oily pools of water that gather in the concrete entrance at the gate after it rains. “So smart, that what I’m about to ask of you, I know you will never repeat. Not to your brothers, not to Cook, not to Teacher. And not to Commander Maxim.”

My stomach does that twisting, knotting thing. My mind races with a list of things he’d not want Maxim to know, but I don’t think there’s a single thing Maxim doesn’t know.

Fallon’s brow rises, waiting for my response. “Do you understand?”

I nod and say, “Yes, sir,” but I’m lying because confusion whirls in my head. And fear. Not just from the intense stare of Fallon’s ice-blue eyes, butwhathe’s asking me. To keep another secret.

Except this one feels like it’s going to be darker than my sweet, sunny Nanny.

He lifts his chin toward the door, indicating I’m to lead the way. My hesitation earns me a stiff shove. Scared of disappointing Fallon by showing fear, my palms smack the metal bar, and I push the door open. It hits the wall with a loud clang.

A drop of water hits my head, making my heart skitter with fear as we descend the damp concrete steps. My boots scrape as I take the last step and stop at the bottom of the stairs. There’s barely any light, just a bulb overhead, and I imagine dark things living in the thick shadows draping the corners of the room in darkness.

Then I see it.

Instinctively, I take a step back, bumping into Fallon’s solid chest. Confusion mixed with fear slides up my arms, making them tingle.

“Why’s he down here?” I whisper.

Without a word, Fallon brushes past me and approaches the bound and gagged man lying on what looks like a gurney from the infirmary. I stupidly wonder if Doc gave Fallon the metal table or if he stole it.

This is his school. He doesn’t need to steal.

A loud thud jolts me out of my thoughts as the man on the gurney struggles against his bonds and yells through the gag in his mouth

My eyes dart to Fallon. He sets the box down on a small metal tray table next to the man and stares down at me expectantly. I’m not sure what he wants me to do or say. I’ve seen enough movies to gather that this must me an evil man. I briefly wonder if he’s a good man who got caught by the enemy, like I saw in that one movie, but dismiss it because Fallon wouldn’t take a good man and tie him up.

Fallon isn’t nice all the time, and he scares me a little, but he’s still Father. He loves me but has to be hard on me so I become a goodsoldat. Besides, if he’s too nice to me, it will make my brothers not like me, so I’m punished with everyone else. I deserve it too. Fallon says my nasty streak gets the better of me, and I need to control it.

Like when Nanny told me I had to control the monster in my chest, not the other way around.

After a minute, the man stops yelling and thrashing. I step closer to see if I recognize him. He looks like a regular worker in the village, no one I’ve seen before. His white shirt is stained under the armpits, and his jeans are dirty. His feet are bare and I wonder if Fallon took them off, or if the man lost them.

I wonder too how he got down here.

“Who is he?” I ask again, keeping my voice low.

The sound of my voice seems to do something weird to the man because he twitches a little, like he’s surprised. Thenhe talks again, but the gag keeps him from forming the words properly.

He sounds like he’s saying,gid, hocking gid, over and over.

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