Page 103 of The Divide that Binds Us

“We cannot even violate the Code of Superiors if we wanted to.”Frank’s mouth drops.“My goodness, what kind of binding agreement are we in?”

Evelyn frowns, the apprehension is clear on her statuesque face.“One that prioritizes the world ending first before we act.”

Chapter 22

The Advantage

Elite: Alice

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Afew days of layinglow turns into a few weeks.What’s worse is the ankle monitor I have to wear that’ll go off if I leave the island.I can’t leave the base anymore either.I’ve paced between my room, the cafeteria, and the infirmary to visit Evangeline, who is now on a breathing tube.My healing won’t work and neither will visits to her tree.It’s hopeless.It all feels hopeless now.

I sit cross-legged on my bed, bitterly folding laundry with sloppy folds because I can’t relax my simmering rage from losing my mind.

It’s been weeks, Nicholas is probably besties with all of Mildred’s peeps by now.Or dead.

The metal bed frame creaks until Billie’s head emerges into my view, showering her stray blond strands onto our just swept floor.Usually, it’s funny, but today it’s not and it’s taking everything in me to not snap.Billie flips the rest of her body over the railing of her top bunk and lands perfectly on her feet.She launches herself onto me and ruins the pile of clothes I’ve unsuccessfully folded.My nerves kick in, so I shove her off and wipe off all the blond strays and try to hand sweep it off the bed.

“You usually laugh when I do that,” Billie says.

I grind my teeth.“Not today.”

“Alice.”

My hand freezes in mid-sweep as I look at her.Arms and legs crossed, Billie sits in black, baggy basketball shorts with an oversized plain, indigo shirt.Her brows are drawn close together and her frown is carved deep on her tanned face.

“There’s a rumor going around that Elite might get shutdown,” she whispers.

“Because of me,” I mumble.

“This is scary and it’s not your fault no matter what anyone says.”Her voice is wobbly.“People don’t understand mental health is worse as a Spirit User because we’re constantly scrutinized for not being perfect.We also don’t always have full control of these powers.”

I grab the black basket from the floor and shovel all the now unfolded clean clothes in there to make room for me to scoot closer to Billie and wrap my arms around her.Her body shakes, but she slowly hugs me back and rests her head on my shoulder.

“Hey, thank you.For everything,” I muffle in her shirt.She pulls away and sniffs.“I’ve been...ashamed of what I did, and I don’t know how I did it.My fear for Evangeline and Nicholas has heightened because I feel so powerless.”

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