Page 99 of Love, Nemesis
“But people—the people who needed that message—saw what they needed to see. Like it or not, Ana, you’re also one of the faces of the Resistance.”
Ana sat there as her brain struggled to process the way in which her world had completely changed.
“A lot changed in those two years,” Diane continued. “You isolated yourself and we thought that maybe that was the best favor we could give you, then Pat wakes up right as everything is coming to a head, Jasper goes along to keep an eye on you and keep Ares informed. The ROSE and that young Number were thrown into things, which works in our favor if they manage to kill Ivan.”
“This is what everyone really wanted?” Ana breathed.
“We want to be free,” Diane said, and Ana looked over at her to find steel in her eyes. “We’re done with keeping the peace, but my question for you now is, can you live with that?”
Ana eased off the bed, testing her footing. She walked around the room, watching her feet. She wasn’t sure how she ended up here. Life had taken so many abrupt turns and so quickly.
“It’s going to mean a civil war,” Ana said, “if not one huge, bloody battle. So, the people know Hailey has been collaborating with a Strike?”
“Some say it’s the truth, others that it’s just a conspiracy. There are different camps,” Diane said. “Hailey, as far as he knows, has turned anyone who will listen to us into a conspiracy theorist to the public. The best we could do was bring in the Mystics. They want what we want, The Great Light destroyed, and they’re immune to Hailey and the Var’s lies and threats.”
“I understand,” Ana said, standing by the light of the window and feeling the warmth against her face. She looked up at thesun and then walked back toward the bed before crawling in. She was fatigued from her injuries, and the news of the coming calamity.
But maybe Diane was right. Maybe Jasper and Ares were right. Maybe the State, the State she knew, was done with.
“You’ll be gone before it happens,” Diane added. “I just thought I needed you to have the dignity of knowing.”
“I understand,” Ana repeated. She tried not to imagine the farmland in flames or Numbers’ bodies out in the fields. She had to wonder now if the truth was truly worth all of that to them.
Why was it so important for them to get rid of The Great Light? Was an illusion such a thing to hate? Worth spilling rivers of blood? Were illusions such detestable things?
“You want the truth,” Ana said. “A world you feel like is real.” She repeated the sentiment, lying down as she looked at the ceiling. She’d forgotten what it felt like to want that.
“You’re going to die a hero,” Diane said, distress in her voice. It was rare to hear such emotion from her.
If Hailey discovered the symbol Ana had become, she’d die a criminal as well, an outcast to the last home she had. Lying there as she looked at the ceiling, she remembered the Bleeding Grin in flames, and then the State capital all the same.
But maybe that was just how life worked.
Diane stood up but didn’t say anything. Ana now wondered if Diane regretted her decision of telling the truth.
All of her friends had worked so hard to protect her, but she had a hard time not feeling betrayed.
Diane said something else, but Ana didn’t absorb the words. It was hard to rationalize how such a genuine gesture from her could feel so much like a knife in the back.
Diane’s footsteps headed toward the exit, and the door jerked slightly as if she’d started to pull on it.
“l’ll make the arrangements for your burial,” Diane said, restless.
“Diane,” Ana spoke up firmly, turning at last to look at her. “Thank you.”
“Yeah,” Diane replied, looking away before pushing through the door.
Ana waited there in silence as Diane’s footfalls trailed off. She slowly pulled her knees up to her chest, pressing one hand over her face. She sat like that for several minutes in the quiet, clutching the broken watch around her wrist and exhaling deeply.
The watch was completely silent.
Chapter 26: Angel in Embers
LETHE STOPPED IN front of the cottage door, Cal waiting beside him.
The boy was nervous and dazed all at once. Lethe couldn’t blame him. Not that he much liked the idea himself, but the Burning of the Strike had been a victory at the greatest cost, and visiting it would likely leave Cal with more than just nightmares.
“We aren’t going there yet,” Lethe warned. Cal looked up at him, almost startled by the sound of his voice. “I need to get someone’s help first,” he said. “And the clearest memory I have where I can find her…it’s not my favorite, but it’s not dangerous.”
