Page 26 of Regressive

Silas: Meet me at the Main House. I’ll explain then.

I hadn’t planned on approaching her, but now that Silas needs his kit, I catch up as she opens the front door.

“Hold the door,” I say, announcing myself. She turns at the sound of my feet pounding on the porch steps.

“Oh, sure,” she says, cheeks flushing slightly. “I was just—”

“I need to grab something for Silas,” I say, cutting her off before she is forced to tell a lie about where she’s been. A lie that’ll send her back down to that dungeon with Levi for Corrections. I step in the house and search the cubbies by the door. “Ah, there.” I spot the blue case on the top shelf and pull it down. “Silas asked me to bring it to him.”

“His First-Aid kit?” she asks, frowning. “Is he hurt?”

“No, I don’t think so.” I curl the handle in my fingers. “He said to bring it to the Main House.”

“Someone is hurt,” she says, eyes narrowing as she tries to piece it together. “Someone that can’t see a healer?”

I hadn’t even thought about it. Silas’ job… it’s not something I ask about. The things he is asked to do, the tasks Anex makes him perform… I’d rather not know.

Imogene and I share a look and I realize she understands this as well. She should. He’s healed her wounds more than once. “I’m coming with you,” she says suddenly.

I laugh. “No, you’re not.”

“Why?”

“Because Silas didn’t call you.”

“Call me? I don’t have a phone, Elon. No one in this community has a phone but the four of you.”

True. “I don’t know what we’re getting into, Little Lamb, and the farther you stay from the Main House, the better. Rex wouldn’t want you up there.”

“Well, Rex isn’t home, and since when are you afraid to show me the under belly of Serendee?” Her arms cross under her breasts, drawing my eyes down. When I drag them back up her expression has softened, her eyes pleading. “Let me help.”

It’s then that I realize I can’t tell this woman no. Not when she looks at me with those clear blue eyes and pink pouty lips. I run my hand through my hair and grunt, “Fine, but you stick by my side. No wandering off and if anything out of control happens, you get the fuck out of there, understood?”

“What could—” she starts to question, but I shoot her a look and she amends, “understood.”

Silas waitsfor us by the backdoor, forehead creasing when he sees Imogene. His eyes dart to mine. “What is she doing here?”

“I wanted to come,” she says, answering for herself. I shrug and hand him his kit.

I can tell he wants to argue, but there’s also a current of urgency vibrating off of him. He just jerks his head toward the door and punches in the code to disable the lock. Once we’re inside he takes a staircase that leads downstairs, then continues down a long hallway.

“What is this?” Imogene asks. I’m not sure myself, but a bad feeling inches up my spine. Silas has told us about The Fallen and how they live separately, in small rooms under the mansion. I’d never had an opportunity to see it for myself. No, I’d never wanted the opportunity. Sometimes it’s better to live in the dark.

“I heard from one of the girls that Charlotte is struggling.”

“Charlotte?” I vaguely recall the name.

“She’s the girl Anex reprimanded the day we went shopping,” Imogene says. “Anex punished her.”

The memory clicks. “For contacting her sister?”

“Yes.” Her hand reaches out to Silas’ and she links their fingers. “What’s wrong with her?”

He stops at another door and uses another code to get past the lock. On the other side is a long hallway, rows of closed doors, each with locks, on both sides. A small window looks into each room.

“This is where he keeps them.” Silas says, walking past several doors. Imogene makes an effort to look inside, but I push her along. I’m not exactly sure what happens behind these doors, but I don’t think it’s anything she needs to see. “Charlotte was sent down here to consider her Lapses. Why she feels the need to reach outside of Serendee for affirmation from her family.” Neither Imogene or I argue this, it’s a standard rule of the community. No outsiders unless they’re approved. “She’s a strong female,” Silas says, eyes sliding from Imogene to me. “But she wants to please Anex.”

He enters the code, and the door opens. The sour scent of body odor greets us.

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