The Sky is Everywhere

Chapter Nineteen

Fortunately the next two days pass faster than I thought they would, though that's possibly because my brain is constantly cycling, going over and over and over everything that I learned in Records.

I find myself watching Cole more closely, but she never gives anything away.

What was she crying about that day in the shower?

Fletcher seems like a reasonable guess, but I don't know for sure.

I don't understand the mechanics of their . . . can I call it a relationship? But I do know that there is a serious imbalance of power between them – Cole doesn't have any. She does what Fletcher wants, and I'm pretty sure that, on some level, she's afraid of him.

Even someone like Cole doesn't deserve that, but what am I supposed to do?

I can't approach her without revealing what I know, which I can't do because I don't trust her not to blab to Fletcher.

So I say nothing.

None of the Handlers approach me or show any kind of suspicion, so I assume that the missing photo either hasn't been noticed yet, or that it has but the Handlers think that they just misplaced it somehow.

Not being able to see Roan at all is the darkest spot of those two days, but halfway through the first day, something happens that's almost as dark.

Gavin is back.

When I see him at lunch, sitting with his friends like nothing has happened, my heart gives a horrible lurch. The black eye he gave me is fading, but I haven't forgotten it.

My skin prickles with anger.

As far as I'm concerned, he wasn't in Isolation for nearly long enough.

But there's nothing I can do about it; I just have to try not to let it affect me too much. There are bigger things to worry about.

When the third day finally rolls around, I make my way down to the fence as fast as I can without looking suspicious. Roan is already waiting for me, and for the first time he's already on my side of the fence.

I throw myself into his arms.

I learn that Roan has reported everything back Beyond, but that they haven't yet decided on the next step.

Fletcher's relationship with Cole is not enough to draw attention to the CC, especially when there's no hard evidence, but they are very interested in everything else I found out, and Rosie is doing some digging into what it might mean. I'm not entirely clear what Roan means by digging – apparently it has something to do with computers, but when he tried to explain it to me it was like he was speaking a different language.

For the time being it seems that there's nothing more I can do to help – not that there was, anyway. I can't risk trying to get back into Records, and there wasn't anything definitive in there anyway.

So for the next couple of weeks, I forget about the Trials, about everything I've learned, and lose myself in Roan. We meet every day in our secret spot. Sometimes it rains, but Roan brings an umbrella and props it under the trees so we can huddle beneath it, and the raindrops sound like thousands of heartbeats all around us.

He brings me a different type of chocolate every day, and I love every single one.

He tells me about living in London, about the busy bustle of the streets, and how he hates the Tube because sometimes it's so packed it gets hard to breathe. He tells me about watching the sun set from Westminster Bridge, about the way the light gilds the water of the Thames, and then he does something I never thought possible – he shows me pictures.