UnBound - Neal Shusterman Page 0,72

no talk to you.” And he quickly leaves, his key chain jangling as he hobbles off.

6 • Kunal

The American boy is crazy. This proves it. And yet Kunal can’t get Colton’s voice out of his mind. You don’t have to be the doctor’s trained monkey. That’s all he is, isn’t he? A pet. An animal that the doctor can teach to do tricks for his amusement. Climb trees. Speak English.

That night Kunal ices his aching ankles as he always does, but later, after all but the night guards are asleep, he leaves his upstairs room. Stealthily he creeps along the balcony that circles the courtyard to the spot where the tree’s heavy branches come close to the building. Then he leaps into it, shimmying down in silence until he reaches the base. To the guards on patrol the tree is a blind spot. Their attention is on the gates, the doors, the barriers that either keep people in or keep people out.

Ignoring his fear of what might be down there, Kunal scrapes at the dirt around the hole between the roots, using all four of his hands, until he creates an opening more than a foot wide. He can’t see down into the darkness. He drops a stone in. It takes at least a second before he hears it strike bottom. Colton is right; this is more than just a hole. Quickly he covers it with leaves and twigs. No one must know about this. The doctor has many secrets. Now Kunal has one too.

• • •

In the morning Sonthi arrives with three AWOLs: Colton’s two remaining roommates and a girl with tattoos who Kunal has not seen before.

Kunal hurries to the doctor’s side, knowing it is the best place to be when something happens that’s not on the schedule. Were he anywhere else, and the doctor called for him, he’d take out his wrath on Kunal, rather than just order him about.

“She wishes to see her sister,” Sonthi says with a wide grin. “I thought it was time.”

The doctor scowls. “Since when is it your job to think?”

Sonthi takes the rebuke in a simmering silence. Kunal knows he despises the doctor, but this is the doctor’s camp, and in the Dah Zey disrespect to a superior is punishable by death.

Then the girl shouts, “You bastards broke your bargain with me! Now I’m going to be unwound, and my sister is still a prisoner. The least you can do is let me say good-bye.”

The doctor ignores her. “And what about these other two?”

Sonthi shrugs. “They insisted on coming with her. I told them if they come they won’t be coming back. So I guess you have two new volunteers.”

7 • Colton

Colton hears the commotion at the gate, and through his small bedroom window he sees Karissa and the others with Sonthi. Right on schedule. The doctor isn’t pleased, and Kunal seems anxious, shifting his weight from one hand to the other. Colton leaves his room, which Kunal unlocked earlier today, and hurries over.

“So I guess you have two new volunteers,” he hears Sonthi say.

“I don’t need volunteers today,” the doctor says, and waves his hand dismissively. “Take them out of here. Their insolence should be rewarded with unwinding.”

The guards grab all three of them, but just then Kunal spots Colton approaching and meets his gaze.

What Kunal does next changes everything.

Colton watches as Kunal reaches down and jangles his keys ever so slightly, then gives Colton a nod. That nod says, I’m on your side. I’ll be your accomplice. Your inside man. It occurs to Colton how a single nod can alter the world.

“Wait,” says Colton. “You do need them, Dr. Rodín.”

All eyes turn to him. The other kids seem shocked to see him not in shackles. He steps over to Gamon. “Look at how slight this one is. You need someone small for your albatross wings, don’t you? And Kemo—he sits all day with palms turned heavenward. Put eyes in those palms, and then let him tell you what he sees.”

Stunned silence—even from the doctor.

“And this one . . .” Colton glares at Karissa. “The AWOL catcher. You should let her see her sister. Then add her inked arms—after all, she’ll be a close biological match, and it will bring you one step closer to having your Kali.”

Karissa looks at them in building confusion. “My arms? What are you talking about? What is he talking about?”

Then Sonthi laughs long and loud. “It looks like you finally found a kindred spirit,