Between Burning Worlds (System Divine #2) - Jessica Brody Page 0,152

the other children explained. “When the Policier came to their town and started to arrest people.”

Perseus leaned in close to Chatine so that the other children couldn’t hear and whispered, “Just between you and me, I don’t think they’re going to find them.”

“Why not?” Chatine whispered back.

“Because when the Policier come, that’s it. You’re a goner.”

Chatine felt a squeeze in her chest at this little boy’s shrewd yet haunting observation. She glanced around the room once more. But this time, she found herself wondering how many people here had lost someone.

Just like Etienne.

Just like these other gridders.

Just like her.

“But they’re coming back to the camp tomorrow,” Astra said after plucking her fingers from her mouth. “They promised to be back for the cérémonie.”

“What cérémonie?” Chatine asked.

“The linking cérémonie,” said Perseus with an air of expertise that amused Chatine. “It’s a huge deal. Everyone comes.”

Chatine felt a sudden panic rush over her at the idea of any kind of social gathering with these people. “Well, I’ll probably skip it.”

Perseus stared at her as though she had just arrived from one of the farthest planets of the system. “No one skips a linking cérémonie,” he said with a snort. “If you live here, you have to come.”

- CHAPTER 43 - ALOUETTE

“AND NOW THE SECOND SEQUENCE,” Alouette whispered into the darkness. “Ghostly Stars.”

Wheeling her arms in front of her, she took three graceful steps forward. The dark skies of Albion seemed to echo her movements with their glowing moons and thousands of twinkling pinpricks of light.

“In this sequence we give thanks to the journey of our ancestors, who traveled far from their dying First World through endless space to establish a new life.”

Sister Laurel’s voice whispered in Alouette’s memory as she moved through the sequence on the square patch of grass behind the small house. She knew she should probably stay inside, where Dr. Collins assured them it was safe. But after so many years living underground in a hidden-away Refuge, she yearned for these new sensations of being outside. The feeling of a breeze on her skin. The cool and dewy suck of grass under her bare feet. The curious sounds of a small sleeping town.

Alouette moved on to the next sequence, Orbit of the Divine. But with this movement, as her right arm arched up, she felt it. The thud and crack of her elbow meeting the officer’s jaw. Her mind shifted back to Montfer and the Policier Precinct, remembering the electricity that had charged through her body. The ease with which her legs had kicked, her fists had flown, and her elbows had jabbed.

She picked up speed, moving faster now, through The Darkest Night, The Gray Cloak, and on to Elevate the Meek. Just as she had back in Montfer, she felt the strength of the moves. Their power. Their precision. Their secrets. Their—

The back door of the house opened with a soft creak, startling Alouette. She wobbled and nearly fell over. But a hand reached out to catch her. When she looked up, she saw Gabriel’s big grin glinting in the darkness.

“Sorry,” he muttered, looking sheepish for breaking her concentration. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay,” Alouette said, catching her breath and finding her balance.

Gabriel let go of her waist and took a seat on the small flight of stone steps that led down to the tiny garden. “I couldn’t stay in that house any longer. I was going out of my mind.” He took a deep breath, but it did little to relax the taut muscles around his neck.

Alouette sat down next to him, wiping the beads of sweat from her brow. “Are you okay?”

“Sure, yeah, fantastique. The general wants to turn me into a weapon. So, you know, just another day in Third Estate paradise.”

Alouette watched as his fingertips found their way under his sleeve and traced the bottom edge of his Skin, instantly reminding her of how much more real and terrifying this must be for him. Someone who actually was in danger of becoming one of the general’s weapons.

She reached up to touch the scar on her wrist, where her own Skin used to be. She couldn’t remember what it felt like to have one. Sister Denise had removed it when she and Hugo had first come to the Refuge. What must it feel like to have something implanted inside your body? Something watching over you, monitoring you, tracking you. Something that you can’t escape from.

“Manacles of the mind,” Sister Jacqui had always called them.

But