story ended, she would do it all over again. A million times again. It was the only thing that she had ever felt.
At least she’d gone out in a blaze. A shooting star.
Elodie pressed her teeth against her bottom lip. “Want to know something?” she asked without listening for an answer. “I never stopped reading those banned books.” If she was going to be sent in front of the Council to have her life rewritten, she’d go without any secrets. At least, she’d go without any secrets she owned. Other secrets—Eos secrets, Aiden secrets, even Fujimoto sister secrets—they weren’t hers to tell.
Astrid’s quakes calmed, replaced by short, hiccup-laden sniffles. “I got one. My first one.” She peeked out above her hands. “My first banned book.”
Elodie’s breath stuck in her throat. Astrid’s rigid rule-following was why she’d run from the fair without giving Elodie a chance to explain. It was why they were sitting in a made-up version of a real place that Elodie would never be able to visit. And not because her family couldn’t afford air travel. No, it was now because her rule-abiding “bestie” had condemned her to a life much more oppressed than the one she’d tried to escape.
Astrid pulled a silver square from her toolbelt and set it on the ground, where it morphed into a slim black bag. Astrid was a VR-code genius. She pulled the bag onto her lap, dug through the outer pocket, and pulled out a book. Sinister clouds burned rusted orange against the cover of the worn paperback. “The image reminded me of the Zone Seven news reports.”
Elodie held out her hand and Astrid passed her the book. Its weight shocked her. It felt as real as any she owned. The VR tech improved all the time. She smoothed her fingers over the cottony pages, soft from decades of wear. The color had worn off the embossed title, but the font’s echo was still legible—Poison Princess.
Astrid inched closer. “It was my sister’s. Can you believe Thea had a banned book?”
A knowing grin tickled the corner of Elodie’s mouth as she slid her thumb down the book’s spine.
Astrid reached out and traced the cover with her fingertips. “There’s a sentence in there. Actually, it’s the first sentence I read when I opened the book to skim through it. Come, touch … but you’ll pay a price. It spoke to me in a way nothing has before.” Astrid balled her hands in her lap. “How could that be dangerous?”
If Aiden were there, he’d have a million things to say. But Elodie only had one. “It’s not.”
“If I were you, I’d be pissed at me.” Astrid didn’t look up as she spoke.
Elodie dropped the book onto Astrid’s bag. Her hands tightened into fists. Was the novel the reason Astrid had been so weird when they’d talked? Was this what her father was so angry about?
Elodie had nearly turned herself inside out the night before, agonizing over whether or not Astrid had told anyone about the kiss—and this is what Astrid had been dealing with? A book?
“So you didn’t go to the Key and tell them about Aiden and me?”
“I did tell on you.” Astrid’s voice was tired and lost. “Both of you. That’s where I went when I ran from the fair. Straight to the Council. What you did, Elodie, was so, so—” She shook her head. “I never thought I’d see anything like that.” She stared down at her hands. “And I didn’t think that the Key would do anything truly bad …”
“You didn’t think they’d send me to Rehab?”
“I was busy thinking about Cerberus.”
Elodie dug her fingers into the pile of sand that had blown up against her shoe. “The Key isn’t telling the truth about that, you know?”
“Yeah, well.” Astrid’s voice trembled. “The Key isn’t telling the truth about a lot of things.”
Elodie blinked, her jaw bobbing as she gathered her thoughts. “You agree with me?”
Astrid’s eyes flooded and her neck corded with tension. “Council Leader Darby.” A sharp, ugly wail hacked its way out of her throat. “He sentenced you and Aiden. I knew last night, but I didn’t know how to tell you.”
Elodie’s teeth ground together. “It’ll be okay,” she said, more to herself than to Astrid. “It’s Rehabilitation. Aiden and I will get through it.” She swallowed. “I’ll get through it. It’ll be okay.”
“Death, Elodie,” Astrid wailed. “Darby sentenced you to death !”
A bleat of panicked laughter escaped Elodie’s chest. “No. He can’t.” She shook her head so vigorously