Free Whispers in Autumn by Trisha Leigh Page B

by glass. Lucas drops my hand as we approach the doors.
    “Let me do the talking. I still wish you’d just go to block,” he mutters under his breath without looking at me.
    I don’t budge, earning a sigh. Though my outside fakes serenity, inside I’m shaking. I’ve never been to the center of any of my Cells, never met an Administrator. As far as I know, hardly anyone has met one in person. There isn’t any reason to come to the Administrator’s office unless you’re an Apprentice, and there’s only one per year. Ours is Leah.
    I wipe sweaty, slick palms on my jeans and straighten my back as Lucas pushes the red button next to the floor-to-ceiling glass doors and waits for them to open. Resisting the urge to clean the perspiration off my brow takes massive effort when the camera over the door swivels our direction. Lucas appears calm, as if he barges into uncharted waters on a daily basis.
    Maybe he does, what do I know?
    The doors slide open in complete silence, one retreating left and the other right. Nothing greets us but a breeze that lifts stray pieces of crimson hair about my face. I secure them behind my ears as the story Lucas told in the park the other day assaults my memory and twists my heart into knots.
    He said he overheard that conversation in the Administrative Center by walking past, but he must have lied. The glass is too thick to hear anything. But why would he lie to me?
    My mind searches for alternatives, ways his story could possibly be true. There simply aren’t any, unless he can hear through walls or the conversation took place elsewhere. I try hard, because I want to come up with a plausible option, but there isn’t one. I want to run and hide, but at the moment running isn’t an option. I can’t go anywhere without making a scene, and there is no way I’m letting Lucas goad me into exposing myself.
    I step as far away from him as possible without leaving the room, not missing the fast, questioning look he shoots my direction. We pass through another doorway and our footsteps fall silent as we stride onto a deep purple carpet. The room is empty except for the video screen, which takes up the entire wall to our left. It blinks on and we wait for the Administrator to appear. He slides into the chair waiting behind a desk, having to squeeze to accommodate his stomach again. A brief look of surprise passes over his face when he sees us.
    “Shouldn’t the two of you be in your blocks?”
    My mouth goes dry and my tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth.
    Luckily, Lucas doesn’t seem to be dealing with the same issues. “Yes, sir. It’s just…one of the students fell outside during exercise. He’s cracked his head pretty good and he’s not getting up. We thought someone should know.”
    The Administrator fidgets while the news sinks in, his exact reaction hard to pinpoint. A bit troubled, perhaps confused. He’s not displeased, exactly, just a bit out of sorts. This isn’t an everyday occurrence. Before he can answer, the smaller, private screen on his desk lights up and beeps. His eyes flit to the desktop display. “You may go, children. I will deal with the boy.”
    A disembodied voice squawks from his video screen before we shuffle from the room. It sounds like a woman. The only Others I’ve ever seen in person are Wardens, and they’re all men. I assumed Fire represented the single exception, though now that I think about it I see it’s silly. There must be women.
    “Not to worry, Administrator. Everything is fine. The boy is Broken, and a girl—your Apprentice—is also being taken for refreshing due to the incident reported after their astronomy lesson. Wardens have been dispatched to collect them.”
    I gasp involuntarily, prompting Lucas to grab my hand again and tug me out of the office. Once alone, I yank my hand free and walk ahead of him down the hall, trying to make sense of what we heard. The term refreshing is brand new to me, but they must be talking about Leah.