Free The Color of Rain by Cori McCarthy Page B

steely rims of his eyes. “But you’re a Mec genius. You could probably tell me what’s . . . I don’t know . . . 39,000 divided by 203.8.”
    He doesn’t even pause. “191 and some change.”
    â€œIs that one of your fabulous jokes?”
    He smirks. “Maybe.”
    â€œBut that’s the right answer, isn’t it? It’s a little sick that you just did that in your head.”
    â€œYes, but you’re missing a key flaw to Mec society. If everyone knows what 39,000 divided by 203.8 is, then no one is special. Being a genius is average, and being above average is scary.”
    â€œIs that why you’re here? Why you left the Edge? To be different?”
    â€œThat’s my business,” he says quickly. He drops the disc into his pocket.
    I touch my cheek; the soreness is gone. “Thanks, but that wasn’t the favor.”
    â€œAh, hell.” He grins, and just like in the backseat of the cab, I’m not prepared for how cute it makes him look.
    I spin and start down the hallway. “Don’t smile like that.” Thistime he jogs to catch up with me. “I’m not supposed to like you. Remember?”
    â€œTrue,” he says. “But can I ask you a question now? You’re not terrified to face Johnny? Not even after you’ve found out what he does on this ship?”
    â€œI need some answers, and he’s the only one who has them, right?”
    â€œHe has plenty of answers, but that doesn’t mean he’ll give them to you.” He stops at a glass door that looks in on a massive command deck. “Do whatever he says and you should be all right.”
    â€œWhat about my brother? Where is he? When can I see him?”
    He looks away. “Those are questions for him, but I wouldn’t ask them yet.”
    I touch the door handle, but I can’t seem to open it. “Let me ask you something then. You don’t seem bad either. What’s your game in all of this?” I glance at his com. “Are you trying to get that thing off? Are you trying to escape?”
    He tugs the door open. “If I was, would I really admit that to you?”

    The command deck is crowned by a wide window, giving me my first real view of the Void. Silver and white stars shine against a velvet black backdrop. Their magnitude and brilliance are so much more stunning than I ever imagined.
    I can barely breathe.
    Ben taps my shoulder, and I follow him around control panels and crew members. They don’t look at us, their attention poisedinstead on Johnny at the center of it all.
    And yet, the captain doesn’t seem to be doing too much of anything. When he looks our way, he motions for Ben. I’m dying to step closer to that window and the teasing parade of stars, but I follow instead. I need some truth, and I need to find my brother. He better be somewhere safe.
    He better be exactly the way we agreed.
    Johnny waves everyone else away from him. He slides his shoulders out of his suit coat and tosses it to me without a glance. The fabric is surprisingly heavy and drenched with body heat, but still it may be the softest material I’ve ever touched.
    â€œSo that little hiccup?” he asks Ben.
    â€œTaken care of.”
    â€œIt better be. But I’m more interested in how it happened in the first place.”
    So Ben was the one who had to handle the tripped alarm just like Kaya said. What kind of secret things live in this ship anyway? I shift Johnny’s jacket from one hand to the other, wanting to dump it on the floor.
    â€œI don’t know how it happened,” Ben says after a long pause. Johnny’s eyes have that flint to them that stirs up my arm hairs, but Ben is unmoving.
    Johnny turns at me. “Tell me, Rain. What good is a Mec on staff if he can’t sort out a simple security bug?”
    â€œIt branched,” Ben says. “And you didn’t give me all the pass codes.”
    Johnny