Free The Indigo Thief by Jay Budgett

classified as a Lost Boy—an enemy of the state. A terrorist in the eyes of the Feds. Just like us.”
    The room was spinning again. The ringing returned to my ears. My lungs cramped. My knees buckled.
    Bertha slapped me. “Pull yourself together,” she said. “We don’t have time for you to pass out every five minutes.”
    I shook my head. Things snapped back into focus. Kindred dropped a stack of clothes at my feet. Among them was a new skirt—and a blond wig. She hadn’t been kidding.
    “I’m—I’m sorry,” I said. “Really sorry. It’s—it’s just a lot to take in.”
    The Feds thought I was a Lost Boy. If they found me, they’d torture and kill me. There had to be a way out of this. A way to clear my name and turn in the real terrorists—or thieves, or whatever they were.
    And then a thought struck me: if the Feds thought I was one of the Lost Boys, what had they done to Charlie? I’d tried to swim to her; they must know she was with me. Did they think she was a Lost Boy, too?
    “What happened to Charlie?” I asked.
    Bertha snickered. “ They’re all terrorists, Charlie! ”
    “Your friend?” said Mila. I nodded. “Feds got her. Wouldn’t worry about her now. No use. She’s a goner.”
    The Feds got her. The baddies, as Kindred called them. But she was still alive, at least. There was hope. She hadn’t drowned, and the sharks hadn’t gotten to her. There was still a chance I could save her.
    Friendship was a powerful thing. In an age where families weren’t forever, friendships were our only buoyancy. I had to save Charlie, no matter what the cost.
    But there’d be no saving Charlie until I left New Texas, and there was no escaping New Texas without the Lost Boys’ help. Not when I was a wanted criminal. So it looked like I’d have to stick with the Lost Boys, at least temporarily.
    My breath caught in my throat. What had the Feds done to Mom? She’d been at home when the accident on the Tube had happened. Had they arrested her, too? Maybe the Lost Boys knew. “And my mom?” I asked quietly.
    The group fell silent. Mila stared at the ground, and Phoenix shook his head. “I’m afraid they got her too. She’s gone.”
    “The Feds have her, like Charlie?”
    Phoenix rubbed his jaw. “Unfortunately, no. She resisted arrest when the Feds stormed your home.”
    My heart beat faster. “What happened? What’d they do to her?”
    He put a hand to his mouth. “I’m sorry, Kai. She—she’s dead.”
    Tears rolled down my cheeks like rain. Mila tightened her jaw.
    Kindred, however, fixed me with an odd look and shook her head ever so slightly. She mouthed a silent “no”. I was the only one who saw.
    Kindred was telling me that Phoenix was lying. I didn’t understand why, but at that moment I didn’t care: my mom was still alive, somewhere. The Feds hadn’t killed her. I could find her. Save her and Charlie both.
    But for some reason Phoenix wanted me to think she was dead. I couldn’t let him know I knew the truth.
    I buried my face in my hands. Kindred rubbed my back.
    “I’m sorry, Kai,” Phoenix said again.
    The liar. Two could play his game.
    “I—I can’t talk about it,” I said. “I’m not ready. I have to pretend. I can’t think about it right now.”
    He nodded. Probably figured denial was the first stage of grief. After a while, I picked up a skirt from the pile. “I have to wear this?”
    “It’s the only way, dear,” said Kindred.
    “We leave for Newla this afternoon,” said Phoenix. He stared at the skirt in my hands. “That’s your uniform. It’s essential to our mission. We can’t move forward without someone—you—wearing it.”
    What kind of mission were they running? And why were they throwing me into the field so soon after I’d tried to kill them? There had to be an ulterior motive. Maybe it had to do with why he’d lied about Mom…
    Well, Newla wouldn’t be so bad. And if the Feds really did have Charlie, that’s where she’d be. For