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CHAPTER THREE

  If I’d known Eli would be waiting for me in my parents’ apartment when I woke, I would have risked going back to mine the night before, despite being past curfew.

  But instead I sit at my mom’s kitchen table, my breakfast plate untouched and steam drifting up from my coffee, while I try my best not to glare at the man in front of me. His movements and expressions always remind me of Evie, but other than the requisite blond hair and blue eyes, he’s nothing like her. He’s tall—taller than my father—and broad-shouldered. His eyes are always weary, his gaze never lingering in one spot for long before moving onto the next area. They’re full of deception and lies, and the hardness that’s come from living for so long here. Under Mother’s rule. And leading the Underground.

  He shouldn’t be here. In my parents’ home, acting like he owns the place, and me, just because he’s in charge of our little group. I can’t help but fume a little, knowing it was my own mom who’d brought him here. Who’d shared the conversation I’d had with her last night. The one who’d asked him to talk some “sense” into me.

  Another woman, my mom’s friend and fellow Underground member, Evangeline, is here, too. She stands in the corner near the fridge. Her face is placid, but her eyes are swirling with emotion as she stares at me. She reminds me of Evie; she is a direct contrast to Eli.

  Her eyes and hair are the exact color as Evie’s; ice blue and honey blonde. And just like Evie, she has a small frame that appears deceptively fragile. Her hands never lie still, even when she appears to be perfectly calm. And I know from experience she sees far more, and is entirely more intelligent, than you’d think at first glance.

  Eli sits down across from me and leans back in the chair. “How long have you been working with us, Timothy?” His voice is utterly calm and that, more than anything else, makes the warning bells clang. He reminds me of Evie so much in that moment.

  I sigh. “All my life.”

  He leans forward and steeples his fingers, resting his chin on their tips. “So…would you say you’re pretty vested in what we’re doing here? You know what we’re doing and why? And what would happen should we fail?”

  I nod.

  “And you understand that everything that happens here is on a need-to-know basis and that everything that you’ve been trusted with is only extended to you as a courtesy because of who your parents are and what they’ve done for us?”

  Again, I only nod.

  “Then why would you think that telling the girl anything would be a good idea?”

  The way he refers to Evie as “the girl” makes me bristle, and the words slip out before I can control them. “Because she deserves to know. And she’s not just ‘the girl’. Her name is Evie, which you very well know.” I stare daggers at Evangeline. “And contrary to what you think, she’s human. Despite her being raised how she was, she’s filled with more kindness and compassion and love than every single person in this room. If the roles were reversed, she wouldn’t even hesitate, I’m sure, to tell you,” I move my gaze to encompass all the people in the tiny room, “all of you, what she knows. No matter what the risk to her would be. She needs to know.”

  “You’re in love with her,” Evangeline says. Her voice is quiet, but she might as well have screamed it, the way everyone turns to her, then to me.

  I open my mouth to object, to yell at her that she doesn’t have a clue what love is, but I can’t force the words out. So I slam my mouth shut and press my lips together.

  “Have you lost all of your senses?” Eli demands. I don’t answer him, but that doesn’t seem to matter because he goes on. “She may be flesh and blood, but she’s not like us. She’ll never be like us. And if the roles were reversed, don’t think for one second that she’d care about you. You’d just be a means to an end. That’s what she was taught. That’s what they all were taught. She’s been made to think that way and you’re a fool if you think that you can change that.”

  I shove to my feet, knocking the chair over in my anger. “You don’t know her like I do,” I shout. “She’s not what you’ve made her out to be. She’s not just a…a thing you can move and manipulate however you want, like a chess piece. And if you think differently, then you’re no better than Mother.”

  “Timothy, maybe you should sit down,” my mom says with a tug, and a hard pinch on my arm, when she sees the look on Eli’s face, but I shake her off.

  “You are a fool,” he says and pushes back from the table to stand. He walks to the door—past me—but stops just behind me. “You will not tell that girl anything. You will continue along the path that we’ve planned. And I will hear nothing more of this moronic idea to tell her anything. If you can’t follow my directions, I will remove you from your position and replace you with someone else.” He continues to the door, pausing just before opening it. “I will know if you’ve said anything to her.”

  The door shuts behind him; a sharp click stands as the punctuation to his remark.

  Evangeline follows his path, stopping next to me, and places her hand on my shoulder. “Your actions are admirable, Timothy. Evie is lucky to have you as her champion.” She follows Eli without saying anything else, but I know what she didn’t say. Don’t muck it up, because she needs someone like you.