More Than Imagined

Chapter 30

When the Techromancers released Winfrey after grafting him a new hand, he was still broken. Rhoawyn and Eli had spent the next few days trying to ease him into things. They gave him the space to mourn Flinch, but they kept the news about Jazara tight-lipped. It wasn't really their secret to tell.

But if Jazara was anything, she was daring. So she dared to barge into his room at the IOB and confess her sins. She laid them bare at Winfrey's feet and waited for whatever reaction he thought appropriate. But when he didn't rage-didn't hate even for a moment-everyone was left confused. But confusion became surprise when Winfrey put his own sins on the table. Sins he had not even considered valid until he died out of his life in The Apex.

"Not too long before they slated me to Depart, there was some hearsay being spread around at one of my family's dinner parties," Winfrey said. "I didn't think much of it at the time, I mean why would I? I was just a Seven trying to sort out the feelings I had for the Two that worked for us."

Jazara stiffened at that, knowing all too well what life as a Two was like.

"But one of my parent's friends is close to a Nine who had a direct link to people at the very top of The Apex-The Council. They talked about it like it was some kind of game that didn't matter. But I remember thinking it sounded strange."

"You remember thinking what sounded kind of strange?" Rhoawyn asked.

"They kept mentioning things about lower numbers going missing. It was always Threes and below. My parents mentioned they had heard about it, but of course, they didn't care. But the guy said that they were being taken by people outside of the dome. And everyone brushed it off. Because why would they believe it? They have taught us our entire lives that there was nothing out here but disease. I didn't think it could be real until that day in the underground hideout..." Winfrey paused. "When I saw the Mares eating people with my own eyes, I knew the story had to be true."

"So higher numbers knew about what the Techromancers had been doing all along?" Rhoawyn asked?

"I guess so, but it wasn't taken seriously. Hidden in plain sight, you know?"

Jazara sighed. "The day I was supposed to Depart, A Mare captured me. It was one of Luci's right hands. They knew Departures were being turned into Imaginaries so the Techs could get control of the Mare threat that they created. That's when the Mare offered me a deal. Get intel for them. Be another set of eyes and ears in exchange for another life and for my own revenge. The Mares were human once, too.

"It's just like that guy they killed said? Delta?" Rhoawyn gasped. "Wait, Jazara, did you know him? Is that why he said all of that?"

"Did she know who? When was this?" Eli asked.

"No, I didn't know him. Most Mares were unaware that I was playing both sides. I only ever had contact with two close to Luci. But from the contact I had, I learned enough to know that what he said that day was true. The Techs created them to only be able to survive off of the consumption if a specific gene sequence."

"A gene?" Eli asked.

"Yeah, the plague gene. The collections agency already knows which families carry the gene sequence closest to that of the plague. It's what determines the number system in The Apex. Lowest are most likely to present the gene and highest are least likely," Jazara said.

"So they created Mares to prevent another potential plague?" Winfrey asked.

"Well, that and to get ready to branch outside of the dome. They were running out of resources, and before the Mares were Mares, they were people like us. So they started changing them to beings they could control-to beings that would die without consuming the right materials..."