The Sky is Everywhere

Chapter Eight

Tomorrow brings rain, heavy grey sheets pouring out of heavy grey clouds, and my stomach sinks when I look out of the window.

Will Roan come if it's raining?

I struggle to focus throughout the day until lunch is over and rec time is here at last, and then I leave my friends – even though Taffy tells me I'm mad to go out in this weather – hurry away from the blocky shape of the CC, and make my way to the cluster of trees and bushes that hide me from the cameras.

My clothes are soaked through by the time I get there, but the foliage overhead acts as a screen, keeping the worst of the rain off. I hunch under it and wait.

He probably won't show up.

I won't blame him if he doesn't.

I wait. And wait. And wait.

The hope sputters out in my chest. He's not coming.

I start to get to my feet, ready to leave, and suddenly there is he, hurrying through the trees and the rain towards me, head down, shoulders hunched, feet kicking up splashes of mud.

My heart leaps into the sky.

He doesn't see me straightaway, and then he does, and the smile he gives me is like the sun coming out. It makes me think of my dream. I almost touch the place on my chest where he gave me the moon.

"Refreshing weather," he says, giving me a rueful look.

"I didn't think you'd come," I admit.

"I had to. I knew you'd be here."

I'm cold and wet and stiff from sitting here so long, but when he says that, I forget everything else. My whole body fills up with light, like the sun is rising in my heart.

"I want to help you," I announce, cutting to the chase before I lose my nerve.

Roan slowly nods, but his expression dims and I wonder if I've said the wrong thing.

"What . . . what is it?" I ask.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy that you want to help, but I also want you to be safe."

My heart feels like it's beating in my mouth.

"If we're right in our suspicions then the CC, or someone connected with them, killed that Second, the military guy, before he could tell us anything concrete, and if we're right about that . . ." He trails off and sighs. "They're not going to kill kids, but you could still be putting yourself at risk, and you need to understand that."

That almost makes me hesitate, but this isn't just about me and my safety. It's about my friends. It's about Taffy, who thinks that we'll always be property. It's about Priya, who still can't adjust to life here, ripped away from everything she has always known. It's about Sonny, who has never known anything but the CC. It's about the possibility of a better life, a brighter future for all of them.

"What do you need me to do?" I say.

"Okay, so there are other human rights groups who also want to put an end to the CC, but they think they can do it via the same methods that Beyond have already tried – putting pressure on government officials, campaigning to get the public involved, that sort of thing. But that didn't work before, and we don't think it'll work now. We need hard evidence that something is wrong here, and we think we'll get that with the Trials. Can you find out anything about them, anything at all?"

I have no idea how to do that, but strangely I relish the challenge. The CC never allows us to have anything for ourselves, but this might be something that I can take from them.