The Sky is Everywhere

Chapter Twenty-One

"I'm worried about you," Roan says without preamble, taking me in his arms. "This could be dangerous and I don't want anything to happen to you."

"You trust Rosie, don't you?"

"Of course I do."

"Then trust her. If she says she can do this without me getting caught, then she can do it."

He pulls back slightly to regard me, and he looks a little bemused. "You'd trust her with your life already? You don't even know her."

"No, but you do, and you trust her. That's good enough for me."

His expression softens, the sun coming out in his eyes.

"Besides, you've made me realise more than ever that I need to be free, and not just of the CC. I need to be free of the system that's made me out to be less than fully human, and if this is the only way to do that, then I have to be prepared to take necessary risks," I say.

He knows I'm right – it's written all over his face.

But he doesn't say anything. He touches my face with just his fingertips, his thumb lingering below my eye, where the bruise has since faded.

"You've offered me the chance to be free, and I want to take it," I tell him. "For so long I have felt like a bird in a cage, and then you came along and broke down the door. But I'm not free to fly yet."

"I want to set you free," he whispers.

"I know you do, but this will only happen if we all work together. Okay?"

He nods.

I lean against him, tucking my head under his chin. I'm still in a cage, but I can smell fresh air and freedom and it's getting closer every day. Rosie can develop something to deactivate our trackers. She will develop something that will enable us to access the CCTV footage and then we'll know exactly what the Trials are.

Roan puts a finger under my chin, guiding my face up so he can kiss me. For a split-second I feel awkward – Rosie is still so close, even if she can't hear us – but all that melts away under the delicious warmth of his lips. The sun is in his kiss. The rest of the world fades away.

I imagine a world in which I can do this whenever I want, rather than stealing snatches of time once a day. I imagine kissing Roan as the first thing I do in the morning and the last thing I do at night. That's the future I want.

Rosie turns around and pulls the wires out of her ears. "Are you lovebirds almost done?"

Roan grins. "I'm not sure; we might need some more time."

"Yeah, well, we need to start planning a decent distraction for your girl, so wrap up the kissy-kissy stuff."

"You get used to her," Roan says to me.

I think I already am.

"And you're definitely sure about this?" Rosie says to me. "No backing out at the last minute?"

"I'm definitely in. I've got more to lose than anyone, and I'm not giving up," I declare.

Rosie grins. "You were definitely right about approaching this one. Good call," she says to Roan.

Something about her words makes me stiffen. "What you mean – approaching this one?"

Rosie looks at Roan, twin lines appearing between her eyebrows, but neither of them say anything.

"What do you mean?" I repeat, harder this time.

I look at Roan, but he's not looking at me. His expression is rigid.