He shakes his head. “This is different. You’re experiencing an unusual amount of stress, even for you.”
“Wow.” My eyebrows fly up. “I really hope you didn’t bother using your”—I make air quotes—“supernatural ability to sense emotions”—I drop the air quotes—“to figure that one out. Obviously I’m extra stressed out right now. The world is on fucking fire. The list of things stressing me out is so long I can’t even keep track. We’re up to our necks in shit. J is gone. Adam defected. Nazeera’s been shot. You’ve had your head so far up your own ass I thought you’d never emerge—”
He tries to cut me off but I keep talking.
“—and literally five minutes ago,” I say, “someone from the Sanctuary—ha, hilarious, horrible name—just tried to kill you, and I killed her for it. Five minutes ago. So yeah, I think I’m experiencing an unusual amount of stress right now, genius.”
Warner dismisses my speech with a single shake of his head. “Your use of profanity increases exponentially when you’re irritated with Castle. Your language appears to be directly connected to your relationship with him. Why?”
I try not to roll my eyes. “Not that this information is actually relevant, but Castle and I struck a deal a few years ago. He thought that my”—I make more air quotes— “overreliance on profanity was inhibiting my ability to express my emotions in a constructive manner.”
“So you promised him you’d tone down your language.”
“Yeah.”
“I see. It seems you’ve reneged on the terms of that arrangement.”
“Why do you care?” I ask. “Why are we even talking about this? Why are we losing sight of the fact that we were just attacked by someone from inside of the Sanctuary? We need to find Sam and Nouria and find out who this girl was, because she was clearly from this camp, and they should know th—”
“You can tell Sam and Nouria whatever you want,” Warner says. “But I need to talk to Castle.”
Something in his tone frightens me. “Why?” I demand. “What is going on? Why are you so obsessed with Castle right now?”
Finally, Warner stops moving. “Because,” he says. “Castle had something to do with this.”
“What?” I feel the blood drain from my body. “No way. Not possible.”
Warner says nothing.
“Come on, man, don’t be crazy— Castle’s not perfect, but he would never—”
“Hey— What the hell just happened?” Winston, breathless and panicked, comes running up to us. “I heard a gunshot coming from the direction of your tent, but when I went to check on you, I saw— I saw—”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?” Winston’s voice is shrill. Terrified.
At that exact moment, more people come running. Winston starts offering people explanations I don’t bother to edit, because my head is still full of steam. I have no idea what the hell Warner is getting at, but I’m also worried that I know him too well to deny his mind. My heart says Castle would never betray us, but my brain says that Warner is usually right when it comes to sussing out this kind of shit. So I’m freaking out.
I spot Nouria in the distance, her dark skin gleaming in the bright sun, and relief floods through me.
Finally.
Nouria will know more about the girl with the scorpions. She has to. And whatever she knows will almost certainly help absolve Castle of any affiliation with this mess. And as soon as we can resolve this freak accident, Warner and I can get the hell out of here and start searching for J.
That’s it.
That’s the plan.
It makes me feel good to have a plan. But when we’re close enough, Nouria narrows her eyes at both me and Warner, and the look on her face sends a brand-new wave of fear through my body.
“Follow me,” she says.
We do.
Warner looks livid.
Castle looks freaked out.
Nouria and Sam look like they’re sick and tired of all of us.
I might be imagining things, but I’m pretty sure Sam just shot Nouria a look—the subtext of which was probably Why the hell did you have to let your dad come stay with us?—that was so withering Nouria didn’t even get upset, she just shook her head, resigned.
And the problem is, I don’t even know whose side I’m on.
In the end, Warner was right about Castle, but he was also wrong. Castle wasn’t plotting anything nefarious; he didn’t send that girl—her name was Amelia—after Warner. Castle’s mistake was thinking that all rebel groups shared the same worldview.