"Got these too." He adds, holding up a small box. "I think they're in case of a power outage or something." Havocs offers Zara her choice of an armful of flashlights; she picks a green one and shines it inside. He gives another to Casper and flicks on one.

"Can I-" I start to reach out, and he takes a step back, stuffing the last one in his back pocket.

“No.” He replies. I think I see Casper swallow back a laugh and seriously consider throwing an ugly fit. However, Zara plucks it out of Havocs' pants and tosses it to me before refocusing on her task.

"There's a ton of novels in here about the rejoining... and whatever this is." She grabs the binder, plopping it in my arms, and hand out the books marked with post-it notes.

"Take 'em to the table back over by the filing cabinets. There's better lighting over there." We dump them onto the wooden surface, and Havocs flicks on the desk lamp, letting us flick off the flashlights.

"So, where do we start?" Casper asks. Zara shrugs.

"Perhaps we all take a pile?” I suggest. The others nod their agreement, and each pulls a pile of books towards themselves. I end up with the binder since "you know the most about the science stuff," Zara decides. For a brief time, there's only the soft brush of paper rubbing together while pages turn and a faint murmur from anyone who thinks they might have found something of note.

It continues this way until I assemble what I'm seeing. The binder is page after page of historical documents, photocopied from their originals filed away somewhere. Several contain newspaper articles from at least a century ago. The writing mostly brings up human-interest pieces, birth announcements, and sudden or violent deaths. People joining in marriage- then I catch sight of familiar surnames.

Finch. Brooks. The founding families.

It tells of a past I can't believe, one I don't want to consider before, when the societies were broken apart, back when we were two people.

"Finch? Buddy?" Casper nudges me. I hadn't realized I'd begun to turn the pages faster, eyes hot and on the move, the words blurring together.

"Toren, what-" Zara reaches out, but I can't take her touch, not right now.

"We did this. I'm sick, and it's because we did this!" Is it just my hands shaking or the room around us?

 "Toren…" Zara's hands are warm when one covers mine.   "Toren. Whatever it is. You don't have to know alone. Roma messed with us both. So, we'll all shoulder this together."

"She's right." Casper pipes up, reaching out. "Let me see Bird Man."

Somehow, I surrender the papers, and Havocs scoots over to read alongside my friend. Cas shines the flashlight on the top page.

"It's a medical report… about your ancestor, I think. He was experiencing anxiety, irrational outbursts, extreme mood swings, and fatigue." He flips to the next. "And here's one of mine too. She was becoming increasingly aggressive, to the point of violence." He scratches his head and turns to the third page. "All of these… they're the Founding Families, they all were coming down with this. Their genetic anomalies?”

"Okay, so they had gifts way back when. What does it matter? One side thinks gifts should be used to help with everyday life, and one side thinks it messes with the peace, so the Rift happens." Zara reaches for the papers, and Bash holds her off, turning inward to keep reading. "What am I missing?"

"You're missing the part where the whole damn thing was a lie!" Havocs hisses, throwing the papers down. Casper grabs them, scanning the documents, and I can see right when it clicks when his body goes still.

"What?" She looks at me now, and I want to crawl into my shirt and never come out. "What does he mean?"

"He means our ancestors took it upon themselves to cause the rift." Casper's voice has gone low and hollow. "There was no debating going on. They paired up with clan members, and their children had more gifts than anyone usually holds. They wanted power, and they took it."

"I don't understand-"

"Their blood is the reason we're second-class citizens!" Bash's mouth works, and then he starts to laugh. The sound turns my stomach. "They used their children as weapons of war, used the gifts they got from clan and district parents to build the government they wanted. With the Founding, Families were touted as heroes when they were the ones that screwed everything up in the first place!" He's full-blown ranting. Even Zara can't calm him.

 "We... there must be a reason. It must have been to keep everyone safe. That had to be why-" I scramble for an excuse. Did my father know this? Casper's parents? They had to.

“Please, don’t tell me that District Darling's brain can’t put it together?” Havocs snaps. “Your ancestors USED us. They used their gifts to start a war they knew most people couldn’t fight. And where are we now? Five DISTRICTS with all the power, all the laws on their side, and every single Clan under their thumb!” He shoves his chair back; his body is beginning to crackle with blue electricity. “We’re bullied and pushed around, get the worse jobs, get looked down on every day while you live it up in your fancy skyscrapers and glass houses-”

"Guys, let's all just take some deep breaths and-" Casper begins, but Zara is in shock right along with Havocs. She's staring at me with an emotion I can't place. Does Zara see the ugly hidden within me?

"Hey! What are you kids doing down there?!" The watchman from the first floor is shining a torch on us. He must have heard the commotion and come to investigate.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" He calls again, advancing with his baton at the ready now.

"Run!" I don't know which of us says it, but we're fleeing, going down one aisle and up another, our feet pounding and the blood rushing in my ears. I've somehow grabbed at the binder; it's clutched to my chest while we move, and all I can think of is my legs pumping, lungs expanding and retracting as we break for it.

We skip the elevator, and the view, opting for the stairs. Zara and Havocs slide down the handles, feet up, and going down the levels, whipping around the corners. Casper tries once, making it about halfway before losing his balance and crashing down the rest of that stairway. I get him up with Zara's help, and we're moving again, racing to the first floor. 

"Wait, wait, stop, stop!" Bash holds up a hand, Zara smacking into him, and I slam into her. Casper falls on my back, and the four of us fall into a dog pile.

"Bash what the-"

"Shhh." He covers her mouth as we scramble up, and cautiously he looks around the corner. We're somewhere in the middle of the library's first floor, and I can hear boots thudding against the marble. He turns back to us.

"The guard must have sent through a call for help." He whispers.

"That was fast. Weird that the library has security at the ready in a place that's supposed to be about love, right?" Zara whispers back. She looks past the shelves, tensing, and waves me over.

"Any of those guys look familiar?" She murmurs. I scan the group of five or six gray-clad guards and freeze when I notice two faces.

"Our escorts from earlier. They're on security detail." They troop into the elevator, and we watch them head up.

"We need to get out of here.” Zara whispers.

“I could try something”-Cas begins to offer but Havocs is having none of it.

 “That guard will probably give them full physical descriptions. Zara? You take the lead, and I'll bring up the rear." He decides. She nods and touches my hand lightly.

"Follow me, okay? Keep your head low and stay quiet, quick as you can go." I nod my agreement, and she glances at Casper, who makes a zipping motion of his lips. Crouching down, she scampers past the shelves towering over us. I hurry behind, doing my best not to let my shoes smack against the floor. Casper is trying to do the same, and while the two clans' members are almost entirely silent, we are noticeably loud. Zara stops the group, looking back at her friend. The pair seems to speak with their eyes, their expressions undecipherable to me, and easily read between each other. My hands start to sweat again.

"Take your shoes off." She orders softly.

"What-" But she's already kneeling, undoing the laces of my boots. Havocs smirks, and I'm almost sure he's going to take precious time to make another disparaging remark at my expense.

"Taking shoes off," I say and kneel, untying the laces as fast as possible. Casper is already toeing his off, once they're in hand, she nods at us, and we continue towards the front. After a brief pause to make certain no one was left behind to guard it, we're out the doors, Havocs hanging back to close the door behind us as gently as he can.

As soon as it closes, the high-pitched shriek of an alarm goes off inside, sending us sprinting into the night. Havocs urges Casper to run faster; Zara has got one of my hands in hers and drags me along behind her, dodging behind buildings and ducking behind shop corners. We don't stop until we return to the main square and are crouching behind a bush set, panting, and worn out from the run.

"We need to get our things and go. Whatever they're up to here, they're sure to grab you two." Bash nods at Zara and I, those his concerned gaze is only for her.

"We could go back to our beds and pretend to sleep until the morning. We'd have a better chance of leaving unnoticed." I suggest. He shakes his head.

"Too risky to wait, if they match up to our descriptions there sure to come to us. At least this way, they won't catch us unawares." He looks over at Zara, who's keeping watch, looking out at the square through the leaves.

"Hey, little bird, need you to tweet in here. What do we do?" She sticks her tongue out at him, which is terrific when we're running from armed guards.

"I agree with you. We need to leave. But I'm not going without Kova, and she's back in the room." Her chin juts out, daring us to argue.

"Chancellor?" Casper looks up when Bash asks for him, considering before nodding and shrugging at me apologetically.

"Sorry, birdman. But we need to get you guys somewhere safe. I don't know what they did to you, but I didn't like the after-effects, and I don't want to let anything worse happen. Let's go." The trio waits for my response.

"Fine. But I need to get Mace." I whisper back. Zara sags, letting out a breath. 

"Okay, so that's decided. Hurry up and get the dog, take only what you can carry on your back. We'll meet here in five minutes and go from there." Bash orders. Zara and Casper nod. I fight back a bristle and do the same. They sneak away into the dark until I can't even see their outlines, and Casper and I head back towards the district quarters.

When we get inside, Casper goes to his room and grabs clothes from the drawers, shoving them into his backpack. I do the same, Mace's ears perking up, and his sleepy eyes glowing at me in the moonlight from the bed's foot.

"On our way out, boy. Be good." I pat him, and he licks my hand. Casper comes in, still wrestling with his bag. I look at the binder, consider leaving it and its troublesome histories behind.

I put it in alongside my socks.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN-ZARA

Bash and I pack quickly, years of training and camping with Tula make it an almost automatic process. Grab, roll, tuck and repeat.

"Hey. A word before we get out of here." I grab another shirt; Bash nearly rolls Kova up in his haste. She chitters angrily at him and trots over to my side, curling around my ankles. "No more names. They're with us in this, whatever 'this' is." I order. He shakes his head.

"No, they aren't. Your District Darling has been calling us names since day one, practically every other word out of his mouth is an insult. For all you know, Finch orchestrated all of this. The lab, the library guards, everything, he and Caspian both." I don't want to give any credence to his theory, but it sounds plausible enough.

"I don't think either of them would do that," I say because it's easier than having to agree out loud.

"They're from the Districts Zara. They only look out for themselves.” He insists.

"Bash, I don't know what to think right now. If Roma is really after me for some kind of experiments, I could be bringing danger right back to Papa and Tula. I won't risk that. Not even for your peace of mind." He starts to argue again and then there’s a knock at the door. We’re not supposed to meet the boys yet.

“Don’t answer that.” Bash orders lowly.

“I’m not stupid. I’m going to pretend to be asleep.” I whisper back.

“Miss Rueben? Are you awake? It’s Roma, dear.”

Bash’s answer to that is to dump our bags out the window and climb after them. Kova scampers after him, standing on her hind paws and trying to see where he’s gone.

“I was hoping to speak to you, and I was told you didn’t eat dinner. I’ve brought some soup, it’s quite good.”

I begin to climb out after him when I realize that my load is too light.

“Do open the door I’ve brought a tray with me, at least let me leave it with you?” Roma knocks again, persistent. Tone vacant, pleasant. She’s coming in one way or another.

“Zara come on!” Bash hisses.

“I missed one of the books hang on!” I scramble up over the ledge and run to the bench in front of the bed at the same time the room lock beeps and the door swings open. Roma is framed in the doorway, a tray in her hands and a smile on her face. I’m still holding the novel. Her eyes flick to the title, and there is recognition. She puts down the tray. Her smile is gone.

“So, you’ve been reading.” She sighs. “That’s unfortunate.”

I don’t take time to look back, I take off running and hurl myself out of the window, crashing into Bash. Behind me, Roma’s yelling for the guards and radios are screeching orders. “We’ve gotta hurry, she’ll send people after the guys next.” I tell Bash, already up and moving. He hands me Kova and she’s plopped into her usual spot in my side bag. Our helmets are put on as we start to go.

“Then they better be there because I’m not waiting around for- duck!” Bash shoves me out of the way, in time for a length of vine to stab at directly where I’d been standing. Behind us, one of the guards is in the window, the thick green plant protruding from one outstretched hand.

 “Get to the bikes!” We take off as the vine comes back to life, trying to grab at us as we run. 

Another follows it, but we’re already halfway down the path. We run to the front of the Riverbend building and climb onto our transportation. Kova chitters in alarm as we take off, shooting past the guards gathering and down to where the Districts building is.

“There they are!” Bash yells to me. Side by side, I can see Cas arguing with one of the guards while another is putting cuffs on Toren. The batons strapped to their belts give off a sinister orange glow, the color flame like on Toren and Cas’s hands especially.

“We going at this head on?” Bash asks in my headset. 

I rev my bike and aim directly at them.

 “Don’t I always?”