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.“Are you sure?” he asks, his voice weak.I nod.“I hit my head when we fell.I’m dizzy and nauseated.But I’m not infected.”He squeezes his eyes shut, pressing his fingers to them.I feel like I’m watching something I shouldn’t, seeing a part of him that’s too personal for a stranger like me.I glance away and clear my throat, needing to break the silence and desperately wanting to figure out what’s going on.“Why were you on the roof last night?”He raises his hand to his neck again and I almost scream at him to stop it, stop reminding me of Elias.I even take a deep breath, ready to say something when he runs his fingers over his head, through his hair.“You looked like you needed help,” he says.I scowl.It’s another non-answer, and I’m starting to realize he’s good at those.“How did you know who I was? Or do you make it a habit to rescue any damsel in distress when you come to a new city and almost drown?” My words echo slightly, tracing up and over the soaring arches above us.I want him to admit he knows my sister.That he sees past my scars to the similarities between us.He walks over to the little fire, keeping distance between us when he sees me tense my hand around the knife.It’s clear I still don’t trust him.He crouches and I watch him through the flames.“I saw you when I was running from the Recruiters and I followed you.”Chills ease over my skin again and my breath comes a little shallow.I’m glad there’s a fire between us.“Why?”He hesitates and I can tell he’s weighing what to say next and I wonder if it’s all going to be carefully crafted lies.“Because I promised Elias I’d find you,” he finally says.This is all too strange and convoluted.It doesn’t make sense.“You mentioned Elias earlier.” I pause, hoping he’ll fill the silence.When he doesn’t I press, “Where is he? How do you know him?” The words come so fast I trip over them, frustrated at not knowing what to ask.“I don’t understand.How did you even know it was me you were looking for?”He stares at me then, his gaze even more intense than the flames.His eyes trace over my face, down my body.There’s something in his look I don’t understand, something painful and awkward.I see him follow the lines of my scars.I’m used to it, so used to the gaping stares, that I don’t notice them sometimes.It’s just a part of my life.But this man, here in this moment, makes me remember every line on my body.Makes me feel every scar as if it’s a fresh wound, festering and raw.I wanted him to recognize me because I look like my sister but I realize that’s not how he knew who I was.“Oh.” I mouth the word, unable to put sound behind it.I cross my arms.“The scars.” The walls I use to protect myself inside falter and I close my eyes and try to build them back up higher than before.But some of the pain and ugliness seep through.Sometimes—rarely—I’m able to forget what I look like and it’s embarrassing to realize that this is how Elias would describe me.Of course it is—“Look for the angry girl with the scars down the left side of her body” is easier than “Look for the girl with the dirty-blond hair who never lifts her eyes from the ground.”I rub my chin against my shoulder as if I could scratch the vulnerability from the moment.I then shift until the tip of my knife scrapes against the ground—a reminder to both of us that I still have a weapon.I still have some control.Catcher looks like he wants to say something but he presses his lips together until they burn white.I clear the awkward silence between us by asking the obvious question.“So why’d my brother tell you to find me?”He looks down at me.“I know he’s not your brother, Annah.”I jump to my feet and start walking toward the darkness swallowing the tunnel at the end of the subway platform.No one’s supposed to know Elias isn’t my brother.No one could know that unless they were from our village or one of us told them.And we vowed to never tell [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]