Crucible Zero Read Free

Closest we Cases have to relatives. They’re an . . . energetic bunch, but loyal to the grave.”
    â€œSo stitches aren’t rare, and my being galvanized isn’t why someone wants me dead. That’s different.”
    â€œAre the galvanized the only stitched where— I mean,
when
you came from?” he asked.
    â€œYes. Twelve of them, plus me. They were owned by the Houses. They were celebrities, in a way. World changers. Heroes. They did a lot of good, Quinten. We did a lot of good. I knew Abraham. I knew Foster.” I pointed toward our house, where both Abraham and Foster were drinking tea at our kitchen table, probably at gunpoint. “We trusted them then with our lives, and they died trying to protect us.”
    â€œWhat’s your point, Ev?” he asked.
    â€œMatilda,” I said. “We should trust them now.”
    â€œThat would be suicide.”
    â€œBecause they’re galvanized?”
    â€œBecause they are here to collect on that price on your head,” he said.
    â€œAbraham said he came to warn us that there was a price on our heads.”
    The crease between his lowered eyebrows deepened. “They’re mercenaries, Matilda. All galvanized are mercenaries. Guns for hire. No loyalties to anything other than money. No loyalties to Houses, people, or each other. It’s what they do.”
    Oh.
    â€œWell, that’s not what they’re going to do here. We should at least get as much information out of them as we can, don’t you think?”
    â€œThere’s nothing they know that I want or will pay for,” he said flatly. “I do not do business with galvanized.”
    â€œWell, I do.” I hopped down off the water barrel, my boots landing with a crunchy
thud
in the dirt and gravel. I dusted my hands.
    â€œThey came to our farm looking for me and for
you,
” I said. “I’m not the only one someone wants dead. We don’t know why someone wants me dead, since no one should know I’m alive. But from the way you’re acting all nervous and hair-pully, I think you know exactly why your head is worth hunting.”
    â€œIt’s a mistake,” he scoffed.
    â€œNo, I don’t think it is. What did you do that has made someone want to kill you, Quinten?”
    He pulled his shoulders back and tipped his head up, as if I’d just punched him in the chest. It took him a moment or two before he answered.
    â€œYou are not at all like Evelyn,” he said slowly. “Do you know that? She was kind. Trusting. She was the sweetest girl I’d ever known. And she would never have accused me of doing something worth being killed over.”
    His words stung. Quinten and I had been close. Hell, I practically worshiped the ground his boots trod upon. It hurt to hear him tell me I wasn’t as good as the sister he loved more than me. A girl I could never live up to. A girl I could never be.
    But I knew him. He had a habit of striking out when people got too close to the things he didn’t want to talk about. I refused to back down on this.
    I lifted my chin and stared him in the eyes. “I’m sorry I’m not her. Really, I am. I’m sorry you’ve lost her. I’m sorry she’s gone. But you haven’t answered the question I asked,” I said calmly. “Tell me what you did, Quinten. If I don’t know why someone wants to kill you, I can’t help you stay alive.”
    â€œNo.”
    It was my turn to study him, looking for clues. His body language said he wasn’t going to budge on his silence. His eyes had gone all sharp and judgy. Closed off.
    Fine. He wasn’t the only person on the property who had information.
    There were three mercenaries at my kitchen table. They must know who had put the hit out on us. Someone had to be paying them. Maybe they’d have a clue as to why we had suddenly become such hot property.
    â€œI may not be as sweet as