The Sowing Read Free Page B

will not fail in my task.”
    The screen goes dark. Eli must have decided he’d had enough. I relax my shoulders and slump in my seat. Soren turns to me with a spiteful glare.
     “They’re putting their prized hound on the scent. One mistake, Remy, and we’re all dead. They take everything. All our sacrifices will be for nothing. Thousands more will be poisoned, manipulated, turned to slaves. You better not fucking give us away just because Valerian Orleán is in the game now.”
    He won’t give up, will he?
    “Vale is nothing to me. And he, I guarantee, has forgotten I even exist.” I’m trying to stay calm, staring straight ahead, refusing to meet Soren’s eyes.
    “Right.” He snorts.
    “Soren, she gets it,” Jahnu says.
    “You’ve had everything done for you your entire life,” Soren spits back at me, ignoring Jahnu entirely. “If Tai hadn’t been murdered, you would never have left. You’d still be back in the Sector with Vale.” 
    Without realizing it, I’m standing over Soren, my fists balled at my side.
    “We gave up everything to join the Resistance—” I hiss.
    “Look around you. You’re not the only one.”
    “I know that, Soren! It’s not about who made the choice to leave the Sector—it’s about the fact that we’re here now, together. We have to fight together. Stop treating me like I’m some stupid little girl who’s going to go soft over a teenage crush. I’m a member of your team!”
    “You guys have to stop going at each other,” Jahnu pleads. “Everyone here has lost someone. Everyone has given up something. We’re all in this together.”
    Soren just stares at me. He glances at Jahnu and his eyes, cold and blue as rare glacier ice, soften a bit.
    “Sometimes I wonder,” he mutters. Then he turns on his heel and leaves without another word. I’m shaking, my jaw clenched so tight I wonder my teeth don’t shatter. Kenzie rubs my shoulder and gives me a sympathetic glance but follows Soren through the door.
    “I don’t know who I hate more right now,” I say.
    “Cut him some slack, Remy,” Jahnu says.
    “All he does is goad me!”
    “Remy—”
    “What?” I cut him off. “You know it’s true. He’s always taunting me, whether it’s about Vale, or the fact that I’m shit at science and math, or even how short I am.”
    “I think you sometimes forget he’s here by himself. Soren’s parents are still in the Sector. He chose to join the Resistance himself. Do you think you would have been able to make a decision like that?”
    I pull up short at the question. I don’t know the answer, but the anger still gnaws at me. “I wish he’d just leave me alone,” I mutter, defeated.
     “I think I’m going to suffocate if I don’t get out of here. Let’s go find Eli and see if it’s safe to go topside and get some fresh air,” Jahnu says, trying to cheer me up.
     “You’re right,” I respond. “Vale and his friends will all be celebrating, so I say we have our own celebration. We should have a picnic. Just like the old days.”
    “What are we going to celebrate?” he asks. I pause, trying to think of something worthy of celebration.
    “That we’re here together,” I say finally. “That we’re fighting for something bigger than ourselves. That we still have each other.”
    Brave words. And they almost make me feel better.

2 - VALE 
    Fall 47, Sector Annum 105, 17h45
Gregorian Calendar: November 6
     
    “Thank you. May we gain strength from the sowing, resilience from the reaping, and hope from the harvest.”
    I flash a smile and turn away from the podium as the packed audience erupts in applause. A stupid grin spreads across my face, and I take a deep breath. My knees are shaking like they always do after I speak to a large crowd, and I wobble back to my chair and take my place next to Moriana Nair. She squeezes my hand and grins at me, her big brown eyes wide and excited, mouthing the words, We did it!
    The head of the Academy takes the