Chapter Thirty-Three
“BEATRICE.”
I jerk awake. The room I am in now—for whatever experiment they want to run on me—is large, with screens along the back wall and blue lights glowing just above the floor and rows of padded benches across the middle. I’m sitting on the farthest bench back with Peter at my left shoulder, my head leaning against the wall. I still can’t seem to get enough sleep.
Now I wish I hadn’t woken up. Caleb stands a few feet away, his weight on one foot, an uncertain posture.
“Did you ever leave Erudite?” I say.
“It’s not that simple,” he starts. “I—”
“It is that simple.” I want to yell, but instead my voice comes out flat. “At what point did you betray our family? Before our parents died, or after?”
“I did what I had to do. You think you understand this, Beatrice
