Niko: A YA Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Thriller (The Outsider Chronicles Book 1) by Kayti Nika Raet

Author:Kayti Nika Raet [Raet, Kayti Nika]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-04-28T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

She wore black as requested but that’s not what caused their eyebrows to raise as she stepped into the breakfast room.

Ari lifted her head. She had been reclining on the sofa; her head was propped in Malik’s lap. “You cut your hair,” she said.

Niko shrugged. She had done it in the morning. She ignored the food, taking a seat a little ways from the rest of them.

Malik, who had been feeding Ari cherries, tracked her with his eyes, his brows pinched worriedly.

She looked away. Of all them Duc sat closest to her, bright red sneakers propped up on the coffee table. He fiddled with his lip ring. Ben was leaning against the wall by the door. His eyes were on her. Everyone’s eyes were on her.

Niko rubbed her hand against her knees. “So.”

Obviously Ben had told them what happened because no one looked confused, but no one said anything either and she began to wonder if they all were going to play dumb. Then Ben raised his hand. He made a quiet shushing sound, his attention on something outside of the room. He waited a few heartbeats then closed the door.

“Okay,” he said in a low voice, “Who wants to start?”

Duc took his feet off the table and leaned forward placing his elbows on his knees. “Something tells me you’re not really interested in learning about how this all started and how many people we lost before it happened. Ben told us you broke into one of the rooms and looked through those folders, so most likely you want to know about the photos.”

Niko shrugged, it was all jumbled up in her head but that was as good a place to start as any.

Duc took it as a signal to continue. “As part of our many duties to this glorious city we’re supposed to make sure there’s a minimum of eight people per Circle.” He waved a sardonic hand around the room highlighting its five occupants. Even with the inclusion of the Director it still meant the Rose Circle was short two members. “But because of a certain incident a year ago we –”

“What happened?” Niko interrupted him mid-soliloquy.

He closed his mouth and glanced at Malik, in fact they all did. Malik looked down at Ari spending his concentration on balancing a dark red cherry on her lips. “They turned into Slithers,” he said, letting go of the stem once the fruit no longer wobbled. “It caught us by surprise. We lost a lot of people.”

“Like my sister.” Duc volunteered.

Malik looked away and the cherry fell.

“I’m sorry,” she said to Duc. The idea that he or any of the others might have relatives had never occurred to her, they all seemed so self-contained, like four islands only marginally connected to each other by a stretch of sand that only revealed itself at low tide.

He said nothing, just sat back and folded his arms over his chest. His contribution to the story was finished.

Malik coughed nervously. “The Council told us we had to find new members but in this city everyone gets tested as soon as possible.

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