Earthquake Read Online Free PDF

silent. How can the woman claim to know the answers to all the questions they’re going to ask when this is one that even
I
don’t know? She breathes in slowly, and just as she opens her mouth to say something—probably to repeat herself—I say, “I don’t have one.”
    A single blink is the only response I get.
    “And I don’t
intend
to have one either,” I continue, forcing back the urge to cross my arms over my chest. I don’t need to look petulant right at this moment. “I’ve had bad experiences with both brotherhoods, and I don’t want to be a part of either.”
    “Are you hungry?”
    The question catches me off-guard. It seems silly that they would even care. I look up at the woman, and for a moment I think she’s staring off into space, but then I realize her gaze is focused over my shoulder.
    On Logan.
    He’s looking up at her with a strange expression that I vaguely recognize as
hope
, and it sickens me. That the Reduciates behind a plane of glass can inspire any sort of positive emotion in him while I instill nothing but fear makes me equal parts angry and sad.
    He tries to speak, clears his throat when he fails, and starts again. “Maybe.” There’s a rebellious lilt to his voice, and I allow myself a slow blink of relief. I certainly haven’t won him over, but at least they haven’t either.
    Yet.
    “Are you the ones who destroyed my house?” He sounds tentative, even weak, but I can hear him getting to his feet behind me. He’s not broken. Thank goodness.
    “I’m afraid it was necessary.”
    “My
family
?” He’s trying so hard to be strong—to be brave. I don’t dare look back at him at the risk that seeing me would make him change his mind. Or snap his last thread.
    “I’m afraid it was necessary,” she repeats.
    Now I glance back. I can’t help myself. His jaw is clenched so hard I can see the muscles standing out like marbles beneath his skin. His eyes glimmer—just a sheen—as they tell him what he already knew. And in that moment, I see a glimpse of Rebecca’s Quinn—
my
Quinn. Quinn, who was so strong and could handle anything. He’s
in there
. I know it!
    “Why was it necessary?” I say, when I sense he’s not ready to speak. Part of me is curious how the Reduciata will attempt to justify their actions. A larger part knows that if I can’t get Logan to remember—the chances of which are basically nonexistent in here—I’ll need to make sure that it’s
me
he sides with.
    “To keep everything clean. The authorities will assume you died with them.” She addresses Logan brusquely, as though she weren’t speaking of the murder of four people, two of them Logan’s siblings, just children. “They’ll be looking for an arsonist, for sure, but not a missing person.”
    “You killed four people to cover up a
kidnapping
?” he says, throwing the words at her as though they were a weapon. I wish they were.
    “We killed 255 people to get to Tavia.”
    Logan turns to look at me in shock and horror. I suck in a breath and hold very still as a wave of mourning washes over me. My parents were two of those 255. “Is that true?” he asks.
    All my work. Undone. But I nod. I have to.
    “None of that matters now.” The woman’s amplified voice cuts through me.
    “How can you say it doesn’t matter?” Logan says hoarsely.
    “Because once you remember, they
won’t
matter.”
    I crinkle my brows. I don’t understand why remembering should change any of this, but I dismiss it as a vain attempt to pacify us. “So what now?” I ask. I want to rise gracefully to my feet, but I’m too weak. My hands slip on the smooth white walls as I drag myself up, but I manage to stand and plant my fists on my hips.
    “
Now
you both need to eat.”
    A veritable picnic appears—complete with a red-checkered blanket, which I don’t find amusing in the least—on the floor between us.
    Logan snorts even as his eyes glitter. “Like we’d eat anything
you
gave us.”
    At that,