Rise Read Online Free PDF

hell won’t lose her to that Guard, just because Mother has determined that he’s more suitable.
    Sector Two is empty as I rush past the darkened buildings and silent “streets,” so I’m unhampered in my hurry. I still don’t run. Enforcers still lurk, like sharks awaiting their prey. I’m already too close to curfew, but not past it yet. If I don’t full-out run, there’s nothing they can do…I hope.
    But, if I don’t run…
    Images of what’s happening to Evie fly through my head, winging across my mind’s eye at a dizzying rate. So I pick up my pace—almost a run now, hang the Enforcers. If she’s gone, if she doesn’t remember me, I’m dead anyway.
    I stumble, but only for an instant; my feet catch up to what I want them to do and I navigate Sector Two as fast as I dare.
    When not a single Enforcer stops me, I full-out expect a contingent of them to meet me in the Medical Sector. I stumble to a halt just on that side of the tube, a frown creasing my brow.
    There’s no one here.
    The secretary’s gone. The lights are dimmed. Not off, but dimmed. And it’s as silent as I’ve ever heard it.
    But then I hear her. Quietly. Almost as if she’s breathing her words. I can’t make out what she’s saying, but the voice is unmistakable .
    There are two doors leading out of the reception area and I go to the one on my left first, positive if that’s what they’re doing to her, the operating room is where they’re going to do it.
    I have a moment’s panic right before I pull open the door that it’ll be locked, but when I pull and it slides open toward me, without even a protesting groan, relief is instantaneous. Quickly followed by the feeling that no one is in here. The silence is heavy. As if no one has been on this side in a long time.
    Still I careen down the dark hallway, running into each operating room only to find them empty. With the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach threatening to swallow me whole, I push out the door and race around the reception desk to the other door.
    This one, too, is unlocked, but I know instantly that this is the right hallway. Her voice is louder now and I can barely hear the rumble of a man’s voice.
    I’m careful this time. I don’t rush. It seems like it really is just a therapy session. Maybe they’re just talking, I think, before mentally shaking my head. No. I’m sure it’s much, much worse than that.
    The closer I draw to what I know is Dr. Friar’s office, the larger the pit in my stomach grows and the more my brain seems to have fully engaged. It’s reminding me of how idiotic my plan is.
    Even if he’s Conditioning her, what am I supposed to do about it? There have to be Enforcers. Guards, at least. Just because I haven’t seen any doesn’t mean they’re not there.
    The door looms in front of me now. My thoughts weigh heavy on me.
    I don’t know what to do. Fear makes my stomach twist around and around and my lungs pinch with the effort of forcing air out and in. I’m dizzy and sick and I’ve no idea how to push past all of that to rescue the girl I love.
    It’s in the moment of panic I realize I can’t do it. I can’t do this alone and I’m just the fool Eli thought me to be to have thought that I could. But, I think, as a glimmer of hope beckons my hand toward the door handle, I can get the Underground to help.
    All this new information could be just what they need to act, because they’re not going to want me ousted from my seat as favored Suitor.
    So I reach for the handle, slowly twisting it, and push so the door creeps open, barely revealing the room to me.
    I don’t know what I expected, but what I see is worse.
    It’s only the two of them. Dr. Friar and Evie. But she’s lying on what appears to be some sort of weird chair/operating table. She’s strapped down. Big black straps that stretch across her ankles, just under her knees, across her thighs, hips, chest and shoulders. One arm is strapped down with the same straps