Read Storm (Swipe Series) for Free Online Page B

opened to a vast room full of desks and nothing else. On each desk was a helmet.
    Lily gestured into it. “Level Six.”
    And the smile on Eddie’s face vanished at once.
    “Wait, what is this?” he asked. “I’ve done this already. You’ve done—” Eddie was panicking now. “You’ve done this to me already.”
    “Last time you were here for treason,” Lily said. “Level Nine. This is Six.”
    All the humor in him was gone. “What’s Six?”
    “Heresy. To disrespect training is to disrespect the IMPS. To disrespect the IMPS is to disrespect General Lamson and Chancellor Cylis. And that, Moderator Blackall, is heresy.”
    Lily pushed him down the path between two endlessly long lines of desks, buried far below the surface of Beacon City. The Advocate’s strides were so fast and confident, Eddie had to step double-time not to fall.
    “But you can’t. You can’t just . . . This is torture!” Eddie pleaded. “Please! You can’t !”
    Advocate Langly raised an eyebrow.
    “Do you know the ranks of the IMPS, Moderator Blackall?”
    “Yes. No. Wait, I’m pretty sure—”
    Lily stopped him. “Moderator—that’s you. Then Counselor. Then Mitigator. Then Coordinator. Those are the four levels, inorder, of the subservient ranks. From there, we have Advocates—that’s me—then Champions, then Presiders, and then Deciders. Those are the Controlling Ranks. They give the orders to the subservients. And last, of course, is the general. General Lamson.”
    “So then how come when we Pledge, we Pledge to Cylis? If our highest rank is the general, then why in the world aren’t we Pledging to him ? I mean, who’s actually supposed to be in charge here? How can I be the picture of loyalty if I don’t even know who it is I’m supposed to be loyal to ?”
    Lily smiled and sidestepped the question. “ You ,” she said, “are subservient. You are the lowest of the subservients. And I fail to see what about this is confusing to you.” She frowned. “ I , meanwhile, am a Controller. There are not many of us. None have yet even made it to the rank of Decider. None in the world.
    “Now, Moderator Blackall, because you were stupid enough to implicate me in your futile attempt at a break-in last month, I’ve been assigned the thankless task of monitoring your worthless training progress. And do you know what I’ve seen? I’ve seen a little Dusty miser who’s managed to actually get worse with each passing day. I’ve seen a troublemaker who wakes up each morning a little less fixed . A little less loyal . And a whole lot less serious. You began with such promise! And now look at you—you’re a worm! Writhing around, claiming small victories with each passing joke. And thinking . . . what ? That if you backslide far enough, we’ll just let you go? We’ll just give up? Just open Acheron’s door and let you run back up to your little skinflint friends in the Dust?”
    Eddie was silent.
    “No! We will fix you. We will Revise you! Just as we did the first time. Just as we’ll do every time. As many times as it takes for Revision to stick. Do you understand me, Eddie?”
    Eddie looked into Lily’s eyes with open terror.
    “I very much can do this,” the Advocate told him. “And you very much will obey.”
    Eddie pointed to his forehead with a single, shaking finger. “But I Pledged. I’m Marked. I did this already. I’ve already Pledged!”
    Lily shook her head. “A Pledge is not a promise, Moderator Blackall. It’s a way of life. And you backslid. This is what happens when you backslide.”
    Eddie was very serious now. Precisely as serious as the situation demanded.
    “Advocate. Advocate, it’s me. Eddie. Your brother’s friend. We came here to rescue you, back in December. It wasn’t a ‘break-in.’ It was a rescue mission. I . . . I risked everything to rescue you. Your name is Lily Langly. You’re a good person. You may not remember it. But I know that you are. And you don’t have to do