Read The Unspoken: Book One in the Keres Trilogy for Free Online

began to really worry, ” interrupts Frehn. “ There ’ s no way you would have been spared when you were the one who flew at The Mother. She must have known you were going to attack her, that ’ s not the kind of thing you just miss. We had to make contact with you. Merit laid the network of tube through the ducts so Wex would have a direct connection to you. ”
    “ So I did hear you last night. ” Was it only just last night? “ Yes, but you should have heard me months ago. I talked to you every night, ” Wex says with a sigh. “ That ’ s why we think something else, a different kind of torture was happening to you. Something prevented our voices from getting to you or what was happening in your room to get out. Until last night. When you heard me. ”
    Until I heard him. Until I heard him I hadn ’ t been able to move out of bed. When his voice came from the vent, I sprang out of bed and across the room without knowing how it happened. Is the Heavy something manufactured by the five torturers to keep me subdued? I try to remember the early days of the Solace. I search my mind for the days before I didn ’ t leave my bed and I can ’ t remember them. I only remember the Heavy and living in the memories that replayed on the backs of my eyes. Where is my quick mind when I actually need it? I shake my head to clear the confusion.
    “ The five in black. Black. No one wears black here. The dye is too valuable to the other cities, ” I say. My eyes turn to my black box with the black suit spilling out of it. It ’ s the only piece of clothing I ’ ve ever held in my hands that was black.
    “ No, oh, no, ” I whisper. The Unspoken service, the five in black, my black suit. “ No. ”
    “ You don ’ t know that yet, ” Frehn is behind my chair, arms around my shoulders, his breath in my ears, “ You don ’ t know that. It could be anything, any number of reasons why your uniform is black. It ’ s not the same as the ones the five were wearing. It ’ s not, Keres. ”
    Doe is at my feet, “ He ’ s right, Keres. It ’ s not the same, their black was loose and cotton and they had masks. None of the uniforms on your card have masks. ”
    I look at Wex, his eyes are narrow and his jaw tight with pressure. There is a muscle twitching in his neck. “ Black, ” I mouth to him.
    “ It doesn ’ t matter, ” he says. “ We will not be here long enough for it to matter. They can hardly turn you into a torturer in a couple of years. You ’ ll still be young when we leave and the five were very old. I would have guessed they were long past Disengagement by the wrinkles around their eyes. ”
    Reassurance flows through me like a warm drink. This is the first time he has mentioned leaving Chelon since last night. Hearing him say it with PG3456 around me makes it real again. We are leaving Chelon in... wait. Years?
    “ Why years, Wex? Why not tomorrow? Or tonight? ” I plead. “ Everyone in Chelon will be at the feast tonight, it ’ s the perfect night to go over the outer wall. ”
    Wex only smiles and shakes his head. “ We don ’ t know anything about living without the canteen, the Necessities Center, and unfortunately, we don ’ t know how to live without The Mothers. We have to gain some skill, we have to find a way for all of us to get out at the same time. That will take some doing. One or two might easily get over the outer wall but certainly not all six of us. We must keep our heads down and learn everything we can in our Services. Even yours, Keres. Whatever it is, it will be valuable on the outside. Besides, you and Merit are in no shape to climb mountains. ”
    He has a point there. I look at Merit, almost emaciated with malnutrition. His eyes are dull and his shoulders hunched. Being out of doors with the animals will strengthen him up; it ’ s exactly what he needs. He seems to think the same thing about me, a sad smile hanging on his lips. As we stand now, we are liabilities to PG3456.