The Girl Who Dared to Think by Bella Forrest (best novels of all time TXT) 📗

room was set up as a personal training room, complete with a matted area for sparring. She slept on a cot, which was in the corner across from the opening. The blankets on it were drawn tight in militant fashion. A crimson uniform with the Squire ranking on the collar hung just next to it, the folds crisp, as if she ironed it every day. Next to that sat a rack that clearly held her knives when she wasn’t wearing them.

Tian turned and skipped down the hall a few seconds later, showing us her room, which was awash with paint on the wall and a simple mattress on the floor, a paint-stained blanket on top of it. Tiny crystals that I recognized as broken bits of the convex lenses used for relaying and distributing energy dangled from string and thin lengths of wire. Like the hall, this room was filled with string lights, running ragged around the walls and on the ceiling. She took a minute to introduce us to her homemade stuffed bear, Commander Cuddles.

Grey and I both indulged the odd girl, greeting the bear in turn, but Roark wouldn’t participate, and I could tell that Tian’s behavior bothered him. I sensed in him the need to fix her, help her to be more normal.

Yet as odd as she was, she was charming. Her crooked smile and single dimple seemed to light up the room. She moved as if she were dancing half the time, skipping from spot to spot, with an occasional lavish twirl thrown in here and there. There was no keeping her still, either; I didn’t think she could stop, like one of those old-world hummingbirds that Zoe had told me about.

“And this is Cali’s room,” she chirped as she led us to the doorway just past hers. Cali’s room was not what I had expected at all. I had assumed her room would be like her daughter’s, packed with weapons and training equipment. Instead, it was filled with books. I recognized most of them, the familiar uniform covers that were color-coded for each department: orange for Cogs, green for Hands, crimson for Shields, and so on. Shelf after shelf lined the walls of the small room, all packed with books. The collection alone made me whistle; these books were prized by their departments, coveted by others. And Cali was sitting on a treasure trove of them.

But there were more—maps of beige shapes contrasting against the dark blue behind them, with names written on them like “Germany” and “The United States of America.” Books that had more than one color or picture on the cover, some depicting people, others landscapes, others objects. My gaze fell on one with a bright cover and a crude drawing on the front, my eyes going over the title: Danny, the Champion of the World, by Roald Dahl.

I’d never seen so many books in one place, even when I’d been to Zoe’s father’s shop before he died. I looked over at Grey and saw him staring at the books too, a hungry gleam in his eyes.

“Tian, does Cali ever let anyone borrow her books?” he asked, looking down at the slender waif standing between us. Her white-blonde bob dipped up and down.

“Yes, but she has very strict rules about it. I’m on a three-week suspension because I committed a hot cocoa infraction.” She leaned close to Grey, her hand going up to block one side of her mouth. “It is a level nine offense, punishable by losing dinner and coloring time.”

Grey smiled, his eyes softening. “That’s a pretty severe punishment. Do you think you learned your lesson?”

The blonde bob started whipping back and forth before he had even finished the question. “This is my third offense.” Her hands fluttered to her sides and she smoothed her clothes down primly. “Cali says I’m doomed if it happens again, but I just can’t help it! Hot cocoa and stories by the window is the best! C’mon, I will show you where you three will be staying.”

She led us the rest of the way down the hall, until the low ceiling lifted up and away and we stepped into a wide-open space. The floor dropped down into a pit, where several large pieces of equipment sat. On the left and the right were the same glass panes as I’d seen in the dining area, set up in a wide circle, making it look like a fish eye against the metal and concrete walls.

Tian skipped down the semi-steep staircase that ran into the trench. I watched her for a second and then whipped out my lash, swung it around once, and hit the side of the incline. I quickly lashed down to the bottom—it was only a twenty-foot drop, really—and took a quick glance around as the others made their way down.

Tian landed lightly on her feet a moment or two later, and in short order everyone was down. “So we don’t really have much in the way of beds,” she said, fluffing up her hair with her hands. “But we have some hammocks and a few extra blankets.” She moved over to a crate and pushed open the lid, pulling out a wad of fabric, with long coils of rope spilling from the gaps in the material.

She tossed the first one in front of us with a thump, and Roark immediately bent over to pick it up, tucking it under his arm and stalking toward where all the massive machines sat. I watched him go, alarmed by the sudden shift in his attitude.

I was indecisive for a moment, but then I turned to Grey. “I’m going to check on Roark,” I told him, my voice pitched low for his ears. “Keep Tian distracted—I don’t want her overhearing anything and misconstruing it later.”

He nodded and then turned to Tian, who was now pulling a second wad of fabric and rope from the bin. I turned just as he said, “Hey, do you want to help