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

way she spoke; whether it was the warm, sweet tone of her voice or the sparkle of good humor in her eyes, it was hard to tell. I just did. Which was disconcerting enough for me to break eye contact and immediately drop myself down into the hole, climbing down the rungs of the ladder at a swift pace. The light above me was blocked momentarily as Cali followed me down, and I kept moving, my hands and feet confident. All ladders were standardized in the Tower, which meant once you were good with one, you were good with them all. As a potential Knight, I had learned how to be very good.

We descended twenty feet or so before emerging into a wide, circular room with a glass floor. Half of the walls were comprised of glass, through which I could see the churning waters of the hydro-turbine seated down below, at the base of the Tower. Ahead, the river flowed toward us, snaking in under the greenery, the edge of which was visible some three hundred feet ahead. Even though we were low—perhaps fifty or sixty feet above the churning waters—I could still see out past the overhang created by the greenery above, and into a thin strip of sky now turning purple.

“This is beautiful,” I said, my head tilting as my eyes absorbed the sights.

My shin connected with something hard, and I looked down to realize we were standing in a dining area in the style of the Water Treatment people. Pillows and mats littered the area around a small table that stood maybe a foot or two off the floor. There were already seven places set, along with a bowl of steamed vegetables and another bowl brimming with steamed rice.

A young man stepped around Grey, carrying a tureen, and I looked over at him as he approached, suddenly wary. His dark blue eyes seemed to smile at me as he sat the tureen down on the table. When he straightened, his hand was already held out.

“I’m Quess,” he said in a surprisingly soft voice. “Well, my full name is Quessian, but everyone has a hard time pronouncing it, so Quess is better.”

I grinned. “Medica?”

“Born and bred,” he replied with an answering grin, sharing in the joke. The Medica were known for giving their children unusual and never-before-heard-of names. It was a way of ensuring their prodigy and department would stand out. “But I transferred to the Eyes when I was fifteen, and later was a Cog.”

I blinked. He’d been an Eye and then a Cog? That seemed unlikely; Eyes were notoriously loyal, probably because disloyalty was rewarded with harsh and corporeal punishments. Not just for the offender, but for the offender’s co-workers. Their cruel tactics may not have inspired a lot of love, but they did inspire a lot of obedience.

“How’s that possible?” Grey asked, seeming to manifest between us, and I realized we were still shaking hands. I quickly let go, and to my surprise, Quess winked at me before giving a nod to Grey and disappearing into the kitchen. It took me a moment to realize he had left without answering Grey’s question.

Cali stepped off the ladder and into the room, softly clapping her hands together. “All right, everyone, we have guests tonight, so I expect your best behavior. Doxy, I am specifically addressing you when I say that.”

I looked over to see the statuesque woman rolling her eyes, begrudgingly getting back up off the sitting pillows to start shedding herself of knives and other tools of violence. By the time she was done, I couldn’t help but feel incredibly impressed—and extremely intimidated.

She caught me looking at her and swung her long hair over her shoulder, offering me a mocking smile as she sat back down on her cushions. I licked my lips and then chose a spot across from her, wanting to keep her within reaching distance. Grey took up a position on my left, while Roark took up a whole side of the square table to himself. Quess set down two more dishes: what appeared to be some sort of marinated potatoes, and some kind of bean dish.

My stomach made a pitiful sound at the sight of all that food, and I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t eaten at all today. Still, that didn’t stop my mouth from opening and questions from spilling out before I could remember my table manners.

“Where did you get all this food from? How are you living here undetected? Is it only the four of you? Why did you leave the Knights? How did Quess work in two different departments? What is it you want from us?”

I paused to take a deep breath, and Cali’s smile grew as she gracefully crossed her legs. Tian appeared from a door just past the kitchen and plodded over to Cali, curling up right beside her, and Cali immediately made room for the young girl.

“She has more questions than you do,” she said in a stage whisper into Tian’s ear, and the young girl grinned at me, showing me a toothy smile.

“Not possible,” she crooned, and Cali laughed.

“Our food is grown here,” Quess said. “Luckily, Maddox here got some time in as a Hand before her rank dropped to one. We have enough to take care of ourselves, although if your medication works the way that you say it does...” He turned a quizzical eye to Roark, who was already beginning to shovel food onto his plate.

Roark paused when he realized everyone was staring, his eyes going wide. “What? Were we not starting?”

“No,” Cali replied amiably. “Please, dig in, and I’ll do my best to explain. We are four, yes, but there are other smaller, family-like groups like ours scattered in hidden nooks and crannies all over this Tower. Not just in the Depths, but in the Tower proper. We aren’t detected because of the paint that you saw on the inside of the upper levels. It’s one of Quess’s designs—he’s quite