Sneak (Swipe Series)

peace and unity. Most would say he’s achieved those things.” Peck sighed. “But there’s a freedom that was lost too, Logan. A freedom to . . . to choose and to come to our own conclusions. About patriotism, about family, about religion. About everything.
    “You know, of course, about the Religious Inclusion? You grew up celebrating Inclusion Day, right? Honoring the day we all were freed from the boundaries of religion, from the differences of our beliefs?”
    “Of course,” Logan said. “Who doesn’t?”
    “Well.” Peck smiled. “Excluders don’t. I don’t.”
    Logan didn’t quite understand. “Peck—refusing the Inclusion is illegal.”
    And now Peck was laughing. “Logan! Name one thing you or I have done in the last few months that wasn’t illegal!”
    Logan laughed too. Peck had a point.
    “You see, Logan, Cylis gave the world the easy path, and the world took it. Can’t blame anyone for that, really—we’d had it pretty hard up until then. War, famine, plague, a devastated economy, environmental destruction . . .” Peck was quiet for a moment. “The things we fight for . . . have fought for, throughout history . . . they’re the liberties. The right to speak your mind, the right to be happy, the right to worship the way you want, to be treated equally . . .
    “Dictators of the past took these freedoms away. And the world always fought back.
    “But Cylis never took anything. He offered . Offered alternatives to freedom that made life so easy, who could turn them down?
    “The Mark, the Religious Inclusion, the Global Union . . . they all share a single goal: to give us a life so easy that we want to surrender our freedoms. A life so easy that we want to hand over our individuality and abandon choice. Because to keep them is to take the difficult path.” Peck sighed. “The world was ready for things to be a little easier. And choices are hard.”
    After he said this, Peck leaned forward and placed a dry log on the dying embers of Tyler’s fire and blew on them until the log was aflame. Then Peck and Logan just sat by it for a while, listening to it, watching it, letting it warm their faces in perfect, thoughtful silence.
    “There are many types of Markless, Logan. We all have our own reasons when we turn it down. But at the heart of it, each of us wants just one, fundamental thing: the freedom to choose.”
    The two of them watched the smoke rise.
    “Beacon’s a big city, you know. We’re not just going to show up and see this place where Lily’s being held.”
    “I know that,” Logan said.
    “Any clue beyond the city—anything at all—would be helpful.”
    “There is one thing,” Logan said. “The Marker gave me a name.”
    “A name is good.” Peck laughed. “I’ll take a name.”
    But Logan frowned. “He called it Acheron. The place where Lily’s being held.”
    The fire was burning brightly now.
    “Listen, Peck. I can do this myself—”
    “We go together, and that’s the final word on it.”
    “I have a bike,” Logan said. “It would get one of us there, I think.
    But not all of us. I don’t have a plan that includes the Dust.”
    “Don’t worry about that.”
    Logan stared down at the logs in front of them. “Your friends hate me. They’d tear me apart before we even made it past the Great Lakes.”
    “They’ll come around—”
    “But why should they? I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. DOME would have had my skin several times over by now if it weren’t for you, and I know that. I know that I owe you. But I can’t let you in on this. Let’s face it. I’ve left a blazing trail of destruction behind me everywhere I’ve gone. The group’s right—you’re better off without me.”
    “I will be a part of Lily’s rescue,” Peck said. “DOME and I have a score to settle. Please try to understand that.”
    “But they won’t agree to it, Peck! I know these guys look up to you, but it’s asking too much! The Dust won’t join us.”
    “They will,” Peck said.
    “What makes you think so?”
    Peck shrugged. “Call it a hunch.”
    He turned around when he said it. The two of them had a visitor. Behind them, Papa Hayes stood, arms folded, standing against the black backdrop of the open field.
    “So you’re looking to get to Beacon . . . ,” he said.
    4
    The farmhouse was warm with a yellow glow. The smell of the woodstove filled each room, and inside, Logan and Peck and Mama and Papa sat comfortably in the candlelight of the dining