Sneak (Swipe Series)

always saying.” He grew excited now, flipping through the pages.
    “Hailey—maybe the reason Cylis and Lamson are scared for us to talk about pre-Unity history and religion in this country is because history and religion are true and inspiring ! They show us that people can stand up for something real. They give us something to believe in. These stories really happened and they remind us that it’s okay if we’re not here right now to finish everything. Because we’re definitely here to start something. Big . And maybe that’s enough. Things weren’t always like this. We have to start making it right.”
    He held Hailey’s hand, and the two of them looked out over the sidewalk’s railing, out to the city below, out past the hill, to the dark horizon, with its twinkling lights that bled right into the stars of the sky. Dane’s music played on in their ears, and Hailey still cried, though her tears grew gentle and calm.
    Somehow, in that moment, Logan knew. That he would find Lily. That he would find her soon.
    9
    It was late in the evening when Logan and Hailey were awoken from their sleep against the sidewalk railing, earphones still in, heads drooping, legs stretched out across the pavement . . .
    “Street cleaning!” a Markless whispered as he ran by. “ Street cleaning! ” And he tapped Logan and Hailey’s feet as he passed.
    The pair stood quickly, Hailey grabbing her radio and Logan his book.
    “Come on,” the Markless called, several paces beyond them now, heading toward the grid-system elevator. “Not safe up here.”
    So Logan and Hailey followed, hoping that this stranger knew what he was doing.
    The three of them made their way onto the elevator just as the doors were closing. They made the two-hundred-story descent in silence, crammed in with a mob of Marked Beaconers, hoping not to draw too much attention to themselves.
    When the elevator doors opened at the ground level stop, the man they’d followed slipped quickly through the crowd and into the busy streets.
    Logan and Hailey ran after him, trying not to think about how much danger they might be in. DOME didn’t have its eye out for them here the way it did in New Chicago, but that didn’t mean they’d likely survive a sweeping.
    The man led them far past the main streets and deep into the dark side alleys of City Center’s edges. “ Hurry ,” he whispered, propping open a door with an “Employees Only” sticker on it and waving frantically for Logan and Hailey to catch up. Beyond the chain-link fence at the end of the street, the hill dropped off sharply, and for the briefest moment, Logan paused, absorbing the view. He could just barely make out the tops of the Water District buildings below, where the ocean met the sky at the horizon, and he whispered, “It’s still beautiful” just before Hailey yanked him hard through the open door.
    10
    The man ahead of them gave no explanation of where they were going; it was as if he assumed they already knew.
    They traveled through the cold, metal hallways of the building’s back entrance, down a silver, grated stairway and into a dark basement, well beyond the dim light from above, well into the thick black of a tunnel. Logan walked with one hand tracing the wall, using touch as his sight, while all around him, a faint, ominous hum filled the air.
    Finally, the three of them made it to another door; when the man opened it, a soft light and a blast of air flooded the tunnel. They entered, and descended further.
    “What is this place?” Hailey whispered.
    But as soon as she said it, it was clear. The stairs led to a steel mesh catwalk, fifty feet or so above a cavernous industrial space with concrete walls, tile floors, and enormous padded tubes running along the floor. Emergency work lights lit the room with a red glow that bounced softly from the hard, cold surfaces.
    “We’ve learned about these,” Logan whispered. “In science class.” He pointed. “It’s a turbine room. We’re inside of a nuclear reactor.”
    Hailey nodded. But there were a few differences between the nuclear reactors Logan learned about in school and the nuclear reactor before them now: this one didn’t seem to be turned on. And this one was filled with Markless. Thousands of them milled about in the arena-sized space, huddling in clusters. “Logan,” Hailey said. “He’s brought us to the heart of Beacon’s Markless community.”
    “The capital.” Logan laughed. “We finally get to see