“What’s going on? What’s up with the rain barrel?”
“Nothing. Just checking to see how much was in there. Felix just rolled these over. I don’t know how he did it with so much water in them.”
“It’s not hard if you get it at the right angle,” Wells replied. “Why do you need to check the water level?”
Kendall looked up at the sky and held up her hands near her shoulders, palms up, as if checking the air for moisture. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to have any rain today, and I wanted to be sure we had enough.”
Wells studied her face. Something about her was out of synch—it was almost as if her semiclueless voice and her piercing stare belonged to two different people but had accidentally ended up together.
“Did you find something in there?”
Kendall tittered. “In the rain barrel? No. Why?”
“What were you doing with your hand in it, then?”
“Wells, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t have my hand in the barrel.”
“Kendall, I saw you standing there reaching into it.”
She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. For a moment so brief Wells thought he might be imagining it, her expression transformed from innocent and awkward to cool and calculating. Then she opened her eyes wide again, smiled shyly, and shrugged. “Wells, I don’t know what to tell you. I wasn’t reaching into the barrel. I have to get to my hunting shift.” Before Wells could say another word, she turned on her heel and scurried back to the center of camp.
Wells felt uneasy. Something wasn’t right. He looked down into the barrel, but all he saw was crystal clear water, about halfway up the side. With a frustrated slap of his palms against the side of the barrel, Wells decided he needed to tell Rhodes what he’d just seen. Making sure the water was safe to drink was more important than some stupid power struggle.
It wasn’t hard to track down the Vice Chancellor. He just had to spot the clump of guards gathered around, waiting for orders. With an excuse me or two, he made his way to the front of the group and stood behind Rhodes, who was talking to Officer Burnett, his second-in-command.
“Sir?” Wells said in his well-trained officer’s respectful tone.
Rhodes spun around and looked Wells over from head to toe. He seemed surprised to see Wells again. “Yes, Officer Jaha? How can I help you?”
Wells felt the eyes of the guards on him. “I witnessed something I think you should know about, sir.”
“Did you?”
“Yes. I saw a girl named Kendall dropping something into one of the rain barrels. I believe she was putting something into our water supply.”
“And what do you think this Kendall was putting into our water supply?” Rhodes asked coolly.
“I don’t know, sir. But there’s something about her that doesn’t feel quite right. She’s just a little… off.”
Rhodes let out a dry chuckle. “She’s ‘off’?”
Wells nodded.
Rhodes looked from Wells to Burnett, then back again. “Well, Jaha. Thank you for bringing this very critical piece of intelligence to my attention. I will be sure to have my men investigate anyone who may seem a little off. We can’t have that.”
The men gathered around snickered. Wells felt his cheeks burn.
“It’s not a joke,” Wells said firmly. “She was up to something. I just don’t think she’s as innocent as she seems.”
Rhodes pinned Wells with a cold stare. “I realize that your brief time as leader here on Earth was very satisfying for you. And one day, if you manage to keep your desperation in check, perhaps you’ll be in charge again. But right now I find it shameful that you would make up accusations against an innocent girl simply because you would like to feel important.”
Any sense of embarrassment Wells felt was gone in a flash, replaced by pure disgust. He wasn’t the one playing games here—and he wasn’t the one letting power go to his head. Rhodes was putting all their lives at risk because he was… what? Threatened by a teenager? He wasn’t going to give Rhodes the satisfaction of letting his frustration show. As hard as it was, he ignored Rhodes’s accusations and focused on giving him concrete evidence so he’d have to act, regardless of whatever personal beef he had with Wells.
“Sir. Before you arrived here, two members of our group were killed.”
“Yes, I heard about those unfortunate incidents.” Rhodes waved his hand dismissively at Wells. “But I understand that you were not properly protected. We’ve established a security perimeter that will prevent that from happening again.”
“I’m not sure how a perimeter would prevent an arrow from hitting someone in the neck. Sir. And I’m not sure how a perimeter would help if one of their people has already infiltrated our camp. My friend Priya was strung up from a tree like an animal. We couldn’t understand how someone could have snuck into camp for long enough to do that to her without anyone noticing a stranger among us. But I think I’ve figured it out. I think that the culprit was already here, not an outsider at all. I think it was Kendall.”
Rhodes looked at Wells like he was a scrap of trash stuck to his boot. “That’s enough. Come back to me when you’re ready to help. I don’t have time to listen to your conspiracy theories and delusions. I have a settlement to run. If you can tell us where to find an ample food supply, then I’m happy to listen to you. Now go.”
Without a word, Wells stormed away. As he rounded the corner of the nearest hut, he slammed directly into someone.
“Sorry,” he said, looking up into a familiar face. Kendall. She had been standing right there and had heard everything he said to Rhodes. Wells braced himself for a harsh exchange of some kind. But instead, all Kendall did was shoot him a strange, unreadable smile before turning around and heading off into the woods. Wells watched her get swallowed up by the trees, his heart pounding in his chest, somehow knowing in his gut that she wasn’t coming back.
CHAPTER 12: Clarke
Clarke didn’t have the stomach to tell Wells all the details about her plan to rescue Bellamy. She needed his help, but there was a limit to what your ex-boyfriend needed to know. Especially when the plan essentially consisted of one step: flirt dangerously with a sociopathic guard. And particularly when your ex-boyfriend was the protective and occasionally self-righteous type, who also happened to be the de facto leader of the camp.
“So what exactly is it you want me to do?” Wells asked, surveying her with an expression that made it very clear he knew she wasn’t telling him everything.
“Someone has to create a distraction so Bellamy and I can get out of camp without anyone noticing.”
“I can certainly create a distraction, but how exactly do you plan on getting past the guards?”
“I have a plan. Don’t you trust me?”
Wells sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Of course I trust you, Clarke, but what I don’t understand is why you won’t trust me. Why won’t you tell me what’s going on? I know he’s your boyfriend, but he’s also my brother.” The word sounded strange coming from Wells’s lips, but it nonetheless landed in a soft spot deep inside her heart.
“I know, Wells. That’s why I need you to believe me. The less you know, the better chance this has of working.”
Wells shook his head, then gave her a wry smile. “You could convince me to do pretty much anything. You know that, right?”
Clarke grinned. “Good. Because I have one more favor to ask.”
“Anything you want, Griffin.”
“Once we get out of here, we’ll need somewhere to go. Do you think Sasha would ask the Earthborns to take us in—at least for the time being?”
“I’ll talk to her,” Wells said. He and Sasha had agreed to meet in the woods at noon each day, a temporary measure until it was safe for her to visit the camp again. “I’m sure she’ll do it.”