Breathe by Sarah Crossan Read Free Book Online Page A

professor.
    I turn off the pad and toss it onto the floor. Then, still fully clothed, shoes and all, I pull the covers over me, ease into the alcohol, and go to sleep.

7
ALINA
    The apartment is silent. The lights are out. And in the living room Silas is on the couch with his head in his hands. My aunt and uncle are in there, too, sitting on either side of him. Something so awful has happened that no one is screaming. No one is shouting. All they can do is sit.
    “Silas,” I murmur. I’m afraid of upsetting the stillness. My aunt looks up and dashes toward me.
    “Where in hell’s name have you been?” She hugs me then stands back to check I’m okay. “They found Abel,” she whispers. Though I know I’ve heard her correctly, I can’t believe it. My parents have been missing for a year, and there’s been no news. I want to ask where they found him, as though he might have been hidden under his bed, or in the bathroom taking a shower. But I know that what I’m really asking is how he died because if he were alive, no one would need to whisper.
    So I say, “ When did they find him?”
    “This morning,” Aunt Harriet says. “It’s been all over the news. The poor boy was found between the pod and the recycling station. They say he was cutting the tubing.”
    “Yeah. With no airtank. He ran half a mile holding his breath,” Silas mutters.
    “So they scratched him from the system, then found him again just so they could kill him? Why?” I ask. Silas shrugs.
    Uncle Gideon stands up. “Silas told us what happened at the biosphere. He must have been flagged.”
    No one is looking at me now. Do they think it was my fault? It was my decision to bring him along on the mission. And I forced him to throw the second rock. He didn’t want to. He didn’t even want to throw the first one. Was it worth it? How can working for the Resistance be more important than our lives? So we’ll manage to steal a few tree cuttings, smuggle them out, and replant them somewhere—it hardly constitutes saving the planet. When the trees make a comeback, Abel will still be dead. We’ll all be dead.
    I must be shaking because Uncle Gideon and Aunt Harriet are standing on either side of me holding me up. If I hadn’t liked Abel so much, he would still be alive. Don’t get involved with each other , Petra warned us. She warned us again and again. Why didn’t I follow the rules?
    Silas is watching me. It’s possible he guessed how I felt about Abel a long time ago. He won’t say anything though; he won’t put Abel’s death on me. He turns on the screen, turns up the volume, and jumps up from the couch. “You have to leave the pod. Even if you weren’t spotted, we can’t be sure he didn’t betray you—in the end. You have to go to Petra.”
    My breath quickens. I have no airtank to help me breathe outside the pod and even if I did, I’d never make it through Border Control with the Ministry after me. Silas sees my panic. “Pack a bag, Alina. They’ll be coming for you.” He marches into his own bedroom. “Now!”
    My aunt and uncle look at each other frantically and then, without speaking, spring into action. Uncle Gideon dives into the recesses of a kitchen cupboard and pulls out a large airtank and facemask. “For emergencies,” he says. Aunt Harriet is packing a bag with food and water.
    Only two days ago I was celebrating with Abel, and now Abel is dead and I’m going on the run. My gut turns and suddenly I am on my hands and knees retching. I can’t stop myself. Aunt Harriet rushes to me and holds my hair out of the way.
    “You’ll be fine,” she says, smiling as though she really believes it.
    “Alina, get moving!” Silas hollers.
    “I’ll clean it up,” I tell my aunt.
    “Just hurry,” she says. And then we hear it. The thudding on the apartment door that can only mean one thing: the Ministry has arrived.
    “The plants,” my uncle whispers. Silas runs to the balcony and throws open the