Liberty by Annie Laurie Cechini Read Free Book Online Page A

anything.”
    “Because I can help you, and outside of me and the Underground, you have no one you can trust.”
    “You dropped me! And if I don’t know the first thing about you, how can I trust you?”
    Berrett rolled his eyes. “The fact that I didn’t let you die should be a start.”
    “Oh, you could have.” I eyed Berrett, and then started rifling through my emergency pack looking for water. “Why would the Underground want to help me? How did they even know about me? And what, exactly, is in it for you, Berrett?”
    Berrett folded his arms and looked straight into my eyes. “Because you have apparently done something to threaten the System, and anyone who threatens them is a friend to me.”
    There was something in his expression, in the honesty of his face that felt incredibly familiar. There was rage, a life of suffering ... a major loss. Something only another person who had been through the same sort of trauma would notice.
    “Who did you lose?” I asked.
    Berrett’s eyes hit the ground. “My dad. He was the best man I ever knew, and they shot him dead in the middle of the street.”
    I clenched my throat and instinctively put my hand on his. He raised his gaze to meet mine.
    “You need help, Dix, whether you like it or not. And I can help you. The Underground is much more than you realize.” He pulled a pocket-sized copy of The Unauthorized History of the Third War from inside his jacket. “Look familiar?”
    “Well, sure, but even I thought that was a stupid one to use. The SUN could have figured it out by now.” I pulled a canteen from my pack and threw back a swig. The cool water flowed down my throat and hit my empty stomach with a thud. “I need a minute.”
    I walked across the tall grass toward what must have been a playground a hundred years ago. I pushed the rusted chains of a swing and leaned against the poles of the set. Though I found Berrett’s stance on my dependency extremely obnoxious, he appeared to have some kind of point. And he had saved my life.
    On top of which, much to my chagrin, I was momentarily dependent. I didn’t know Earth well enough to work my way around, and I couldn’t save my friends and find my freedom without some help. I would have to take a risk on someone, and good Samaritans weren’t exactly beating down my door.
    I looked back toward the bench where Berrett sat, leaning forward and flipping through the small history book. My gut seemed to think he was safe, and I was done ignoring my gut. I walked slowly back to the bench, wondering how I was going to explain myself. It had been years since unfiltered truth had come out of my mouth.
    “Well?” he asked.
    Better to just rip the Band-Aid off.
    “They want me because they want this.” I pulled on the chain around my neck until the vial fell into my hand, which was, weirdly, trembling.
    I stared at the glass vial, sparkling in the last rays of daylight. The silver fluid swirled and rolled back and forth like oil in water. I let it fall against my chest, unclasped the chain from around my neck, and slid my mother’s wedding ring onto the chain. The ring clinked against the stopper of the glass vial. I held out the vial to Berrett. Mrs. Ford and Hobs were the only people in the world who knew what I wore around my neck, and I felt as vulnerable as a naked newborn as I watched Berrett stare at the silver liquid inside.
    “What is it?”
    “Eternigen.”
    Berrett laughed. “You’re full of it. Eternigen isn’t real. It’s like the scientific equivalent of the fountain of youth. Wishful thinking.”
    “No, the tooth fairy isn’t real. Eternigen, on the other hand, is.”
    “Wait ... the tooth fairy isn’t real?” Berrett grinned at me as he took the vial out of my hands. “But you’re talking about defying the aging process, being able to fly into deep space, and that’s impossible. Besides, the SUN reports—”
    “You don’t actually believe the reports? This is why I have to lie about