274 (Complex Series, #4)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Charlotte forces a smile, “Hi, we’re here for a Rivie Tour. Is Janice here?”

The girl’s dull eyes sweep over us. She sighs and glances at her Notice, before nodding, “I’ll send a Notice for her to come. She was just helping out with our morning routine. We don’t quite have enough people to help, you see.”

Charlotte raises an eyebrow at me to say ‘didn’t I tell you?’ I force away the grin twitching at my lips.

Charlotte wheels me away from the door and to the far side of the room. The girl returns to her anxious reading of the hologram.

A few minutes pass and the door slides open. A girl stumbles inside, her face hidden behind a tower of blankets balanced in her arms. She totters to the counter where she sets them down. The receptionist carries them away through some door.

The girl, presumably Janice, turns to face us. Her thin brown hair hangs in strings and snarls around her head. Her brown eyes sweep over us, a tiny bit of light gathered inside.

She smiles tiredly, “Hi, Charlotte. I’m Janice, and you are…?”

 “I’m Claire.”

“Claire, nice to meet you.”

“Same to you,” I say.

Janice presses her lips together, “I don’t know how much of the tour we can do since you’re in a wheelchair, but I can show you some of the basics, okay?”

She strides to the other side of the room, and opens a different door. Charlotte and I follow, moving into a hallway. Janice says, “As Cleaners, we have a lot of work to do. We have to wash all the blankets that were used the previous night. We also have to wash all the trays from the meals. Any spills or major clean ups are taken care by us. We also routinely have to go through halls and rooms to scrub them down. There are other odd jobs we have to take care of, creating a lot of work. Sadly, there aren’t many people aspiring to be a Cleaner, causing our numbers to be low and our work per person to be high.”

Charlotte once again sends me be another look. I barely control the smile on my face.

Janice leads us through a door, into another room. Square machines line the walls, vibrating with force. Loud, pounding noises echo around the room.

Janice raises her voice to be heard, saying, “These are the washing machines and tray washers we use to clean the blankets and trays. Luckily, we have just enough space to do all the loads by the end of the day. However, since the Unknown numbers are growing, so is the amount of mess to clean. We don’t know how much longer we will be able to keep up with the work.”

She leads us back out of the room. Charlotte glances at her Notice and mutters something under her breath. She says to Janice, “I’m really, really sorry, but Claire and I have to go. Miranda wants to meet with us and…”

Janice sighs, “And since the Cleaners aren’t that important, you think you can leave.”

Charlotte says, “No, that wasn’t what I was saying at all. It’s just that I’m really close friends with Miranda and,” Charlotte’s eyes tear up, “and I just can’t get the idea through my head that she will be leaving soon. Any time I can get with her, I use.”

Janice gives in, “Okay, okay. Just come back to finish the tour, right?”

Charlotte nods and speeds down the hallway.

We fly through the halls. I ask, “What’s so important with Miranda?”

“Not Miranda, Piper. She says this is probably the only time she’s going to get to talk to me today. I want to use it. She’s the only one, besides you, who’s on my side. She’s only able to meet for a few minutes though.”

“Is it still in Miranda’s office?”

“Yeah, Piper must have gotten her to leave or something.”

We arrive at the door to Miranda’s office. Charlotte presses her Notice strap to the scanner, pushing us inside.

The second the door closes behind us, Piper stands up from behind the desk. She hugs Charlotte saying, “I’m so glad you could make it. Thank you for coming at a moment’s notice.”

Charlotte says, “Are you kidding me? I’m just so glad that you’re still alive. I thought I killed you all a couple years ago. I know I told you not to tell me anymore, but is everyone still alive?”

Piper takes a deep breath, “No, not everyone. Sienna died a couple days after she was sent back to the Unknown.”

Charlotte’s feelings are conflicted as they flit across her face. She says, “Is that all?”

Piper shakes her head, tears springing into her eyes, “No. A couple months ago Dana was caught helping three rebellious kids. She was executed immediately by Ellen herself.”