Read One of Us for Free Online

old enough to makeyour own decisions, you want to return to your roots.” His knuckles look yellow against the handrail. “That’ll explain why the Brotherhood’s new to you.” He laughs shortly. “Everyone at the Institute will feel sorry for you. They’ll want to help you truly be a Brotherhood girl.”
    â€œBut why will they believe it?” I take two steps at a time to keep up with Oskar. “What will they do to me if they don’t?” Why am I even thinking about this?
    â€œWhy won’t they, K? Verity Nekton’s social worker will visit. She’ll have all the paperwork, birth certificate, and so on. And Nekton is a respected old Brotherhood name.” Oskar stops when he reaches the landing. “And of course I’ll keep in touch, all the time.”
    He’s planned every detail, as if it’s real, as if I’m part of it already. He must have been checking me out. But it was me who told him everything, wasn’t it? I climb up the last flight of stairs. Why does Oskar think I would be able to do all this, when he doesn’t even know me? Nobody else thinks I can do anything, not even the social worker who’s supposed to help me. But this almost-stranger believes in me.
    â€œWhere would I live?”
    â€œAt the Institute,” says Oskar. “It’s not a boarding school, but some of the older students live there.”
    I don’t speak, because I’m afraid that if I open my mouth I’ll just say yes to him.
    â€œIt won’t be that hard, K.” Oskar walks toward the doors. “All you have to do is be there and keep your real feelings to yourself.”
    That should be easy for me. It’s the one thing I’m really good at. Years of living with people you can’ttrust will do that. I smile at Oskar, and in the glass door behind him I see my eyes lit up, green and alive again, not dull and sad.
    â€œTake all the time you need, K.” Oskar isn’t smiling now. “You’ll do the right thing. You know what’s at stake.” His eyes hold mine. “We both know we have to do everything we can to prevent the Strife starting again.”
    I look back into his eyes. Since Grandma died, Oskar is the only person I’ve known who understands a loss like mine. And now he’s offering me a way to do something about it. A chance to set my own life aside and work with him to stop our country from plunging back into war and chaos. Oskar opens the door and an icy wind cuts in.

    A S WE ROAR uphill back toward the station I make two lists in my mind:
    If I say yes, I’ll be working with Oskar. Isn’t it true that an individual, weak and helpless on their own, can become strong when they are part of a bigger whole? Doesn’t the possibility of saving even one person make it worth trying? This might be my only chance. It’s now or never. And I could study Art, for the first time.
    If I say no, I’ll never see Oskar again. I’ll still have my room at the halfway house, but only until I’m sixteen. I can’t go back to school. I will have thrown away the opportunity, however slim, to finally do something to stop them . Maybe one small piece of missing information could have stopped the bomb at Central Station. Just like one person’s observation could have saved my parents thirteen years ago.
    Am I as brave as Oskar thinks? Could I really go that far?

    O F COURSE I ’ M not going to do it. It’s crazy, unreal. I have no idea how to be a spy.
    Oskar pulls up in the train station’s parking lot and I climb off the bike.
    But as my fingers fumble with the helmet strap, I hear myself say: “I’ll do it.”
    What am I doing? But I can always leave, can’t I?
    Oskar lifts his helmet off. “Good. Good.” His face breaks out into a smile.
    It’ll be OK.
    He pulls off his gloves and unclasps my helmet strap because my fingers are too cold