“He pays you more if you ask, dumbass. You should be making four times what I make — you’re at least that much stronger. Instead, you’re probably making what Grant makes.”

The genius of Cordus’s system started to become clear to me.

“So,” I said, “to get the extra pay, you have to ask to be treated better than the others. That means you’re the one who has to go to him and claim they’re not your equals.”

“Got it in one. Bonus for the new girl.”

“But why?” Kara said, sounding choked up. “Why would you do that? We’re not better than them. I’m not better than you. Beth’s not better than me.”

“Seriously. That part of the system would fall apart if no one asked him for the raise,” I said.

“Who should I answer first,” Zion said angrily. “The woman who drives a twenty-year-old Pontiac, or the one who can’t afford a car at all?”

“Zion, that is so fucked up. I don’t even know you. Jesus Fucking Christ.”

Kara slumped back in her seat.

I was still thinking through Cordus’s system.

“He gives the strongest people the most perks. That makes them feel more invested in the status quo. That makes sense, since they’d be the most dangerous to him if they rebelled.”

“‘Rebelled’? We can’t rebel — don’t even think about it,” Zion said. “He would crush us all without lifting a finger.”

We stopped at a light, and she turned to give us both a hard stare.

“You two need to get it through your heads that there’s nothing we can do about our situation. Lord Cordus can do whatever he wants with us. At least the weak ones live to be old. The three of us are going to live short lives, and we’re going to die hard. We’ll be lucky to make it out of our twenties. All we can do is try to enjoy what we can, while we can. There’s nothing else.”

Kara didn’t say anything. She’d crossed her arms and drawn her knees up to her chest, physically withdrawing from the conversation.

I thought about Williams. I wondered if he was resisting the system by not wearing white. Maybe he was a little smarter than he looked. Or maybe he was just contrary.

“It seems like Williams gets away with ducking the clothing thing,” I said. “He’s got to have enough strength to wear white, but he wasn’t tonight.”

“Yeah, well, Williams is Williams,” Zion said. “I don’t know why Lord Cordus lets him get away with that shit. He sure wouldn’t stand for it from me. Wearing white isn’t a choice.”

“Is his ability with barriers rare and useful, like Callie’s precognition?”

Zion frowned. “I don’t think so. He’s great with barriers, and that’s definitely useful, but most of us can do at least a little barrier work, and there are some others with real strength in that area, like Andy. Callie’s literally one in a thousand. Williams isn’t.”