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Lady Winters smiled. “If you leave the rebels, I can gift you with a scholarship to continue your biological studies. You could train with me. You are intrigued by how powers work, aren’t you?”
I uncoiled my vines and pressed my fingers against the woman’s throat. I didn’t feel a pulse.
I’d just killed the woman I was trying to rescue.
I stumbled back, my knees giving way to shock. I shook my head. “I’m not training with you. I’m not training with anyone who can manipulate me like that. You tricked me.”
“Do you know what happens to rebels?” The leader smoothed the purple silk of her robes.
“They die?” I asked, bitter.
Incorrect.
Fire wrapped around my brain and I clutched the base of my head. The pain... for a moment the pain subsided, a numbing throb in the back of my skull. I gasped for air and blinked tears from my eyes.
Lady Winters clucked her tongue. Poor Miss Nickleson... Let me show you what happens to the people who rebel.
A rocket slammed into the ground, blowing a beast to bits. Sun scorched the back of my neck, and the stench of burnt flesh tainted the air. A blast of heat rolled over me. I shielded my eyes while debris pelted me with dirt. Something smashed into my chest. I removed my hand from my shirt and found it hot and sticky. The pain threatened to destroy my vision—
The hot wind grew cold. Lady Winters dragged me inside a prison. The coolers morphed into a long row of liquid-filled tubes, and she forced a breathing apparatus over my mouth. I gagged, scraping my nails against her arms, but she shoved me inside without a second’s hesitation. The door slid shut. I pounded my fists on the glass as water gurgled around my feet, but it wasn’t water—it was a greenish liquid I couldn’t identify, burning my chest, stinging my arms, numbing the skin where it came in contact.
No! Let me out! Let me out—
I fell against the doorway, my head throbbing. Lady Winters stood firmly in front of me, her hands behind her back. My breaths came ragged.
“Why are you doing this?” I snapped, panting as I tried to regain my breath. “Why create beasts?”
She grinned. Pain squeezed through my skull, wriggling through the nooks and crannies until I couldn’t think. Couldn’t feel anything but her words repeatedly punching my consciousness.
Why don’t you ask your grandfather? she crooned. Betrayal seems to run in the family.
The pain stopped. My limbs shook, but all that remained was a dull throb and a rising hatred for the leader I’d trusted.
Carefully, gingerly, I knelt and picked up the spear.
I lunged onto the table and skidded along the metal surface. Fast. So, so fast. My thumb jabbed the electric button, and I shoved the spear into Lady Winters’ shoulder. The spear resisted entry before plunging through her thick robes. She crumpled, trembling from the electricity.
Blood pounded in my wrists. I retracted my spear and hedged back, crouching on the edge of the table. “The Community is supposed to be safe. You were supposed to be part of that!” I swallowed gulps of air and thrust my spear at her again. Everything spun as the weapon sunk into her chest. Blood welled from the wound, soaking through her robes.
Her eyelids fluttered and she went limp.
Dead. She’d made me kill Gwen, and now I had killed her.
I removed my spear from Lady Winters’ body and raised it over my head, ready to keep stabbing until there was no chance of life remaining in her useless corpse.
“Wait, Jenna! No!” A pair of hands caught my spear and a body thrust itself between me and Lady Winters. Tim stared at me, his eyes wide. “We’re not beasts,” he said quickly.
The lights were too bright; the smell of blood too strong.
I looked from Tim to the leader’s lifeless body. I wanted to kill her. Make sure she was dead.
“Oh, Community...” I stumbled away from Tim, my spear loose in hand. I’d acted in self-defense; Lady Winters was in my mind. I swallowed a gulp. “Tim—”
“We need to get Gwen free.” He gave me a worried glance, then moved past me and knelt beside the woman. Lance stood in the door, keeping a lookout. Tim untwisted the crude knots from around the chair. “See if she’s awake.”
“But she’s dead. Lady Winters made me kill her.”
“She’s not dead,” Tim assured me.
Gwen moaned, her arms slack as Tim removed the ropes. My eyes widened. “But how—” Tim wrapped his arm around her waist and placed her free arm over his shoulder, then helped her stand.
“Thank you,” she murmured, coughing.
I glanced at Lady Winters’ corpse. She was the only leader who’d ever been worth the speeches she gave. And by killing her, I’d firmly excluded myself from ever returning to the Community. My skin felt clammy and I tucked my vines around my arms, letting them offer what little comfort they could.
Telepath. Lady Winters was a telepath. Everything I saw... it was all in my head.
“Who are you?” Gwen asked, her voice hoarse.
“I’m Jenna, and this is Tim,” I whispered. “We’re with the Coalition.” The words tumbled out of my mouth, and I realized I’d chosen the rebels over the Community.
How quick that choice could be made.
She smiled weakly. “Pops’ grandchild. We weren’t so sure he would find you. But I’m glad he did.” Her smile faltered and she sagged into Tim’s arms. He winced—he wasn’t as strong as Lance—but he managed to walk her to the door.
I started to follow, but a glint of light around Lady Winters’ neck caught my attention from the emerald pendant she wore.
She didn’t deserve the honor.
I reached my hands around her tangled hair and unfastened the necklace. It had brass loops and hooks along its edge, and a large, four-sided emerald at its center. A smaller emerald dangled from its oblong end. It felt important, antiquated. Something from before the plague.
I shivered as I withdrew the pendant from her neck. Something unsettled me about being near the dead leader, as if she was still here, still taunting me.
I stuffed the necklace into my pocket.
“Are you coming?” Lance helped Tim brace Gwen on his shoulder. “The hall won’t stay clear for long—”
He froze, his eyes wide.
Master Matoska stood at the door behind me, a knife in his hand. He’d changed into a dark green tunic, and though he wasn’t wearing the upper body armor, he looked every bit as deadly as before. Even more so, because the shirt revealed the toned muscle of a skilled fighter that the precisely-fitted armor did not.
“You rookies have more fight in you than I thought. This time I won’t make the mistake of underestimating you,” he said. “I told you I’d only give you one chance before I killed your friends.”
Fear spiked through me.
There was a door at the back of the room, one I hadn’t noticed before. That was where he’d come from. Behind him, an agent in black uniform sighted her rifle toward Lance, Tim, and Gwen.
I could buy them time, but I doubted that they’d leave without me.
Matoska glanced at Winters, then at my bloodied weapon. He sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”
Suddenly he barreled toward me and swung his knife overhead. I dodged, but right before he struck, he twisted around and wrangled the spear from my hands. I stumbled as he rammed the flat end against my collarbone.
I gasped for breath and leaned against the table. Lance drew his sword. Matoska rammed the spear forward, thumbed the button, and sent a spark of electricity down Lance’s weapon.
Lance collapsed, his face torn in a grimace. Matoska raised the spear, aiming at Lance’s throat. The room blurred in a burst of speed, and my shoulder collided with Matoska’s upper body.
The spear struck the floor with a metallic screech.
Without warning, Matoska grabbed my arm and shoved me into the agent’s hands. “Don’t let her get away.” He turned toward Lance, still holding my spear in hand.
Lance!
The agent thrust her knee into my back. I tried to catch my breath and reorient my senses, but it wouldn’t happen. My fingers grappled with the cold tile.
I had to get up or Lance was going to die—
Thwap.
Matoska dropped the spear in mid-strike, a bolt sticking from his chest. A figure ducked behind the door; a blur of green jacket and dark red hair.
Jack!
Matoska jerked his head at the agent, his hand tight around the base of the arrow. He was bleeding badly. “Fall back,” he instructed. The agent grabbed my arm, then hesitated. She dropped it. My arm fell slack against my side as the agent moved toward Lady Winters’ corpse. Movement flashed in the corner of my eye. The dead leader’s hand twitched, barely perceptible.
She was alive?
My head throbbed, but I pushed myself from the floor, staying close to the wall and out of harm’s way. Matoska started toward his escape route, but he froze halfway to the door, his eyes distant, unseeing.
I blinked in surprise. Lady Winters stood in the entryway, the agent supporting her as she scowled at the scene before her. She eyed Matoska with a look of distaste and rubbed her wounded shoulder.
Matoska gritted his teeth as Jack notched another bolt. Then Matoska spun on his heels and launched himself at Jack, roaring as if he were no more than a beast.
What was Lady Winters’ doing to him?
Jack fired the second shot and Matoska sunk to his knees. Blood seeped into his shirt, but he pushed himself to his feet, swaying before he lunged again. Jack took a half-step back, then tossed the empty crossbow aside and tackled Matoska. They both dropped to the floor. Matoska let out a strangled cry as the arrows plunged deeper into his chest.
Lady Winters cast a glance at me, smiled, and then closed the door. Until we meet again, Nickleson.
But she had been dead. How was she alive now?
A subtle movement drew my attention to where Matoska lay on the floor, barely able to lift himself. He gasped for breath. Jack grabbed the man’s head and snapped his neck in a single, fluid motion. The leader slumped unceremoniously to the floor, blood smeared across him and Jack.
Jack motioned to me. “Come on, Jen. This place is going to be crawling with beasties, and we’ve still got a ladder to climb.” He tossed me my spear and headed into the hallway.
I clutched the weapon, numb.
How was the Community going to explain Matoska’s death?
The hall was eerily quiet, covered in drying spatters of blood. Tim and Lance carried Gwen between them. They avoided the remaining corpses. Bile rose in my throat. I clasped my hand around the pendant in my pocket, letting its ruts and grooves distract me. There was another little charm behind the main pendant, round and nubby to the touch.
Bring me the girl. Kill the others.
Lady Winters’ voice laughed inside my head—a deep, maniacal laugh that stopped me in my tracks. Two Special Forces agents burst through a nearby door and raised their rifles. A large beast lumbered beside them.
I stared at the badges, rereading the letters underneath the red, rising sun half-cog.
COE.
Traitors. All my life, I thought the letters stood for the Community of E-Leadership. I thought they stood for safety, security, and efficiency. But that was a lie. They didn’t serve the Community of E-Leadership, dutifully protecting the Community.
They served the Camaraderie of Evil.
A scrawny, agile beast slinked at the Special Forces’ feet while another one paced behind them. One had scabby, blackened arms with smoke wafting around him. Another had green-tinted skin and a thin, slender appearance. Her hair draped in clumps that resembled moss, and numerous vines twined and twisted around her body.
I froze, stunned by the resemblance.
I was a plant elemental—and so was this beast.
