COUNCILWOMAN VICTORIA WALBURTON hated to be ignored. A fact she made very clear when she pounded on the door to our suite twenty minutes later. Talia, a wreath of wild curls framing her flushed face, was busy trying to smooth her rumpled clothes back into place when I answered Victoria’s knock.

“Sorry. We were, um, talking,” I said sheepishly, in response to her glare.

One look at my hair, mussed from Talia’s fingers running through the strands, and my belt buckle, half undone in my haste to get dressed, and it was clear to anyone with eyes that my girlfriend and I had not spent the last half hour talking. Unfortunately, Victoria was not amused. She brushed passed me without waiting for an invitation.

“I have been calling you,” she said, directing her ire at Talia.

Despite her best efforts, Talia blushed. And, for once, she didn’t have a quick retort. Scrutinizing the living room, Victoria did a double-take when she noticed the upended coffee table.

“Doing some redecorating?” she asked breezily.

Talia’s blush deepened and I had to stifle my laugh. I loved seeing her like that.

“Nah, Tals is just frisky,” I deadpanned, walking over to join her on the couch.

“Erik! Are you kidding me?” she groaned inside my head.

Victoria crossed her arms over her chest, looking impossibly less amused than she had when she entered the apartment.

“You seem to have forgotten than you have a rather critical mission in front of you. Are you ready to go, Agent Lyons? Have you picked your team?”

“Yes and yes.” Talia rattled off the names, then turned and narrowed her gaze on me. “Although, there is something Erik wanted to mention.”

Victoria quirked an eyebrow.

I cleared my throat, picking up on Talia’s not-so-subtle cue to say something.

“I have my decision for you, about being the face of the Created,” I said.

Golden eyes alight, Victoria’s sour expression turned hopeful.

“I’m onboard,” I continued. “On one condition, though.”

Frowning now, Victoria shook her head.

“Just one? This has to be a first for you two. It’s never that easy. Let’s hear it.”

“I go with Talia to London first.”

The councilwoman opened her mouth to argue, but I plunged forward. Recounting the same argument Talia had given me earlier with a few tweaks. Truthfully, I had misgivings about whether this was really such a good idea. Just the thought of Kenly Baker, with that damned knife in her hand, made me crazy. I didn’t want to do that girl any favors. If it were up to me alone, if it wasn’t something that mattered to the girl I loved, Kenly could rot for what she’d done. Not to mention, I absolutely wanted to help all of the people who weren’t Kenly that the Poachers were holding captive.

Objectively, I understood that what had happened wasn’t entirely Kenly’s fault. But, like I’d told Talia, it was freaking hard to be objective when my only real encounter with her mentee was that night at the Hamilton. Brainwashed or not, Kenly had nearly robbed me of the best thing in my life. And I was never going to forget that, regardless of the circumstances.

“You have yourself a deal, Agent Kelley,” Victoria declared before I’d even finished listing off all of the reasons she should let me go to London.

“Really?” Talia blurted out. “What’s the catch?”

“There is no catch, Agent Lyons,” Victoria answered evenly. “Erik is a valuable asset to the mission, one that you very might well need. Besides, the two of you work best together. The more I considered the dangers associated with going up against the Poachers…I had already reconsidered my earlier stance.”

“Let it go, Tals,” I warned. Talia’s thoughts had immediately launched into a defensive, wanting to know why Victoria didn’t just say so when she’d walked in. Luckily, as quick as Talia was with a retort, my mind worked a little faster these day. Talia rolled her eyes, her endearing trademark move, but didn’t give voice to her annoyance.

“Love you,” I added with a smile.

“However,” Victoria said loudly, her annoyance evident. “Cadence Choi is not cleared to go with you. The others are all fine. But the doctors still have some concern over Agent Choi’s health. She does not appear to be healing quite as well as we’d have hoped. I cannot authorize her inclusion at this time. Besides, right now she and her abilities are most useful on Vault. The progress she is making with the children in containment is remarkable. By the time you return from London, some of them might even be ready to answer some questions.”

A niggling feeling of guilt made my stomach twinge. Cadence had been badly injured helping me rescue my father and brothers from TOXIC. Being Talented, she should have healed quickly. Something about our genes made our bodies mend much faster than a normal human. Since I saw her almost every day, I knew the leg she’d broken was still bothering her. There was also something off with her Light Manipulation—she was having trouble using it with any reliability, like her Talent was broken or something. Nonetheless, I was surprised to learn that her injuries were still grievous enough to keep her from active duty. I didn’t know it was that bad.

“Angus O’Malley will accompany you instead,” Victoria was saying. “I was going to send him with you anyway, since he is very knowledgeable about the Poachers. Any other questions?”

Talia and I both shook our heads.

“Good. You have thirty minutes before departure, so I suggest you both get packed and save the ‘talking’ for a more opportune time.” She turned her attention on me alone. “Erik, I will inform the council of your decision. We can go over the specifics when you return.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I said obediently.

“Suck up,” Talia quipped, shooting a ray of sunshine within me along with her teasing.

It was moments like that one, when Talia was joking with me inside my head when we were supposed to be serious, that I regretted shutting her out so much. Even in her darkest moods, Talia had the uncanny ability to bring light into my life. Only fear kept the barriers in place. Fear of adding to her pain. Fear of my darkness engulfing her, taking her down with me.

“You will report back to me at every step of the way, do you understand me?”

Victoria’s voice startled me out of my dismal thoughts. Apparently she’d dismissed us, making it all the way to the door before I noticed.

“Of course,” Talia answered for both of us. I added a nod for good measure.

With that, the councilwoman finally left.

We went to the bedroom and hurriedly packed, skipping over what I was already thinking of again—my favorite bedroom activity. After throwing several days’ worth of clothes into UNITED-issue duffle bags, Talia and I headed up to meet the others at the hoverpad. Victoria had said she would handle explaining to Cadence why she was ineligible for the mission, but Talia felt the need to comm our friend anyway. She was worried that Cadence would be upset. It was funny, since the two girls’ road to friendship had been rocky. In fact, they’d basically hated each other from day one. All that had changed when Cadence helped Talia and I ferret Alex, Donavon’s son, out of D.C. Now the two girls were pretty tight. I was glad.

While Talia talked to Cadence, I sent a quick message to my father to let him know that we’d be off the island for a few days. Dad, my brothers, and Alex also lived on Eden. Though still recovering from the near-fatal injuries he sustained during the battle of D.C., my father had practically adopted Alex as his fourth son.

At first, Talia had put up a hell of a fight. She wanted the little boy to stay with us, to take care of him herself. But chasing the Created was a full-time job, and we spent more time globe-trotting than we did on Eden. It had taken a lot of persuasion on my part, and a lot of yelling on her part, but Talia eventually relented to let Alex live with my father and brothers all the time, instead of just when we were off on a mission. She saw him every chance she got, though. So did I, for that matter.

Secretly, though, I was glad the situation worked out the way it did. It was impossible not to like Donavon’s son—he was a cute kid and he couldn’t help who he was biologically related to. Still, he was Donavon’s son. Which, for me, was a daily reminder that Talia was still mourning the boy’s father. Being jealous of a ghost sucked. I sort of hated myself for it. I also couldn’t help the way I felt. The weirdest part was that I hadn’t been all that jealous of Donavon in life. I mean, I got the girl in the end. She chose me. And while I once hated the guy, after learning how much shit his father put him through, and everything he sacrificed to keep his son safe, I sort of admired him now.

On my dark days, though, Donavon’s memory was one of the demons I fought. Irrational and ridiculous as the thoughts were, an inner voice told me that I would never be able to give Talia what Donavon had: life. The guy had physically sacrificed himself for her, more than once. His blood coursed through her veins and I hated knowing that they shared such a personal connection. Sometimes I wished Donavon were still alive, simply so I could break his perfect nose and receive some sort of perverse satisfaction from the act. In the same heartbeat, I loathed the part of me that craved that violence. I wanted to be better than that.

“Oh good, I was just about to do that,” Talia said, her voice shattering the shadowy thoughts.

“Huh?”

“The message to your father. Do you think there’s still time to run by and say goodbye to Alex?”

“He’s with his tutor,” I said.

Alex wasn’t old enough to attend school, but he did have a bevy of private tutors who worked with him on everything from navigating through life without sight, to his ABC’s and his Talents. The child was an exceptionally strong Viewer, able to ‘view’ others remotely anywhere in the world. His gift was rare in and of itself, even more so because he was still so young and already able to use it. Few Talented manifested abilities before the age of five.

Talia gave me puppy-dog eyes and stuck out her bottom lip in a fake pout she knew I was hopeless to resist.

“A quick goodbye,” I relented.

As always, Alex was over the moon the moment he heard Talia’s voice. Equally as enthusiastic was his reaction to me, which always made me feel guilty. Despite the green-eyed monster that emerged at the mere mention of his father’s name these days, I genuinely cared about Alex. And when I hugged the little guy goodbye and told him I’d miss him, I meant it.

Finally, fifteen minutes late for flight to London, Talia and I arrived at the hoverpad. The others were already onboard. Brand was the only one to comment on our tardiness, but a quick elbow to the ribs from Penny stopped him before he said anything else to rile Talia up. For which I was glad. Thinking about Donavon, plus all the messed up shit I’d learned about the Poachers, was causing my mood to plummet.

And the day had started out so promising.

The flight from Eden to London was short, less than two hours. Victoria had sent a short dossier on the tipster to each of our communicators. His name was Riley Wyld. He was nineteen and a registered Talent, or Chrome as our kind was commonly referred to in England. Under abilities, he was listed as an Electrical Manipulator/Electrician.

“What does it mean that he’s ‘registered’?” Penny asked, wrinkling her nose, as she read the same information off of her screen as I was.

“Chromes are required to register themselves on our side of the pond,” Angus explained in his Scottish brogue. He sat in the copilot’s seat at the front of the small craft. “Not all do, mind you. Apparently this bloke follows the laws. Or, at least his parents did when he was born.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. In my short time working for UNITED, I’d begun to realize how differently other countries treated the Talented. Many treated our kind as second-class citizens, paying Talents lower wages, refusing them entry into certain schools, and generally discriminating against us on principle. I had thought England was among the more progressive nations, but apparently not. It was no wonder Victoria and the rest of the council were worried about the Treaty vote.

Angus, our resident expert, gave us a crash course in all things Poacher on the ride. The lesson did not improve my mood. In fact, I became so irate at one point that Talia used her powers to calm me down before the electrical disturbances I was causing crashed the hovercraft. Through the haze of disbelief and anger, I managed to learn a few pertinent facts about the Talent traffickers.

One: They were descended from Royalty. Sort of. Way back in the day, some jackass sold his daughter, an exceptionally strong Mind Manipulator to King Jenson of England, because the royal brat was so enamored with the girl he wouldn’t take no for an answer. In exchange, said jackass got his debts forgiven, a bunch of land, and some titles. He also got an idea: Selling Talents was profitable. Since none of his other children were Talented, he needed to find other ones who were. Enter the kidnapping. Although, it wasn’t even necessary half the time. With the Talented being a relatively new phenomenon, and parents feeling uneasy towards their Talented children, all the jackass had to do was offer to pay other equally-greedy parents a nominal fee for their gifted offspring. Then he’d simply turn around and sell the kid to someone else for ten times the cost. Voila—Poaching was born.

Two: Poaching was, strictly speaking, illegal the world over. The penalties varied from country to country, ranging from decades in prison to a dinky fine. England was somewhere in the middle on the punishment spectrum. First-time offenders caught kidnapping a Talent received a stiff monetary fine, usually paid for by the Poaching family they worked for. Repeat offenders could receive jail time, but that rarely happened. In general, most of the authorities could be bribed to look the other way. Some didn’t even require compensation to turn a blind eye; they did it because they either didn’t believe Talents were human, or because they didn’t want to be labeled “sympathizers”.

It was all bullshit as far as I was concerned.

Three: Auctions, in which large groups of Talents were auctioned off to the highest bidder, were rarer these days than they used to be. More common were privately arranged sales set up in advance. A buyer would contact the Poachers with a request for the type of Talent he or she wanted, and the Poachers would locate one matching the description. Price was discussed beforehand. At this point, though, with the Created running free and causing havoc, the Poachers apparently realized that they had a treasure trove of merchandise just ripe for the picking. Since UNITED, the only organization the Poachers truly feared, wanted the Created swept under the proverbial rug, the leaders of the vile organization figured that even they wouldn’t cause a fuss when people began disappearing.

And UNITED had not. Until now.

Kenly’s disappearance was being treated differently than the others previously reported. Why? Angus wasn’t entirely sure. It seemed by mentioning Talia’s name, the tipster, this Riley Wyld, had sent up red flags all over the place. But again, Angus wasn’t clear on why.

“As if we don’t have enough to deal with,” Brand muttered after Angus was done with his lecture.

“Righto, mate,” Angus agreed. “We might not be able to deal with the Poachers now, though. Depends what this Riley bloke has to say. Part of the reason UNITED has never gone after them is because we don’t know enough about their inner workings. It’s closed up, trap shut. The organization is a family run affair, isn’t it? Getting one of the higher-ups to turn on his own family is right difficult.”

“Is Riley Wyld a member of one of the families?” Talia asked, confused.

“Not as far we know,” Angus said. “But says he might have some insider information.”

“Like what?” I asked skeptically.

“Don’t know now, do I? If I did, I wouldn’t need her.”

Angus nodded in Talia’s direction.

“Me?” she asked, a little taken aback.

I wasn’t surprised, though. As Victoria had said, Talia was the best interrogator that UNITED had on their payroll.

“Bloke says he’ll only talk to you,” Angus continued.

That surprised me. I’d thought we were being sent to London so Talia could siphon whatever this kid knew from his mind. But apparently, the guy wanted to talk to her. Interesting.

“Hold on to your knickers, folks. We’re about to land.”

With that Angus faced front, and the hovercraft began our descent into London.