My father stood, walking back to the house.
“Wait, Dad…I have one more question!” she called, sprinting after him.
I waited where I was, a pit settling in my stomach.
“What is it?” he asked, not bothering to stop. My mother’s voice carried from within the house, humming a melody I recognized but couldn’t place. I was tempted to follow them just to see where that led. Would I see her again too? Would she be the same?
“They’re all dead. The telekinetics and the matter manipulators,” the little girl said. I saw the clocks turning in her mind even if my father didn’t.
“Yes, I already said that.” He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
She was persistent, though, like a dog with a bone. “Then how am I here? How is that possible?”
My father stopped, swallowing hard. He placed a large hand on my shoulder and leaned down until we were face-to-face. “I don’t know.”
“But how—” she protested.
“I said I don’t know, Selena. Let it go.” He dropped his hand and kept walking, sweeping both my sisters up in his arms at the door. I may have only been a child at the time, but I knew a lie when I heard it.
My mother smiled from the doorway, calling child-me inside. Her white-blond hair was already gray…even though she wasn’t old enough for gray hair.
It’s just a dream, I told myself, even as I watched my small, dark head duck inside my childhood home. There was more to this dreamland, even if I didn’t want to admit it.
Chapter 76
The following day dragged on, and the ones that came after it. A routine formed. Wake up. Train with Lily. Eat. Train with the team. Eat. Train again with the team. Eat. Study with the team. Sleep. Repeat.
It was a grueling pace. After six days of it, every single one of us was ready to drop dead. Staring into the mirror before me, I felt like the ghost of Selena’s past. Dark circles lined my eyes, the telltale sign that the killing gene was rearing its head again. I bent and washed my face with water for the third time, attempting to clear the barest smudge of violet from behind the gray. My other had visited every night since that dream, but none of the dreams took me through distorted memories. I preferred it that way.
“You look tired this morning,” Johanna said.
I glanced sideways across the long bathroom mirror at the amber-eyed girl. Her simple linen pajamas fit right in with the prison-like atmosphere. “I haven’t been sleeping well,” I mumbled.
“It’s hard to be at peace these days. We live in dangerous times,” she said.
I frowned into the water. Something seemed off about her words. Almost rebellious.
“That we do,” I said slowly, wanting to gauge her reaction.
She continued splashing her face with cold water. Silence stretched before us, and I turned back to my sink.
“I would be careful letting yourself get too tired. You never know when the next elimination will be,” she continued.
I stilled again. I definitely wasn’t imagining it this time. She was trying to tell me something.
“I can’t really be eliminated,” I said tightly. We locked eyes in the mirror. The rest of our cohorts were still sleeping, completely oblivious to the silent exchange.
“No, but you could fall out of favor with the Council, and Her Highness by extension.” Her words were soft and deceptive, but that simple statement said so much.
Johanna was sending me a message: elimination day was here. The real question was why. What point was she trying to make? Even if we were having one today, why risk herself?
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.
She took a deep breath, turning her body a fraction. “Do you kowtow to the Fortescues?” she asked, blunter than most dared to be with me. I liked it.
“No.”
“Then you have your answer.” Johanna walked by me, her mouth too grim for the wink she gave me before she left.
Her words replayed in my mind as I flipped the shower on.
That was weird.
I continued my morning routine before heading out to train with Lily at dawn. Chirping crickets greeted me at the door as the morning dew seeped into my cotton tank top. My legs carried me quickly from one end of the campus to the other. Elimination day. Was she telling the truth? Why would she? I shook my head, glaring at the horizon in the distance.
“Why so gloomy?” Lily asked, bringing me back to the ground in front of me.
“You’re one to talk,” I muttered.
She let out a short laugh in agreement, and I arched my eyebrows.
“What?” she asked, already retreating into herself. Too soon.
“Nothing. It’s just nice to hear you laugh.”
Her lips quirked up as we fell into our warmup—tree climbing. It was amateur in some ways, but it did her good to start off with something reminiscent of our childhood in the alpine larch. It was happier—for her, at least.
“You’re getting better,” I said.
Swinging from branch to branch, Lily pulled herself up, still two branches below.
“It does seem that way,” she said, hauling herself up another branch as I moved on to the top. Up here, the branches were thinner, more precarious. Balancing was as much a necessity as a skill, but the sunrise was worth it.
“Well, how about that? You finally made it before the sun came up,” I said, giving her a second to catch her breath before I nudged her shoulder and pointed east.
“Whoa…” she said, letting out a breath. Her awe lasted about two and a half seconds before she slipped, losing her grip on the branches. She only fell five feet before invisible hands plucked her out of the air and deposited her on a branch a few feet below me.
I was getting used to practicing with it for little things like making my bed, or turning light switches on. Her writhing body required more control, though, and more power. Adrenaline hit my system almost instantly, because now that I was using the power, I already needed my next fix. It was the two days I’d spent in Nashville with Tori and Lucas all over again. My body craved something my mind didn’t want to give it, and a low growl escaped my throat. I scrambled down the branches, not caring what they scraped or how much I bled. Lily fumbled in her attempt to keep up, but she didn’t fall again.
“Selena, what’s going on?” she called.
The moment my feet hit the ground, I paced back and forth, trying to calm myself. The sticky tendrils of madness clawed up my arms and into my brain, but I couldn’t lose it. Not with Lily.
“Selena—”
“Just give me a sec.” I held up a hand to ward her off as my blood cooled. The key seemed to be sensing it before the episodes came on, and making sure nothing prodded the cage too much until the monster settled.
Lily waited quietly by the pine tree as the clawing receded, and I no longer felt something crawling under my skin.
“It’s getting worse,” she said.
I didn’t even try to deny it. “Some days are worse than others…” I muttered, my voice trailing off. There was no room for excuses. Not anymore.
“And today?” she asked, her voice brittle.
“Elimination day,” I said, as if that explained everything.
“Already? How do you know?” she asked, unconvinced. One eyebrow went up as she pursed her lips.
I sighed, leaning back against a tree. “Johanna,” I muttered into the wind.
“Who?”
“A Supernatural girl Anastasia brought in. She’s odd...” Something about this whole thing grated at me. Why would she tell me? Me and mine passing meant one of hers didn’t.
“You sure she wasn’t lying?” Lily asked. She kicked a rock hard enough that it stuck in the tree ten feet away. When she reached her potential, she was really going to be something.
“I don’t think so.” I shook my head, running a hand over my hair.
“Okay…are you ready? Are they ready?” she asked, seeing my train of thought as if it w
ere her own.
“Yes and no,” I said, playing with a piece of my hair.
“You are, but they aren’t?” she guessed.
I nodded, throwing my hair over my shoulder, then rocked forward and turned to leave.
“What’s wrong? I thought you picked them because they could handle this kind of thing,” she said. Her footsteps trailed me, even as I took off down the path.
“I underestimated how strong the Supernaturals she brought in would be. Tori isn’t keeping up well, and Alexandra’s still exhausted from coming so close to burnout.” The monster inside was locked in its cage, but pawing at the latch. I needed to ditch some energy and fast, or someone was going to get hurt.
“Then what are you going to do?” she asked, picking up speed to stay even with me.
“I have no idea. If Johanna’s wrong then it doesn’t matter, but if not… I have no idea what they have in store today.” I clenched and unclenched my hands in an effort to calm myself. It failed miserably.
“What if I can help you all?” she asked. There was a lilt to her voice I hadn’t heard in a long time. It set me on edge. She was planning something.
“What did you have in mind?” I asked, intrigued but fighting the urge to shut her down. We didn’t need a repeat of the warehouse, but I had to stop leading with an iron fist when it came to her.
“I can transfer your energy to them,” she said smugly. She had an air of confidence about her that hadn’t been there since the warehouse. It was nice to see, but I still didn’t buy it.
“How?” I asked skeptically.
“Think about it. I can heal people…or kill them, depending on whether I’m giving or taking energy. Maybe I can act as a conduit and take your energy, but give it to them instead of absorbing it,” she said. Something about the way she phrased it made it sound like she already knew she could do this.
I slowed to a walking pace, and we weren’t even halfway back yet.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, slowing as well.
“Have you done this before?” I asked bluntly. She looked away, playing with a piece of hair. “You have, haven’t you?” I demanded.
She looked up to me, her brown eyes watering. “It was an accident.”
“An accident?” I asked icily. The wind whipped around us, stronger than was natural.
“It happened this summer, but I covered it up because I didn’t put together what was going on…” Her voice trailed off under my stony glare.
“What happened?”
“I tried to hurt Elizabeth, but her energy just went from me to Blair, making Blair stronger. She pulled me off Elizabeth before I could tell for sure, but…” She continued mumbling to herself, and it was seriously starting to get on my nerves.
“But what?”
“Our first day back at Daizlei I attacked you, and I took something from you when I did. It hurt, though, because I took too much. I couldn’t hold it, and then…I kind of—accidentally—sent some of it into Tori when I bumped into her and Lucas on the way back to the dorm. I tripped—it all happened so fast. I know what I felt, though, and I know I passed your energy into her. At least some of it. If I can control how much I take, I think I can siphon enough to take the edge off for you, and help them—like I did with Tori.” She looked away guiltily, and as pissed as I was for her not telling me, I couldn’t exactly blame her. It wasn’t like I was the most forthcoming.
“Well, that answers that question,” I muttered, running my slick hands over my damp tank top.
“What question?”
“Can you actually transfer anything without hurting someone—including yourself,” I added. Her eyes lit up. I really shouldn’t have been entertaining this idea, even if she could do it.
“I can!” The dumb grin on her face said it all. This was how she wanted to contribute.
“Lily…” I started, already knowing we couldn’t go down this road. Maybe if we had a few more months of practice and she was stable, but this—this was ludicrous.
“I can do it. I know I can. I won’t let you down. I prom—”
“It’s not happening. I’ll find another way.” I walked past her as I headed back to main campus.
“Wait a minute. Since when do you get to decide for me?” she called, like this had only now occurred to her.
“I’m not deciding for you. I’m deciding for me. You won’t do it, because without me, you have no energy to give.”
It wasn’t really a lie, but in deciding for me, I was deciding for both of us. Sure, she could try with someone else, but she wouldn’t, because she didn’t trust herself, and that was all I needed to know not to trust her doing it either. So, she could gape at me all she wanted, but I wasn’t taking chances. Not with the killing gene, and not with her.
Chapter 77
Johanna wasn’t lying, and while that was good to know, I couldn’t piece together why she’d told me in the first place. I couldn’t exactly stop and ask her, though, because the evaluation kicked off as soon as I got back. Despite all the sparring we’d done in the last week, Vonlowsky wasn’t testing tactics or brawn. Instead, he wanted to see who could get out of sticky situations the fastest. With the simulator running at full power, he gave them five minutes each to find their way out of an ivory maze he’d created from the white tiles of the simulator floors. The padded room concept took on a whole new level when I stared at the tight corridors. This was going to be a claustrophobic’s worst nightmare, and Blair was already panting.
Tori and Amber volunteered to go first and were walking through the open door in seconds, effectively disabling the traps that were too slow to catch them. Tori was swaying on her feet, though, and that jump hadn’t even been a hundred meters, from one end of the maze to the other. That didn’t bode well.
Next came the Graeme twins, a brother and sister from Germany who had abilities based on changing their own density. While Sebastian could pass through the walls, Scarlett simply brute-forced the matter and made herself impenetrable. I’d never seen anything like the way she obliterated walls by stepping through them. Bombs went off right and left, hitting her, but she kept walking, completely unharmed. She was going to be one to watch in the upcoming weeks.
The clock ticked on as, one by one, every soldier stepped up to show their worth. Alexandra did better than expected, and Blair did worse, even given our training for situations like this. She panicked when one of the walls tried to close in, and ended up freezing then having to use her daggers as ice picks to climb out. Both of their times were sufficient, though, and that was all we needed. They didn’t have to be the fastest, just fast enough.
Worry itched at me when Lucas stumbled through the door in last place with a time of three and a half minutes. His ability had failed him more than anyone else, because his opponent was a machine and not capable of thinking. With only four people left, I held my tongue and kept my jaw tight to keep from growling or grinding my teeth. Aaron was next.
His dark hair was slicked back from running his hands through it too many times. The muscles of his chest were prominent, even under the damp black t-shirt. He was strong, and not a single bruise marred his skin, but dark circles ringed his black eyes. He looked like a demon, straight from the textbook. I instinctively took a step back as he passed. Alexandra wrapped her arms around his shoulders, kissing his cheek. He stared right through her, looking at me with fathomless eyes.
I grimaced, fighting the hammering of my pulse that was telling me to run. The reaction was silly, almost childish, but his eyes were too dark, too deep, too devilish... I whispered a hasty excuse to Vonlowsky and descended to the floor underneath us.
The bathroom. I’m using the bathroom, I reminded myself.
I tugged my worn leather jacket loose and dropped it on the concrete floor as I entered the bathroom. Water. I needed water to drown the fire creeping through my veins and threatening to consume my last shred of sanity. The cold hit my skin, bringing clarity with it.
Calm. You
need to get a hold of yourself. There are no demons here. You’re being paranoid.
My racing heart refused to still as I splashed a handful of water onto my face.
His eyes burned like the depths of hell.
More water. Water would drown the fire. Drown the demon. My own demons screamed in rage—this was different than her, though. These demons didn’t have my face or wear my shape. Instead, they lurked in the darkest recesses of my mind, waiting for a moment of weakness. A moment when the shadows of my past turned the black of his eyes into the portals to hell.
I stumbled away from the sink, staring at the foreign creature in the mirror. Midnight hair framed a face made of bone. Her eyes held death in them. My death. The stumbling turned to shaking as my back hit the wall behind me. She stared on, zeroing in for the kill.
Please be hallucinating. Please be hallucinating.
I wanted to scream, but no sound would come. I succumbed to the fear, collapsing to the floor. Water pooled around me, flooding the bathroom, but I didn’t care.
The demons were here.
They’d come for me.
I was suspended outside time as I waited for the killing blow to come, too petrified to do more than stare blankly at the water bubbles floating around me.
“Oh my god,” a voice said.
I recognized the sound, but couldn’t find it in me to answer.
“Selena,” the voice said.
Water splashed, but fear held me in place. I’d always known I was a time bomb, ticking away until my timer ran out. For, despite the brave face I wore, the moment something triggered the demons, they came for me. Like locusts, they swarmed me, filling my head with lies until I saw what they wanted me to see.
“Selena,” the voice repeated. There was a note of desperation in it as they started saying other names. “Lucas, bring Alexandra and get down here right now.”
Footsteps followed, but I couldn’t tell whether I was really hearing them or not. I felt the shift in energy as others entered the room, but water floated by, keeping them away, for now.
Daizlei Academy Omnibus Collection Page 39
