I quickly glanced away, looking to the isolated buildings around us.

  “Whole city’s shut down.” Gustov followed my gaze. “That bitch even took away all our fun.”

  “Speaking of Grayson,” Em said, sliding into line with us. Theo and Sienna trailed behind. “How exactly did you get out of her grasp? Last we heard, your men had been taken in for questioning.”

  “You clearly underestimate me and my men.” Gustov’s large belly rumbled with a laugh. “We can keep our secrets—don’t you worry about us, little lady.”

  Em’s fists clenched with restraint. She hadn’t been lying when she told me how repulsive this man was, but he’d gotten us this far.

  We walked a few more blocks, keeping to the alleyway, even though every street was barren. After some time, Gustov stopped before a half-broken door, its hinges hardly holding it in place, situated behind a garbage bin. “Right this way.”

  Jayla pushed open the door and stepped in. The hallway was narrow and dirty. A fluorescent light flickered in the distance. A few doors lined the way, but only one had a man standing before it. He wore a toothless grin as he gave an exaggerated bow and gestured with one long, boney limb. “Welcome to our humble abode.” The man pushed open the door.

  Inside was a hollowed-out room, what might have been a large warehouse at one time. Steel columns lined the makeshift hallways throughout, and the roof was exposed to pipes and wires. Chairs and shabby couches were scattered into small groupings and filled with people sprawled across them. All of them wore similar jackets, each with some sort of arrow pointing north on the sleeve or back, old and worn in the elbows. Hardly anyone paid us any attention as we strolled through, Gustov taking the lead and directing us farther back where a long table and mismatched chairs waited.

  I took a seat, keeping my back to the far wall, so I could scan the others spread out through the large space.

  “How was your flight?” Gustov took a seat at the head of the table.

  “I’d rather skip the pleasantries,” Jayla dismissed him.

  I turned to find Simon. I hadn’t seen him since his last Linked message, but he looked worse. His hair was long and shoved back into a messy bun at the base of his skull. He had a stubbly beard growing, and his eyes were glazed over. I could smell dirt and alcohol wafting from him three seats away. “What have you found so far?” I asked him.

  “Well, you’re not going to be happy,” Simon started.

  “Are we ever?” Em drawled.

  “True,” Simon admitted. “The train leaves every few days from under city hall, and that’s the only way we can access it. We’ve got someone on the inside who will let us know when the next train leaves. Gustov’s men were able to retrieve some uniforms for you two.” Simon nodded between me and Jayla. “You three will require a little… roughing up to make it believable. Let’s just say things aren’t so civil down at city hall anymore.”

  Theo and Sienna exchanged a look while Em smirked with what could have been delight.

  “How many do they have stationed there and who?” I asked.

  “All Watchers,” Gustov said. “Governor Holden was the acting figure head there. He was overseeing operations since Grayson is in and out of the city a lot.”

  “Was?” I asked.

  Simon cleared his throat. “He’s gone missing.”

  I exchanged a look with Jayla, unease swelling through me, but we’d have to deal with that issue later.

  “Seeing as you’re all fairly well known to the Watchers, it may not be wise to go in looking like yourselves, if you don’t want to be found,” Gustov continued.

  “That’s the least of your worries.” Simon shook his head and scratched the back of his neck. “Once you get on the train, that’s where you’ll have issues.”

  Jayla leaned into the table. “How so?”

  “I’ve confirmed each cart holding genetic kids has at least two guards—Watchers. They would have been given your names, descriptions, and what to watch out for a long time ago. Grayson knows you’ll be coming, and she’ll be ready for you.”

  “Do you have any other suggestions on how we get inside?” Jayla asked.

  “None,” Simon said.

  I didn’t like it, didn’t like the unease rolling through my stomach. I agreed we had to find the genetic kids, I had seen first hand what they did to the Marked, and we couldn’t let them be used again. Grayson wanted the Reeks dead, true, but she wasn’t above including every one of us, too. It felt like we had no choice but to risk it, yet I didn’t like the sounds of any of this.

  “Then we don’t have much other choice, do we?” Jayla straightened and folded her arms across her chest. “If any of us are caught or found out, everyone keeps with the plan no matter what. The mission is to get everyone out—that doesn’t change.”

  Her gaze met mine, waiting for me to nod my agreement. I gritted my teeth but reluctantly inclined my head. I wasn’t sure she was ready for this, despite the change in her I already felt. It was in my nature to worry about her and that had me hesitant to go along with this plan, but I trusted her.

  “And what exactly is your plan?” Simon asked, shifting in his chair in a restless, antsy sort of way.

  “Em’s found us undetectable trackers, so you can follow where we go. We’ll all have them,” Jayla paused. “Just in case anyone doesn’t make it there.” I stopped myself from reaching for her hand. “Once we’ve arrived, I’m sure they’ll segregate the genetic kids from the guards. Em will find a way into their security system while Sienna and Theo will find where everyone is being held and lay a few traps. Caspian and I will figure out the guard rotation along with where Grayson is, if she’s still there. Once we have the kids, we’ll take them back to the train and rendezvous with you guys, assuming you can get your shuttles there?”

  “We can,” Gustov assured her.

  “And what if you run into Grayson?” Simon asked.

  “We kill her,” Em said simply.

  “Because it’s so easy.” Simon rolled his eyes.

  “Have you tried?”

  Simon’s jaw tightened, but he ignored Em, turning back to Jayla. “What’s your contingency?”

  “If you don’t hear from us within three days or our trackers go offline, then I guess you’re on your own. We still have people in Eres and hopefully assistance from Kuros. Our success doesn’t change our second objective; we need to find a way to stop the Reeks as well.”

  “Let’s just hope you guys succeed, or it’ll make things quite a bit harder,” Simon said. “Come on, I’ll show you your rooms. We’ve got a lot of work to do still.”

  Simon stood, the chair beneath him squealing as it slid across the cement floor. He didn’t wait for us to join him as he began making his way through the warehouse, weaving between groups of men, towards the back where I saw a door leading to a stairwell. Jayla trailed beside me, her fingers laced with mine, and she gave them a squeeze.

  This plan felt like a suicide mission, just as Theo had warned. But then again, most of our missions felt that way. At least the plan kept Jayla and I together, so I could keep an eye on her the entire time. I wasn’t sure it would make things any better telling her that this could go bad… in reality, doing nothing could also be suicide.

  We climbed up five floors of stairs before Simon directed us down a dark hallway leading to another wide-open room—an office building. There were open workstations spread out in the middle, all covered with a thick layer of dust. Around the edges were individual offices with glass walls so you could see inside. A few had makeshift curtains on them and what I assumed were people behind them. Dim candlelight flickered against the fabric and cast odd shadows.

  “Take your pick.” Simon waved to the empty rooms. “One of the men will be up with some blankets. It’s not the best place to sleep, but better than nothing.”

  Sienna and Theo moved towards the first empty office space and set down their things. Em took the one next to theirs, and Jayla and I moved to the last one.

  Simon caught my wrist. “I’d like a word.”

  Jayla cocked a brow as we moved a few feet away.

  Simon was staring at his feet, twisting his shoe around in the thick dirt on the floor. “I know I don’t need to ask, but I’m going to anyway.” Simon shifted his gaze up. “You’ll make sure he gets back here alive?”

  “Of course I will,” I said, knowing exactly whom Simon was referring to. His son, Gunner.

  After their rescue mission from the Void, I’d told the others about Vic and Gunner. I knew who his mother was, Commander Reyes, but I’d had no idea Simon was his father. He’d been so mad he’d left him behind. If he’d known his son was one of the people in the room I’d wanted to go back to before we were rescued, he wouldn’t have stopped me, but he didn’t know. And if he had, we all might be dead, because those Reeks destroyed The Six’s base within minutes of us escaping.

  “Good.” Simon nodded, his brows scrunched. “I need to make amends. I need to keep him safe somehow.”

  “You will.” I placed my hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You’ll see your son soon, I promise.”

  Simon’s voice was quiet as he said, “Thank you.”

  Men arrived with blankets and towels to clean up, and before I could say anything else, Simon slipped out of the room.

  “What was that about?” Jayla asked.

  “Just a father needing to make up for his failures.”

  “Do you think he’ll do anything stupid?”

  I shrugged. “Not much he can do from here.”

  Jayla bit the inside of her mouth and her brows lowered.

  “Don’t worry about that now. Let’s just get ourselves ready,” I said, pulling her towards a small room with a desk in one corner and a wall of windows looking out to the city of Cytos.

  This place used to be home, it used to be comfortable, and now it was dark and broken. It was no longer home.

  GUNNER

  Vic wouldn’t speak to me. They’d shoved a second mattress into her tiny room, leaving only a foot of space between our two beds, and still she wouldn’t even look at me. It’d been a week. I was used to her quietness, she hadn’t spoke to me in the train either, but I expected questions at least.

  Guards came daily to take Vic away for a few hours, and each time she returned with new pin-prick needle holes in her arm. They hadn’t used me again to bring out whatever the hell was inside of her, but sometimes when she returned, I noticed her eyes weren’t as bright silver as before—sometimes they looked dark grey—and I wondered if they’d done something to her again. I tried not to be afraid of her, but what I’d experienced was like nothing I’d seen before, and I couldn’t help but shrink back those times.

  “Does it hurt?” I asked, trying to spur some sort of conversation. She was lying on her bed with her back to me. I leaned against the wall with a pillow behind my head. “I remember what it was like when they gave us that serum when we first got here. It was horrible. Is it like that every time?”

  She didn’t respond. Guilt churned in the pit of my stomach. While she was being used by these people, I was sitting in this room unbothered simply because of who my aunt was. I hadn’t told her anything.

  “We don’t have a clock in here, but they definitely don’t take you for as long as we were locked in that room, so I’m guessing it’s not as bad.” I waited for a response. “Not that it’s good either—that’s not what I mean.”

  I’d done this every day. Talked to myself just to see if I could get a reaction from her. Anything. A nod. A shrug. Hell, I’d take a punch to the face at this point.

  My fingers grazed across the stone wall, it was cold to the touch, but the room’s small vents in the roof allowed warm air to blow in. “That was probably the worst experience of my life,” I continued. “And I’ve tattooed myself on my ankle before.” I lifted the edge of my pant leg where black marks covered from my ankle to mid shin. I’d just started this new location a few months ago, before I met Sienna and Theo. “Right over the bone. It’s the worst spot to tattoo. Not to mention it kinda tickles so I kept moving.”

  From the bed across from me, I heard a little sob and I jumped up. Vic’s back bounced, and I finally noticed the tears streaming down her cheeks.

  “Hey.” I touched her shoulder and she flinched. I pulled my hand back. “Hey, I’m sorry. I’ll stop talking. I didn’t mean to—”

  She shook her head, and I was so shocked to get even that much of a response from her I couldn’t speak. I sat at the edge of her bed, careful not to touch her.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked after a few moments.

  She let out another sob and swiped away the tears on her cheek. Sniffing, she pushed herself up so she was leaning on one elbow. She didn’t look at me, and the quietness of her voice was nearly inaudible. “Are they alive?”

  Vic didn’t need to say names for me to know whom she was talking about. My shoulders dropped. “I don’t know.”

  She nodded, looking at her hands. The tears had stopped, but her eyes were red and puffy.

  “Did she know I was still alive? Was she even looking for me?”

  “Yes,” I assured her. “She was coming for you, Vic. She was on her way when… when it happened.”

  I couldn’t get myself to say the words. When I betrayed her. When the Reeks were set loose, and all those kids were killed, and all I cared about was getting two names that didn’t even matter anymore. None of it mattered. It didn’t change even with the knowledge of who I was, because that only spared me the pain she was now feeling. It didn’t save me.

  “She was willing to move the mountains to get to you, Vic, and if she had the chance, she would have,” I said. “I don’t know her like you do, but I am certain if she’s still alive, she’ll be coming for you. Her, Theo, and Caspian and anyone else they recruit.”

  The smallest of smiles spread across Vic’s face. It only lasted a second, but it was there.

  “I’m so sorry for what I did,” I said. I’d apologized more times than I could count, but no matter how much I said it, the words felt like they’d lost their meaning. There would never be a way to make up for what I did.

  “You’re a monster,” Vic said. Her words were harsh, but soft. Not condemning. Not meant in malice. Just the truth. “But so am I.”

  “No, you’re not.” I shook my head. “Whatever they’re doing to you doesn’t change who you are. You’re not a monster.”

  “I can feel it inside of me,” Vic whispered.

  “The virus?”

  “The Reek.”

  I swallowed.

  Her eyes met mine, the darkness within the silver swirling and mixing like an ocean wave. “It’s trying to come out, it’s trying to break free. And when it does, it’s like I’m not even there.”

  “But you can fight it, you have before,” I assured her.

  “I don’t want to sometimes,” she admitted. “When you were there, when you told me… suddenly the ringing disappeared, and all I could hear was the voice saying ‘Kill him. Destroy him.’ And I wanted to. It wanted to.”

  “I’m sorry,” I repeated.

  “A time will come when I can’t fight it. And I don’t know what we’re meant to do, but there’s a reason they’re doing this to us.” Vic shivered and pulled the meager blanket around her shoulders. “This war is far from over, and we’re still being forced to play their game.”

  She rolled over, pulling the blanket to her chin and curling her knees up to her chest. I watched as she closed her eyes and the exhaustion in her body took over until she was breathing softly and sleeping.

  I’d come here with the hopes Caspian or Sienna would come for Vic, and they’d save me, too. It’d been for a selfish reason. But now, I wondered if I was the one who was meant to save Vic. And if that was the case, then I wouldn’t fail this time.

  SIENNA

  It was weird being back in Cytos, especially outside of the DEZ. Aside from the time when I’d gotten myself lost in the city and my meetings with Jayla or Ava, I’d never been gone for longer than a few hours, and I hadn’t explored much outside of the Underground. Our first night in the dirty old warehouse we were housed in was a restless one. The small amount of peace I’d felt in Eres was wiped away the second we set foot back in Cytos.

  “When do you think we’ll be leaving?” I asked Em, who was eating a meager breakfast of bread and milk with the excitement of a toddler eating vegetables.

  We were circled around a table looking like it was being kept together by tape and hope. The entire place was filled with old stuff, clearly abandoned for some time before the Men of the North made it their hideout. The electricity to this building had been shut off a long time ago, so spotlights and lamps with batteries were all we could use. Most had layers of coats or blankets to stave off the cold of winter creeping in, and a few had made small fires in bins and barrels scattered around the large empty space. It was depressing and cold—it reminded me of the DEZ.

  “Another day or two, we’ve got a few things to sort out still,” she replied.

  “And do you know what Theo and I will be tasked with once we get there?” I asked, glancing to Theo a few seats away from me. Despite still being hurt, Theo wouldn’t tell me everything. Last night I’d fallen asleep in his arms, my head resting on his chest letting his heartbeat sooth me to sleep. I hated this place, but Theo had always been a comfort in Cytos or the DEZ, and I couldn’t stop the flutter in my chest when our eyes locked and all the lying and secrets disappeared. I focused back on Em.

  Em tossed down her bread, annoyed. She was never happy when I asked questions. Actually, most people got annoyed by all my questions, but I just stared her down waiting for an answer. It was my life, after all, and I could ask whatever questions I wanted.

  “Assuming you can find a way out of wherever they eventually keep you, you’ll need to locate the other kids and find out what we need to get access to them all,” she explained. “I doubt they’ll be keeping all the kids together, that’d be too convenient, so when the time comes, I need you two to ensure we can get them out.”