Gunner had turned around, walking slowly back to us when he felt we weren’t following him, and he noted the puzzled look on my face.

  “What? Do you know who the Ghost is?” he asked.

  I glanced to Theo, who I knew was thinking the same thing. “It can’t be,” he whispered.

  But I nodded. “It’s Vic.”

  SIENNA

  “We have to find her before he does.” I paced back and forth. The dry leaves crunched under my feet. Gunner shushed me for the third time.

  “She’ll be long gone before you have a chance to get to her. Last I heard, she was over near Camp Fifty-Three. That’s on the other side of Venzier. You won’t get there for days,” Gunner said, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed. “And from the sounds of it, she doesn’t need your help to survive in the Void.”

  “She’s our family, that means something to us,” Theo said, and I couldn’t help notice Gunner flinch before he quickly blinked it away and shrugged.

  “That doesn’t matter, we have to find her. This isn’t up for discussion,” I said firmly.

  “Well, good luck, it was nice knowing ya.” Gunner pushed off the tree and took a few steps away. “If you wouldn’t mind leaving a pack of that dried meat with me, for safe keeping of course. Seeing as you’re as good as dead if you head up there. If the trip alone doesn’t kill you, Blane sure as hell will. Even if he’s called off his hounds, he doesn’t seem like the type to forgive and forget. Oh, and have you forgotten about the artifacts and not getting dissolved?”

  I rolled my eyes, stepping in front of Gunner and he halted. I gave him a lazy smile that had his own quickly wiped off his face. “You’re coming with us,” I said.

  Gunner laughed, shoving his way past me, but Theo stepped in his path. “I have no reason to come with you. Have you forgotten we aren’t exactly friends?”

  “We need a way to Camp Fifty-Three that’s quick, and I’m sure you know more than a few tunnels that will get us there, especially given that you found all this out in a matter of what, a day? So clearly, there’s a way through the mountain that will get us there faster, and you’re going to take us.”

  “And why would I do that?” Gunner crossed his arms.

  “Because we know your secret,” Theo said, following my lead. “We know at least one way into the tunnels of Venzier, and I’m sure with a little help we could find more. So unless you want your secret hideout exposed, you’d better start leading the way.”

  “Blackmail… really?” Gunner tilted his head towards Theo.

  I smirked. “We’ve learned from the best.”

  “Fine, I’ll take you there, but I’m not stopping the Guardians of Venzier from killing you guys on sight. And I sure as hell won’t keep quiet that you’ve blackmailed me and threatened to expose their secret.” Gunner swiftly moved past Theo and began cutting through a new trail.

  Theo gave me a look that said do you know what you’re doing? and I nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan,” I said.

  To find Vic, I’d do anything, and Theo knew that. But I wouldn’t risk all of our lives in the process.

  It was almost sunset by the time we reached the first tunnel. A narrow crevice we squeezed through opened to a wide tunnel nearly pitch black. We travelled deeper and deeper under the mountain. Gunner happily skipped ahead of us, occasionally mentioning the different ways the Guardians had killed trespassers or people who got too close. He’d seen it all first hand and knew their kind of skill.

  I followed quietly behind, Theo at the back, hoping my plan would work. It had to work; we had to find Vic.

  “Who is this girl to you, anyways?” Gunner asked.

  The tunnel grew colder the farther down we went, and I shivered against the brisk wind pushing up against us. The constant drip of water echoed, and the damp smell was getting worse the farther we went.

  “She’s my best friend,” I said, my voice broke a little, and I cleared my throat quickly. “She was with me in the DEZ, but I wasn’t quick enough to get her out before we were sent here.”

  “Get her out? There’s no way out of this,” Gunner huffed.

  “We had a way,” I said quietly.

  A firm hand pressed against my back. Theo’s fingers were warm against the cold, and I let out a long breath as just the touch of him settled my beating heart.

  We’d been out here for only three weeks now, and we’d hardly had a chance to even speak to each other. We were together all the time, but in the camp I didn’t dare say too much with so many listening ears, and in the forest being quiet was a way of survival. Despite being so close, I felt so far from him these past few weeks.

  “If you had a way out, why the hell are you here now?” Gunner continued.

  I opened my mouth to speak, but Theo cut me off. “Not everyone runs from the people they care about. We’re not all like you or the rest of these kids. We had a friend who was missing, and we were going to get her back. We will get her back. That’s why we didn’t leave.”

  “Stupid if you ask me,” Gunner said. “What use are you to anyone if you’re dead?”

  “I’d rather die trying to save someone I love than live a coward and alone,” Theo snapped back.

  Gunner just shrugged, but his head was low as he said in an unusually subdued voice, “You can’t be a hero if you have no one to save.”

  We were quiet the rest of the way.

  When we reached the large cavern where the Guardians of Venzier lived, we were greeted by ten arrows aimed at our heads. Ten more warriors held long swords at their side, surveying us up and down.

  “Told you,” Gunner mumbled, as he stepped out of the tunnel and held his hands up. He stopped a safe distance from them. “I’m here against my will. I want that to be known,” he said.

  I glared at him before turning my attention back to the large, white-haired man we’d seen before. “We mean you no harm. We just need to get across the mountain quickly,” I began.

  “You can take the path everyone else does, over the mountain or around it,” he replied, his voice low and lethal.

  “We don’t have time for that,” Theo said.

  “That’s not our problem. Leave now, and we may not kill you,” a long-haired girl I remembered from before said from behind the tall man. She aimed her arrow at my head.

  “I thought the Ladies of the Muted Forest were meant to protect humans and do as the stars will them,” I said.

  “I am no longer a Lady of the Muted forest. And we are no longer obliged to help those who caused us this pain. We will not help the humans who brought this plague upon our forest,” the woman said.

  “I knew a Lady who thought differently. She protected me even when I didn’t know she was there, and she saved me more than once because that was her destiny, and she didn’t run from it, no matter how terrible the world has gotten.”

  They paused. I saw the woman’s eyes flicker to the man beside her, but her stance didn’t change, so I continued, “Ava believed that it was her duty to watch over those who needed protection, and we are in need of that now. Would you go against what your ancestors believed in for so long?” I saw an arrow drop just an inch. “We didn’t do this to you guys. We’re just as much a victim to the horrors that have entered this forest. But it’s a reality we’re both stuck with. Please just allow us to travel through the tunnels, so we can find our friend.”

  “You have a friend missing?” someone asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “Her name is Victoria. I thought… we thought she didn’t survive but she has. And she needs us now.”

  A long pause of silence and I could see the silent debate running through the tribe. But after a moment, the large man in the middle lowered his weapon, and the others did the same.

  “You cannot travel through the tunnels at night; it is not safe even down here once the sun sets. You will spend the night then leave at first light,” he said. I nodded my thanks, but his eyes turned cold. “Do not expect this kindness again. We have done you a favor for our ancestors, but make no mistake in thinking we will do so again. We protect our own first. That is how we live now. That is our reality.”

  “Thanks Tynan,” Gunner said, as he patted my back. “Didn’t think you had that rabbit up your sleeve, but it looks like we’ll all be sleeping well tonight,” he murmured to me. He stepped past us and moved towards the roaring fire in the middle of the canvas tents, talking to the people as if they hadn’t just threatened to kill us all.

  “I guess that went about as good as we could have expected,” Theo muttered.

  I nodded absently as my gaze caught little sparks against the darkness down here. I looked up to the roof of the cavern. It was ebony stone glimmering in the firelight, dancing around like starlight in the night sky.

  Silently, I said thanks to the stars and to Ava, for once again protecting us.

  We were given a small tent with a bed no bigger than the one we’d slept in at the DEZ, but it was like heaven compared to the rock-hard floor we’d spent the last few weeks sleeping on. They had a small, sectioned off bathing room with water warmed from the fire, and I nearly hugged the scowling girl who led me there. We hadn’t had a real bath in weeks, only what we could manage with cold water and a towel.

  For hours we sat around the fire, listening to the Guardians joke and laugh and talk amongst each other. The leader, Tynan, was much different around his own family than he had been the two times we’d met him. He laughed and clapped hands with his brothers. Teasing his sister, the long blond-haired girl named Petra. Their mother had given birth to them in this cavern, but had died only days after Petra had been born. Tynan, at the age of eight, became like a father to her.

  The others were much more welcoming once they confirmed we weren’t a threat. And they laughed at the stories I told of Ava and her snide sense of humor. Some remembered her story. They knew of the warrior who fought without sight. But that was before their time, and before the forest was the place it was now.

  This tribe was one of the last to still live within the forest for the past few decades. The Mountain Men and the Ladies of the Muted Forest had once lived in separate tribes. The men had lived in the Canvas Mountain Range, on the farthest northern peak of Armestes, now abandoned. The Ladies lived throughout the forest, but their tribe had always resided outside of the Dred Wulf’s territory. Even they knew not to mess with those beasts.

  After the war almost ended the world, this tribe came together, and their ancestors chose to live within the forest and the mountains as one, no longer separate tribes.

  Hearing the stories felt like a dream. Tales of the beasts they’d lived among, the Ice Bears they once controlled, now all gone. The Dred Wulfs would stalk them at night, and they would slay them and use their furs as coats. It was like I was back in the DEZ, listening to Vic tell me bedtime stories, and I couldn’t help but miss her.

  By the time we retreated to our small tent, I was exhausted and my mind wouldn’t turn off.

  I rubbed at my temples as Theo came up behind me.

  “Everything okay?” he asked softly.

  “No,” I whispered. “Even if we find her, even if she is still alive… where do we go? How do we get out of this place?”

  Theo sat on the small bed and pulled me onto his lap. I buried my head in the crook of his shoulder.

  “We stick together, and we never give up. We’ll find a way out, somehow,” he said. His hands trailed down my neck.

  Theo placed a light kiss at the spot his fingers brushed against, so gently and soft it felt like a whisper against my skin. I sighed. All I wanted was to forget where I was and what we were facing and just feel his touch and his kiss.

  I lifted my chin and met his eyes. Worry and concern and fear spread across them, all aimed at me, all for me. So I leaned in and pressed my lips against his cheek, across his strong jaw. Kissing away the worry, and the pain, and the fear. He pulled me in closer, and his lips found mine. I couldn’t help the soft moan escaping my mouth. I hadn’t felt his touch in so long. Didn’t realize how much I missed it, craved it.

  “I’ve missed this,” Theo said softly into my collarbone. “I’ve missed us.”

  I answered his plea with my own, tugging at his shirt, and he pulled it over his head. The scars scattered across his chest in a serrated pattern, like wild lightning filling up the sky. I traced a finger over them then kissed each one. Across his chest, his collarbone, down his arms, until I had touched every part of him, every scar I had caused.

  “Theo, I—”

  He gently lifted my chin, silencing my words as his mouth engulfed mine. “No apologies. Not now, not ever,” he whispered against my lips.

  His warm hands swept under the thin fabric of my shirt, and he lifted it off of me. I pushed him down onto the small bed and pressed my body against his, feeling his heart beating fast against my chest. Our breaths were a ragged, tangled mess.

  My hands found his hair, and I ran them through each strand, as his hands roamed my body, pressing me hard against him, eager and selfish, but gentle.

  I whimpered his name against his shoulder as he traced kisses down my neck until…

  A loud clearing of a throat from the other side of the canvas wall of the tent startled both of us. “These tents aren’t sound proof you know!” Gunner groaned from next to us.

  I giggled and rested my forehead on Theo’s chest. His hand trailed down my arm, and he placed a kiss on the top of my head.

  “I love you,” he whispered.

  “I love you, too,” I said as I closed my eyes. The urge and need to feel every inch of him burned through me, but I silently promised myself this wouldn’t be our last chance. This wouldn’t be the end. We would survive.

  JAYLA

  “He knows what you look like and will be instantly suspicious if you just go waltzing in,” Simon said, as I readjusted the leather straps across my forearms concealing the two knives I’d stashed there.

  “Which is why I’m bringing a few weapons,” I said, struggling to tie the leather straps with one hand.

  Em sighed and helped me secure them—a job Caspian had always done for me. “I hate to say this, but I agree with Simon. It’s too risky for you to go alone.”

  “I won’t be alone.” I winked at her.

  “If you’re discovered before you get him into his office, there’ll be nothing I can do to help you,” Em stated, tying the last strap with a bit more aggression than necessary.

  “I won’t be,” I said, pulling the sleeves of my black jacket down to cover the straps.

  I was a little surprised by the unified front Simon and Em put up against my idea. This was the one and only thing they had agreed on so far: my idea was a suicide mission.

  Em had detected Governor Wallace’s tablet, with the help of Leanna, but it was secured well enough even Em couldn’t hack in without having physical access to it, which told me it hadn’t been erased. Leanna had assured us if we got the tablet here, she could open it. It seemed her father had her retinal scan added in case of emergencies a long time ago, and this was most definitely an emergency.

  The only way to get the tablet was to secure a meeting with the new Governor, Marc Holden, as the tablet was located inside his personal vault at City Hall.

  “Marc has a thing for pretty women, or did you forget? It won’t be hard to sweet talk my way into his office.” I readjusted my boots to stash another knife inside.

  “Pretty sure it was a thing for attractive couples that was his play,” Em reminded me, and I had to swallow back the memory of Caspian at my side and our last night together.

  I rolled my shoulders. “Just get yourself in that office, and I’ll do the rest, okay?”

  Em rapped her fingernails on the table before saying, “Fine, but don’t get mad at me when I tell you I told you so.”

  I stuck up my middle finger at her.

  “And what exactly are we supposed to do here?” Simon asked. Leanna and Logan were sitting quietly on the couch, observing our usual form of conversation—arguing.

  “Whatever the hell you want.” I shrugged. “Sit tight and hold down the fort?”

  I moved towards the door, and Em stood with me, but not before she turned to the couch where Logan sat. “No moving, no touching the wounds, and no complaining while I’m gone,” she ordered.

  “Yes, Mom.” He smirked.

  “I can take care of him for a few hours you know,” Leanna said, tone harsh.

  “I’m sure you can,” Em said unconvincingly. She had hardly let Logan do anything on his own. Helping him change his clothes, bringing him food like a servant or some maid. The boy had hardly moved a finger since he’d woken up. It was like he was her responsibility alone, and she wouldn’t let anyone else help. But Logan didn’t seem to mind the attention.

  She turned back to follow me, and my brows rose with amusement, but she just shoved past me and opened the door. “Oh, shut up,” she mumbled, and I didn’t hide my smirk.

  City Hall was quiet and muted compared to the last time I was there. The usual gold and silver colors adorning the exterior of the building had been replaced by dark purples and crimson as a sign of mourning.

  The guards at the door looked me up and down before letting me through the entrance. The main foyer was still familiar but had been decorated in lilies and black cloths. Another sign of feigned mourning. The fake display disgusted me and left a bad taste in my mouth.

  A second set of guards stopped my progress when I reached the elevators that would take me down to the main offices.

  “Sorry, ma’am, the office is closed now,” one of the guards said.

  I smiled sweetly up at him. “Do I look like a ma’am to you?”

  He blushed a little, and his partner cleared his throat. “You’ll have to return tomorrow during regular business hours, miss.”

  I tilted my head to the second guard and gave him a little wink. “Well, that’s too bad. The new Governor asked for me personally to come by tonight… after hours. I would hate to disappoint him on his first week on the job, wouldn’t you?”