I shook my head. “Most of them look older than me. I’m guessing they’re all Pur kids.”

  “That was my guess, too. I can nearly smell their fear from over here.” Em sniffed. “The Pur reek of entitlement and resentment.”

  “Wouldn’t that apply to you as well?” I teased.

  Em shrugged. “I might be a Pur kid, but I’m far from one of them.” She flashed a smile. “I’m my own kind.”

  Before I got another word out, something metal and hard hit the back of my head. “No talking.” A guard grunted from behind me, his gun hanging from his hand after smacking my skull.

  I flinched, as if I might do something, but Theo quickly caught my wrist. “Don’t.”

  My glare followed the guard as he walked away with a smug smile on his face. We’d already learned what the guards were capable of, and what the metal necklace they’d put on us was for. Another kid had complained about the cold and was rewarded with an electric shock that nearly made him wet himself.

  I clenched my teeth and let out a hissed breath, catching Jayla’s glance from across the train. “I’m not sure I will last another four hours, let alone four minutes in this cold.”

  Theo moved closer to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me into his chest. His body was just as freezing as mine, and his fingers gripping my arm were like ice cubes. There wasn’t enough body heat to go around.

  “Keep your toes moving,” Em said. “And move your legs a bit. You don’t need them stiffening up on you, too, or you won’t feel when frostbite hits.”

  “This is ridiculous,” Jayla said in a hushed voice near the entrance to the next cart. “We have extra. If they all die before we get there, then we’ll be punished for it.”

  One of the other guards stood in front of her, his arms crossed over his large chest and a glare aimed at Jayla. Behind him, Caspian had subtly stepped closer.

  “This isn’t our first trip to Black Prison,” the guard snapped. “And you’d be wise to just keep your mouth shut. We all know you two weren’t asked to tag along to give Governor Grayson a message.”

  “Oh really.” Jayla leaned on one hip. “And what exactly are we here for then?”

  The guard looked back to Em seated beside me. “We know who she is.” He jutted his chin towards her in disgust.

  My breath caught in my throat, and I tried to school my expression, but my pulse began to race too fast. We knew they’d know who she was; she was one of the most recognizable Watchers in Cytos and the only genetic kid. We’d expected this. Still, there was no way of knowing what they would do with one of their own who’d betrayed them. Em kept a scowl on her face, watching the guard with a little tilt of her head.

  “And who might that be?” Jayla asked with indifference. Though she had cut her hair and wore contacts to change her eye color, I didn’t think she could disguise her mannerisms or who she was deep down. She was a Watcher, just like these guards, and I was certain the last thing she would want was to kill any one of them… but she would for Em.

  “She was one of us.” The guard took a step forward, inching closer to Em. “I always wondered why Reyes would trust a genetic freak like her. It seems my suspicious were pretty accurate.”

  Em gave him a devilish smile and purred, “Why don’t you come a little closer, and I’ll show you exactly why Reyes kept me aroun—”

  Her last word was cut off, and her entire body tensed. She gripped the collar around her neck, and I could feel the spark of electricity pouring into her. I tried to reach for her, but Theo held me back. My eyes were wide as I watched in horror, helpless as her face twisted with pain.

  The guard sneered as he let go of the button in his hand controlling the collar around Em’s neck. “I can’t wait for us to get to the Black Prison. That’s where they put down the mutts who don’t listen. I suspect you won’t be around much longer.”

  “Just leave her alone. If she shows up harmed, we’ll all be in shit,” a female guard said from the next compartment over.

  “Who’s to say she didn’t show up to us already injured?” The guard grinned, and I could see Jayla’s shoulders tense with restraint. She wasn’t the only one wishing she could wipe the smile off the man’s face, and even in the cold I clenched my hands into fists, bracing myself to lunge.

  “Don’t,” Theo warned quietly, his hand on my leg holding me down.

  “You’ll have to do better than that if you expect me to beg you to stop,” Em said sweetly.

  The guard took another step closer and pressed the button in his hand. Em shook, her hands clawing at the metal around her neck, but she didn’t scream or beg him to stop. He held it a little longer this time. I was pushing Theo’s hand away, moving to lunge when Em shot her hand out in my direction, an order for me to stop. My heart was pounding, and I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t watch her in pain any longer. I couldn’t watch this jerk torture her with a smug smile on his face.

  “That’s enough.” The female guard grabbed the man’s arm, and he reluctantly let go of the button.

  Em’s body collapsed, and she leaned forward on her hands and knees. Her breath came in heavy bouts, and her body still trembled. I placed a hand on her back, but she shook it off, her glare fixed on the guard the entire time. Fury was building through me, and I could feel Theo’s restraint, trying to hold me back but hating every minute of it. I had to do something.

  “Filthy mutt,” the guard hissed, spitting on the ground between him and Em.

  “You’ve forgotten something,” Em said. Her voice was a bit hard and raspy.

  The guard gave a dramatic wave of his hand, the control to Em’s collar still in his grip. “And what would that be?”

  “I’m not a mutt.”

  The guard chuckled, and Em’s wicked smile grew.

  Her fists clenched and unclenched. “I’m a rabid wolf.” She lunged.

  The guard wasn’t quick enough to press the button again, and he’d moved far too close to Em, thinking she was weak or vulnerable. She was neither.

  Her sharp, knife-like nails sliced through the guard’s throat. Blood poured down his neck and his mouth as he sputtered to speak or scream, but nothing came out. His eyes widened and when Em pulled her hands back, more blood sprayed from his throat, slashed and shredded to pieces.

  A guard came sprinting into our compartment from the adjacent one and slammed into the side of Em. The guard rammed her into the metal side of the train before a second guard stepped in to help. Em was pinned to the ground, but she was still smiling. A third guard stepped in, holding her down and throwing punch after punch to keep her there, but she still fought back.

  The second I tried to move a hand pushed me down. “Don’t move.” It was Caspian, his eyes fixed on Em while she struggled, but I knew she was holding back. I sucked in a breath, caught between wanting to help and knowing I should listen to Cas.

  Why hadn’t Jayla or Cas done anything? Why did they just stand there and watch? As I looked over at Em, three guards holding her down and a smile on her face as she locked eyes with me, I realized why—she had planned this. Maybe not exactly as it’d gone down, but she’d been expecting someone to take a shot at her, and clearly she’d told Caspian and Jayla not to do anything. I swallowed, my adrenaline still pulsing and my body warmer than it’d been only moments ago. I had a lot to learn from these guys.

  “Where’s the control?” one of the guards asked, looking to where her comrade was still choking on his own blood. He knelt on the floor now, both hands still clasped around his neck. No one made any move to help him.

  “It’s gone.” Jayla made a show of looking around for it, but I’d seen her grab it from the ground when Em attacked. “Just tie her up at the back. We can’t kill her. Grayson will want to question her.”

  The others nodded their agreement and pulled a grinning Em to her feet, dragging her to the back where they secured her to a railing.

  When she was all tied up, the female guard walked to where Jayla was hovering over the unfortunate guard who thought he could take on Em. He was slumped over on his side, his white fur-lined jacket covered in his own blood. His eyes were still wide with shock, but his body had gone lifeless.

  “Cocky idiot,” the guard mumbled. “What should we do with him?”

  “Toss him out?” Cas suggested. He dragged the blood-coated body to one of the doors. Another guard pried it open enough to unceremoniously shove the body out the door, but not before Cas removed the guard’s jacket. His body slid out the door where it disappeared in the snow and trees blurring by as we sped past. The wind seeping in was freezing.

  Caspian tossed the jacket to where Em was tied up. “I think she won the rights to keep it.” He shrugged and walked away. The others didn’t argue as they closed the side doors.

  Another two or so hours passed. Jayla had convinced the others to allow a few of the extra coats to be shared by the kids. No one wanted another incident, and with the control for the collars still missing, they didn’t object. Theo and I shared one between us, and the warmth made the trip nearly bearable.

  I had just closed my eyes, leaning on Theo’s shoulder to get a little rest, when a jolt hit the train. It bounced, as if running over something, before swerving so violently we were tossed across the compartment and slammed into the metal walls. The air from my lungs disappeared, and my entire right side ached.

  A loud boom sounded from the compartment connected to ours, and heat flared across my side before screams began to fill the air. What the hell was happening? Another slam and the train was turned upside down, bodies flying everywhere, and debris from smashed windows cut into my skin.

  It happened so fast. When everything stopped, I wondered if it had been a dream. My ears were ringing and everything hurt. My fingers were numb, but I felt for the spot beside me, even though I knew I wasn’t where I was just moments before. There had been a body beside mine—Theo. Now, all I felt was jagged metal and glass slicing my skin. Theo wasn’t there. My pulse began to race.

  Black smoke streamed from where I assumed the other compartments had been, but there were only flames there now. They billowed heavily into the small space I was crammed in, and I immediately began coughing, choking. The space around me turned black, and I could hardly see my own hands in front of my face. I stood, stifling a groan at the wounds covering my body. A quick check told me nothing was broken, but a warm trickle oozed down my forehead. I reached up and hissed as I grazed the large gash across my brow. The ringing in my ears hadn’t stopped either.

  “Theo?” I yelled. “Em?”

  Nothing.

  Fear spiked through me. Where was everyone, were they still alive? I didn’t allow myself to think of the alternative, I couldn’t, I just kept moving, blindly away from where flames seemed to be getting worse, my hands out in front of me as I searched where I was going. My foot snagged and I tripped, falling to my knees. When I reached down, I felt a body, and my heart was now in the pit of my stomach. I sucked in a breath, but it was all smoke. The body wasn’t moving. No, no, no. I bent down, trying to see who it was, praying it wasn’t Theo or the others. Turning the body over, I found a blonde-haired girl in a Watcher uniform. Not one of ours. My heart still raced because that only meant people had died, not that Theo wasn’t one of them. He can’t be dead. I have to find him.

  Before I had kept moving I ripped off the dead Watcher’s jacket, threw it over my shoulders, and covered my face from the smoke.

  I pushed myself to my feet, coughing and choking as I moved towards voices in the distance. I was nearly there when I fell to my knees again. I couldn’t breathe, and with each choked breath I tried to take in, the smoke suffocated me more and more. I had to find Theo. I had to get out of this train. I glanced over my shoulder to find flames licking at my heels. I had to move. I had to get out of there—Theo needed me. But instead, my arms gave out, and I fell to my face.

  JAYLA

  The blast threw me across the train, disorienting me enough that when it all stopped, I wasn’t sure which compartment I was in. I landed on something soft—a body. When I glanced down, I found only half of it left. The rest was torn apart by the force of whatever had happened. I staggered back, trying to get away from the body, but their blood already coated my hands. I managed to push myself to my feet and tried to survey the space around me. I was numb, my body shaking, and I wasn’t entirely sure I was breathing. Everything came in and out of view as the space around me felt like it was spinning.

  No, no, no, no. The front two compartments were gone. Black smoke spilled from where the train split in two, and flames moved fast, consuming whatever it touched like a hungry wolf. I couldn’t remember where Cas just was. Towards the back? Or had he been near the front? Please let him be okay.

  A scream brought me out of my fog. A hand gripped my ankle and when I looked down, I saw one of the genetic kids covered in blood and badly burnt. I knew I should help them, knew I should do something. But instead I shook off the hand and took a step away from the kid.

  Breathe. Just breathe. I tried to calm my nerves but it didn’t help. I squeezed my eyes shut. This couldn’t be happening again. I had to keep it together. My heart raced so fast I thought it might come out of my chest, and I knew there was no stopping it, no amount of breathing could erase the fear taking hold.

  In the shadows of the black smoke, I began to see them, Reeks. Everyone around me was transforming into a Reek, and they were moving closer.

  “Stop, no!” I called out.

  They turned towards the noise, as if I had done the opposite of what I’d intended and just told them exactly where I was. One moved closer, and I pulled out a gun from my side aiming it at the Reek. It paused, and that had me pulling my finger away from the trigger. My stance didn’t loosen, but something in the way the Reek froze had my arm dropping an inch.

  Its hands raised, its mouth seemed to be moving, but only the sound of my heartbeat pounded in my ears. A pressure pulled in my chest, ripping apart my collarbone and into my back, taking away any air from my lungs so I couldn’t breathe. Through the smoke I couldn’t see anything, only distorted figures and flames burning bright orange and yellow. The figure took another step forward, and I brought the gun back up. It paused for a second time.

  I blinked. The Reek was talking, real words, not the guttural screams I was used to. What was it saying, though?

  I blinked again.

  I heard, “Jayla, it’s me.”

  Something in its voice sounded familiar.

  “Put the gun down,” he said and I hesitated. What if it was a trick? What if these things could speak, and we just didn’t know? “Please, Jay. It’s me. Caspian.”

  His name brought me out of it. I dropped my gun and the breath I had been holding released. My hand covered my mouth, and I began to shake. I could feel hot tears trying to spill down my face. I almost killed him. I was going to kill him.

  “It’s okay, you’re okay.” He gently grabbed my arm, taking the gun from my hand and pulled me into him. “You’re safe.”

  I almost killed him. I could feel the panic trying to sneak in again. My lungs were ready to burst, and there was a sick feeling in my stomach nearly doubling me over. I almost killed him.

  Caspian was speaking, but I couldn’t hear him as the ringing started again in my ears. Just breathe, I ordered myself, screaming in my mind, breathe, dammit.

  I let out shaky breath and blinked, finally focusing back on Caspian.

  “You’re okay,” he repeated. “It’s okay.”

  “Where’s Em?” I asked, my voice strained, but I forced myself to stay grounded in this reality. “Sienna? Theo?”

  “All safe,” Cas assured me.

  A hole had been ripped open in the side of the train compartment, just big enough to squeeze through. Outside the wind howled and froze my cheeks the minute it touched the skin. I had to blink against the bright white snow and sun beaming down on us, but there was zero warmth.

  The first face I saw was Theo’s. He was holding up Em who had a piece of metal sticking out of her leg. How did this happen? Was someone targeting us, or had they heard Em was on the train?

  “I’m okay,” I said, shrugging out of Caspian’s hold. I checked him over quickly and found only black soot and a few scratches on him.

  “We still need them to believe we’re with them,” Cas said, nodding to the group of guards a few feet away, watching us. “Just stay here.” He left me a few feet away from either group—close enough I could see the pain on Em’s face, but not close enough to help. The guards were all arguing.

  Em grimaced, leaning on Theo. Sienna was examining her leg.

  “Just do it,” Em hissed at Sienna. “It’s likely we’ll be walking our way back, and I can’t do that with this piece of metal sticking out of my leg.”

  Sienna gripped the end of the metal shard and Em instantly winced. My body flinched, wanting to be there for my friend, wanting to help. But she saw what I was thinking, and she subtly shook her head.

  “Pull it straight up, away from the tendon,” she ordered, closing her eyes.

  Theo had his arm around her waist, ready to catch her if she passed out. Sienna hesitated for only a minute before she yanked, and the metal was pulled free. Em stifled a scream and swayed for a moment, but she managed to keep herself standing. Theo tore off the sleeve of his shirt and wrapped it around the wound. It hardly covered it and was instantly red with blood.

  Caspian returned, leading me to where the others were. “We have to move farther up the mountain. Too many trees and valleys, we can’t get a signal on the radio from here. We might get lucky higher up.”

  Em grimaced but pulled herself away from Theo, so she was standing on her own. The guards were already pushing the other kids forward—what was left of them—and directing them to take the lead and help clear a path through the knee-deep snow.

  “They won’t show you guys any pity, and if we push too much, they’ll get suspicious,” Cas whispered.