“Stay together…no matter…what. Your family…will protect you,” Ava said before she coughed and blood bubbled out.

  “Ava. We need—”

  “They don’t…remember,” Ava said, her voice distant and her grip beginning to loosen, but I held tight. “He doesn’t…remember.”

  “Who?” I asked.

  A bang at the end of the hallway caused Theo and me to jump. I turned towards the door where shadows filled the hallway and moved nearer.

  Ava pulled me closer, and I turned back to her. “You’re special…immune. Be strong, my dear.”

  The shadows burst through the door, and four guards stalked in. I recognized two from the DEZ. I was still holding Ava’s hand when they ripped me from her grip. I fought against them, reaching towards Ava, whose hand had fallen limp over the edge of the bed.

  “No, we have to get her help. Please!” I cried, but they didn’t listen.

  I glanced back to where Ava was and saw her chest rise one last time.

  My fists pounded against the guards who didn’t seem to care. One gripped both wrists in a single, enormous hand, causing me to flinch and stop fighting or risk breaking both of them. Ahead of me, Theo struggled to reach for me, but the guards were too strong and pulled him down the hall.

  We were shoved outside of the complex where my knees landed first on the hard concrete. Theo scrambled to my side, helping me up.

  “You shouldn’t have come here, Sienna.” I glanced up at the familiar voice of Instructor Yarik.

  “You? You killed Ava?” I whispered.

  “You think so lowly of me? No, I don’t kill old ladies. I came for you two. More than a few of my people spotted you on the streets of Cytos.” She stepped closer, her arms crossed over her chest. “What were you doing here?”

  “We were…um…visiting,” I stumbled.

  “Visiting, right.” She took another step closer. “You were always a bad liar.”

  She inclined her head to the guards behind us, and they quickly yanked us towards a shuttle waiting outside Ava’s complex. They placed Theo and me against one wall of the long metal shuttle, the hard seat buckles digging into my back. Instructor Yarik and her guards took the seats across from us.

  As the shuttle roared to life and took off smoothly, I couldn’t help one last look at Ava’s place. Who would do that to an old woman? And why?

  “Did you see anyone else when you were visiting?” Instructor Yarik drew my attention.

  I settled a cold glare on her. “No.”

  “Good,” Yarik said. “Less of your mess to clean up.”

  “My mess? How is this my mess? Someone killed her. She was tortured!” My hands balled up in a fist, and my entire body shook. I shoved them under my legs, so Yarik wouldn’t see them tremble.

  Theo rested a hand on my leg, which bounced up and down.

  For a moment, something flickered across Yariks face before she blinked, and the usual cold stare returned. “Can you guess why she was tortured?” Yarik tilted her head to the side.

  My breathing was ragged. I shook my head.

  “Because you got too close.” Yarik shrugged. “Had you left the old lady alone, no one would have taken notice, but you didn’t. And she wasn’t smart enough to push you away or listen to the many warnings she was given. She’s as much to blame as you are; she knew the risk she was taking.”

  “What are you talking about? She was harmless. She hurt no one. Why would you do that to her?”

  Yarik moved lightning fast, her face only inches from mine. The look in her eyes had me flinching back. “I didn’t do anything. I warned you not to step out of line, not to ask too many questions, but you didn’t listen. And now, someone has paid for it, just as more surely will if you keep up this game.”

  “I haven’t done anything but try to make a proper life for myself outside of the DEZ. Isn’t that what you guys try to teach us, what this school is all about? Enlightening your students so they can fit into society?” I spat back. “I was only doing what you taught me.”

  Yarik snorted, her voice quiet and lethal, as she said, “If you still truly believe that is what we’re training you for, then you’re even stupider than I thought.”

  Chapter 26

  Sienna

  Ava was dead.

  Vic was missing.

  Theo and I were on high security watch. Guards walked us to and from classes. We were locked in our quad at night with no way to open the door from the inside until morning. And we had no way to communicate or find out what was going on outside of the DEZ.

  I was lucky they let me stay with Theo. The fit of rage I threw when they’d tried sending me to my own quad had even the guards scared. But Yarik had showed the slightest bit of humanity when she decided it wasn’t worth fighting me over that one.

  A small victory.

  It had been more than two weeks since I last saw Vic. I had no way of knowing if she was even alive. Yarik’s warning rang through me night and day. Clearly, I was that stupid, as I had truly believed we’d get out of here and start our new lives together. I had thought it was almost over, but it wasn’t. It had only just begun.

  Today was the last graduation test before Theo’s and mine. The only ones left besides us were Camilla and Blane, who had both been unusually quiet all week. Camilla usually took any chance she got to attack me or make some snide remark, but lately she seemed to hardly notice I was even around.

  The four of us sat in the library across from the final testing room, waiting for Camilla and Blane to be called in. The other kids in the DEZ were busy with lessons, so we were left to ourselves, and the silence was nearly unbearable.

  Theo and I took our usual spot at the back of the library, and Camilla sat next to Blane at a table where her leg bounced with nervous energy. Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking, her usually deep brown skin was blanched, and her eyes were bloodshot red.

  A guard entered the library, and before he spoke, Camilla was on her feet so fast the chair behind her fell backwards onto the floor.

  “I can’t do this. I—I won’t do this,” she stammered.

  Blane gripped her wrist and yanked her to where the guards waited, but she dug her feet in and pulled her arm free. She shook her head, her eyes wild.

  “Stop being so dramatic, Cami. It’s our time. Don’t ruin this for me,” Blane seethed, as he reached for her again. She tripped backwards, stumbling towards where I sat at the back of the room.

  She was on her knees before me, looking as though she would beg me for help.

  “They’ll kill me, those things. They’ll kill me,” she whispered.

  I gripped her shoulder. “They aren’t the test, Camilla. They won’t be there.” Em had found no trace of the black figure haunting my dreams, and there had been nothing out of the ordinary during any of the other tests.

  “No, this isn’t the final test, Sienna. It’s not over. It’s never over.” Her eyes rimmed with tears, and she gripped onto my hands. “They’ll kill us all, every last one of us.”

  Two guards picked her up off the ground and carried her out of the library. She screamed and thrashed the whole way there, until the door closed behind her.

  The room went silent.

  I couldn’t sleep that night, even with Theo beside me. I kept seeing that black figure and hearing Camilla’s words, “they’ll kill us all, every last one of us.”

  We had no escape, not anymore. I wasn’t even sure there ever was. Maybe it had been a dream—the life I thought we’d finally have. Now, some sort of nightmare had taken over. Everything I had hoped for was ripped away from me just when I thought the end was near.

  With only two of us left, we didn’t have official classes. Instructor Yarik had us join the class below us for weapon training and combat, but otherwise we were in a strict routine of being walked to classes, having lunch and dinner in the dining hall, and back to our quads.

  “We have to find out what’s going on, Theo. We might not have a chance after our graduation test. There’s no way of knowing what will happen to us in here…or out there.” I leaned against the wall of our quad across from Theo, who had a book in his hands. Although he was doing a good job of distracting himself from all this, he couldn’t hide the nightmares or the cold sweats he’d wake up from. I’d wake to the sound of struggled screams and try to calm him down in the middle of the night.

  “There’s nothing we can do, Sienna.” Theo glanced up from his book.

  I fidgeted with the blanket and let out a frustrated sigh. “There has to be something.”

  “Like what?” Theo put down his book and reached for my hand curled up in the blanket. “All we can do is stick together. That will be our best chance of getting through whatever this is.”

  I ran a hand through my long hair, sinking back against the wall, and closing my eyes. “I just wish—”

  A knock rapped at the door before it swung open. A guard stood on the other side, his gun at his hip, and a scowl on his face. He motioned for us to get out and follow him. We obeyed.

  “Where are we going to this time?” I asked.

  The guard grunted for me to shut up. They weren’t very friendly to our kind and didn’t enjoy being our personal chauffeurs everywhere.

  The guard led us to the MediCenter at the back of the gallery hall. Yarik stood there, waiting for us.

  “Final check-up before your graduation test,” she offered as way of explanation before directing us each to separate rooms.

  The MediBot was large but moved swiftly in the small space. Its metal hands were cold when they gripped my arm and stuck a needle in. I flinched as I watched the crimson blood flow out of my body and into a tube.

  Once he removed the needle, he did a full scan and left the room.

  I waited, holding my breath for a few minutes until I was sure he was gone. I jumped down from the table, ready to check on Theo, when I heard it. The same guttural scream from that night when the black figure appeared, only muted. It was coming from down the hallway.

  I poked my head out of my room; no one was around, and the halls were empty.

  The sound, like someone scraping at the inside of my skull, came again.

  I crouched down, glancing behind me one last time before I followed the noise down the hallway and around the corner. At the back of the MediCenter was a single door. It was the same as any other room, only chains spread across the door, as if the usual locks weren’t good enough.

  Light on my feet and not daring to make a sound, I crept towards the door. It was quiet but pained. Like someone was fighting against something, but they couldn’t speak or yell. I had a sudden dread fill my chest, and I glanced behind me, wondering if I should turn around and go back. But something flickered in the small window on the door.

  It was high enough I had to stand on my tippy toes to see in. As soon as I peered through the window, I regretted it.

  A black hand slammed against the glass, and I tripped backwards, landing on the ground on my back and scrambling away as fast as I could, never taking my eyes off the door. The chains rattled against the door, pushing against them. I shoved myself farther, but the image didn’t go away.

  The figure behind the door looked almost human, but it was far from it. Its skin was covered in black scales that looked burnt on. Its fingers and limbs were long and bony. But its face…that was what would give me nightmares forever. Where its eyes should have been were two pitted holes, the skin around it scratched and scabbed as though someone, or something, had ripped the eyes right out of its sockets. Its mouth opened up just enough to reveal decayed teeth, broken and cracked.

  What was that thing?

  I reached the end of the hall and bumped into a pair of legs. When I looked up, I found Instructor Yarik gazing down on me. She picked me up by the collar of my shirt in one quick motion, and my knees wobbled as I caught my balance.

  She sneered. “Get a good look?”

  My mouth gaped open. “What was that thing?”

  “Something you should never have seen, and I suggest you don’t tell anyone about it, either.” She dragged me away, back down the hallway.

  My feet didn’t seem to move properly. I tripped over them as she pulled me along.

  “Are those things…i-is that the test?” I stuttered.

  “No.” Yarik pulled me to stand in front of her and we stopped. Her gaze met mine, and her expression sent a shiver down my spine. But what she said next nearly stopped my heart. “Not yet.”

  Chapter 27

  Jayla

  “Anything?” I asked Emery, who had returned from her third try at getting into the DEZ. The place had gone on lockdown for some reason, and we’d spent the last week since meeting Simon trying to get inside while we waited on word from Commander Reyes on our mission.

  I had held off returning to the DEZ in hopes we had some sort of news to give them, but it seemed we had waited too long, and I’d made the mistake of thinking we had more time.

  We’d spent little time in the apartment, out every night searching for clues, but even the shadows had gone quiet. My eyes were rimmed red with exhaustion, but we couldn’t rest.

  “Nothing.” Em sighed as she kicked off her boots and flopped down on to the couch.

  We’d been locked out of the DEZ completely. No way to communicate with Sienna and Theo, no access to Instructor Yarik’s computer. We’d assumed she found the chip we put in there, which meant someone was onto us and our accomplices. It was no longer safe for them inside. With their graduation test in less than three days, we had to find a way in. We had to get them out before—I didn’t know what would happen.

  No news still on Vic, and even though I tried to stay positive, I feared the worst.

  “I think it’s time to move to more drastic measures, Jayla. We can’t just sit here and let them walk into something we know nothing about,” Em said. She’d suggested it more than once and was willing to storm through the front doors herself if it meant getting them out. But the place was well guarded, and we wouldn’t get far without a solid plan. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t have one.

  “We can’t risk it,” I said.

  “Bullshit!” Em sat up, leaning forward and pushing her anger towards me. “Why the hell did we become Watchers if all we’re going to do is sit back and wait for when we’re finally needed? This is what we do, Jayla. This is what we signed up for. Or did you forget that?”

  “I haven’t forgotten, Em. I know very well what our job is, and that’s why I say we wait.” My voice was low but stern. I had no problem with Em questioning me every once in a while, but in this situation I could tell her emotions were getting the better of her.

  “Right.” Em leaned back into the couch and casually picked at her nails. “If it were Caspian in there, you’d be breaking down the walls to get him out.”

  “That’s right. And I’d do the same for you, Em, but that doesn’t mean it’d be the right decision,” I spat. “Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t get us all killed in the process.”

  “Sometimes, the right decision is to just make one instead of sitting back and waiting to be told what to do.”

  “You think I like sitting around doing nothing? I don’t. But moving in before we know what we’re facing is a foolish move and one that could jeopardize more lives in the process.”

  “Isn’t every life worth saving?” Em glanced up from her nails, and the cold venom of a viper poised to attack hit me. “You say you know what you signed up for, but in the end you’re just as much a coward as everyone else. Your life and the people you love are more important than some kid stuck in the DEZ that you hardly know.”

  “How dare you question my commitment? You have no idea what I’m willing to risk, what I already have risked.”

  “You’ve risked nothing!” Em’s voice rose louder than I’d ever heard, each word hitting me like a punch to the gut. “You sit around acting tough and pretending to be strong, but you’re weak. You’re perfectly content sitting up here in your fancy apartment, drinking your expensive wine while you wait for orders from Reyes or whoever holds your chain these days.”

  “That’s enough,” I said through gritted teeth.

  Em glared at me. “It’s never enough.”

  The door clicking open stopped me from saying something else I’d regret. I set my jaw and swallowed back everything I wanted to say. She was just mad at the whole situation and that we’d somehow lost Vic. I knew what this was about. But her words stung more than she knew, and what I hated most was that everything she said was true. I wasn’t strong. I was more than willing to sacrifice a few lives to keep those around me safe. It didn’t matter to Em that she was one of those people I was willing to sacrifice anyone else for to keep safe, because she’d always been stronger than me. She’d always been willing to sacrifice any one of us for the greater good, and that was something I didn’t know if I could do.

  “Maybe I should come back later,” Caspian said from the door, his hand still on the knob, as his gaze shot between the two of us.

  “No, we’re done here. What did you find out?” I stood and made my way to Cas, unable to sit any more with the heat from Emery’s glare burning through me.

  “Um…maybe we should talk outside,” Cas suggested.

  “Don’t treat me like a child, Caspian. Say what you have to say in front of me, or don’t say anything at all.” Em went back to picking at her nails.

  “I think I’d rather not say anything at all at this point.” Cas shrugged as he brushed past me into the kitchen and filled a glass with strong, amber-colored liquor.

  “Just tell us,” I said with impatience.

  Caspian glanced between me and Em before he downed his drink in one swig. He poured himself a second glass before he spoke again. “Ava’s dead.”

  The air left the room entirely. Silence. I glanced to Em, whose mouth hung open, and for the first time since I’d met her, tears rimmed her eyes. I wanted to run to her, to hold her, and tell her it would be all right, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t promise her anything. Once again, she was stung by the pain of a sacrifice unknowingly made, and nothing could be done about it.