Another person stepped into the picture, moving in front of Em’s sister and pulling out a tablet. “Are you ready, Leah?” the man asked. I now knew why Simon had known it was Em’s sister. That was her name. “Just a few things today, nothing strenuous.”

  Leah nodded as if she were in a trance. Her eyes fixed on something in the distance.

  “Good, let’s begin.” The man moved out of view, and Leah took a step forward, grabbing something on the floor by her feet. It was a knife, the blade the length of her forearm.

  “Begin,” the voice said, and something new came into view.

  A Reek.

  I flinched back despite knowing it wasn’t really there, and this was just a video. Despite feeling more like my old self ever since I arrived back in Cytos, I couldn’t stop the rise in my heart rate and the sweat forming at the nape of my neck. Breath, just breath.

  Leah lunged forward, the blade slicing through the air with such precision and speed the Reek was sliced in three places before its body split from itself. She hardly broke a sweat or made much effort at all.

  “Next.”

  Leah placed the knife down at her feet and straightened, rolling her shoulders back. A second Reek moved into the image and pounced on her. She slid out of the way and ducked gracefully around the Reek. She grabbed both of its outstretched arms and ripped them clean off the Reek’s body. That didn’t stop its pursuit. The Reek launched sharp teeth at Leah and before it got within a foot of her, she took both hands, grabbing its head, twirling as she pulled, and the head was ripped clean off its body with a sickening sound.

  She dropped it on top of the body and stood back where she originally was and waited. Her body was rigid and still, as if she couldn’t move until the order was given.

  “Test four complete,” the voice said and the image disappeared.

  I stared at the empty space for a moment before realizing it was done.

  “What the hell did they do?”

  “They’re creating those things. They’re like a hybrid version of the genetic kids mixed with a Reek. I think they’re using their immunity against them,” Simon said.

  “You think this is what they’re doing in those mountains, wherever they’ve been taking them?”

  Simon nodded.

  “And that thing is what ripped Holden’s leg off… one of them?”

  “Yes, that’s why we can’t wait any longer. We have to get those kids out of there, Jayla.”

  I knew he wouldn’t say it, but he specifically meant Gunner. He would do anything to save him. Showing me these two things today was a strategic move on his part. He was willing to go in himself if he could.

  “I don’t think it’s safe for you to come with us,” I said before he even had a chance to say it himself.

  “I know.” Simon sighed. “I just needed you to see what was happening there, and why we have to hurry.”

  I nodded. “How did they keep Leah alive? I don’t understand. How did you even get this video?”

  “I have sources I don’t even remember having, it would seem. Someone sent this to me directly. No name, no return address, no tracking of any sort.”

  I paused, trying to comprehend all I’d learned. The blood I remembered seeing inside Holden’s vault was the thing keeping Grayson from catching the virus. I’d been right there but had no idea it was important, and now there was no way I would get my hands on it. And with the cure, she could go anywhere without the worry of where the Reeks were, which meant Eres and the genetic kids we had there could be at risk. We had to hurry.

  “Will you tell her?” Simon asked.

  “I’m not sure.” I frowned. “I don’t know if it will help or distract Em.”

  Simon nodded. “We should head back.”

  I stood, the decrepit chair groaned, and made my way to the door. I took the Linked message and shoved it in my pocket. Simon let Corbin know we were leaving, and he locked the door behind us as we left.

  Back in the water canal, I was no longer thinking about the smell or the filth. We needed to get those kids out, but now I was putting Em, Theo, and Sienna in danger if anything went wrong. I couldn’t allow anything to go wrong, and if they were making more of these things with the genetic kids, Grayson would have an army capable of destroying all of us. We had to risk it, but still that wasn’t the biggest worry on my mind. How I would tell Em her sister was still alive… but what she was, I wasn’t sure of.

  CASPIAN

  It was well after midnight, and I was still wide awake. Jayla had somehow fallen asleep on the couch and was breathing softly beside me, but I hadn’t been able to turn my brain off since we’d arrived in Cytos. Jayla had told me about the video and Holden, which was a whole other issue I had to deal with, but right now I was struggling with guilt.

  Being back in Cytos reminded me that up until a few months ago, I was one of the protectors of this city, and now we’d be going up against our fellow Watchers who were working for Grayson, probably without even realizing what she was doing. I didn’t blame them, but I also knew if they got in the way, I wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. This was for a bigger cause than any of them knew.

  It wasn’t just the unknown keeping me awake; it was what I’d done with Reyes. I may not have been the one to push the scalpel in, but I could have fought harder for her to stay alive—I could have found a way to convince her we would get out. If I’d known Jayla and Simon were as close as they were to rescuing us, I never would have done it. That was what was keeping me awake, and seeing Simon for the last few days had been harder than I expected. I’d not only been a part of the death of the woman he loved, I’d also left his son behind unknowingly.

  Finally admitting I wouldn’t sleep without addressing things, I got up. The glass door swung open without a sound, and I crept through the maze of old workstations to a few men at the back talking.

  “Where’s Simon located?” I asked one of the men.

  “You won’t likely find him in his room. You’d be better off checking the rooftop,” the man said, nodding to the stairwell.

  I made my way up fifteen floors before reaching my destination. Cold winter air hit me when I opened the door. Clouds covered the moon and stars, and the only light throughout the entire city came from city hall in the distance.

  Simon sat near the middle of the rooftop on a fold-out chair. A second chair lay folded beside him, along with a black tarp.

  “May I?”

  Simon shrugged and kept his gaze on city hall.

  I unfolded the chair and took a seat. We were silent for a moment, the cold instantly chilling me to the bones—I should have brought a jacket.

  “I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” I said.

  “I’m sure you have,” Simon drawled, his breath was laced with alcohol—as it had been since we’d arrived.

  “I didn’t get a chance to talk to you about everything after…”

  Simon finally dragged his gaze over to me, and his glare was nearly as cold as the weather. “I don’t need your apology.”

  “I wasn’t offering one,” I replied.

  We stared for a few moments.

  “Good,” Simon finally said.

  “I just wanted you to know that she did it for him, to keep him safe.”

  Simon stilled. I had only told him the barest details; we hadn’t had much time when we returned to Eres. Gustov and his men left quickly back to Cytos to avoid being seen, and Simon had gone with them, so all Simon knew was that Reyes had been with us, and she hadn’t made it.

  “She found out about Gunner, they told her, and they would have used him to get answers from her. The second she laid eyes on him she knew exactly who he was,” I continued. Simon’s hand trembled, and he squeezed it into a fist. “They had already tortured her, and she knew something they could never find out, so she chose to keep him safe by taking herself out of the equation.”

  Simon swallowed, staring out to the empty streets of Cytos. “She was always willing to sacrifice herself for others.”

  “If I had known—”

  “Don’t,” Simon snapped. “Don’t you dare say it. It can’t be changed now, and I’d rather not know how close it was. If it’d been me, I would have done the same thing.”

  We were quiet for a moment.

  “He’s a good kid, Gunner,” I said. “I know you’re worried about him, but I don’t think you need to be. He’s a survivor.”

  “You can only survive so much before it breaks you,” Simon huffed. “Reyes was a survivor, too.”

  I let out a long breath. “All I’m trying to say is we’ll bring your son back.”

  “No offence, but I have a hard time taking anyone for their word these days.” Simon pulled out a flask from his jacket pocket and took a swig. “Everyone might mean well, but I’m no idiot, and neither are you. If you have to choose between my son or Jayla, you’d choose her. And I wouldn’t blame you because I would do the same thing.”

  “I gave you my word, Simon. You can believe the worst in everyone all you want. I don’t need to prove anything to you.”

  “I know the worst in everyone.” Simon let out a menacing laugh. “I’ve seen it.”

  “You mean you’ve done it,” I corrected.

  Simon whipped his head toward me. “I have.” His voice was laced with both warning and pain, as if he knew the worst of himself.

  “All right, well, I just thought you should know what happened. I didn’t come here to fight. I’ll leave you to your sulking.”

  Before I even had a chance to stand up, I heard a shuttle engine roaring in the distance. I spun around to find a Cytos guard shuttle circling the buildings not far away.

  “We should get out of here.” I stood.

  “Sit down,” Simon said calmly, reaching for the black tarp I’d seen sitting at his feet. I glanced between him and the door before deciding to just sit down. Simon tossed the black tarp over both of us.

  “Really? This is going to hide us?”

  “Yup,” Simon said. “They’re all idiots… but they have a tendency to shoot first.”

  The shuttle roared overhead, and a floodlight from the bottom hit the rooftop, dancing right over where we hid. The small crack under the tarp at our feet showed me just how close they were. I held my breath, but Simon just picked at his nails impatiently until the light disappeared and the sound of the engine moved farther away from us.

  Simon took the tarp off and rolled it up haphazardly before tossing it a few feet away. I waited another minute before I stood to leave.

  “Stay,” Simon said.

  “So you can continue to depress me?” My brows rose.

  Simon tilted his head. “So I can tell you a story.”

  I hesitated another moment before finally deciding to sit back down. I’d come here with the intention of clearing the air between us and so far I had done the opposite.

  “Fine, go ahead then.”

  Simon stared out over the city for a few moments before saying, “Have you ever had memories both haunt you and trick you? A memory that made you question what was real and what was fake?” he began. “I thought I’d gone through the worst of it. I’d unknowingly put my own child in the hands of a monster, I’d destroyed the only person I’d ever loved, and betrayed her in the worst possible way, yet that was only the beginning.”

  “Beginning of what?” I narrowed my eyes.

  “I’ve done some terrible things, kid. Things I can’t even speak of out loud.” He let out a shaky breath. “But nothing can compare to the reality of what you really are—who you are at the core.”

  “And who are you, Simon?”

  He turned to me and tilted his head to the side. “I’m my own worst nightmare.”

  I waited, thinking he might explain more, but instead he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “We all think the worst of ourselves,” I said. “Doesn’t mean we’re bad people.”

  “But very few of us can say for certain we’re the reason we can’t sleep at night,” Simon said quietly. “She’s been returning some of my memories. Slowly, as if trying to torture me.”

  “Who?”

  “Governor Grayson,” Simon said. “I can’t decipher which memories are mine and which are dreams I’d rather not have.”

  “Like what?”

  Simon shook his head. “I was there when the Reeks first arrived. And I knew about the DEZ before… before I sent my son in there. I just didn’t remember it all, and now it’s too late to fix things.”

  “It’s never too late to fix things.”

  “It is when you’ve done what I have,” Simon hissed. “If she finds me, if she discovers everything I know… it’ll be the end of everyone.”

  “You’re not making sense, Simon.”

  Simon rubbed a hand over his face, pressing at his temples and let out a long breath. “I know I’m not. It hardly makes sense to me. I just wanted someone to know I didn’t mean for this all to happen. I didn’t intend to be the bad guy.”

  “You’re not the bad guy,” I said.

  “That wasn’t your first impression of me.” Simon cocked a brow.

  I smirked. “No, it wasn’t. But people change. Whatever Grayson is reminding you of is your past. It’s not who you are now.”

  Simon was quiet for some time before I finally stood. I rested a hand on his shoulder. “I think you should get some rest.”

  Simon let out a humorless laugh. “Funny, I’ve been giving someone else the same advice.”

  “I’ll see you in the morning,” I said, moving towards the door. “Oh, and Simon… everyone can change. Even the bad guy can choose to do something right—you just need the opportunity to make that choice.”

  “Let’s hope you’re right,” Simon replied.

  I made my way back to the room where Jayla was still quietly sleeping, but I wasn’t tired. I couldn’t help but wonder if Simon was right, if we were all bad people deep down. Was I any better than the people I was fighting when I was just as willing to kill whoever I had to just to save the people I loved?

  GUNNER

  I awoke to screaming. Earsplitting and just outside the room Vic and I slept in. I looked to her bed and found it empty and instantly knew whom the screams were coming from. Panic rose to the surface. What were they doing to her?

  I jumped to my feet and pressed my ear against the door.

  “Hold her down,” someone yelled.

  “I can’t,” another screamed. “Damn bitch bit me.”

  A crash sounded before more screaming.

  “Get her arms tied up already,” the first voice grunted.

  I tried the knob; it was locked, as it always was. I pounded my fist against the door. “Leave her alone,” I yelled. No reply back.

  Another scream, farther away this time. And then I heard something I hadn’t heard once since I met Vic—my name. She was screaming my name over and over.

  My pulse raced, and I glanced around the room for some way out. Surrounding me were stone walls and a single door I knew was locked. I hadn’t tried to escape since I’d gotten here, hadn’t thought it’d be worth the effort. Where would I go? Not only was the place they held us a labyrinth of identical hallways, it was in the middle of the freaking mountains. The screaming faded as they took—likely dragged—Vic away.

  I had to do something.

  My palms were sweaty and I rubbed them against the stained white cotton pants I wore. They’d hardly allowed more than a two-minute shower once a week since we arrived and not one change of clothes. I stunk; we both did.

  Two hours passed before I finally heard footsteps. I didn’t wait to see if they came to my room before I began pounding on the door.

  “Hey, I have to take a shit,” I shouted.

  The footsteps stopped, paused, before they moved closer to my door. The sound of an ID card slid through the reader on the wall before the door glided open.

  “Bathroom breaks aren’t until after supper.” The large guard loomed over me. I wasn’t small, maybe a little lean, but I was tall. This guy, though, he was at least a foot taller and maybe double my weight.

  “Tell that to my bowels, mate.” I shrugged. “If you’d rather wait and clean up the mess, that’d be just fine.”

  I knew these guards resented the small duties they’d been given around here, just like the guards back in the DEZ had. Sure, they were our wardens and could keep us in line with the smack of their hand, but they also were tasked with cleaning up after us. They brought us our meals, took us for bathroom breaks, and had provided a change of clothes and replaced the mattress for Vic the one time she’d returned so terrified and shaking she wet herself.

  They hated it, and it was because of that I’d guessed this guard would break the rules to avoid cleaning up my mess.

  “Hurry up.” He jutted his chin out the door.

  The hallway was empty. A curved black stone wall on one side led to more rooms filled with kids and the small bathroom they always took us to. I walked slowly and kept my steps nearly silent as I strained to hear if there was anyone else around us. It would be enough of a task to take care of this guy. I didn’t need more to deal with.

  I stepped into the bathroom and the guard followed. There were four stalls along one wall and a row of sinks on the other. The showers at the very back were all empty. They hadn’t put up any mirrors or dryers, and there was no way out except the way we came in.

  I stepped into a stall and closed the door. I made a show of sitting down while I tried to figure out what I’d do. I had no plan, only adrenaline fueling this idiotic idea to rescue Vic. How the hell was I going to do that? What was I even going to do?

  The guard had positioned himself near the entrance, which was just an opening without a door and completely visible should anyone walk by. I had to be quick.

  Opening the door, I stepped out. “False alarm.” I smirked.

  The guard glared. He shook his head. “You little prick,” he mumbled.

  I shrugged and walked over to the sink, washing my hands twice and taking my time.

  “Quit wasting my time, kid.”

  “What? Got more important things to do?” I asked over my shoulder.

 

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