“Five miles out and closing,” Claus says.
“I’m not sure I can do this,” Sawyer mutters, pulling a black T-shirt over his head.
“I’ll help with the fence.” I strap my knife to the new trousers. “We’ll do it together.”
“Thanks, Silver.” The haunted look on his face dissolves somewhat.
“I want to come.” Lyla stands at the entrance of the room, one hand on a hip, her long blonde hair fastened in a ponytail.
“Come where?” I ask.
“On the mission,” she says, leaning against the archway.
I laugh.
“It’s not funny.” She gives me a death stare.
I meet her glare. “You’re fourteen.”
“So is Kyle!”
“No,” Matt says, approaching his sister. “Kyle can run, fast. He serves a purpose.”
“Give me a nanite.” She gesticulates wildly with her hands. “Turn me into a bulk. I don’t care what it is, I want to go, I want to make them pay for putting me in that compound.”
“I don’t have those kind of nanites,” I say. “My dad only gave me temporary stuff to aid our escape.”
She opens her mouth, but Matt interrupts.
“Lyla. No.”
Lyla’s eyes glisten and she wipes her cheek with the back of her hand. “You have no idea what it was like. I just want to fight back. I’ve been so close to taking a nanite. Did you know that, brother?” Matt shakes his head. “So close.” She raises a thumb and forefinger, revealing a minute gap between them. “I didn’t know how I would excel in the ballet company unless I took something, and now there is no company. I need to do something.”
“I know you’re angry,” Matt says. “But I need you here. If anything happens to me, you need to look after Megan. Mom and Dad.”
“That’s not fair,” Lyla says.
“The world’s not fair, Lyla,” Matt snaps.
“I’m sorry.” I approach her, but she steps back. “But I think Matt’s right.”
“Of course you do. You two couldn’t think differently if your lives depended on it!” She swivels on the ball of her foot and storms out of the room.
“Maybe I should go after her,” I say.
“Leave her.” Matt fastens his grenade belt around his waist. “She needs some time to cool down.”
“I can go,” Sawyer pipes up.
Matt’s jaw tenses. “That’s not a good idea either.”
Claus and Evan walk between the chamber and the radio room, giving us updates. “Four and a half miles out.”
“What about you guys?” Matt asks. “What will happen if they find this place?”
Francesca levels a serious stare at him. “If you can get Silver’s parents out, it won’t matter what happens to us.”
Matt frowns. “I’m leaving my family here.”
My heart sinks.
“I know,” Francesca says. “We’ve got Evan, and a few of the other men are trained in guns. We’ll be OK.”
“I feel bad about Lyla,” I say to Matt.
“Maybe she’d be better with us.” He pinches his bottom lip.
I touch his arm. “If the army does storm the cave, they’ll only capture them and put them in a compound, but if President Bear captures us, it’s a different story. She can’t dance herself away from hellhounds and bullets.”
Matt sighs. “You’re right. She’s safer here.”
“She’ll understand that when she cools down.” I finger the pendant just below my collarbone. Then I make sure the bottles of nanites are packed in my backpack. I nestle the two remaining regeneration pills in my pocket. The cave has Joan.
“Four miles out. You need to go now,” Claus says.
We jog down the passageway and step out into the night. As we hike to the hidden jeep, I hand out the remaining night-vision nanites. While we trek through the woods, I can’t help but think that there’s a good chance not all of us will make it back. I look at my hands, wondering if I have enough power to heal the worst kind of injury.
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” I say to Matt as we climb the ridge. He raises a questioning look. “What if it’s because of me? What if I can’t protect someone?”
“Silver, we’re a team. We’ll get through this together.” Matt takes my hand. “We have to.”
“I’ll never forgive myself if someone gets hurt because of me.” A thick ribbon of anxiety curls around my limbs.
Matt presses his thumb into my palm. “That won’t happen.”
I walk through the grass, leaving a trail of wet footprints as the blades bend. Dew glistens in the moonlight. I grip my knife.
I will rescue my parents.
Singing my song under my breath, I jog up the ridge, then run, eager to get this over with. The anxiety accompanies me, but I won’t let it win.
Something small and scurrying shoots through the undergrowth and dances around Kyle’s legs. Twin orbs stare up at him, and a hiss falls from the animal’s mouth.
Kyle yelps, his feet moving in a blur.
“It’s just a raccoon,” Joe says, grabbing Kyle by the back of the neck.
The raccoon runs one more circle around Kyle then speeds away, taking its eerie night eyes with it.
“Shhh,” Matt says. “We need to stay quiet.”
Kyle presses close to me, as if he might jump into my arms like some scared cartoon character. “It was trying to eat me.”
Kyle’s words land deep inside and create a flurry of panic. Not about raccoons or other forest animals, but about the very real possibility of death. This time I can’t reason the fear away. This time the anxiety grabs me so tightly all I can do is fall to my knees.
I hold up a hand, wishing I had a paper bag to breathe into. “Just give me a minute.” I try to ignore their presence, all the watchful eyes boring into me, and cup my hands over my mouth and nose, trying to restore calm. Jacob touches my shoulder, and Paige tells everyone to back off. The minutes tick by. I can’t get my breathing regular. Or the tightness in my chest, or the shakiness in my legs or the double vision. Shit. Everyone is still staring at me. Me. The ultimate weapon. Having a panic attack on the way to kill President Bear.
Matt kneels by my side and sweeps tender strokes up and down my back. He’s seen me like this before. So many times. When my mother was taken away, I had daily panic attacks for months. I would be lost without him, and that’s when I realize it.
I’m in love with my best friend.
Matt.
I’m in love with Matt. Why didn’t I see it before?
Because I was so distracted by Joe and the newness of his friendship.
Matt’s touch on my shoulder feels heavy, almost too intimate, and I wonder if he has any idea how I feel. The pendant swings from my neck and I think about how its presence during my flight through the woods was a constant reminder of Matt, of how much I cared for him. Reassuring me I was doing the right thing. Why hadn’t I realized then?
After a moment longer, I get to my feet and try to ignore the painful grip of tension at the back of my neck.
“Thatta girl,” Matt says, his smile warm.
Joe steps in, takes hold of my hands and peers down at me, his honey eyes melting into the moonlight. “You OK?”
I nod. He leans forward and touches my cheek, pushing a few loose strands of hair away that escaped from my ponytail. Then brushes his lips against mine. Someone whistles. I pull away and look for Matt, but he’s already walking on, Erica fluttering close behind him, her wings a sapphire color I’ve never seen before.
“I’m sorry.” Joe’s eyebrows gather together and his hands dangle at his sides. “I know you said you needed time. I just thought it would be a good distraction.”
My cheeks burn. “Let’s just keep going.”
Joe and Hal take the lead, Erica flying from one person to the next, Kyle and Sawyer behind them. Addison walks with Jacob and Paige. Matt walks up ahead somewhere and I trail at the back on my own. We trudge
through the forest toward the hidden jeep. Fireflies dance among the leaves. A whispering breeze weaves through the trees and cools the sweat on the nape of my neck.
“Two miles from the cave. Radio silence from us for the foreseeable future. Over.” Claus’ voice on Matt’s walkie-talkie.
At first I think the snap echoing through the forest is me chipping a tooth from clenching them so tight. A quick examination with my tongue reveals no broken teeth. Then a scream pierces the air. I flinch, knife ready.
“Silver!” Paige calls. “Over here.”
I wince against the noise, wondering if the ambushing army has heard her. Running, I stumble over roots, jump over logs, push ferns out of my way and scan the undergrowth. Jacob lies in a heap on the ground at the base of a large oak tree. Ferns cover part of his torso. His face, whiter than bleached bone, is streaked with dirt.
“Do something!” Face contorted, Paige pulls at a metal mouth of a trap with both hands.
Jacob’s ankle is caught in an animal trap, almost completely severed. Thank God he’s passed out. I drop to my knees, and Joe removes the trap. The rest of the team hover around me, frowns on all their faces, each giving their own advice.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes. Placing both hands above the wound, I think of the boy we first met in the warehouse, dirty and half-naked but prepared to fight until death. I picture his recovery, his returning strength, and the authority he oozes when he practices his martial arts. Calmness descends on me and all I hear is my own measured breathing.
I open my eyes. Sounds and images assault me, almost flattening me to the ground. The forest becomes alive with insect noises and the chatter of my teammates once again. They’re all talking at once; had they ever stopped? Jacob remains on the ground, eyes still closed, but his leg is healed. New skin, devoid of tattoos, covers a wonky bone.
Paige grabs my shoulder. “Thank you, Silver.”
Jacob’s eyes flutter open. He blinks rapidly a few times and sits up. “What happened?”
Matt hands him a canteen. Paige whispers in Jacob’s ear.
Hal and Joe, impervious to the steel teeth of animal traps, along with Erica and Paige, who can fly above the dangers, scout the immediate area for more. They find five more and spring them all. I wonder who or what the hunter is. Some of the werewolf altereds have taken to laying such traps, adopting a lazier attitude to securing their prey.
Keeping quiet, we reach the jeep, hidden by a tangled mess of branches. Joe and Hal uncover it and we all climb inside.
White-lipped, Jacob sits in the back. His usually olive-colored skin is almost as pale as mine, emphasizing his twisting Chinese tattoos. I remember one of them means ‘perseverance.’ Sweat beads on his forehead and his tongue skims continually across his lips.
“It didn’t work, did it?” I ask Jacob. “Joan said there are limitations?”
“I can walk on it, but it hurts like hell.” Drops of moisture form across his upper lip. “I thought I could stretch off the kinks, but it’s not feeling any better.”
He lost so much blood. It will take time to regenerate the missing pints—time we don’t have. The group sits in the jeep while we discuss Jacob’s situation. We’ve only been hiking for forty minutes. We aren’t far from the cave.
“I’m going to head back. If I continue I’ll just slow you down. You can do it without me,” Jacob pleads from his sprawled position.
Paige offers him water and wipes the sweat from his brow. “You can barely walk,” she mutters.
“Can you make it back to the cave?” Joe asks.
Jacob nods. “I just need to rest for a little while, then I can get going. I’m sure I can make it before dawn.”
“What if…?” I shake my head. I don’t want to voice that thought, but if the cave has been compromised…
With Paige’s help, Jacob climbs out of the jeep. Joe breaks a branch from a tree, shaves off the smaller twigs and leaves, and sharpens one end into a point. “Here, you can lean on this and use it as a weapon if you need to.”
Jacob accepts the crutch, gets to his feet, and takes a few steps back toward the cave. He offers us a jolly wave. Paige goes to him and embraces him fiercely, her wings partially shielding them from view. Then she turns, marching away from Jacob. She doesn’t look back.
We bump through the forest along a dirt track for six hours without incident before the jeep runs out of fuel. Joe parks it under the thick branches of a hemlock tree and covers it with ferns.
There’s a countdown in the back of my mind that pushes forward, shoving other thoughts out of the way. Although I know guillotines haven’t been used in centuries, I keep hearing the slice of a blade as I picture my parents’ heads rolling. The image pushes speed into me, but I know I shouldn’t use my abilities right now. It takes everything in me to keep a normal, unadjusted pace.
“I suggest we get some shut-eye for a couple hours. We’re going to need all our strength when we get to that prison,” Joe says. It’s not yet dawn and we’ve stopped for a rest and food. “I’ll take first watch.”
The last thing I want to do is sleep, but the others settle in, so I sit and twiddle my thumbs, hoping we make it in time. The moon glints through the tree canopy, and a cool sweat covers my skin while insects tick an irregular beat. Matt swats at a persistent mosquito. When Erica flutters her wings, I’m grateful for the breeze they create. She hasn’t looked at me once since Joe kissed me in front of everyone.
Matt has, though. I felt his gaze as we walked, and when I looked up, I couldn’t read his expression. His blue eyes were guarded and his half-smiles tentative.
Joe opens packets of self-cooking noodles and hands them out. Paige stares into the distance. She’ll answer when spoken to. That’s all. There’s no way of knowing whether Jacob made it back safely.
After we eat, we find hidden sleeping spots. Erica ends up in a tree while I choose the crevice between two large roots. Joe leans against a trunk, pistol in one hand, machete tied to his belt, scanning the area.
Despite my urge to keep walking, sleep comes instantly, and I dream of monsters with demonic yellow eyes and fangs as long as a human hand. Hellhounds.
I startle awake. My heart thunders in my chest and I’m sweating more than when I was walking. I lurch to my feet and it takes me a moment to see everyone is still safe.
The weather has turned gloomy. Gray clouds stretch across the sky, draping the forest in a heavy darkness. Distant thunder threatens. Rain isn’t far off.
We gather our supplies and continue, this time in twos, talking quietly.
Matt and I take our turn heading the group, walking a little ways in front. In the past few hours, finding nothing more dangerous than a raccoon, a false sense of security has settled around us. So when I spot the ogre, I almost forget to hide. It crouches in a bush nearby, wearing the unmistakable green combat uniform of President Bear’s army, and holds a radio poised at its mouth.
“Matt,” I whisper, placing a finger across my lips.
He follows my gaze to the ogre and pulls me behind the nearest tree. “Has it seen us?”
“I don’t think so.” I size up the distance, wondering if I can make it. Trees and foliage lie in the way. Matt rustles in his backpack and produces one of his grenades.
“Too noisy,” I whisper, drawing his arm away. “There might be others in the area.”
The rest of the group approaches, trampling in the underbrush. We don’t have much time. The ogre looks up and locks eyes with me.
Decision made. I unsheathe my knife and aim, then send it somersaulting through the air. It hits the ogre’s neck, right above the hollow in his collarbone, cutting off his voice box. The ogre falls backwards into the bushes, dead.
“Wow,” Matt says, almost dropping a grenade.
Joe gives me a silent round of applause. I perform a curtsy in return.
Matt stands straighter than one of the stone statues outside Bear’s presidential compound and his jaw locks into a
jagged position. When his cheeks flush crimson, something in my stomach hollows.
“What? What’s your problem?”
Matt pulls me roughly aside, making it clear he wants a private word. He’s never been so physical with me before.
“My problem is you.” He looks at me expectantly, as if he thinks I might know what he’s talking about.
“I... what... huh?” I come up blank.
Matt’s hands are chest level. “Silver, for someone so intelligent you can be incredibly dense!”
“Excuse me?” I splutter.
“Joe’s not the only one who’s into you, Silver. I love you. Me, Matt Lawson, best friend for as long as I can remember, has loved you for as long as I can remember. Are you seriously trying to tell me you didn’t know that?” Matt glares at me, hands on his hips.
I love you too.
But my mouth won’t work. It won’t speak the words I will. Everyone’s eyes drill into me; I can’t do this here and now.
Matt looks me up and down. I feel exposed. He takes a breath and blows his hair out of his eyes.
He backs up a few paces. “I’m sorry.” His voice is tight. “I shouldn’t have said all that.”
Tears sting my eyes, but I don’t have time to deal with this now. As much as I want to wrap his arms around me and tell him I love him too, I can’t afford to be distracted. My parents’ lives are on the line.
“We need to keep moving,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady.
Matt nods, a curt movement that pulls at my heartstrings, then turns away. Shit.
Hal clears his throat and picks up a pair of binoculars. Erica flies past me, her face a neutral mask. And Joe, I don’t dare look at Joe.
“I see a river,” Hal calls, the binoculars pressed to his face.
“A river? Claus didn’t say anything about a river,” Joe says as the rest of us join Hal.
“It looks calm enough. Wide though, and there could be an undercurrent.” Hal steps to the edge of the tree line. The prison building rises in the distance. My heart beats a little faster.
“I can just fly across.” I take a step.
“It might be better to conserve your energy for when you’re inside.” Matt’s voice hovers at my ear, creating a hum on my skin I’ve never felt before.
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