Esther, Toivo, and Taras are sitting on the grass nearby.
“We’ll need to hunt again,” Elf finally says, breaking the heavy silence we’ve fallen into.
“Or try to,” Corin mutters. Then his mouth drops open and his eyes glass over.
The coldness inside me gets deeper. I turn, look behind me and—
Mirror eyes flash.
A whole group of them. Coming for us.
My body jolts.
Raleigh?
But no—he said he’d wait for me to make the move, to choose him.
But there are other Enhanced out there.
“Run!” Elf yells, before I can grab hold of him, transport us all away. He leaps forward, races to where the others are, scoops up Toivo, then sprints to the left.
Esther’s right behind him, spurred forward by his cry.
Because that’s what we’ve been trained to do.
We run if we see the Enhanced. Even if the first of Rahn’s survival lessons says it’s hopeless—You can never outrun the Enhanced. They are better, faster, and stronger than you—we still run.
But not now.
“Stop!” I yell at them, but they’re moving fast, and I know they can’t hear me. Fear’s taken over. It’ll be the adrenaline pounding through their system and the blood rushing in their ears that they hear.
Corin grabs my hand, pulls me forward, and I try to stop him—but no, we need to run now, to reach Esther and Elf. Taras is behind us, and I’m still shouting. Esther turns, looks back for a moment, then pushes on faster.
My breaths come in short, sharp bursts, then my hand’s left Corin’s, and I’m running faster, faster. Overtaking Corin, and I’m gaining on them, on Esther and Elf, and—
Something hits the back of my head.
White light dances and—
“Sev?”
Corin crashes into me, and I stumble to the left, manage to keep my footing, feel sicker and sicker and—
Pain flits down my spine, and I cry out.
No.
“Get us out of here!” Corin yells, his mouth right by my ear, and I look back, my vision blurring.
Taras, where’s Taras?
There.
He’s close to the Enhanced. He can’t run as fast as us. These Enhanced are fast.
“Esther! Stop!” Corin bellows, and my head jerks the other way, and I see her and Elf, so far ahead of us now.
Corin pulls me along before I can do anything, before I can think—he’s chosen his sister over Taras. No. My gut squeezes, but then I’m running again, and my body urges me to go faster, like something else has taken over. Corin’s running too, faster than I’ve ever seen him run.
Taras screams a guttural scream.
I turn my head, and—
A mirror eye, myself reflected. Too close. Shit. No.
“Stop, Untamed Ones!”
Pain in my legs. I skid on damp grass, spin to the left, avoid the outstretched hand. I throw my arms out for balance, everything inside me pounding, then I’m speeding up again—don’t know where I’m running. I just am. Run, run, run—it pounds through me with every step, every heartbeat. What if they kill or convert me? What’s to stop them? Raleigh’s word? And what about the others?
My chest feels like it’s closing in, everything getting tighter. Lightheadedness pulls at my edges, my lungs scream. Taras? Where’s Taras now? But everything’s a blur, and I can’t focus—the scene around me moves too fast.
A flash of gold light. I see Corin for an instant and—
“There are too many!” Esther yells, and then I’m level with her. “Elf, stop, give Toivo to Seven!” Her face seems to burn sharp lines into my vision, lines which bore into me, dive down into my legs. “Just look after him!”
“Stop at once!” The Enhanced scream, and they scream it together, in unison. A voice that booms.
My heart thumps, adrenaline floods me, and I skid on more damp grass as I try to increase my speed.
Corin’s by my side, his hand ready, steadying me, just as I’m about to fall.
“What?” someone shouts. Elf? I don’t know. My hearing’s distorted, too much blood and energy pumping through me.
I try to look around again. “Where’s Taras?” I twist and—
So many mirror-eyed men stare back at me. They’re not breaking a sweat as they run, and they all look exactly the same.
I blink and blink, eyes smarting, throat stinging.
Taras isn’t in sight. The army of Enhanced have swallowed him?
No.
Not Taras, no!
“Get away from us!” Corin yells, and—
A gun goes off—fired at us—but I don’t jump, don’t flinch at all. Then Elf’s in front of me, pushing Toivo into my arms.
“Get him out of here!” Esther bellows, and her words rip into me.
There’s another voice screaming, a voice I can’t focus on. Because everything’s flying past me, and nothing makes sense.
“Run!”
I run and—
My powers rip open, burst out in all directions.
A blinding flash of light.
And then nothing.
I am in water. I am drowning.
Too much water.
Everywhere. Can’t think. The water—where?
The water slams against me.
My body’s crushed deeper into the platform.
My throat constricts. I taste bile. I turn, trying to pull away. More water hits me.
Mumbled voices over me. A laugh?
Too much water.
I swallow hastily, my throat constricting again. The syrup in my mouth won’t go away, won’t dissolve.
I clench my fists. I tell myself I’m not drowning. I can’t be. I’m not. I didn’t before. I won’t this time. I can’t, can I?
I am drowning.
No. I splutter, turn, arms thrashing out. That’s not happening, not that—but—
Swim, I need to swim.
Just swim.
But the Enhanced? Where—
The water…it is black. Thick, and gloopy, the kind of water that has weight.
The kind of water that can pull you down, trap you.
It’s the lake. The lava lake. The one Five warned me about. The one Jed used to bind me to Raleigh.
I’m….
Something slams into me. I don’t see it, just feel it. I fall back, my head underwater. I kick out, but the water’s thicker now, heavier…and it’s hotter. So much hotter. It’s holding me, burning me.
My skin…blistering, too much pain…can’t….
I try to kick out, but can’t find anything. Try to move my arms, but they’re too heavy. The water’s wrapping around me, and the silver lines—the silver lines that are suddenly there—are wrapping around me too. They’re ropes, tiny ropes that pull me down.
And—oh Gods.
I can’t breathe.
Can’t—
What the hell?
The Noir Lands. I’m back at the top of the Zharat’s Fire Mountain and—
I look up, dizzy, pressure on my face, like a hundred hands trying to hold me down. My lungs strain. Can’t breathe. But the water’s a lighter color that way and—
My mouth forces itself open. I can’t stop it, no control over it.
Water down my throat, and—
Hands.
I see them, and—
“You did it, Sev! You got us out of there!”
It’s Corin’s voice, but I’m in the water. Only it doesn’t sound like it. His voice isn’t distorted, and my ears aren’t pounding with the pressure. It’s just my face that feels the force, like my skin’s been stretched too tight.
It’s wrong. It’s all wrong.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. The only thing I can think.
Then Taras is laughing.
Taras, who can’t be with us now. Not Untamed and—
I’m not alive.
The thought flies at me, and I feel sick. Sicker.
&nb
sp; Fingers around my upper arms.
I’m flying.
There are loads of me. I’m everywhere, in the water, swimming like fish. A shoal of us, of me. I’m so many people.
The water turns to crystals, and my Seer pendant thumps against me, like it’s alive. It is. It’s got me in it. My soul, infused. A Stone Seer said that.
Then cold air.
So cold.
I cry out, and I can’t see.
My eyes—
“It’s all right,” Corin says.
His voice.
I cough, splutter, eyes streaming—but it doesn’t feel like my body. Except it does.
It’s both at once. Me and not-me.
This isn’t….
I’m being carried. I’m in his arms, and the world looks purple. Too bright, it hurts my eyes. Too much power, it’s blinding.
I try to lift my arms to shield my face, my eyes, but I can’t. They hang limply—
I can’t move.
My body, no strength.
Just Corin. His arms under me, taking my weight. There’s something pounding, a tapping. A thudding.
The thumping of his heart. The words are a whisper, and I want to look around, want to see the speaker. But I can’t move.
And why’s the sky like that?
I can see the world in it. Over his shoulder. It’s so bright, his face is a silhouette, a handsome profile. And—
It changes. Gone. Just like that.
Blue sky.
None of that happened, a voice whispers. That voice.
I gulp, life flooding into me, hear sounds: water, against Corin’s legs. He’s wading through it, now knee-deep.
“What the—” I break off, choking as I look around. A lake.
The land beyond is steep, and rock juts up in fantastic cliffs not far away. We’re low down, and it’s cold. But everything is so green—not purple—so fresh. It feels natural—not contaminated by the Enhanced. Safe.
Trees, over to the right too.
I struggle with Corin, tell him I need to walk, and he sets me down, my feet in the water. I stumble a little, my head feels too heavy for a moment.
“Oh, Seven! You got us out of there,” Esther cries. She’s sitting on the pebbles, on a slight ridge.
She’s here. Toivo’s in her arms. He’s crying, and it’s strange, because the moment I notice he’s crying, I hear it. His angry bellows match his angry face.
“I don’t know how you did it,” Esther says. “We weren’t even touching and—”
“But you ended up in the lake.” Corin helps me to the edge of the water. His wet shirt clings to his form perfectly, shows off his muscles. “So did Taras.”
Taras?
I turn and see him. The old man’s stretched out flat on his back only a few feet away. His skin looks blue. His eyes are shut. Elf’s leaning over him, pressing rhythmically on his chest.
I feel dazed and—
That’s when I see the others.
Other Untamed.
Two girls. Sarrs. I’ve seen them before. The two girls at the end of the dream where I met some of my ancestors, right before it turned into the nightmare.
My eyes widen, and I stop. Corin’s hand is on my lower back. He says something to me in a low voice, but I don’t hear him. I stare at the girls.
It’s them.
The girls I dreamed about. Sarrs.
I take a step toward them, and I reach out, feel like I know them—I recognize them—but they recoil.
The one on the left—the taller one with longer hair, a sharper nose, and my mother’s eyes—stiffens. The other puts her hands in front of her, like a barrier.
“It’s okay,” I say. “It’s me. It’s—”
“Hell!” Elf shouts.
I turn, see him jump up. His eyes are wide, and then Corin’s shouting, rushing to Taras’s side, continuing the CPR…because Elf’s run away toward…toward Bea.
Bea’s here?
His sister. Bea.
And Yani.
They’re both staring at us, at the lake, the rocks. Looking everywhere, turning slowly. Yani opens his mouth, and he might be speaking, I don’t know because my ears aren’t working.
I can’t….
I look back at the girls—the Sarrs—I’m not alone, not the last of my family. They’re here? But how… They were dead, part of the power inside me, and—
Bea flaps her hands, takes a step back toward Yani as Elf stands in front of her.
I stare at our group, feel cold water trickle down the back of my neck, from my hair. Four more people, here. Untamed. It almost doesn’t make sense. Not when we were being chased by the Enhanced. Not when those two girls are dead—because they’re my ancestors. They’re part of the Sarr legacy.
“Who are you?” one of the girls asks.
“Seven Sarr.” I stare at them, and I can’t help but smile. “You’re my family.” The word unfolds like a flower in front of me. Hope and brightness and life.
“Family?” They both seem to say the word—or maybe it’s just one, I can’t tell—and they look at each other, eyes wide.
The smaller one steps forward. “I’m sorry. We don’t know you. I’m Siora. This is my sister, Quinn.”
Siora, Quinn. The names mean nothing. I don’t remember my mother mentioning those names before. No relations, ancestors with those names?
I shake my head, look at the girls. “But you’re Sarrs! Like me! And…how are you—how are you here? Alive and…” My heart speeds up. “You’re Sarr Seers! You’re here.”
They stare at me, their bodies tense. The taller one—Quinn—mutters something, and Siora’s eyes get even bigger.
“We’re not Seers,” Siora says. “And we’re not Sarrs. What are Sarrs? Sarr Seers?”
What are Sarrs? I stare at them, just as they’re staring at me. I can feel them—can’t I?
No. I’m wrong. They can’t be the Seers inside me. But I saw them! Didn’t I? Or did they just look like these girls…. It was a little while ago, that dream. A lot has happened. Of course, my memory can’t be completely accurate.
Yes, that has to be it. And the Sarrs inside me—they feel whole, the same amount. I search for them, these girls in front of me, but they’re not there.
I was wrong. I’m not related to them. Can’t be. Just wishful thinking. Because I don’t want to be the last.
“What’s going on?” Quinn grabs a section of her hair, pushes it over her shoulder. “How did we get here? How—”
Corin yells, and I turn, see Taras sit up, eyes springing open as he spews water from his mouth.
I gasp.
They got him.
Taras’s eyes. They’re mirrors.
For a moment, no one does anything.
We all just stare at him.
Then Yani lunges forward, pulls a Luger out of his belt and—
“No!” I scream, and I’m running, despite the pain and how this body doesn’t quite feel like my own. But I command it, my movements jerky. “Don’t shoot!”
“What the hell is going on?”
I crash into Taras, my hands reaching out to steady him, and we both stumble. But it’s okay because my body is between him and Yani. A human shield. Taras shrinks back, shaking, and I tell him it’s all right—the words tumble out of me as I see myself in his eyes, see how big my eyes look, distorted. But then I see the fear on his face. Fear that the augmenter isn’t yet overriding. I flash hot then cold, all within half a second. What augmenter was it?
Esther yells something, and then everyone’s moving, shouting, and I look up. Siora and Quinn have frozen completely, clinging to each other. Bea’s backing away, hands over her ears. Yani lunges to the left, gun still aimed, trying to get a shot at Taras, but I move too quickly.
“We’re not killing him!” I scream. “Yani, put the gun down!”
Yani bares his teeth, eyes wild. Sweat drips down his forehead, tangling his blond hair against his skin. “Get out of the way.”
> “No, no, no, child,” Taras mutters, but his voice sounds different. Lighter.
Did my voice sound different when I was Enhanced? My head spins, and my powers—something’s happening, but I don’t understand. It’s like they’re active, like I’m using them, but I’m not. I know I’m not. Nothing happens, not with them.
Yani doesn’t move the gun. That’s when I realize it’s pointing straight at me. The barrel, I can see straight into it. He’s closer than I thought. Six feet from me, if that.
“Put the gun down.” Corin’s voice is low, and he approaches Yani cautiously, with hands raised.
I’m losing time or something. I must be. I’m not reacting like I should, not feeling like I should.
Yani doesn’t move. “He’s the enemy.”
I twist my head, look at Taras. He’s staring at me—or at least, I think he is—but he isn’t reacting. He’s just…blank. No fear now. Is the augmenter pulsing through his veins, spreading? Has it not infected every part of him yet?
He’ll never be the same again. He may not have had the mind-conversion. But he’s had first taste.
My chest heaves.
“Get away from him, or I’ll kill you,” Yani says, and he says the words to me, his eyes on me.
Corin steps nearer. “You kill her, and I’ll kill you.”
“Everyone, please!” Esther begs, and then Toivo’s screaming even louder. “Yani, just listen.”
“What the hell is going on?” Yani looks back and forth between us all. “Elf?” He shakes his head. “Esther, Corin….”
“Put the gun down, and we’ll explain.” Corin’s voice is like stone.
“Yani, do it,” Bea says, and she’s nearer again now, tension filling her frame. She nods at him. Siora and Quinn move behind her.
Slowly, Yani does so.
“Put the safety back on the gun,” Bea tells him, and he obeys.
Then Elf’s at Bea’s side, hugging her. The stiffness falls out of her as her arms go around him. Then everyone’s talking, everyone’s trying to explain what’s happened. So many voices, all tangled into a mesh that grates on my ears.
I step back a little, grab Taras’s arm, guide him with me. He’s still not reacting. How soon before he does?
If he does?
Will he?
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