Her breathing quickens again, and, in her mind, I see the jagged end of a rock as it zooms toward us, hear a sharp scream.
The baby’s okay. They said the baby’s okay.
I stay as still as possible. Good. But your hip could be broken?
Oh Gods. That’s not what we want…not if we’re going to escape. A broken hip can take months to repair.
Seven, what are we going to do? I heard them say they’ll convert us soon. Esther moves her lips slightly, then presses them together.
We’ll get out, I tell her, but, even as I say the words, there’s a darkness within me. How can she escape when she’s injured like that? The only quick fix would be the medical augmenters, but they’re out of the question.
I try to think, but nothing comes to mind, and we’re both silent.
At last, I break it.
Corin’s here as well—did you know? They caught him again.
No. She inhales sharply, and we both cringe, wait for the Enhanced One to speak. But she doesn’t. Esther breathes deeply. Is he all right? Did they hurt him?
And I—I didn’t ask Corin, did I? I didn’t check that he was all right…didn’t ask about his capture.
He’s fine, I answer. We’re going to get out. Just…just tell me where you are, Esther. This place is huge.
In my ‘fun’ days, I never once came across any rooms or areas of the compound that seemed to house other Untamed. Raleigh—and all the Enhanced—was still careful.
I don’t know. A cell usually. Don’t know where this scanner is. They blindfolded me.
I grimace. Any windows in your cell?
Yes.
I feel an emotion that’s very nearly envy sweep over me, and I have to pause for a moment.
Can you see out? I ask.
Yes. There’s sand out there. It’s far below, I’m high up—oh Seven! I want to see you. I’m scared. They’re not letting me see anyone. Please, come and get me!
Esther, calm down. I don’t know if I can get to you. But I can use my Seer powers to check on you like this. If that’s okay? Your body, I can feel what you’re feeling, and hear what you’re thinking.
You’re here, in me?
Yes. I’m here.
Will you always be here?
Not all the time. Just when I…check in. There are other Untamed out there, I’ve been contacting them…as best as I can. And then I freeze. Oh Gods. I shouldn’t have told her that. What if she tells the Enhanced—or they torture the information out of her? But you can’t tell anyone, Esther. Do you understand? Raleigh doesn’t know I can do this.
I understand.
The humming gets louder again, more abrasive. I wince, and the hold I’ve got on Esther’s body makes her wince too.
Sorry. That was me.
She’s quiet—so quiet. And I can’t hear her thoughts anymore. Have I lost that part of the connection? My eyes widen—hers widen. I’m connected still, but….
Check on Clare, Seven. They shot her.
Her words are strong in my head, her head. I try not to react bodily, try not to make her move.
What? I ask.
When they found us, out there… Clare stabbed an Enhanced, and another shot her. She was so still, so quiet in the truck on the way back…and no one will tell me what’s happening with her, or if she’s okay.
I breathe deeply. Shit.
Can you check on her now? Connect with her, like you have with me. See if she’s okay?
I’ll have to leave you to do this, Esther. Do you understand? I can only body-share with one person at a time.
Okay. Yeah. Do it. Her thoughts get faster. Just come back as soon as you know.
I take a deep breath and disconnect from her. The transition isn’t as smooth, and pain jars through me. I wince, sit up, stare around at my room. My vision takes a moment to adjust to the light. And—
A pair of eyes watches me.
I turn, heart pounding.
It’s the dog. My dog. I breathe out hard. Tiredness tries to pull me over, and I touch my temples gently, listen to the rhythm of my breathing.
Right. I need to concentrate. Need to find Clare.
I rub my eyes and lie back down. I think of Clare, picture her that last time I saw her, when she tried to get me out. She was wearing the blue overalls, but her Zharat color, violet, looks better on her. I let the violet color fill my head now. Picture her. Her whole body, tall, her blond hair, the fierce look on her face. How she has knives all the time, how she was one of the only women who stood up to Manning and the Zharat.
Fierce. Independent. Secretly plotting.
Yes… I’ll kill him… They’ll think it’s another man’s doin’. They won’t know it’s me.
I let her voice fill my head—those same words, over and over again.
With my mind, I reach out, look for her. I picture doors, so many doors, all old and falling down, and I push through them, watch the wood splinter. My hands shake as I reach for the next door—then the next. Keys overflow from my pockets, and voices fill the air. So many voices, so many eyes—Untamed eyes—all looking at me, looking at me through the doors.
I search for Clare’s cool blue eyes. The fierceness in them. How she glares at people with them, and it’s as if the people wither under her gaze. I let her image fill my mind, and I’m drifting toward a door. A very old door. One that’s covered in cobwebs.
I touch the door, and—
Pain zaps through me.
I cry out, but the door falls down.
And there’s nothing.
My eyes bolt open, and I look up. Darkness.
For a second, I think I’ve found her after all. But then, as my eyes adjust, I recognize my ceiling. The dog whines. Exhaustion pulls at me, but I try again and again. Try to find Clare, but each time it’s the same: nothing.
Every now and then, in my room, I glance at the clock; its screen is just visible. Hours pass. The numbers move too quickly.
And I can’t find her.
At last, I reconnect to Esther. She’s no longer in the machine, back in a cell. A small room. A thin, scratchy blanket covers her, and I look up at the ceiling through her bleary vision. Her hip still hurts, but it’s not too bad now, kind of numb. Painkillers? Or surgery already? I don’t know what it would feel like after surgery.
I’m silent within her for a while.
Then I speak into her mind.
Esther? I couldn’t find her. I couldn’t connect with Clare.
She sits up, and we both gasp as her hip sends out new pain. Tears fill her eyes, and she wipes them away, presses too hard. Her eyes sting, and I wince.
She’s dead, isn’t she?
I feel sick. No. It doesn’t mean she’s dead. I’m—I haven’t been body-sharing for long. I might just not have been able to find her. I’ll keep trying, Esther. I will.
But when I get back to my own body, I don’t keep trying. It’s getting too early now—Raleigh could be along any moment. And I can’t risk him discovering my powers. I’ll have to search for Clare when I’ve got more time.
I close my eyes, and it’s like something stirs inside me, because I know what to do. And, this time, I don’t need to imagine my father instructing me. I trust myself.
I concentrate, search within me for the energies—my Seer powers—and I see them as gold threads and silver threads, spinning round and round a mountain. Some lead to the body-sharing doors that dot the earth like stone steps. Some lead elsewhere.
There’s a darkness behind them, and I reach up with my mind, twist the threads together, securing them, fastening them to one another, trapping the doors together, against the earth. And then I reach into the void beyond the mountain, pull it down, pull it hard, pull it over. Because I know what to do.
Coldness douses me.
Are you sure?
I’m sure.
And I’m doing it all. The knowledge is within me. It’s strange, eerie. I know what to do—exactly what to do, and I’m doing it—as if I’ve been taught,
as if I’ve been told before. As if it’s old knowledge.
An image flashes into my mind. I’m at a table, sitting under some trees. Old trees. And a woman—a woman who looks like my mother but is different as well—sits opposite me. She smiles widely.
Collect them soon.
I mark the space in the void with an energy only I know.
And when I’m back—when I open my eyes—I know they’re no longer there. Like before, except it’s my choice now.
I’ve sealed my powers away.
And I know Raleigh won’t find them, but I still vow not to sleep for what’s left of the night…just in case Raleigh comes back. Just in case he hooks me up to his machine again, just in case he gets a different reading.
The next morning, when Raleigh discovers I’m ‘still’ powerless, he’s a picture of calmness. I stare at him, uncertain. We’re in his office again, and he only exerts the smallest amount of control over me—an encouragement to sit quietly and eat the breakfast he gives me: tea and four mandazi. I have no doubts however that if I try to get up, he’ll push me down much more forcefully.
“Still no powers then.” He shakes his head, but his lips twitch in an odd manner that doesn’t go with his voice. “Remarkable.”
“No,” I say, around a mouthful of rich mandazi. “Still no powers.”
“Not to worry,” Raleigh says, his voice strangely cheerful.
My eyes narrow, and I watch him carefully for any signs. My vision blurs with my lack of sleep and the huge amount of energy I used yesterday: visiting Viktoriya and Esther, trying to find Clare. And the shock of seeing Corin again. I am exhausted. But the food is helping.
“You were angry before—you said I’d better have them back this morning,” I say. “Now you’re smiling….”
“Anger is a negative emotion. I wasn’t angry. Just eager.”
Eager?
He steps nearer, then stands over me. “Anyway, it isn’t your fault, is it, Shania? It’s this evil in you. But I have some good news.”
My back cricks slightly. Painfully. I wait. And Raleigh obviously enjoys keeping me in suspense. He walks around his office twice, inspecting the dust on the windowsill and then rearranging the books on the shelf behind his desk.
“I never know how to organize them,” he says, picking up a paperback and turning it slowly over. “Alphabetical by the author’s last name or grouped by genre—alphabetical still, of course. But then what about my poetry… What do you think?”
“Just tell me what this good news is.”
“Certainly. And there are two lots. Isn’t that good, Shania?”
I wait as he places the paperback carefully on top of the bookshelf, stretching up high to do so. Then he turns back and beams at me.
“Firstly, my labs have created a prototype augmenter base that appears to be successful under the conditions stimulated by our tests. Adding the individual emotions also seems to be successful. We shall begin testing it on the Zharat under controlled conditions. If all goes to plan, we can convert you in no more than forty-eight hours.”
He’s smiling.
“Two days?” My voice comes out a little weaker than I would’ve liked.
“No more than forty-eight hours.” His smile gets wider, so much wider, until it looks like he can’t possibly be comfortable. “Isn’t that great news? And today, my darling, the Section are here, and they want to meet you.”
“The Section?”
“The other world leaders.” He sighs. “Do you not remember that map? Come on, Shania. You have to do better than this. The leaders of the other six sections are all in this compound. Our meeting will start in half an hour. And we have just enough time to get ready.”
He walks quickly to the cupboard in the corner of his office and opens the door. A moment later, when he turns back, he’s holding some folded-up garments and a small white container.
“Hold out your hand,” he says as he places the clothes on his desk, then opens the container.
My hand holds itself out, just as I knew it would as soon as he’d said the words. He didn’t even need to say them.
Raleigh shakes out several white tablets into my palm.
“What are these?”
“They’ll help you recover. From your grief,” he says. “Prevent any hallucinations, any wild thoughts.”
“I’m not grieving.”
“You are.” He gives me a stern look. “Dr. Andy has confirmed it—he wrote your case notes up last night, and we have agreed that this is the best course of action. You need them. We are still trying to secure the counselor. And I want you to take your first dosage now. Maria has kindly volunteered to see that you continue taking them.”
Raleigh directs me to put the tablets in my mouth, and then hands me a glass of water. I try not to take it, try to drop it—try to spit the tablets out—but pain flickers through me. I wince as I swallow them, as he makes me swallow them, as if he’s individually controlling all the necessary muscles in my mouth, my throat, my body. He probably is because I’m powerless against it.
“Good girl,” Raleigh says. “Now, change into these clothes.” He points at the folded garments on his desk. “And then we will be ready to greet the other section leaders.”
There are eight of us at the table. Six unfamiliar Enhanced, Raleigh, and me. We’re in a huge hall, and chandeliers hang from the ceiling. Their glass beads catch the light and refract it in multiple directions. It is disorientating, but spectacular.
Around the room, other Enhanced are standing. One is behind a podium, and he scribbles down everything that’s said. The displaced leader of New Kitembu, Zahlia, smiles at me whenever I catch her eye, and each time I feel uncomfortable.
“So, this is the girl whom the augury speaks of? The one who will save us all—ensure that the Chosen Ones are victorious?” It is the man opposite me who speaks. He introduced himself as Karl, the leader of Section Six.
Next to me, Raleigh nods. “This is Shania Sarr. The seventh child born of Light. The Seer chosen by Death and given the divine powers that make her so special and powerful.”
All the section leaders look at me, except for Raleigh. He just grins. Looks smug.
There’s only one female world leader, and she wears a crisp red dress; her eyes narrow as she assesses me. Amber jewelry drips off her, from every available piercing and place. She said her name was Sophie, and she’s from Section Four.
“She hasn’t got a very good dress sense,” Sophie says. “Poor child.”
My lips twitch at the assessment of the tweed suit Raleigh picked out for me. What a shame she can’t see the leather boots with stars and moons engraved on them.
“And what is the order of proceedings to be?” the man on the other side of me says. His voice booms. “Raleigh, I assume you have a plan and have made some process since you sent word that this girl was yours?”
Raleigh smiles. “Yes, significant progress.”
Liar. My eyes narrow. Part of me wants to call him out, make sure the others know he’s not in control. He can’t even access my powers. But just as I’m about to speak, something jabs the side of my thigh.
I look down. Raleigh has a fire-poker.
And I know for sure he doesn’t want the others knowing he can’t access my powers anymore. A smile tugs at my lips, and I check that my powers are still hidden. They are. And he doesn’t know that I got them back.
“And I hear you’ve caught many of Section Three’s elusive Untamed from the Noir Lands,” Karl says. “That’s impressive. Or it would be if they’d actually been saved. It is my understanding that you’re keeping them prisoner, allowing them to suffer?”
“We had a problem with our augmenters, which you are very well aware of, Karl.” Raleigh’s voice is smooth. “My captured Untamed were reacting to them. Severe reactions. We lost many of them because of it, so it is kinder to temporarily allow the Untamed evil to take hold while we sort out the situation.”
“I’ve had no p
roblem with mine.” Sophie adjusts several of her amber bangles, and…and the way she does it, there’s something about it that reminds me of Elia, and I stiffen. Just… I don’t even know what it is, why I think of the girl. The dead girl. “My teams caught seven Untamed in the last week from the large islands, and they have not reacted. What about you, Akim?”
I freeze. Untamed, caught.
“I have only caught one, a woman,” Akim says. “The spirits are wild in the Frozen Lands at this time of year, and it is harder to save those poor people. But the one I did save was fine. She’s an astonishing mathematician and has a photographic memory.”
The Frozen Lands. I try not to react. It doesn’t mean the Untamed woman is from my group—Taras’s group.
“So it would appear only your Untamed are reacting to augmenters?” Karl gives Raleigh a pointed look. “And it is only your section that is not saving anyone.”
Raleigh clears his throat. “Perhaps my Untamed were exposed to something, in the Noir Lands, maybe. Spirit interaction—”
“There is plenty of spirit interaction in Section Five, is there not, Akim?” Sophie says. “And there are spirits in my section too. And Section One.”
“Not as many,” Raleigh counters. “Sections Three and Five have the most spirits, as you know, but Section Five’s are contained in a larger area. The Noir Lands are the most concentrated area of both spirits and Untamed. Nonetheless, I have Shania, and she will save everyone—convert all the Untamed out there, from my section as well as Four, Five, and One. She will rid us of them all.”
“And how is she going to do this? You mentioned significant progress earlier, but you failed to give details.” It is another man who speaks. I think he said he was from Section Seven. Or Two. I can’t remember. But he’s from one of the sections that has no Untamed left in it. “I assume, Raleigh, that you have coded her powers and worked out specifics, created a few potential plans, assessed methodology?”
“I am working on that, and tonight we will discuss it further. We don’t want to bore our savior, do we, with this talk?” Raleigh glances at me quickly, tight-lipped. Then he raises his hands, gesticulates widely. “Shania is very powerful, my friends.”
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