“Katherine McCallister,” he says.
I clench my jaw, exhale, feel the bullet fall out of my skin, feel my skin begin to knit itself together. Stand up.
He smiles. “Your resilience is quite amazing.” He nods to the clone. “Of course, she is the same.”
He takes a step back. “She will finish you and start the equipment, won’t you, my dear?”
The clone smiles, nods to him. “Of course.”
Chills are like ice down my body. Disconcerting, hearing my own voice, seeing my own face.
Glass turns to leave. “Goodbye, Miss McCallister. It has been a pleasure but you’re time has come.”
He leaves and I turn my attention to the clone. “Why would you do this?” I growl. “If you’re a copy of me?”
“I’m better than you,” she says smoothly. “Stronger. And I’m not an idiot. I know which side is the winning side.”
“We’ll see.”
In perfect synchronization, we move toward each other, swiping claws through the air, slamming into each other. She kicks and I duck. I throw a punch and she catches it.
“Face it,” she says. “We are exactly the same. There is nothing you can try that will catch me by surprise.”
I grit my teeth. Lunge forward, ram my body into hers.
But she’s ready. Always ready, always prepared, always knowing exactly what I’m going to do.
She shoves me to the ground, pushes her forearm into my throat. She glances up at the wolf now struggling against the trap, back down at me. “He’s going to watch you die,” she growls. “And there’s nothing you can do about it.”
I have an evil clone.
I open my mouth, close it. No air, no air, no air. I’m being strangled by a copy of myself.
Think.
There has to be something I can use against her. Some way of getting her off of me, some way of stopping her. Something.
I glance back at the wolf, starting to see spots. And, either I’m hallucinating, or he’s transforming, letting the trap clamp down on his human form.
No, no, no. You’re going to kill yourself.
I dig my fingers into the forearm on my throat, staring at a now human Zane.
“Lightweight,” he mouths weakly. “Throw…”
I get the message.
Digging my heels into her stomach, I shove her off of me with as much force as I can muster. My kick throws her off me, sends her rolling across the room.
I gasp, cough, drag myself up.
She stands, glaring, clenching her fists.
And we’re slamming into each other again.
But this time I know what I have to do. Because she is just like me, because she is light and fast and impulsive.
I let her ram me back into the wall, let her shove me into steel.
Because she is going fast enough to break through it, to send both of our bodies into the next room. Into a lab.
My back is bleeding from the crash. Ignore it. Finish this.
I scramble to my feet, snatch up the syringe from the table. I hope this is what I think it is.
I hope its poison. I hope it’s a lethal injection.
She’s lunging for me and I shove the needle into her throat, shove the liquid into her blood.
Her eyes are wide and she opens her mouth. She coughs up blood, slipping to the floor.
“He made me do it,” she gasps. “I had to kill you. I…I don’t know how he did it. But he made me think I wanted you dead. I couldn’t stop.”
I crouch down in front of her. “I’m sorry he did this to you,” I whisper. “You were never meant to live such a short life.”
She gasps again, shaking now. “Stop him.”
And then, with a last shuddering breath, she’s dead.
Eighty
I push her eyelids closed. Brush the hair away from her face. Lay her body down on the gurney, laying her flat down. She could be sleeping.
Leaving the room, running back through the hole in steel, I find Zane. Still stuck in the trap. Unconscious.
Panic sets in like a wildfire.
I yank on the trap, pull it free, drag him away from it. Start shaking him frantically.
No, no, no.
He gasps, opens his eyes weakly. I put a hand on his cheek, exhaling. “Zane.”
“Kate?” Uncertainty. “Is that you? Really you?”
I lean forward, kiss his forehead. “Yes,” I whisper. “The clone is dead.”
He exhales. “Then it’s over.”
I’m shaking my head. No. Not over. Not yet.
“I need to find Glass.”
His eyes have fallen shut and he opens them into tired, half-slits. “I’m guessing he’s locked himself up in his office.”
I nod. “I’m going to end this, Zane. Tonight.”
“I know. Finish what your father started. Finish this war.”
I lean down and kiss him. Slide my fingers up his cheeks, knot them in his hair.
“I love you,” I whisper.
“I love you.” He smiles weakly. “Go. Destroy this madness.”
I’m nodding, standing, turning to go. I pick up my father’s gun, turn it in my hands.
I will finish this.
Eighty-One
There are two soldiers standing guard outside Glass’s office. I step into the hall and they both aim their guns at me.
I don’t stop.
Sprinting forward, I duck under the gunshots, swing a leg at one, wrap my arm around the other’s neck. Mere seconds and they’re both unconscious.
I turn to the door, steel myself, grip the gun tightly.
And kick open the door.
Eighty-Two
He looks calm, at ease. Like there’s nothing alarming about a blood-covered woman with a gun in her hands and murder in her eyes.
He should be afraid.
“Miss McCallister.”
I stride forward. “Mr. Glass.”
“I assume this is the part where you coerce me into turning myself in.”
I point the gun. “Unless you’d like to take option two.”
He smiles. “That’s cute. But you won’t kill me.”
“Oh?”
“You’re the hero.”
“And?”
“The hero doesn’t kill people.”
“Maybe I’m not the hero then.”
He’s still smiling. “But Alec thinks you are.”
“Leave him out of this.”
He laughs. “I sent Dalton to pick something up for me. Something very breakable, very human.”
No.
“Alec will remain in Dalton’s care indefinitely if I die.”
“NO!”
He’s laughing again. “You want me alive. For Alec’s sake, you want me alive.”
“I’m not letting you get away.”
“Then Alec remains with Dalton.”
I grit my teeth. Agony. Leaving Alec with Dalton. I can’t believe I’m doing this, I can’t believe I’m letting this happen.
“I am not the real enemy, Miss McCallister. The Dragon is.”
“My father founded that organization,” I growl. “They are not my enemy.”
“Is that so?” He laughs. “They are a secret well kept, Katherine. And this is their greatest secret: they want the same thing I do. And they will do the same thing I did to get it.”
“Liar.”
“They will destroy Chicago if you let them.”
No. No. Not The Dragon. Not Zane. Not the people he used to work for. No.
“You know I’m right,” Glass says. “That’s why Zane is such a fantastic liar, why you know almost nothing of your father’s business. They are traitors to everything you believe in. And they will use you.”
I glare, step closer, grab him by the shirt collar. “No.”
He smiles. “You have been manipulated before, Miss McCallister. You never see it coming until you break free of control.”
Dalton did that. Made me believe I was happ
y when I wasn’t, made me think I might be in love when I couldn’t be.
And I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. Because I almost believe him, because it makes so much sense. I’ve always known Zane could lie, I always knew he was charismatic. What if everything was just another life?
I can’t believe I’m letting him get to me.
“I hope it drives you crazy,” Glass says. He steps back, breaks free, walks around to the other side of his desk, picks up a long syringe.
I’m frozen. I’m holding a gun but I’m still. Because I don’t know what I think or who I believe or what is right.
Make sure it’s him.
I stare at Glass. Approaching with a syringe. Poison. He’ll kill me. Just like I killed the clone.
Not an option.
My mother told me if it came down to his life or mine, it needed to be his. And now I have to choose: live and become a murderer, or die and become a failure.
I point the gun.
I choose to live.
Eighty-Three
I shoot three times.
Once in the chest for the lives he ruined with his Project.
And twice in the forehead.
Once for Chicago, once for Alec.
Eighty-Four
It’s over.
I drop to my knees, let go of the gun, let out a soft gasp. Glass lies dead on the floor, surrounded by blood, the syringe still clutched in his fingers.
I did it. I killed Richard Glass.
“Kate.”
I don’t turn. Stare at my blood covered hands. I killed two people tonight. My clone. Glass. Two lives ended at my hand.
I’m not sure if that’s a success or a failure.
“Kate.”
I feel a tired arm resting on my shoulders and I look at Zane. He looks pale, weak, exhausted. He glances at Glass’s body. Stares.
“You did it.”
I’m silent. Because I killed tonight, because Glass’s words still haunt me, because I don’t know who to trust.
I’m so confused.
“It’s over,” he whispers. “It’s okay, Kate. It’s over.”
I realize I’m crying and I stop. Because now I’m remembering what he said. And it is far from over.
Alec. Kidnapped. Taken by Dalton. Indefinitely.
I jump to my feet. I can hear Zane calling after me, still too weak to actually come.
It’s too late to hear him. I’m already gone.
Eighty-Five
The house is empty. Devoid of life. No one is here. Not the butler or the maid or his parents. No one.
I run through the house in frantic terror. “Alec! Alec! ALEC!”
Nothing. Not a sound.
I sprint down into the dungeon, practically breaking the door down rather than stopping to open it.
And then I stop.
The basement is black. With soot and ash and burn marks. It’s been burnt to a crisp.
I lean down, pick up the crisp white paper on the floor.
Way to easy. You should have taught him how to fight.
I close my eyes, growl, crumple the paper in my fist. Fall to my knees.
I’m too late. He took him.
A roar tears its way out of my body, ripping apart my composure. And now I’m digging my claws into the ground.
But Alec thinks you are.
Alec. He thought I was a hero. He thought I was a superhero. He thought I was invincible.
I have to save him.
I look up, pull myself together. “I will find you,” I whisper. “I will save you.”
I stand, take a deep breath. It’s time to be the girl he always thought I was, it’s time to be a hero.
Eighty-Six
And I will not stop until Alec is safe, Chicago is free, and Dalton Knight is dead.
I am mass destruction.
I am the Black Kat.
Coming Soon
TAINTED
The Invincibles
About the Author
Brittany Oldroyd, the author of Trapped and Segolia: Daughter of Prophecy, has had a love for fantasy and science fiction since she was little. She lives in Flagstaff, Arizona. She loves watching starry nights, kickboxing, and writing a good plot twist. Her obsessions include dragons, The Lord of the Rings, and anything superhero related. She loves to hear from readers.
Email her at [email protected].
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Forty-Three
Forty-Four
Forty-Five
Forty-Six
Forty-Seven
Forty-Eight
Forty-Nine
Fifty
Fifty-One
Fifty-Two
Fifty-Three
Fifty-Four
Fifty-Five
Fifty-Six
Fifty-Seven
Fifty-Eight
Fifty-Nine
Sixty
Sixty-One
Sixty-Two
Sixty-Three
Sixty-Four
Sixty-Five
Sixty-Six
Sixty-Seven
Sixty-Eight
Sixty-Nine
Seventy
Seventy-One
Seventy-Two
Seventy-Three
Seventy-Four
Seventy-Five
Seventy-Six
Seventy-Seven
Seventy-Eight
Seventy-Nine
Eighty
Eighty-One
Eighty-Two
Eighty-Three
Eighty-Four
Eighty-Five
Eighty-Six
About the Author
The Invincibles (Book 1): Trapped: A girl. A monster. A hero. Page 26