Esther sighs. “It’s none of his business.”
“Nice of you to be his messenger,” Three says. “Doing whatever Eriksen wants.”
I hang around for a few more seconds, but he doesn’t say anything more, and Esther won’t even look at me. As I walk back to my place, Corin picks up my bowl of soup and dips his spoon in.
“Didn’t think you’d actually do it,” he says as I sit back down.
Corin grins, struggling not to laugh at me. He takes a big mouthful of my soup, and—
“Bloody hell!” He spits it out, all over the grass. He jumps up, throwing his spoon at me, and I somehow manage to catch it, though I get covered in soup. But Corin’s already sprinted over toward Marouska. “What did you put in her soup?” he demands, still spitting.
Marouska frowns at him. “How dare you question my cooking.”
Now everyone’s looking at Corin.
“Corin, sit down,” Rahn says, standing up in front of his nephew.
Corin doesn’t move. His gaze is locked onto Marouska. “You put something in her soup. You tried to poison her.”
There’s an intake of breath from Esther and Three.
“What?” My brother stands up. He frowns, turning slowly, then he’s looking at me. “Seven?”
“Uh, I’m okay.”
I didn’t have much of it, if there was any poison in it. Anyway, Corin’s over-reacting. The soup didn’t taste bad to me. Just different. And I didn’t like the spices in it. They weren’t like the ones in the cake…or the slight spiciness that the Benevolence had… I gulp and push those memories away, disgust filling me.
Rahn throws his hands up in the air. “This is ridiculous. Marouska wouldn’t do that.” He pushes his dark glasses higher up the bridge of his nose.
“So why is Sev’s food a different color to the rest of ours?” Corin folds his arms.
“Because I didn’t have enough vegetables to make her afang soup too,” Marouska says. She stares at Corin with a defiant expression. “She’s got ogbono.”
“So you made her an entirely new flavor?” he prompts, and Marouska nods. He glares at her. “Doesn’t taste like ogbono,” he says.
Rahn claps his hands. “Everyone just sit down and eat, for the Gods’ sake.”
“No. She’s tried to poison Sev. I’m telling you, that’s not obgono! So why would she lie?”
Rahn scowls at Corin. “And why are you so bothered?” His glare flicks to me, and I feel even more uneasy. “Unless somethin’ is goin’ on between you and the Enhanced girl?”
Corin shakes his head, just as Three shouts: “She is not the Enhanced girl.”
“But she is though.” Rahn looks at me. “I was right. You’re a lost cause, Seven. Sure, you could go for years without an augmenter, but all you need is one moment of weakness and then you’re livin’ their life, not ours. You may as well go and join them now, Seven, you ain’t any use to us. And they’d be delighted to have you, a Seer.” He’s changing the topic, and his words reel off as if he’s been practicing them. He’s probably been getting his speech ready ever since I took that augmenter.
“No. Seven is stronger than that,” Three says.
“It wasn’t her fault,” Esther says.
“We need her,” Corin says. “She’s a Seer. She’s powerful. We need her. We are not giving up on her. We needed Katya too, remember.” He narrows his eyes at Rahn, and the tension in the air between the two men doubles instantly.
“What?” Three looks at Corin, then Rahn. His eyes burn the whole time.
“You did set her up,” I say, standing up slowly, focusing my eyes on Rahn. I look toward Corin for confirmation—or maybe I’m including him in my accusation, I don’t know—but he doesn’t look at me.
“You slimy—”
“She chose to go,” Rahn shouts at me, his voice breaking. Sweat drips in huge glistening beads from his forehead, onto the rims of his sunglasses. “She did!”
“She did go willingly,” Corin says. He holds his hands up in a surrender mode, looking across at his uncle. Then he slams a hand to his thigh. “Tell them what happened, Rahn. What really happened. Not this pathetic story that makes you feel better.”
My throat tightens. Three’s expression gets darker, and Esther turns toward Rahn, shaking. The leader doesn’t say anything.
“What happened?” I can barely stop myself from screaming the words at him.
Rahn opens and closes his mouth three times. “I—I—”
Corin snaps his fingers, pointing at the older man. “It was his stupidity that got us into the situation. The three of us—me, Rahn, and Katya—got caught.” His eyes briefly meet mine, then he looks away, at Three. “We were caught. Katya had this plan. She said she’d seen it in the Dream Land a few days ago. But only two of us could escape. She’d thought it would be that day when it all happened, and she insisted it had to be her who stayed. She sacrificed herself—”
“Like I said, she willingly joined the Enhanced,” Rahn interrupts. “She went willingly!”
Corin coughs, looking at me, and my skin goes cold. “To save us! A sacrifice. It’s a completely different thing. And you—” He turns on Rahn, like a gust of wind. “You insisted we spun this stupid story about how she just went, how she wanted to be one of them. And I can’t believe I went along with your story.” Corin takes a step toward me. “I’m sorry, Sev. And Three. Katya was a good woman. She was. It’s him.” He points at Rahn. “He’s the poison.”
“This does not change the fact that Seven’s a liability.” Rahn’s face is bright red. “She’s addicted to augmenters, for the Gods’ sakes.”
He’s right. I am a liability. What will happen the next time they allow me on a raid and I come across some augmenters? I know the answer. I gulp.
“Don’t change the subject,” Corin warns Rahn. “This is about you and your lies, your prejudice.”
Rahn stabs his finger in the air, toward me. “But Seven has to go. She’s practically an Enhanced.” He looks toward Marouska, for back up, but Marouska shakes her head.
“We are not giving up on her,” Corin says. He swallows—apparently with some difficultly. “Sev is one of us, not one of them—no matter how much they try to convert her. She’s still with us, isn’t she? She hasn’t gone back to the Enhanced because she is an Untamed—her soul is Untamed. She never will be part of the Enhanced. I won’t let her be.”
For a second, Corin seems surprised by what he’s said; he holds his head carefully. Then he nods and meets my eyes. I look away quickly.
“No.” Rahn’s voice booms out. The volume is terrifying. “I will not have her in my group.”
I raise my brows, taking a step backward, as though some invisible force pushed me. Fear—real fear—courses through my veins. If I go, I won’t see them again. I—I don’t want to join the Enhanced. Not on my own.
No, not at all. Right? That’s right, isn’t it?
“You can’t kick her out!”
“I will do what I want. This is my group. I am the leader.” Rahn folds his arms, and the sun glints off his dark glasses as he turns back to me. “We’ll drive you to the nearest Enhanced town. Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to walk.”
I need to sit down. But I can’t move. My body’s locked in place.
Corin shakes his head, taking more steps toward Rahn, until the two men are as close as possible, without either of them touching the other.
“You cannot do that to her!” Corin shouts.
Rahn stamps his foot. “She’s too much of a liability, she can’t control herself. And you,” he turns to Corin, “I’d expected better from a son of my brother. He’d be disappointed in you, lettin’ your feelings for one individual put the whole group in danger.”
“We’re not in danger,” Esther cries. “You can’t kick her out.”
“I can, and I will. She should’ve been banished from the Untamed the moment she took that damn augmenter.” A vein in Rahn’s neck pulses. He turns on
me. “You may be a Seer, and you may be valuable. But you’re weak and easily tempted. You’re a liability. And you’re a traitor.”
“She’s one of us,” Esther says. “Rahn, you can’t. She’s a Seer, the spirits and the Gods and Goddesses still trust her—”
“They won’t now.”
“You still can’t throw her out.”
“I can—”
“If she goes, I go too,” Three says. He steps over to stand next to me. Relief washes over me.
“Me too.” Esther copies Three’s movement. “You’ll lose me as well.”
“And you, old man, you don’t even need to ask where I stand,” Corin spits the words at Rahn, like they’re bullets. Then he steps away and joins Esther, Three, and myself.
I am shaking. Mutiny, over me.
Now Rahn looks toward Marouska. She takes her time in replying. I’m sure she’s going to choose Rahn over me. She’s watching him intently, nodding, not even glancing at me.
“I will go with Seven,” she says. “It is my duty to protect her.”
Corin looks at her, and he tenses. “Your duty?”
“Your duty should be toward your leader.” Rahn fumes. I’ve never seen him so angry, so—
“You’re unfit to be a leader,” Corin shouts, stabbing his finger in Rahn’s direction. He turns and looks at me. For a second, I pause. The message on Corin’s face is clear, and I don’t know why he’s asking me, but I nod. “I’m taking charge.”
For a second, Rahn looks stunned. Then his hand slips to his side, and, in a flash, he aims his gun at us.
“Rahn, put it down,” Three says, holding his hands up.
Rahn doesn’t move. He stands like a statue, one arm raised, with the gun. His dark glasses add ominosity.
“Lower the gun now,” Corin says, his voice the most authoritative I’ve ever heard it.
Still, Rahn doesn’t move.
After a few seconds, Corin takes out his own gun. The Glock.
Oh Gods.
“You’d really kill me for the sake of that girl?”
“I’d kill you to save my group.” Corin doesn’t move. His gun is aimed at Rahn.
“Your group?”
“My group,” Corin repeats, stony-faced. He’s standing strong, his feet shoulder-width apart, legs braced.
Esther takes a step forward. “Put the gun down, Rahn.” She takes another step, and—
Rahn’s arm jerks as he pulls the trigger.
I scream, lunge forward. My body collides with Corin’s as he throws himself toward me. I hit the ground, his weight falls onto me.
“Rahn, put it down!” That’s Three’s voice.
I hear the click as another gun is loaded—Three’s. I try to move, but Corin’s holding me down. I taste rust and blood. Then Corin’s pulling me up. His nails graze my shoulder.
“You’ve lost it,” Rahn cries, his hand with the gun shaking. “You’ve all lost it! It’s her! She’s doin’ this to us! She’s one of them! But she’s not like me… She’s worse…” He breaks off, crying. “She’s worse… We need to kill her before she joins them.”
I hear the click of his gun as he loads it again. But I can’t look at his weapon, even when he points it at me, and I know I should be shaking. My heart should be racing. My head should be pounding. But, instead, I feel like I can see and breathe and think clearly for the first time in a long, long time.
I stare at him.
She’s not like me.
A jolt runs through me. I feel sick, cold, and detached. How didn’t I notice? How didn’t we notice before?
Oh Gods.
Rahn’s Enhanced.
The gun’s still on me, I’m looking straight at its barrel. Rahn’s watching me, tears streaking his face.
I look at him, try to look past his glasses, but no, it’s too difficult. They’re too black. Too heavy.
“Take your glasses off,” I say. He doesn’t do anything. “Rahn, take your glasses off.”
“You have no authority, whatsoever, to be doin’ this.”
“Sev, what are you doing?” Corin grabs me by my bad shoulder, jerking me back.
I wince; dark spots cloud my vision for a few seconds. But I get free from Corin, and then I’m facing Rahn.
“Take them off!”
Rahn faces me, moving like a cat. His gun is still between us. I’m still not shaking.
“Seven, what the hell are you playing at?” Three shouts. I hear his footsteps behind us. Then Esther’s.
“He’s Enhanced!” I shout. I lunge forward, knock the glasses from his head, dodging the gun.
But it’s too late for him to do anything. We’ve all seen. Huh. Sensitive eyes.
For a second, I feel strangely betrayed, looking at our Untamed leader who’s really Enhanced, when before, I was too. Deception, it’s all around us.
“I’m nothin’ like you!” Rahn says. “I’m the leader here. I’m the Untamed leader!” He’s trying to cover his eyes, but the mirrors are too bright, too obvious.
“You’re Enhanced?” Corin says. His voice sounds weaker now.
“Then kill us both!” Rahn grins manically. He turns toward me, his other hand outstretched, like he’s begging me. “We can’t change what we are… Come on, Seven, you understand that…it’s better that we’re both dead….”
Corin steps in front of me. I think he’s forgotten about Rahn’s gun. I bite my tongue as I take my own Luger out of my belt.
“How long?” Corin barks at him.
Rahn doesn’t say anything.
“I said how long?”
Rahn’s body’s trembling, and I wonder if he’s about to have a heart attack.
“The medicines you’ve been getting,” Esther says in a small voice. “They’re augmenters… When we needed medicine, you didn’t have any…only them.”
Corin swears loudly. Then he punches Rahn. There’s a loud grunt. Ice fills my veins.
Three races past me, and I think he’s going to pull Corin off Rahn, but he grabs Rahn’s gun. Then my brother hits Rahn.
“You—you lying, deceitful traitor. You were going to exile Seven for making one mistake with the augmenters, when you’ve been using them for years.”
“Years?” Corin’s shoulders shake. “Years? How long? Five? Ten? Twenty? More?”
“Oh, it’s been a long time, hasn’t it, Rahn?” Three says, and I notice the knife in his other hand. And how close the tip of the blade is to Rahn’s neck. “That box. The spirit box, or whatever he calls it… Esther, go and get it. It’s in the car. I’m almost certain what we’ll find in there.”
Esther runs to the car. Marouska and I watch her retrieve the box. I pull my jacket closer around my body, locking the cold air out. But I’m already cold.
Marouska glances over at me; she’s silent. The expression on her face is unreadable, blank, vacant.
Esther puts the box on the ground. It is the same small box, with the ornate carvings all over it, that I’d nearly opened before, when Rahn had gone mad at me about it.
“Open it,” Corin orders.
Esther tries. “It’s locked.”
I hand her the knife from my belt, and she forces it open, using the blade as a lever.
“No! No! Please no!” Rahn wails. I glance back at him. He’s on the ground now. Helpless. Corin and Three hold several weapons over him.
The lid of the box opens with a huge crack. We all see them. Hundreds of tiny vials, packed in tightly. Hundreds of them. Deep blues…bright reds…pure golds…dark green hues…sparkling yellows…beautiful pinks….
“Sev!”
Corin’s arms snap around me before I even realize I’m walking toward the augmenters. He pulls me back, and Esther smashes the vials. Corin forces me to turn. I sag against him, my heart pounding.
“Get down,” Three yells, and I look up to see him struggling with Rahn.
“You can’t do this!” Rahn cries. His mirror eyes lock onto mine, and I go cold. “Look at her! She’s des
perate for them, I’m not! You can’t kill me and not her! You can’t have a separate rule for her and—”
“She hasn’t been Enhanced for thirty years solid! She’s stronger than you. Don’t even compare yourself to her.” Corin’s whole body burns against me.
“You’re lettin’ your feelings for her cloud your mind—”
“No.” Corin holds onto me tighter. So tight that our bodies are pressed together all the way down. “I’m protecting her from you. She’s innocent. You’re not. You’re really not.”
Rahn tries to get to his feet, but Three presses the barrel of a gun into his neck.
“You have to kill her. She’s not one of the Untamed. She’s too powerful, I’ve known for ages. She’s goin’ to go to the Enhanced in the end.”
I gulp. Was that why he stole my mother’s pendant from me?
Rahn screams. “She’ll be one of their Seers—and then we’ve got no hope! Kill her now, before she kills all of us!”
Corin does not say anything. He just nods at Three.
I have to look away. I fix my eyes on the sky as I hear the gunshot, so loud, so close. The dog barks. I blink back tears. I don’t know when I’m going to be able to look back at the scene in front of me. If I’m ever able to.
I gulp, staring at a purple patch in the sky. It’s bright. Reassuring.
Then I really look at the sky. It’s a swirling mass of purples, with black shapes that move and jump. The wind picks up, howling and screaming.
My mouth goes dry. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Feeling floods my body.
How didn’t I notice? How didn’t anyone notice?
“It’s the Turning!”
Corin twists around, forcing me with him. I feel him take a sharp breath, and then he’s reaching across for Esther.
“Everyone, join hands! Three! Marouska!” But Corin’s words are stolen from his mouth as he shouts them.
I see Three’s figure approaching us. A tree flies past him. Something screeches next to my ear. I scream.
“We need to get under cover,” I yell, holding onto Corin’s arm. I look around, but I can’t see anything. Only Corin and Esther.
“Three,” I yell. “Three!”
Marouska’s figure appears out of nowhere, and then the air’s getting darker and thicker. Stickier. I can’t feel anything, only Corin’s fingers on my arm.
Untamed Series, #1 Page 26