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  That was better than giving her free reign of the hospital, but Aiden's interrogation would do nothing. Even the best-trained interrogator in Beacon couldn’t suss out truth from lies when it came to a master manipulator. She would spin him a story from golden thread, and he would be dazzled by the gleam of it.

  Then she would hurt him. Or kill him.

  He turned to me as the guards entered the examination room to retrieve her. "I believe you, Darcy," he whispered. "And we'll get to the bottom of this when I question her."

  I watched as the two guards escorted the Scarlet out of the examination room, and she and I again met eyes. This was her plan: infiltrate the outpost, gain a modicum of trust, and then neutralize me—and Blaze, whom she probably believed to be here somewhere.

  But he was out there among the silvers. At this point, I wasn't sure which of us was in greater danger.

  As the Scarlet limped down the hallway, I touched Aiden's arm. “Let me be in the interrogation room with you.”

  “I can handle it, Darcy.”

  “That’s stupid. I know her—I created her, molded her personality and trainings. And while she’s here for me, she won't be opposed to killing anyone who gets in her way. Like you."

  "You think that woman can kill me?"

  I stared at him. "Don't bring your male bravado into this."

  He raised his hands. "No bravado here. But if she’s so dangerous even for me, why close yourself in a room with her?”

  I looked up at Aiden. “Two are better than one." When I saw his eyebrow raise, I added: "And because, despite what you may believe, I can outthink her. It’s the only advantage I have.”

  That much was true. With Blaze gone, I had only a few cards in my hand. The Scarlet could overpower me physically. She could out-charm me, talk her way into our out of anything. She could move silently, and much, much faster.

  But I had grown up in Beacon, knew its terrain and people. Dr. Sorin, Aiden, even the members of the Guardians' Guild who had just escorted her off. And I knew that Scarlet through and through, like a mother knows her child.

  Her treacherous, dazzling child.

  Fourteen

  Saturday, May 10, 2053

  5:44 a.m.

  Blaze

  Whispers. They came to me like errant thoughts, questions: "Intruders." "Humans." "The smell is wrong."

  But I didn’t see anyone. Under the overhang I blinked, and my human night vision offered a view of a tunnel that stretched straight ahead, turned a corner into the depths of the den.

  7950 and I exchanged looks. “I hear their thoughts,” I mouthed to him. He read my lips with ease. “Like I heard yours.”

  He shook his head. “They’re not thoughts, 8024,” he mouthed. “It’s a pitch normal humans can’t hear, and that you couldn’t until you shifted. You'll always hear them now.”

  I listened. “I hear only three.”

  “There are more,” he mouthed, raising both hands. Six fingers went up, the others folded.

  Six, as we had originally thought. Well, six was better than seven, which was better than a dozen. 7950 seemed to have the same thought, because the two of started into motion at the same time.

  We entered, stepping silent into the tunnel. The world outside disappeared, and I was cast in blackness and the scent of silvers. 7950 had been correct; six distinct scents flowed to my nose.

  When we came to the turn, I took the lead and he the rear. If an attack would come, it was most likely to be from deep inside the den. And I was the most powerful fighter between us.

  But the attack didn’t come. Only the whispers: "Closer. They’re closer." And a faint dripping like water.

  All at once, the tunnel ended in a large room, and there she was: Zara, laid across the ground at the far end of this hollow, her blonde hair spilled from its bun.

  She still smelled normal. Not infected—yet.

  They didn't attack us right off. I had walked in prepared to shift immediately, to leap right into a fight, but instead we were allowed to enter the den. And through it all, I still heard their noises.

  7950 stepped up to my side, the two of us very nearly on our toes, ready.

  Now the whispers slowed, dried up. These were silver voices, silver thoughts, and they had gone quiet like a creature stilling as it prepared to pounce.

  “We’re here for her,” I said, lifting a hand. My finger pointed at Zara.

  This produced an agitated shifting in the darkness, and one of the silvers let a sound that came off something like a human's chortle. Were they laughing at me?

  I took another step forward. “Here’s what will happen. You’ll remain exactly where you are while we retrieve the human and take her out of here. And you’ll go on living in your hole in this hill and pretend like the human outpost doesn’t exist.”

  I knew they understood me, because the mood shifted. My hairs raised as a growl echoed through the hollow, punctuated by strange, snapping snarls.

  7950 leaned toward me. “They’re laughing at you.”

  So I'd been right.

  "Scentless meat," came a single whisper, "seeks to control. Meat seeks to dictate."

  “I’m called Blaze,” I said. “And I’m about to walk across this room. None of you will stop me.”

  The growling—silver laughter—had begun again. This time it came louder.

  I started forward, my right hand flattening to stay 7950 where he was. He needed to stay by the exit, to protect my flanks.

  A vicious howl rose from the darkness, and out swept the massive silver who had ripped Zara from the scaffolding. Even on all fours, its head rose a full three feet higher than mine and was probably three times as large.

  It placed itself six feet in front of me, directly between me and Zara, the gray hair on its spine lifting, canines longer than tantos—and probably sharper—bared to the gums.

  "This one is claimed," it whispered. "Just like the others will be."

  "Just like the others will be." Did that mean they intended to use others in the way they were planning to use Zara? The thought of Darcy being kidnapped and treated like a body flared in my mind like a lit match, and I nearly let my own growl.

  I stopped, staring into its narrowed eyes. “She doesn’t belong to anyone,” I said. “Except herself. I’m just here to bring her home.”

  And I continued forward, as though I would walk straight through the silver. I didn’t know if it had understood me—I wasn’t certain of their intelligence—but it understood my intent.

  "Meat tastes best when it fights to live," came the whisper. It bled into a growl so loud the rock vibrated beneath my feet. I was beginning to recognize this one as the leader of this group. And if I’d learned one thing about leaders, it was that they were the head, and the others were the body.

  Lacking the head, the body became useless.

  Except the leader didn’t lead the attack. The moment was preceded by a snarl from my left, and I rolled right, felt the air displace behind me. A sneak attack by one of the others, who disappeared into the shadows on the other side of the hollow.

  I gained my feet, spun on my toes in a crouch, my fingertips touching the ground.

  This time the attack came from the leader, who swept straight on toward me, and I rolled back, extended my claws as it lunged. I caught a glimpse of gray fur and a massive form—even larger than the one that had ambushed me hours ago—as I raked its underside, kicked it in the gut with both feet to send it over my head.

  I couldn’t get clawed. I couldn’t get bitten. If I did, I would collapse within minutes.

  To my left, 7950 had leapt into silver form, fully entwined with one of the other six, snapping and clawing for each other’s throats. Two others were about to throw themselves into the fray.

  I flipped onto my stomach just as Zara stirred. Her head began to raise as my eyes closed, and the agony came over me as I turned again into the creature I was designed to destroy.

  This time I shifted in a few sec
onds, scraped the cavern floor with my claws as I dodged the leader’s next attack.

  I spun, and a rumble started deep inside me. It vibrated at the bottom of my lungs, barreled up my throat and came out my mouth as a growl so loud, it felt like the world must have heard.

  Now the fight was really on.

  I swept through the hollow toward the fray, caught the smallest of the silvers in the throat. He’d been focused on 7950, crouching for an attack when I caught his most vital spot between my upper and lower canines.

  I shook him hard before I threw him into the darkness. I heard a yelp as his body hit the wall, but I didn’t follow. Three were still fighting 7950, who held his own with his back to the wall, refusing to let himself be pinned under them.

  That was the worst fate: ending up on your back, your soft belly exposed. Across every species—humans included—the backside was the one place you didn’t want to end up. It signaled defeat, death.

  7950 snarled, threw a swipe that raked one of the three across the face. When his red eyes caught mine, I understood that he was giving me time. It wasn’t about ending them all; it was about getting her out of here.

  I spun toward Zara, who’d awakened enough to set her hands on the cold rock and half-open her eyes in the darkness.

  And what did she see? Nothing, of course, in the darkness. For humans, that was truly terrifying. I needed to get her out of here before she woke enough to panic, to do something drastic.

  But the leader had emerged from the shadows, head lowered, sights on me. "What are you?" the whisper came. "Not meat. Not us."

  I shook my head slowly. "Wrong. I am you, and I am them. I’m both, and I’m more. That’s why you won’t defeat them."

  The silver laugh erupted from the leader. "Defeat? They’re ours to do with as we wish. To eat, to turn, to breed. Inferior. Weak."

  "You’ll come for them again," I said, less a question than a statement.

  "Always," the leader growled. "Just as they would. As they will, given the chance."

  Behind us, the fight raged, the sounds of snarling and growling and scraping and pawing soaring through the enclosed hollow, reverberating off the walls. Past the leader, Zara had risen to a seat, her eyes wide and frantic. Her hand sought out the missing crossbow at her hip.

  And I understood for the first time how these two dominant, warlike species—human and silver—had destroyed the world. They had met, and they had fought. And they still fought because humans were indomitable, impossible to be put down as long as they lived.

  The leader was probably right: if the humans had the chance, they would eradicate every silver from the surface. That was what the Ides Facility was intended to do.

  That was what I had been created to do.

  I had only to choose a side. The silvers were an easy pick—they were more powerful, ruthless, capable. Physically, they were the superior species.

  If supremacy were determined by physicality, that would be some kind of new world. It was the world, outside Beacon's walls. Glorious and ruthless, a place I would probably thrive in. Thrive and conquer and wonder why I felt so damned empty all the time.

  Because there would be no humans. There would be no Darcy.

  Darcy was of that weaker species—she was human. As was Zara. And while I had met some truly shitty ones in the facility, any bit of empathy or goodness I had encountered had begun and ended with humans.

  I couldn’t abide by a world without her. I picked her. I picked that goodness.

  One of the silvers let a shriek of a yelp and a bloody cough, but the leader and I didn’t move. That wasn’t 7950’s cry, which meant he’d gotten in a good blow. But he wouldn’t be able to hold them off forever, and this leader was tough…too tough, even with two of us.

  We wouldn’t beat them down. So I had to improvise a new plan.

  This course would be painful for me. It would require sacrifice. Fortunately, I was acutely familiar with both of those things.

  As the yelp reverberated around the hollow, I took a half-second to crouch before I launched myself into a four-legged sprint straight toward the leader. He’d been expecting a direct attack, and just as I was about to barrel into him, he leapt right.

  Which left Zara completely unguarded.

  The leader snapped at my side as I passed, digging in past the fur and nicking the skin. I felt his canines dip into the muscle in my side for a half-second, which was enough. It was more than enough.

  I gritted my teeth as I hit the back wall of the cave. I only had a few minutes before the silver venom immobilized me.

  Beside me, Zara sat frozen, terrified. She looked so much like Darcy they might have been twins. And that gave me the strength I needed to face what was about to come.

  The leader rounded on me, and he let a howl that stopped the fighting at once. Every silver head jerked up, and those still able to walk started toward me.

  Which left 7950 unburdened by the hollow’s entrance. He and I met eyes, and I blinked toward Zara. He lowered his head, and I knew he had understood.

  As it turned out, allying with another version of myself made for wildly efficient teamwork.

  I grabbed up Zara by the back of her jacket, lifting her bodily from the floor like a cat would carry its kittens. She yelled as I carried her a few steps, braced, and used every bit of strength left in me to throw her left of the hollow’s entrance.

  The other silvers watched, lunged for her, but 7950 had seen my ploy. He was waiting, and the moment Zara plowed into him he was ready, his furred body softening her impact.

  She might have the wind knocked out of her, but she would live. He snatched her up between his teeth, and like a flash, he darted for the faint light at the hollow’s exit.

  If he could get her out of the darkness, we won. The sun was up, and they wouldn’t be able to pass into the sunlight.

  Which meant I had to drag them back. The silvers had already given chase, their massive claws scraping over the rock. They let furious howls, their quarry now about to escape.

  I was feeling the effects of the venom, but I threw myself into the pack, shoulder-checking one, grabbing the left flank of another and tossing him aside. I didn’t have to win—I just had to slow them.

  Ahead, 7950’s tail disappeared around the corner, and the leader followed. I pelted after them, and as we came into the quarter-light at the cave’s entrance, both 7950 and the silver leader began to smoke.

  As in, smoke rose from their bodies. It looked like their fur was burning away.

  But the leader was feral and determined. He lunged for Zara, and I lunged for him. I caught him by the tail, pulling him down to the ground so he came just short of grabbing her.

  His claws made contact with the back of her jacket, and Zara let a shriek just before 7950 bore her into the daylight. He shifted as soon as they escaped, but gray smoke still rose from his body in a massive plume.

  7950 and Zara lay on the ground as the silver leader staggered into the sunlight just a few feet away. Flames erupted from his back where the sun hit him directly, and soon he had become a bonfire.

  I sensed my body shifting back to its human form. My mind was growing slow, hazy. I couldn’t tell if the leader’s claws had penetrated the leather of her jacket. That would be for Darcy to deal with later.

  Ahead, I heard 7950 saying something. He was yelling for me to get my ass up.

  And behind, I heard their snarls. Silvers, I’d learned, really were a magnificent display of the viciousness that nature was capable of.

  I threw a leaden arm toward the light, gritted my teeth as I pulled myself forward. 7950 had staggered to his feet, but he didn’t seem to be in the light anymore.

  Had the light gone?

  No—just my vision. How sad a thing, I thought before I went under, that I won’t get to tell Darcy I love her.

  And then a powerful hand grabbed me and yanked me over the hard stone and into the dirt.

  Fifteen

  Saturday, May
10, 2053

  7:45 a.m.

  Darcy

  Aiden stepped into the interrogation room, and I followed.

  We were both exhausted—neither of us had slept since the silver attack and the Scarlet's arrival—but the shot of adrenaline that had hit my system when I saw her face the first time hadn't yet left my sytem.

  I felt wired, alive, ready to fight.

  Inside, the Scarlet sat restrained to her chair with the metal clamps over her wrists and ankles that I had instructed be applied. She regarded us in silence, giving nothing away.

  “Hello Ruby,” Aiden said as he sat across the table from her. “I’m Aiden, and this is Jane. We apologize for the restraints.”

  I sat down next to Aiden, setting a stenopad in front of me. Aiden had given me a guardians' uniform to wear, and now I was “Jane,” a fellow interrogator. Of course, the Scarlet knew otherwise, but with the other guardians around and my identity still largely under wraps, Aiden had suggested a moniker.

  The Scarlet’s eyes flicked from him to me. They darkened on my face a moment before melting toward Aiden, and I knew her ploy at once. Charm him. Shower him with her darling attention, and twist his thinking around long enough to complete her mission.

  “Aiden,” she said, the word exiting her mouth like an offering. “Jane. Thank you and your people for bringing me in. Without your help, I would have been dead.”

  My eyes narrowed on her as she spoke. This wasn't just any Scarlet... Could it be? My heartbeat had already sped up in acknowledgment, in recognition.

  This was Blaze's Scarlet.

  Aiden offered a nod. “It’s quite a thing you found us, and arrived at Beacon untouched by silvers. How did you do that, anyway?”

  Her gaze drifted, softened with sorrow. “I’m the last of a frontier party from another outpost. We’d gone about a hundred miles with an engine until it overheated—“

  “An engine?” I scoffed. “There are no more carbon fuel engines. Those were depleted during the first five years.”