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“What the fuck were you doing out there, Elias? Do you have any idea how exasperated Dr. Cein is about your delay? You were given direct orders and your delay alone practically threw off the entire operation.” I stare into Emerai’s eyes indifferently. “He had complications.” Nekane laughs beside me.
“I found my Shadow Mate, sir. I brought her with me; she’s in the Nova House as we speak.” He looks at me, calculating what to say. “Was she the woman that stopped you from killing Kallos’s new brat?” Nekane scoffs. “I was hoping you’d kill him anyway. Cocky little fucker, that one is.”
“I’ll contact Dr. Cein and let him know the circumstances. Keep her close, I don’t want her Shadow getting too attached to anything else for the time being.”
“You haven’t bred her already, have you?”
“No, but her blighted has. She’s on herbs, so we don’t need to worry about that.” Emerai barks out a harsh laugh as he resumes his stride. “Well, at least he’ll be dead before long.”
“No—I most certainly did kill him. She reversed time and undid it.” My old friend laughs as he grabs my shoulder roughly. “I like her already.”
The Culling Assessment is always followed by a great feast. Cruelness followed with generous accommodations for the survivors. Step one in brain-fucking these idiots.
I consider myself a man to fear, but Cein is far more… creative than I am when it involves punishment.
My search stops the second I see his sinister green eyes boring holes into mine. His power seethes from his skin like a mist evaporating off a lake, invisible to most, but well-trained soldiers like me can see it. Kallos stiffens next to me and Nekane utters a curse beneath his breath.
“What the fuck is that?” Kallos says in a low, dangerous tone. “My mate’s brother.”
They both lean over to look at me, but I keep staring at Edgar. The evil inside that young man makes Velis coi...
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I know then that Arthur’s suspicions were right. This is the Shadow we’ve bee...
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“We’ll need to have that one contained quickly.” Nekane leans back in his chair. “Possibly your mate too, if she’s his sister. Sibling Novas are—” “Volatile,”
“Arthur, that boy—” I start, but he lifts his hand calmly. “I know. Trust me, I know. I held his tainted memories for weeks.” He looks down at his table of Novas, small in number, but the power in the few is far superior to the rest. “He has darkness inside his heart as well as his Shadow.”
“She’s fine. She turned off her emotions.” Arthur grins somberly. “I know, and yet she still suffers.”
One thing is apparent: everyone at our table is certainly afraid of the Novas. The threat of blight is enough to seal the deal for anyone who doesn’t want a death sentence.
“Remember, the Culling Assessment was just the beginning of your time here at Alkrose. The second-semester exam is eleven weeks from today and half of you will not survive it.”
“But your sacrifice will not be in vain. The strong Shadows will learn and shine amidst the horror. Be brave. Face death boldly.”
No one spoke to Raine or me over dinner, so I don’t bother saying anything as I stand to leave. Raine silently follows. I’m thankful I at least have him, a constant in all this chaos.
“What you did can’t be undone.” “Terra, I thought I was keeping you safe. I was afraid my father would come after us and you know how he was… I didn’t know all this would happen. I couldn’t have known.”
“Of course you couldn’t have known, but I was ready to take a chance with you, Finn. The two of us against the unknown world, remember? Instead, you broke my heart.” My hand rests over my chest. “You didn’t even look back.”
“It can’t be undone, but I won’t give up, Terra. Never again. I won’t give up on us.” He grabs my hands. I never thought I’d see the day Finnick Rott would beg for anything, let alone for me. “I promise you, I’ll fix this. All of it.”
“It’s sad that you think any of it can be fixed, Finn, and especially sad that you think I can be the girl I was. There is no us. Good night.”
The cold breeze chills me to my core, but I’ve been frozen inside since the night we said our final goodbye. And just the same as that night, I don’t look back at him ...
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“Off,” Lucina interjects as she slows next to us. “Yeah—she seems off.” Aervin smooths his hand over the back of his head, his brows pulling down in concern. “You seem off too, Edgar.”
I grin callously. “Off? Does your Shadow not tug on your insides and twist you into something more sinister, Aervin?” I tilt my head in his direction and he flinches. “Um… No, it doesn’t,”
Their Shadows don’t have the power I do. Sully’s voice curls into my spine and wraps around my bones. They will die, all of them.
“Don’t let it take you away from us, Edgar. We need you… and I hope you need us too.” He pulls back but keeps his hand planted on my shoulder. “Don’t let the Shadows drag you into the dark. We’re all still here, aren’t we? We’ll be okay as long as we stick together.”
“Why do you hide in mirrors and in visions only I can see?” Sully smiles, the edges of its lips curled but its eyes stony and lifeless. It’s just how I am. Each of us is different in our own ways. I prefer to shadow my vessel’s subconscious. Trust me, you don’t want to meet the real me.
“My subconscious?” It laughs. The sound echoes as if we are in a cave. Yes, before you received your memories, you saw a shattered boy, traumatized and trapped in your mind. Now you are whole, somewhat, and I reflect that.
“I am… I’m sorry you all worried on my behalf.” Tamaris stands abruptly, angry and fueled with her usual spite. “Well, care to explain what happened?”
“There’s not really anything to explain. Surely, you went through the medical exam the same way I did. Arthur brought me here after they confirmed I was Nova, and they forced me to use my abilities for Fernestia.”
“Wait… you’ve been helping them? What exactly is your Shadow capable of?”
Ash’s eyes open and find Rowan’s. “Yes, I have. My Shadow can warp space.” We’re all confused for a moment, but then it clicks in my head. My veins turn hot and I’m on my feet in a second, fists clenched at my sides. My emotions get the better of me. “Wait, you made the portals?”
To his credit, Ash doesn’t shy away from my lethal glare. His dull gray eyes linger on me with little interest. “I did.”
“It was to protect all of you,” he says softer, but my rage cannot be quelled. “This—all of this—is your fault,” I say with venom.
“My parents are dead—” Ash takes four long strides toward me. My eyes widen with his icy confidence. His Shadow spills from the tips of his fingers in dark wisps, chilling my bones. “All of our parents are dead, dickhead. The only thing I did was speed up this shitty situation in order to save my friends.”
“And it looks like you’ve already blighted one of them. As far as I’m concerned, you are the one killing the only people I care about left in the world.”
“What the fuck is he talking about?” Blighted? What is he talking about? Lucina’s blue eyes have the fractures that my Nova Shadow imprinted on her—is that what he means?
“She’ll die before the school year is done, and it’ll be your fault.” My eyes widen and words escape me. No. Vinnie pushes his glasses up and looks closely at Lucina’s eyes. “Is that what the fractures in her eyes are?”
Ash nods and the rest of my friends look over at me slowly, judgment and disbelief replacing their former faith in me. “How do we get rid of it?” Rowan asks in a voice that threatens to break my heart.
“It can’t be removed,” Ash says plainly, looking at me with cold eyes. The room quiets and Lucin...
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“It’s okay, Edgar,” she says softly and I know she means it. The dark circles beneath her eyes reveal her weary heart and it makes me sick. “It’s not.” I shake my head.
nearby. “I don’t want to do things for Fernestia like you, Ash. I want to fight against them. Edgar and Lucina do too. That’s why I called all of us together.”
“I don’t want to help them either.” Tamaris nods beside her. Vinnie and Rowan seem on the fence about it. “You’re just going to get yourselves killed,” Ash says vehemently.
“So you’re going to keep helping them?” Aervin says as his face twists in disgust. Ash nods, his face impassive. That seems to get the rest on board.
Vinnie clenches his teeth and mumbles, “It’s all the same either way. I’d rather die fighting for ...
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It’s difficult to watch them fall apart over this. I know Ash’s memory was something they all cherished, but now it seems lik...
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Ash takes notice of the shift in his friends and shakes his head. “You’ll all die. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Please, stay,” I whisper. His eyes are rimmed in red. Fatigue pulls at his grin. “Are you begging me?” My brows pinch together but I’m too tired to argue with him. “Please?”
