The hated name echoed off the bright, tiled walls in the restroom, giving me what I needed to stand straight and turn around.
There stood a woman who appeared vaguely familiar.I couldn’t place her, but suspected I’d interacted with her at some point.Then again, espers sometimes ran together after a while.
“You actually show up here?”she asked, her toned arms crossed.“You’ve got more balls than I figured.”
I nearly asked her who she was when it hit me.
Rosalind.The last time I’d seen her, her face had looked different—but horror will do that to a person.No wonder I didn’t recognize her, what with the sneer of disgust on her features.
It also explainedwhyshe had that look.
Anyone who saw a guide put down a member of their squad would probably not be too thrilled with them.
“I was here with—”
“With Reject Squad.Yeah, I know—I saw.At first, I was pissed you would show your face here after everything you’ve done, but you know what?It makes sense that you’re withthem.”
The words chafed, but I refused to let her see she’d gotten beneath my skin.
Besides, she wasn’tentirelywrong, not after what had happened.
“I’ll be going.”No reason to fight with her over any of this.She had reason to feel the way she did, and to be honest, I didn’t want to be here any more than she wanted me here.
Plus, with the information discussed in the meeting, I wasn’t anywhere in my right mind.Even if I could have handled this sort of exchange normally, I sure wasn’t up to it right now.
I went to pass her, angling my body so I didn’t brush against her, when a strong current gripped me and shoved me back.My heels skidded against the tile floor, my cheeks so warm I worried they might have burned from the blast of hot air.
My back struck the hard tile, knocking the air from my lungs.
I blinked quickly, tears rushing from my eyes—not because I cried, but because of the searing air.When I could clear my vision enough to see, I spotted Rosalind before me, her lip curled up on one side.
Right, she could control weather—specifically wind and heat.It was easy to forget—or ignore—the specific abilities of espers.Guides could do a single thing, but espers had a nearly unlimited well of powers to pull from, and keeping it straight had always seemed like far too much work.
This reminded me of Rosalind, however, of what she wielded.She was only an A-Rank, of course, but an A-Rank could kill me just like an S.
“You think I’d let you just walk out of here?You get to walk away and pretend like you didn’t do a damn thing?What, just because you’re a guide?”Spittle hit my face as she spoke, a testament to her anger—as though my being trapped against a wall didn’t make the point just fine?
“I’m a guide,” I said, my voice cracking from the hot air that surrounded me.“Do you really think hurting me here is going to go well for you?”
“You think being a guide is a shield for you?You’re defective, nothing but a useless guide who hurts those you’re supposed to help.We’d be better off without having a time bomb like you around.”
She isn’t wrong.
The feeling of her powers restraining me scratched at my already wounded psyche.It was the worst time for this, but she was lucky she hadn’t physically touched me.I doubted I could handle that, even if I agreed with her.
If someone ended things, wouldn’t everyone be better off?
If I wasn’t around anymore, I couldn’t hurt others, wouldn’t experience pain myself.The temptation to just give in hit me—probably because I hadn’t defended myself on purpose so far.It had simply been that innate instinct for survival that had protected me before.
Just as I gave in, however, as I accepted this as the logical end to my life, the heat disappeared.
I collapsed forward, my knees striking the tile so hard my teeth snapped together.I braced my weight on my hands, breathing in greedy lungfuls of air, realizing just how little oxygen had been around me.
When I lifted my gaze to see why she’d decided not to kill me, I found a sight I sure hadn’t expected.
Carter stood there, Rosalind dangling by the throat in his grasp, gripping his wrist as she kicked her legs.His eyes shone bright purple, casting a glow over Rosalind’s face, and he appeared every bit the monster espers could be.
The most terrifying thing, though?The one that really set me off?
