Not like I have time for a relationship anyway, between training and hunting. I barely have time to rest. Father always thought Val and I would end up together. He said she’d be a suitable partner with whom to carry on the hunter’s legacy one day. He urged me not to make thesame mistake he did in marrying someonesoftlike my mother. Val is a fine hunter, but she’s only interested in girls. And I’m not interested in her like that anyway. She’s my closest friend. Myonlyone, and—
A scream pierces the night.
My body goes rigid. Alert. That sounded nearby.
I’m already moving, racing in that direction. I don’t slow. Don’t stop. That wasn’t any ordinary scream. It was the kind that shreds my insides. It sounded like Nils’s screams that would wake me in the middle of the night when I was younger. The kind full of primal terror—
There.
A girl lies in the courtyard ahead. Another girl is standing over her.
Run faster, Amund!My boots pound over the ground as I race toward them, reaching for my weapon, ready to pull it in a split second if necessary. As I get closer, I recognize the second girl’s short platinum hair.
Edith.
The girl lying at her feet has had her stomach ripped open.
Disemboweled.
The wounds inflicted are raw and primal, not clean and efficient. It’s the work of an animal’s claws. Flesh shredded to ribbons. No human is capable of such savagery. Only a berserkr.Thisis why we hunt them. Why we kill them. Because if we don’t, innocent people will die.
No need to check for a pulse. I’ve seen plenty of death, but I’m still not prepared for it.
My gaze flicks to Edith. At first I can’t tell which she is: prey or predator. She makes no move to run. Frozen in place, she makes no movement at all.
Unlike when we first met, she doesn’t so much as look up at me. Her face remains expressionless as she stares at the mutilated body lying before her. Blood covers both her hands.
Realization punches into me. Edith is no witch.
She’s aberserkr.
How could I have been so wrong? I grab hold of Edith’s arm.
She doesn’t resist me.
I reach for my radio with my free hand. “There’s been an incident on the witch campus.”
Sharp static answers first. Then Father says, “Heading your way.”
I shove the two-way radio away, turning my attention back to Edith. Her clothes are bloody. There’s no evidence of tearing like I’d expect if she’d transformed. No trace of claws, at least not anymore, but her hands are stained red, slick with blood…
Edith isn’t just a berserkr.
She’s a murderer.
CHAPTER SEVENEDITH
The hunter has me in a viselike grip, as if trying to keep me from running away. I guess he doesn’t realize that at this point, it’s all I can do to remain standing.
“What have youdone?” The hunter’s voice is harsh and low. Some distant part of me realizes this is Amund, but I can’t seem to focus.
I don’t know. I don’t know what happened. Yesterday, Emilía was showing me around Skallagrim, laughing loudly. Now she’s lying in the grass before me.Dead.I don’t even know how I got here. The last thing I remember, I turned around to go warn Emilía, fearing she could be in danger. Then… nothing. Not until I came to standing over her body.
I try to speak, but my throat is thick.
Words won’t come.
My heart beats so hard it feels like it’s going to burst out of my chest. I can’t tear my gaze away from Emilía’s horrific wounds. Even though she’s lyingrightin front of me, my mind can’t make sense of what I’m seeing.
