A chill set into her bones.
No, she screamed in her head when the realization dawned. The Revenant wasdrinkingfrom her, sucking her spiritual energy dry. Was this what her mother felt when she was dying? Was this the fate she had saved Rui from?
“Rui!”
The air exploded with light.
Ada was fighting her way over.
“He’s not real, Rui! We’re in a simulation—focus!”
Rui blinked.
Focus.The Revenant wasn’t real. None of this was real. The only thing real was that her mother was gone forever. Anger roused her strength. This was her chance to kill her mother’s murderer. Even if he was an image, even if he wasn’t real, she had made a vow.
She dug deep, reaching for whatever spiritual energy she had left. Light flickered near her hand.
The Revenant lifted his head from her neck. “What are you doing?”
“Killing you,” she spat, and swung her arm.
Crimson light flashed.
Cold air gusted, and she fell to the ground, landing awkwardly on her shoulder. She was spent. Empty inside. As her vision blurred and the world dimmed, she heard Ash’s mocking voice over the speakers.
“If this were the real world, Cadet Lin Ru Yi, you would be dead.”
3
Rui
Ignoring the healer’s pleas to stay, Rui left the infirmary after she woke and went straight to Teshin to ask for a crossbow. She’d seen what the small contraption could do and was itching to get her hands on one. The next hour was spent alone in her dorm room, familiarizing herself with the weapon and stewing in anxiety as she waited for Ada to tell her if they had passed the test.
The answer came in the form of a knock on the door.
Rui sprang out of bed. “Did we pass?”
“Obviously not.” Ada stepped in, her eyeliner looking more smudged than usual. She kicked off her shoes and flung her navy school blazer over the chair. “I got swarmed after you fainted. Couldn’t kill all the monsters by myself.”
“Did they drink from you?” Rui asked, rubbing her arms. She couldn’t shake that feeling from earlier, like she was drowning in ice water.
“No,” Ada said. “When it was clear you were out like a light and I wasn’t making any progress, Ash stopped the program. I told you to pace yourself, Rui. We aren’t endless wells of spiritual energy. There’s a limit to our abilities, even yours. You should’ve listened to me—remember what we talked about?”
“Hunting Revenants is a team sport,” Rui said morosely, crawling back into bed. She wrapped her blanket around her head. Working with others wasn’t her strong suit, and she was picky about who she spent time with. It was a bad trait to have if she wanted to be an Exorcist, but she knew better than to rely on other people. Sooner or later, everyone would disappoint. It was only a matter of time. That was humanity in a nutshell.
The bed dipped as Ada climbed on.
Rui felt a poke at her ribs, and she stuck her head out of the blanket. “I’m sorry. I know you wanted to pass the test on the first try.”
“It’s okay,” Ada said, the corners of her mouth curling. She never stayed upset with Rui for long. “At least we get another chance at beating the program, and we’ll be more prepared now that we know what the test is about.”
“Facing our deepest fears?”
Ada nodded. “It’s a low trick, even for Ash. I can’t believe he programmed it that way. That Revenant looked exactly like Aidan, and I”—she drew a shuddering breath—“I blew a hole in him.”
It was easy to kill a Revenant when it looked like an inhuman creature, when it was something terrible andother. But if Aidan, the real Aidan—the sweet, unmagical brother Ada adored—if he were ever turned into a Revenant somehow while still looking like himself, it would be Ada’s job to kill him.
Because he’ll no longer be Aidan. He’ll be a monster, Rui reminded herself.
