As Sora starts jotting down notes in her tablet with a white-pointed pen, I feel a wash of relief. Even in the Forge, even as an Untamed pretending to be a Common and impersonating my sister, maybe I won’t be entirely alone. I never had any friends besides Grayson and maybe Sullivan, but he was always more of a parent rather than an age-mate.
Once I settle in, I can learn exactly what the regime is hiding. Whatever my mother had discovered, it had been enough to make her run from Division Three.
Most nights, I am haunted by the fact that I could have saved her if I had known how to properly control my powers and hadn’t been so burdened by my emotions.
I can control time. I could have helped her escape.
If only I had learned to hone my skills, I wouldn’t have failed her.
It is a regret that weighs heavily on me.
One that I don’t plan to repeat.
chapter
five
Haven
Light drips across the room like a broken faucet, rousing us from our slumber. I flinch against the harsh, blinding flash. The clatter of boots on concrete echoes through the halls, crisp and rhythmic, pushing everyone to move faster than any alarm ever could.
I take a deep breath, the cold biting my lungs, and swing my legs over the ladder, bracing myself for the day ahead.
“Nervous?” Sora asks.
“Curious,” I correct. “I want to see what fresh hell they put us through.”
“You sound excited?” She groans. “Don’t tell me you are looking forward to this?”
I grin sheepishly. “Will you hate me if I say yes?”
“No, but Iwilljudge you.”
Knox is pacing outside the dormitory, clipboard in hand, looking far too chipper for someone overseeing the first round of morning chaos.
“You are an instructor?” I ask, dumbfounded.
“When I feel like it.”
Knox turns back to the recruits and bellows.
“Move fast, and stay in line. You have five minutes to get ready.”
“Five minutes? That’s not enough time to detangle my hair,” I grumble.
“I heard that, Mercy,” Knox calls. “No smart comments. At least not until I’ve drunk my customary cup of coffee.”
Sora stares at me with a raised brow.
“You know Knox Fraser?” she whispers, as we make our way to the bathing chamber.
“Not really,” I say. “I just met him.”
“He’s best friends with Ender Vale,” she says.
I don’t react, and she elbows me.
“The Supreme Director’s son,” she explains. “He’s the Continent’s finest weapon. Gifted. Ruthless. Beautiful. He’s an Illusionist—the first of his kind. He can make you see what isn’t there, believe what isn’t true. He’s dangerous.”
