“No!” I cry.
Rei looks down at the gushing wound, then up at me. She smiles at me with a sad look in her eyes.
My heart cracks as she falls to her knees.
“Finish it, Warrick,” she says firmly. “Win.”
Rage floods through me, dark and absolute. I disarm Aric in one clean motion and strike. I slow time so he can’t outrun me with his gifts. And I sink my blade into his heart with a hard shove, watching him collapse to his knees.
The horn sounds again, concluding the end of the test. Sound filters in through my roaring ears. But I ignore the announcement and rush to Rei. I hold her head on my lap, pressing my hand to the wound.
“Stay with me, Rei,” I whisper. “Please.”
A doctor rushes towards me.
“Ms. Warrick, I’m here to?—”
“Fix her,” I order. “Now.”
He hesitates, staring at Rei. Her brilliant eyes are dull and empty. My heart shatters. She’s not moving.
He pulls her from my arms. A medic arrives with a stretcher. They begin to carry away the corpses. Something inside mewithers like a dying flower when they fold a white cloth over Rei and Flint.
“No.” I take a step towards them. “You need to heal them. You need to use your powers.”
“Mercy,” Spider says softly.
He grabs my wrist, holding me in place.
“It’s over,” he says. “You won.”
“But Flint and Rei need help,” I rush. “You have to help them.”
“It’s over,” he repeats. “There are no survivors. Except you.”
They are not saving them because they're dead. My best friends are dead.
“No,” I wail.
Pain lances through me, threatening to drown me under its weight.
This is his fault.Ender’s. He is to blame for everything.
His gaze is already stuck on mine. Blue eyes frosted with malice. It seems he is just as angry with me as I am with him.
This might be the start of a new battle.
chapter
forty-six
Ender
Haven won.
She’s on her knees, shoulders caved inward, staring at nothing. This should be her victory. Everything she schemed, lied, bled, and survived for is within her grasp. But all I see when I look at her is a broken little girl.
Spider left after she refused to come with him. Even the medical staff retreated when she snapped at them. They had reached for her with outstretched hands to fix her wounds, but she tore away from them like a wild animal.
