The air is tense in the mess hall. Everyone seems to be watching me, including my three tormentors.
“What are their names?” I ask Sora, pointing my fork at the idiots.
I need to learn exactly who my enemies are, and Sora seems to know everyone.
“The beefy blond is Aric Sumner,” Sora says, her dark eyes slide toward the figure sitting at the head of the table, “the brunette is Bronn Boswell, and the girl is Rei Carver.”
Her voice lowers. “Aric’s a Transporter. He can vanish from one spot and reappear somewhere else in the blink of an eye. Bronn’s an Energy-Manipulator; he bends raw power to his will, usually electricity. And Rei Carver, well, you know what she is.”
A Kinetic.
I nod, trying to remember their names.
“They are all Class Three,” Sora explains. “The Gifted are categorized when they are enrolled here. Class Three have physical powers, Class Two have mental powers, and Class One are the Untamed. Powers that are dangerous and unpredictable.”
There is a list of powers that are prohibited, like mind-reading, commanding, and time-bending. These are usually gifts that could topple the hierarchy or alter events. Even the Bind is not an option for these individuals. Death is the only solution.
On testing day, children who reveal these abilities are taken away.
The public assumes they are killed, but no one truly knows what happens. The moment a power falls under the list, the child becomes the property of the regime.
The next day, grieving parents walk the streets with haunted eyes and a lump sum deposited in their accounts. They are given better housing and invited to dinners with the governor.
But they are never the same after.
Icy water laps at my skin, sinking into my nostrils and making me violently splutter. I paddle frantically, trying to orient myself, and that’s when I hear an echo of laughter bouncing off the trees. We’re in the middle of a freezing lake. And across the body of water, the Gifted stand observing us, their mouths twisted in cruel delight.
I’m not alone. A few other Commons flounder beside me, teeth chattering, eyes wide with disbelief.
I force myself forward, breaking through the surface with a shuddering cough. By the time I stumble onto the muddy shore, the Gifted are leaning against the tree barks and sitting on rocks, their faces lit with amusement.
Aric, Bronn, and Rei are all smirking like they’ve won this twisted game.
The wind cuts through my hair, whipping at my soaked clothes. My bones quake as the chill seeps through me.
“You could have killed someone,” I hiss, voice trembling from the cold. “What if one of us couldn’t swim?”
Rei tilts her head, blue eyes glinting in the dark.
“It wouldn’t have mattered. Commons are expendable.”
I step close enough that for a moment she falters. She’s an inch taller than me, but I don’t let that stop me from looking at her like she is beneath me.
“You think that makes you better than us?” I snarl. “Just because you can fling objects around?”
Aric straightens, taking a menacing step forward.
“Careful, new girl,” he drawls.
Before I can respond, a hand wraps around my wrist. Sora. She’s pale and shivering. Her thick brown hair is plastered to her face like paint.
“Come on,” she whispers. “Let’s go.”
I didn’t even realize that she was one of their targets. Guilt slides down my throat, sticky and acerbic. I’m certain they chose her because she is my only friend here. The other four were probably picked at random.
“Not yet,” Bronn says, and suddenly his fingers flare with electric sparks.
The air crackles, and I freeze mid-step. If he touches me with that current while I’m wet, I’ll die.
