What if Sophia hadn’t been cruel at all? What if she’d been terrified of what Audrey would become?
She pushed her face harder into the filthy concrete and fought for air. For the first time since the fire came out of her hands, she felt the full pressure of it: she might not survive herself.
Emerson made one last violent attempt to rise. Nikos drove him back down so hard that Audrey heard the breath leave him.
Her eyes closed at the sound. Whatever strange alliance had existed between them was ending here, on concrete and broken glass. Whatever happened next, Mihail’s people would decide the path, the destination, and the terms. Emerson was no longer the one moving her through the story. He was just another figure being left behind.
Nikos made a harsh noise, half-curse, half-growl. “He’s still going to kill you when he finds out she’s dead.”
“I didn’t kill Sophia,” Mihail said. “Audrey did. And we would’ve had to put her down eventually. She was fraying. Audrey just saved us some trouble.”
“You'd better hope you can convince him this one is worth it,” Nikos insisted. “Cary’s a ghost, and we need a Simas for what Ryker’s planning—specifically, a gold triad, telepathic and more. And I need my sister back. How are you even sure she is a gold triad?”
Mihail wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. “Ryker’s been testing what survives pressure for years, looking for Voíríans strong enough to hold all three abilities without fraying. The fire and telekinetic abilities have been easy to find, but telepathy is so rare among our people that it’s practically impossible,” he said. His eyes fell to Audrey, preciseand chilling. “That’s why Sophia attempted to bury you on Earth. You weren’t hidden from us because you were weak. You were hidden because, if Ryker sees what’s in you, he’ll claim it.”
Audrey fought against the shackles, her voice ragged. “What exactly do you want with me?”
Neither Mihail nor Nikos bothered to answer her; they didn’t even glance her way. Instead, the two men continued their conversation as if she were a malfunctioning piece of equipment discarded in the gutter.
“Ryker was overseeing the Conscription trials, so he tasked me with handling this personally. He still doesn’t trust me after last year.”
Conscription. Trials. Ryker was in charge of both. Audrey filed it away. If Ryker wanted Sophia and Cary—and now her—then whatever a gold triad was, it mattered. Her sister was in danger. And Audrey would sacrifice herself gladly to keep her out of this nightmare.
“It was the right call,” Nikos said.
“I know,” Mihail replied with steady confidence. “But Ryker will want to see Audrey for himself. And when he does, this will make sense.”
Even Mihail sounded careful when he said that name. She sensed both men’s eyes falling on her.
Mihail continued. “So, time to go home. Let’s get them drugged. Prep the Si-IDs. We’re moving them through the route.”
Home.
The word meant nothing anymore.
Audrey’s stomach knotted at the reference to Silo IDs. She’d surmised what they were based on what Emerson had told her and the trap they’d originally set for her mother.
Transit clearance for off-world movement.
“Wait,” Audrey stammered, trying to squirm away from their shadows. “Wait, wait, where are you taking us?”
Nikos gave her a slow, wicked grin. He dug into his coat and pulled out two prepped syringes, liquid shining in the alley’s weak light.
Maybe it was a sedative, or something worse. She prayed it would wipe all of this out, scour it clean. Blankness sounded easier than waking up wherever they were taking her.
“See you on the other side,” Nikos drawled, catching her chin and turning her face away, exposing her neck.
Her body tensed—and still, some deep, broken part of her leaned toward the needle. Hungry, always hungry for the quiet it promised.
The needle bit into her neck.
The alley dissolved around her.
Earth disappeared with it.
Then the world went dark again.
18
