“Ready? Now!”
Not wasting a single second, we all flew out of the doorway, moving in a sort of huddle down the halls. Every floor was shaped in a large square, connecting at the stairwell. That meant two left turns and we’d be there. We rounded the first in thirty seconds, my arms pumping quickly as I maintained the lead.Az took up the rear, a spot he’d refused to negotiate during our meticulous planning.
Heart racing, I spotted the second turn just as I heard footsteps. I skittered to a halt, reaching my arms out to force the others to stop too. “Someone’s coming, hoods up and masks on!”
Whether or not they obeyed, I didn’t know. All I could do was continue walking at a brisk pace, my hands quickly reaching up to tuck the stray curls behind my ears.
A duo turned the coming corner, their smiles wide as they discussed a new tonic. Neither of them seemed to notice us at first, too entrenched in their conversation about ingredients and brew times. Just as I was convinced we’d be in the clear, the man on the right shook his head, his eyes wandering as he did. We made eye contact for only a second or two. Barely anything. But it must have been enough to see the glittering stars in my irises.
“It’s the akhata!” he managed to shout just before I balled my fist and swung. I hit him dead on, a sickly crunch sounding as my knuckles sunk into his nose. The woman beside him screamed, though she was taken down quickly by Otarn, who didn’t hesitate to snap the her neck.
“You didn’t have tokillher!” I hissed.
She stared at me through her mask, eyes squinted. “Lose the performative conscience, Tershetta. We’ve got shit to do.”
Az ran up to me, gripping either side of my head and looking into my eyes. “You’re okay?”
“I’m fine, Mother.”
Through his mask, I saw his grey eyes crinkle. “I always did love that left hook of yours.”
“Okay, you sex addicts. Keep it in your pants long enough to get us out of here,” Caleb said as he stepped up to us.
Rolling my eyes, I pivoted and darted for the stairwell in the distance, nearly barreling into the door. I tore it open, rushing towards the stairs. As I took them two at a time, I thought of theelite who lay dead on the floor. Of what Jonah said about what we were. The panic at potentially being caught seemed to eagerly cling to the elite’s crooked neck and open jaw as we hit the next floor. Only seven to go.
“Someone will find the bodies any time now, we need to move faster!” Az shouted from the back of the group. I pushed myself, leaping the last four steps of each stretch and hitting the concrete landings with painful, bone shaking smacks.
Right as we hit the third floor, three masked elites came dashing up the stairs, stopping when they saw our group. Refusing to waste anymore time, I slowed my pace and walked to the side of them, hoping the others would follow my lead. The trio was coming from a lower floor, the likelihood they even realized what was going on was slim.
At least, that was what I told myself as my cloak sleeve brushed against one of theirs.
Suddenly, my arm was being gripped, the hold too tight. I looked over, seeing a set of brown eyes through the mask. “You two go ahead, I’ve been meaning to talk to Elite Jones.”
Jones? Who did this person think I was?
Both of the other elites continued on, hopping up the remaining steps and loudly exiting through the third floor doorway.
Could I fake it? Would they realize?
Nodding, I ushered the others forward.Please go without me. Keep moving.
If they somehow heard my silent pleas, none of them listened. They all grouped together, Az’s hand finding the elite’s wrist. “You should really let her go.”
“And you should probably consider not bringing her to a place where she’ll be tortured and abused like a puppet!” The woman ripped her mask off as she spoke, practically spitting thesecond half of her sentence in Altair’s masked face. Stunned, I let out a faint gasp.
“Elite Bargain?”
How, of all the people to run into, could it be her? And how on Dajahim did she know it was me?
“Nova. After all the work I put into training you as a grunt, you plan to throw your life away like this? For what?Cores?”She spit the words like venom, practically hissing outcores.And I couldn’t blame her. Not when even the elite suffered beneath the reign of darkness that was the core regime. I should’ve known before. What kind of elite treated an of eadi like they were worth anything? Definitely not a normal one.
“We’re leaving, I swear. If we can just get to the northern wards, we’ll be gone and won’t be back.” If she believed my quick, hushed words, she didn’t show it on her stern face. I almost wished I could hug her, if only for the memories of better times when I went home to my family every afternoon. “Please. Just let us go.”
Az still held Bargain’s wrist firmly, his body tense at my side. The others were silent, but I could imagine we all held our breath as Elite Bargain stared me down. When she released my arm, I nearly sighed in relief.
“I’ll get you to the wards. You’ll have better luck with me leading, seeing as one of you is abnormally tall with silver poking out of their hood and another has curls so thick the hood almost floats off your head. You’re too noticeable on a regular day, let alone when everyone is already on edge. Let’s move.Quickly.”She yanked her wrist out of Az’s hold, turning and dashing down the stairs.
I began to follow, but Azazel ran to my side, slowing me with a whispered, “We can’t trust her. There are already too many of us and too much at stake!”
