We flee in silence, scrambling over slick boulders, then sloshing through a muddy stream that runs along the canyon floor. No one stops to acknowledge the dawn when it brightens the ribbon of sky above us. This isn’t a sunrise to celebrate. Each new second could bring with it the shouts of our pursuers. The hiss and crack of slicer fire. An explosion to signal the death of our friend.

After what feels like an hour of running, Astrid stops short beside me. “Enforcers,” she warns in between quick breaths. “They’re coming.”

As soon as she says it, I feel them too: a dark presence, closing the gap between us like a pack of hungry rippers. Their collective aura is easy to find. Red for bloodlust. Black for death.

“How close?” Dillan demands.

“I –” Astrid flutters her eyelids, then squints in frustration. “I don’t know. They were right on top of us, but now...”

“Their aura’s fading,” I finish. “I think they’re moving away. Following Thea.”

Dillan’s jaw twitches and I’m hit with a sudden flash of memory. Thea’s hand, small and cold in his. The softness of her lips. A whispered promise of better times to come. The fragments crowd together, each one cutting deeper into his heart. When he meets my gaze, searing white pain gives way to a red pulse of anger. I don’t need to sift to know what he’s thinking. You’re not worth the sacrifice.

“Let’s move,” he snaps, turning to his men before I can offer him any words of sympathy.  As if I’d know what to say. “Rem and Sands, take point. Everyone else, flanking position. Go!”

We pick up speed as the canyon widens, carving our way through sandstone spires that tower overhead like daggers. No words. No breaks. Just the rasping sound of our breaths, the steady thud of boots on mud as we push our bodies to the breaking point. Whenever it looks like there’s an opening in the distance, more walls of rock rise up to crush my hope. It’s like chasing a mirage.

“Wait!” Astrid grabs my arm from behind. “Did you hear that?”

I’m about to ask what she means when a familiar sensation prickles my scalp and neck. When our eyes meet, I know she’s feeling it too: the same mysterious force that touched me in Washton and York, right before...

I can’t stop them all. Tell Dillan I –

Thea!

Her telepathic warning ends with a muffled boom, followed by a low, menacing rumble. We all freeze as the sound deepens and intensifies into a growl, rattling grit and rocks loose from the canyon walls.

“Cover them!” Dillan shouts, a split second before Rem throws himself on top of me. I fight beneath the soldier’s crushing weight, elbowing him away even though I know he’s only trying to protect me. Debris thuds off his back, but he refuses to budge. When the dust cloud settles, I crawl out from under him. There’s a dent in his battle helmet and dark blood seeping from a gash in his forehead, but he doesn’t seem to notice the wound.

“Thanks,” I say, helping him back up. “Are you okay?”

“Been through worse.” He shrugs off the damage, eyes shifting to a pile of boulders a few feet away. I follow his gaze, my stomach clenching when I notice a dark, muscular arm jutting out from the debris.

Where’s Vin? I spin around in panic, letting out a huge sigh of relief when I spot him holding Brenne. Astrid scrambles to her feet beside them, eyes already scanning the canyon for the next threat. Meanwhile, Brenne kneels to check the fallen soldier’s pulse, then shakes her head and tells Dillan she’s sorry.

I stare at the dead man, my mind jumping to the rock fall that crushed him.  To Thea’s telepathic warning, cut short by a muffled boom. And just like that, I know.

She’s gone. Thea, my childhood friend. My guide. I’ve lost her.

The terrible knowledge swells inside me, squeezing my throat until it hurts just to breathe. I turn to Lily, watching helplessly as she chokes out a sob and drops to her knees. When I close my eyes, her anguish burns into me like waves of molten silver. I’ve never known this kind of heartache before. Her pain, amplified a thousand-fold by mine.

“She’s done it,” Cael says, holding Lily to console her. “She’s taken them out.”

“No.”  Dillan spins around to face us, jaw clenched in anger. “All she’s done is bought us time. They’ll keep coming.” His gaze lifts to an outcropping of rock that juts overhead, then darts to Rem. “Bury ten shock charges beneath that ledge. Use pressure triggers. Bioelectrics won’t work.”

As his men jump to action, he turns back to Cael, his voice calm again. Back in command. “The gorge opens up in another mile. Our forward scouts will be waiting there. They’ll take you to the helis. Don’t wait for us.”

“But –”

“Thea sacrificed her life for them!” Dillan turns from Astrid to me, glaring. “I won’t lose her for nothing. Now go, or I’ll order my men to carry you!”

Before Cael can protest further, the Aletheian general stalks away to join his men, who are already busy burying mines and setting trip wires. They’re preparing an ambush. This is where Dillan plans to make his last stand.

“You’re making a mistake,” I call after him. “Thea wouldn’t want this.”

“Is that so?” He whips around, lips curling into a snarl that makes me take a quick step back. When his gaze meets mine, I see the conflict roiling there. Doubt warring with belief. Hope, fading to despair. “You know nothing about Thea, boy. You have no idea what she wanted.” He swallows. “What we just lost.”

Alarms go off in my mind. There’s something jarringly familiar about the way he’s looking at me now. Something that triggers the instinct to run. I’m the rabbit and he’s the hawk, staring down at me.

But Thea trusted this man. I’m pretty sure she loved him.

I close my eyes, knowing there’s no other way to resolve this conflict. He’ll hate me even more for the intrusion, but I don’t have a choice.

Concentrate. Filter out the loudest sounds first. The thud of metal biting into dirt. The grunts of Dillan’s men as they dig. Their breaths, ragged with exertion. The scrape of shifting rocks. Vin’s voice followed by Brenne’s, murmuring in quiet conversation.

That’s when I see it, in two lighting flashes of memory.

The first: a man and a woman in gray prisoners’ uniforms, bodies slumped together in front of a blood-stained wall. Mom. Dad.

The second: a young Cillian Gant, thin lips twisted into a nasty little smile. He did this.

The vision tunnels at the edges, but I fight off Dillan’s resistance just long enough to see Gant staring back at him, gray eyes narrowed in disgust.

 “You’re –” I blink, afraid to put what I just glimpsed into words.  How could I have missed it? Dillan’s eyes. They’re the same shark-skin color, only his are touched with blue. “You’re his brother?”

The Aletheian turns away, fists balled at his sides. His answer comes in flashes of crimson, purple and amber.  Fury. Betrayal. Shame.

Someone grabs my shoulder to jerk me around. It’s Lily, looking like she wants to strangle me. The shadow of a fast-moving cloud passes behind her as she shouts, “I warned you never to do that again! You had no right!”

“But he’s –!”

Dillan’s on me before I can finish the accusation. He hooks an arm around my neck and tries to tackle me, but I roll out from under him as we hit the ground, then spring back to my feet. Rage pounds in my ears like a war drum. Bloody traitor! I'll kill him!

But someone has beaten me to the attack. Something.

Dillan cries out in pain, flailing at the shadow that has him pinned to the ground. Sounds fly at me in chaotic bursts. A ripping noise. Rabid snorts and growls. Shouts of panic. My mind jumps to the movement I sensed behind Lily just seconds ago. No sound. No warning. A silent killer, cloaked in darkness.

Shadow ripper!

Dillan didn’t just attack me. He pushed me out of the way. Sacrificed himself, like Thea. But not this time. No one else is dying for me.

I aim for the ripper that’s mauling him and shoot – Pop! Pop! Pop! – in staccato bursts, knowing I hit my mark when the creature yelps and lurches away. Are there others? I get my answer a split second later when a high-pitched scream pierces my heart.

Brenne! I spin around and fire at the terrifying blur that’s charging toward her, but it’s like trying to hit a speeding bullet. All I can do is watch helplessly as the shadow ripper pounces. As Vin jumps between Brenne and its gaping jaws.

Vin’s reflexes are lightning fast, but he may as well be standing still. The ripper clamps down on his shoulder with a sickening crunch, then thrashes about like it’s trying to rip his arm from its socket.

Vin’s screams echo through the canyon as I run toward him. No clear shot but I have to do something. Have to stop this monster before it tears my friend apart. I close the gap between us and aim for the dark, writhing mass.

Nothing! Frag gun’s out of ammo!

“Hey!” I fling my useless weapon at the ripper. “I’m right here! Come and get me!”

No reaction, so I lunge for its hindquarter, grabbing what feels like a bundle of iron rods wrapped in blister wire. Bristles of fur slice through my skin. When I refuse to let go, the ripper’s tail slashes my cheek. It burns like acid, but I ignore the pain and hold fast.

“Let him go!” I pick up a rock with my free hand and jab the creature’s flank.

Vin stops screaming as the ripper releases him, but now I have a new problem: five hundred pounds of growling predator, attention now fully turned to me. Foaming jowls peel back to reveal rows of serrated, blood-stained fangs. 

Not good. I lunge backward, feeling the ripper’s hot breath as it – Snap! – misses my neck by inches. Then I roll on my side and cover my throat, knowing that’s where the killing strike will come. Can’t outrun it. Can’t stop those shark-like teeth from tearing into my carotid. Nothing to do but hope for numbness. For a quick, merciful death.

Crack-thunk! A firecracker explodes above my head, followed by a sudden rush of heat. Hot liquid, splattering my face. Salty on my lips.

Blood. Must be mine but I didn’t feel any pain. Something massive falls over me, like a blanket of lead. Suffocating. I struggle against the weight, wondering if I’m dead and trying to pull free from my body.

But then I open my eyes and see Lily. She’s pointing her frag gun right at me. At the mess of fur, shattered bone and grizzle that’s draped over me like a coat made from roadkill. She must have hit the ripper at point-blank range.

I crawl out from under what’s left of it and stagger to my feet. To my right, Dillan lies slumped against the canyon wall. He lets out a groan as Cael and Rem work on his wounds.  But where’s Vin?

“Med kit!” Brenne shouts from behind me. “Now!”

The frantic edge in her voice tells me what I’ll find. I don’t want to look. Don’t want to make it real, but I must turn around and see him.

No. Not Vin.

It’s worse than I feared.

My best friend lies motionless, his life bleeding out onto the dark, wet ground.

***

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