Chapter 7
chapter
seven
Haven
My fingers shake from my encounter with Ender. Anger coils in my belly like a sleeping beast, waiting to claw its way out. It takes everything in me to walk away from him without lashing out. Sora is waiting for me inside the main building, eyes tight with worry.
“He rarely comes to the training field,” Sora whispers. “Certainly, not the Commons side.”
I am not the only one surprised by his visit. Even though he is the Commandant of this place, people rarely see him. Apparently, he spends most of his time in Block A, the restricted building intended for high-level personnel.
It is clear to see that Ender had come with a single purpose: to break me. And while I can appreciate his dedication to the cause of humbling me, it unsettles me that he came all this way to put me in my place.
Maybe he and Mercy disagreed on a topic? And this is just him taking his frustrations out on me.
I did advise Mercy to rile him up.
I roll my shoulders, trying to shake the phantom weight of his blade at my throat. He looked like he wanted to sever my head.
The field had gone silent when he arrived. Everyone’s eyes had been wide with fear. A few strands of his dark hair had fallen into his icy blue eyes, and his ruby-red mouth had been tightened into a razor-thin line. Even I had been a bit alarmed at his presence.
When he looked at me, I felt his anger.
“Why did he pick you?” Sora asks.
I shrug.
The worst part isn’t that he attacked me.
It’s the fact that I had let my temper get the best of me.
I’d made mistakes. Too many. I used my powers to slip out from under his blade when he insulted my mother, slowing the moment just enough to step sideways and punish him.
My mother is my weakness. The one person I will defend to my last breath.
But using my powers is too dangerous. It had been twice now that I’ve relied on it.
And then there was my little lie.
Grayson Sullivan.
Poor, Gray, I never meant to use him as a scapegoat.
I’d thrown his name like a grenade, hoping it would buy me protection.
If Ender thought someone powerful cared whether I lived or died, maybe he wouldn’t slit my throat in my sleep.
He must have noticed that Warrick doesn’t care for my sister or me.
But the way Ender’s expression changed, I wonder if maybe my lie made things worse, not better.
“He looked like he wanted to kill you,” Sora murmurs.
I snort softly.
“He can get in line.”
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.
“Stop,” I say shakily. “You can’t kill me. It’s not allowed.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Rei says. “Not until you learn your place.”
I contemplate tossing out the High General’s title and hiding behind the safety of my surname, but to utter his name with anything but contempt feels wrong. I know that if Warrick ever heard this story, it would warm his cold, dead heart to know that I relied on him.
I grit my teeth, lake water rolling down my skin. I can’t speak the words that might save me. I can’t bring myself to surrender. Or use Warrick to get out of the situation. It doesn’t feel right.
“We’re sorry,” Sora pleads. Her words are desperate and frightened. “We know our place. We won’t cross your path again.”
“I want her to say it,” Aric says, pointing a finger at me. “Apologize, girl.”
My throat is tight. I can’t force out the words. My pride will be the death of me.
“Mercy, do it,” Sora says. “Please.”
I’m not weak, but I promised my sister I would survive, that I would not leave her behind in this cruel world.
I have to keep my word. For her sake.
“Sorry,” I spit out.
The word tastes like ash on my tongue. It burns my throat and hurts me more than I dare to admit. Twice in one day, I have had to debase myself. First, for Ender and now them.
Bronn takes another step forward.
The currents zap around my face. Inches away from my skin.
“I don’t believe you,” he says.
“I’m sorry,” I say, unclenching my jaw. “I mean it.”
“Let her go,” Aric says.
Bronn steps back, and Sora sighs in relief.
One day, I will have them at my mercy. One day, time will stop at my hands, and I will put a bullet in their heads.
The Gifted are selfish and cruel. They think they are gods—untouchable, invincible, unbreakable. I understand now why the rebels resist conformity, why they reject the Bind and live on their own terms. This is not a society I wish to be a part of. These are not people I want to stand by.
The walk back to the dorms is silent, save for the squelch of mud under our boots and the occasional groans from the shivering recruits.
The minute we step inside, everyone rushes to shed their soaked sleepwear.
Blankets are wrapped around bony shoulders, and the room fills with whispers about what happened at the lake.
I peel off my water-logged pants and shirt, tossing them into the corner. My braid is wet and heavy, bangs sticking to my forehead like cobwebs on an old house. I sink onto my bunk, shivering despite the heat of the room. We’ll be lucky if we don’t fall ill.
Sora sits beside me, brushing wet strands from her face. “Are you okay?”
“No.”
“I know that was hard for you,” she whispers. “You carry yourself like a Gifted. Strong and proud.”
“I’m not one of them,” I say tightly. “I’ll never be like those monsters.”
It doesn’t matter if I possess powers. I didn’t do shit to earn them.
Everyone seems to forget that we are altered.
Our bodies reacted differently to a toxin none of us understands.
That doesn’t make us special. That just means we were not as resistant as the Commons.
They persevered. They survived. While we became mutated.
In a different world, a sane one, our powers would be persecuted, not exalted.
I draw my blanket over my head, letting the heat wrap me in a cocoon.
Today was just a taste of what they have in store for us.
It will only get worse. That much I know for certain.
By morning, the lake incident had been circulating through the Forge for a couple of hours. Whispers follow us down the hallways, everyone seemingly amused by our misery. Sora is pretending at indifference, but I can tell the attention bothers her.
“I can’t believe they did that,” Sora mutters. “Who even thinks it’s funny to throw people into a lake at midnight? They are insane.”