As we start running down the hallways I notice something. My dad is right, all the cells are empty. We finally reach the hallway Beast would be in, but I find it dreadfully silent. I run to the cell we were in, but it's dark and empty.
"No," I hit the bars. "No!"
"Zoe," Jack starts but I cut him off.
"He can't be too far. Where are they taking them anyways?" I ask Aspen. "Raven isn't leaving the compound with their prisoners right?"
"No," he pauses and I know he doesn't want to tell me his idea of what Raven does but he sighs and says, "As far as I can tell, Raven is taking their abilities within the compound and disposing of the bodies somewhere else."
"So if Beast isn't in here, then he might already by on his way to his death?" Reluctantly, Aspen nods. I start to pace in front of the cell. Jack tries to stop me but I pull away. "He was right here," I say. "If I hadn't been so...I wouldn't have missed him."
"We may still have time," Aspen says. "If we can catch them before they can take his ability, we may be able to ambush their system and save Beast."
"What about Trish and Shawn then?" I ask. "What about Nix or my cousin Maud or Jack's friends or—"
Aspen cuts me off, "Last I heard Nix was safe. She was off with John to find your mother, then they were planning to go find Trish and Shawn. I got Maud out once I found him. He's currently on his way to somewhere far from here. And as for Jack's friends..."
"There always has to be some sacrifices, right?" Jack says.
I look at him knowing he's lost so much. He never really had a family, that's why he couldn't understand friendship here. He never really had respect here, so he never felt like giving it out. He could never accept himself, that's why he hated me. He never felt accepted, that's why he envied me. But now look at him. He's done so much for me, for my friends. He's watched me break down before, he's been there when I was figuring things out with my mom's journal and he is here now. He's sacrificed the most, and it's all been for me...
My father seems to know what I'm thinking, because he says softly, "Come on, Zoey. There's no time to waste."
"Where would they have taken Beast?" Jack asks.
"To Kian. He's been channeling this...being," Aspen pauses.
"The black mist?" I ask.
He nods, "It's attacked you, I'm sure your aware. I don't know where it came from, but it's been able to get on Kian's side and together they've created an entire inner circle of the leaders of all the major compounds. Frawn and Red have given up their people, and now Omega is in the same process."
"What about Shadow?"
"That's another thing to discuss. Come on now we have to get back to Kian."
"Aspen," I stop him, "Whatever they do to drain an ability, it didn't work on me."
"I know," he says not even surprised.
"Why not?"
"We don't have time for this," Aspen emphasizes. "We have to get your friend and then leave this place."
"Hey," I stop him again from walking on. He stays in place and I ask him, "Why didn't it work?"
He takes in a breath and asks, "What did Maud tell you?"
"He told me the Shadows got invaded and they were killed if they didn't follow Star's new rules."
He shakes his head lightly, "I guess he got out early then."
"Why, what happened?"
We start to hear sounds of Raven troops getting closer to us and Jack says, "You two can discuss this later, we need to go now."
We take off to the right and run past all the empty cells. "Shouldn't we go back to the room we were just in?" I ask as we turn another hallway.
"No, Flame would have taken Kian out of there by now. Our best bet is to—"
"There they are!" Someone shouts from behind us. We all look back just as the troops aim and fire a shower off bullets at us. Aspen grabs me and shields me with his own body just as Jack ignites his hands and creates a fire shield. I look through Aspen's arms and see metal oozing from the shield.
"Smart thinking kid," Aspen says. He pushes me back a few step and pulls knives from his sleeves and throws them through the shield of the fire. We hear a few cries of pain and he smirks.
Our father could make swords fly from his hands.
"Let me through," Aspen says to Jack.
"You sure, they're still firing heavy rounds."
"Worry about protecting Zoey, not me."
Jack drops half of the shield and Aspen runs through. Suddenly several screams are heard. "Damn, he's got some deadly moves for an old guy," Jack says.
"He was an assassin, you know that," I say standing a bit closer to Jack.
We hear footsteps from the other side for the hallway and I turn to see a few Raven soldiers turning the corner. "Jack watch out!" I shout just as they start firing.
Jack cries out as a bullet tears into his arm. He drops the shield and throws a few fire balls at the troops. They duck and cover and Aspen runs back from the other side to take these guys on. I turn to Jack and see he's slid down the wall and it sitting on the floor.
"Come on, we need to get you out of here," I say trying to stand him up.
"Just give me a second, alright?" He holds his arm tightly. I look around and see the only threats to us are being handled by Aspen. I hear more footsteps from Aspen's side of the hallway.
"Jack, we really need to go."
"Help me up," he asks and I throw out a hand. He stands up and I see Aspen taking down the last of the first wave of troops.
"Aspen, let's go!" I shout.
"There's more coming," he calls back.
"They've infected the compound, there's always going to be more coming. Let's go now!"
He looks to me and nod. Suddenly his eyes bulge and he shouts, "Zoey!"
I look back just to see a hand grab my neck and toss me farther down the hallway from my father and Jack. "Zoey Ram," the man says in a low voice. "I've been waiting to meet you."
I cough looking up, "Who are you?"
His hands start to drip a strong acid smelling ooze. "I'm the one that's going to sign your death certificate." He retracts his hand and throws the oozing liquid at me. I shield my eyes with my arm, but suddenly my arm sizzles. I cry out, trying to wipe the acid off of me. The stinging is unimaginable.
I see a ball of fire attack the guy's back, but he doesn't even flinch. He just turns around and snarls at Jack. "You aren't my prey, but I will make it so if you wish."
So this is a super solider. The teleporter I encounter was a joke compared to this guy. I start scooting away from him as he walks towards me. I hear Aspen shout from the end of the hallway, "Come on now, Zoey! Panic is never a Shadow's friend!"
"I'm not a Shadow," I reply softly, knowing he can't hear me. I stand up and feel my senses sharpening. The man laughs and I feel my emotions stirring. My hands erupt with the brown of intent and the red of anger. If I couldn't decide my death, then there's no way I'm letting this man do so.
He laughs, "You're going to hurt me with some colors?"
I smirk, and hit the ground with my hands. The deep ridges make it to the man in seconds and he flies back. He winces and I see blood dripping from his arms where my attack hit him. "Not so confident now, are we?"
He shouts in frustration and shoots pins of toxic acid at me. With one hand in front of me, I walk towards the man. Every pin of toxic that hits my shield disintegrates. He shoots heavier rounds, but all he accomplishes is tiring himself out. I notice Jack is creeping up behind the guy, and I know he plans to do the same thing I do.
Once I feel he's ready, I breathe in and shoot all my energy at the guy. Jack does the same with his fire, and the man is trapped between our abilities. After a few seconds, I see the man drop to the floor and I drop my hands. The emotion leaves and I see Jack leaning against the wall, getting his breath back.
I step towards the man, knowing he's dead. But as I walk closer, I see a thin knife sticking out of his back, right where his heart would be. Jack and I didn't kill him, my father did.
I look up from the burnt corpse and see Aspen looking over Jack's arm. "You killed him, why?"
"He wasn't good enough to be your first kill."
"Why does that matter?"
"Because a Shadow's first kill is always someone who's—"
"I am not a Shadow," I say harshly.
"You are and it's time you deal with that," Aspen replies, while he rips a piece of sleeve from his undershirt and wraps it around Jack's arm. "I know you never felt like one because of how my family treated you and your brother but—"
"Don't blame them for something you were guilty of too."
"I went away because I needed to be alive to protect you."
"Where were you when I almost died then?" I ask. "When I was attacked by Raven and lost a mom, or when I was being abused by my uncle, where were you?"
He looks down and moves to start picking up his knives.
"Right. Mom had to leave to go find you so you two can live a life together without Phillip and me."
"Don't make this something it wasn't, Zoey. You know we wouldn't do that."
"Then why did you?" I shout. "Why did you leave me!"
His face contorts to pain and regret when he says, "Because I had to. Because Jen had to. Even Phillip had to take his part in leaving you."
"Why?" I ask, barely audible.
"I can't answer that. You'll find out when you're older, and you'll be glad we didn't tell you."
I scoff and turn away from my father. "This way," I say. I take one more turn and come face to face with a troop of Raven soldiers of at least a dozen. I gasp as Jack rips me away from the opening just before I'm showered in bullets.
"Run!" Aspen shouts.
Jack and I take off in the hallway and I can hear my father right behind us. We turn left and sprint down the hallway running from the sounds of heavy footsteps behind us.
"We can't keep running, they'll catch us eventually," Jack points out.
I nod and run to the nearest door. Fortunately, it's open. The three of us run in and shut the door just as the troops following us get into the same hallway.
Jack manages to lock the door seconds before we hear insistent banging. He slowly backs away from the door saying, "It won't hold for long, we have to figure a way out."
"That's the only door out of here, what do you think we should do? Dig a hole?" I ask sarcastically, kicking the metal flooring underneath us.
"I don't know!" Jack shouts back.
"Calm down, let's think this through," Aspen says. "It's always in a Shadow's best interest to—"
"I'm not a Shadow!" I shout, my voice cracking.
"Damn it Zoey, yes you are!"
"Why are you so bent on insisting I'm something I'm not?"
"Because if you aren't a Shadow then Maud and I are the only ones left!"
The silence following my father's shout mixes rudely with the tense air and the impending death by Raven troops. "Only ones left?"
He looks down and says softly, "I told you, Maud must have gotten out early if that's all he knew."
"What happened?" Jack asks.
"They died. Every single Shadow. If they didn't have an ability Star had them executed. They captured the ones that refused to switch sides, and had everyone watch as Kian tried to steal the power of the first, unlucky Shadow. Only, it didn't work. Something about the Shadow gene and ability stops the theft. They had the same reaction that you had. Kian, realizing they couldn't be useful, decided to have them all killed."
"Star was okay with that?"
"Star was one of the victims."
My jaw drops, "Kian betrayed Star?"
Aspen scoffs, "Kian betrayed everyone. The Frawn's leader was killed along with Star to ensure no rumors would go around that Kian wasn't a loyal partner. He has the Red compound's leader killed a week before that in secret and had no problem keeping it quiet. What he didn't know, was how close Star and Xavier were. He was filled in by Mole on that relationship."
"Is Mr. X..." Jack trails off.
"When the Raven attacked this compound Xavier thought he could tell them what to do. Instead he was one of the first deaths."
I lean against a nearby wall. This isn't happening. This can't be happening.
"I know you're a Shadow because you rejected Kian's ability draining. He must have thought you weren't completely a Shadow, but genes don't lie. I need you to accept who you are Zoey, because you might be the only one of your kind by the end of this day." A chill goes down my spine. The only one? What's my dad saying?
The banging increases, ensuring it's presence is known. "What are we going to do?" Jack asks. I inhale air though my nose and smell the familiar scent of a room that's slightly burnt. I look around and through the darkness of this large room we've locked ourselves in I realize something. It's a training room.
My training room.
The first dent in the door is made and Aspen picks up on my thinking and asks, "You have any ideas yet?"
I look to the back of the room and call out, "You still here?"
Jack looks back at me like I'm crazy. Before I give up I hear, So you've managed to stay alive? I'm impressed, I didn't think you'd make it past the smoke ventilation.
I laugh and run to the back of the room. I find his cage and I pull the huge tarp off of it. Jack and Aspen rush to catch up to me. "What am I looking at?" Jack asks. Right then the wolf growls a completely menacing growl and he jumps out swiping the air between us and him with his claws. Jack jumps back and bumps into Aspen, who seems only intrigued. "What...why is that here?"
"Is was Beast's challenge. He had to learn how to tame this wolf as a new method for his ability," I explain.
"You were already working on new abilities?" Aspen asks.
"Yeah, why is that such a big deal?"
He knows why, but he clearly isn't go to say anything, "What are we going to do about it?" Jack asks, still straying away from the cage.
The door of the training room sounds like it's almost weak enough to be broken down. I stand next to the cage and ask the wolf, "You ready to be set free from your cage?"
Thought you would never ask.
I smile and reach for the lock but Jack calls to me, "Wait, how do you know he isn't just going to kill us and save the Raven's a job?"
"He won't."
I will kill anything that stands in my path to the outside.
"We won't be in your path."
Then you will not die.
I nod, "There are people trying to break in here, you want to take care of them for me?"
So needy. Fine I will, but do not expect anything else from me.
"Understood."
"Are you talking to it?" Jack asks. Even Aspen seems surprised.
"Are you doubting that I can talk to a wolf?" He shrugs and I say, "Stand back and let the wolf be a wolf. Help me break this lock." Jack cautiously nears the cage and applies heat to the lock. The training room door flies off its hinges.
The cage lock breaks with a satisfying snap.