K A N E

When we'd arrived at the hospital later, Finn informed us Benny and Delphinium had wisely been moved to two separate rooms far away from each other. If by some miracle they awoke, the last thing we wanted was for them to join up again.

The doctor pulled us into the hallway almost as soon as we got there. "How is she?" Jaxon demanded an answer. I noticed he didn't ask whether she was alive, though we all wanted to know.

"We resuscitated Ms. Tesla as soon as she was on the way to the hospital. It took a few tries, but she began breathing again. Her other injuries have been closed and bandaged. As for her broken neck..." He trailed off, shaking his head.

"What is it?" Jaxon almost barked out at him.

"There's some foreign substance in both Ms. Tesla and Mr. Benton's bloodstreams," he said, though the subject change didn't escape me. "We think it's causing some...unknown changes to the way their bodies function. In all twenty years in this field, I've never seen anything like it."

It must have been something in the drugs Delphinium claimed Orion pumped into them. But the question was: what exactly was it doing to them?

The doctor continued before anyone could ask the obvious questions. "I can't say any more," he said, glancing down the hallway. "For legal reasons."

I took that to mean Marcella Krasowski had already gotten through to him. A slow, burning anger filled my veins. In a way, Benny and Delphinium were hostages: she was keeping their states a mystery to make sure we stayed in our place.

"Where is she now? Can we see her?" Finn shook his head, looking concerned.

"She's in a normal room under careful watch. We need to be certain there are no changes to her state. A certain Marcella Krasowski called in once she heard of the indecent and told us of Ms. Tesla's...unique medical history." So she had indeed heard of the incident. That meant she'd also told him about their brainwashed states and how they could be a danger to everyone here.

The doctor looked uncomfortable. I wondered what Krasowski had threatened him with. "You can visit her for a few moments. After that, I'm afraid you'll have to come back out here."

We agreed; it was better than nothing. So he led us to the door. I noticed that he had to unlock it from the outside. Another precaution.

On the hospital bed, the assassin looked eerily alright—eyes closed, dry hair fanned out and no expression on her pale face. All blood and seawater were cleaned from her body. She could have just been in a peaceful sleep, if I didn't know any better; though the blankets did cover most of her body, meaning that the brunt of her injuries were hidden. I noticed that her head was perfectly straight on the thin pillow; they were hoping to minimize the damage to her broken neck.

Delphinium's setup was similar to Riley's. An IV pumped into her bloodstream. Machines to measure her brain activity, heart rate and breathing capability. They'd know the second she began to awake.

But one thing was different: her wrists were face up on the blanket, encircled by chains connected to the bed. The rest of her thin body was held down by straps across the bed. If she awoke still in that brainwashed state, they might have enough time to subdue her. Though it wouldn't do much, her eyes were covered by a blindfold in hope that it might slow her telekinetic power. One thing was clear: if she awoke as a soldier, there would be no stopping her.

Something about her still seemed mighty, even as she lay unconscious in the bed. Perhaps it was the fact that in just weeks, this single girl had caused us so much trouble. And dome so much damage. I tried not to think of Riley, who was in another hospital closer to the compound.

I knew Delphinium would be heart-crushingly guilty if she awoke. When she'd been telling us about the first time Orion had her brainwashed, it was obvious how hard it was for her to even admit it to us. And now it had happened again, this time with worse results.

No one got too close to the girl in the bed. The doctors hadn't given us any updates in the time we'd been in her room. We were still unsure if she'd wake as a loyal Imperium soldier. If she did, there would be no hope to ever bring her back.

The air in the room was somber. No one had spoken this entire time, which was rare for this group. We didn't want to face the fact that this could be Delphinium's last day alive. And who knew what would happen to her if she awoke and began to cause chaos inside the hospital? Krasowski might decide that now we had my brother, she wasn't worth the trouble and was therefore expendable. Once, I'd wondered what I'd do if the guns turned to my brother. And now I wondered the same with Delphinium.

"Right this way, madam." It was Delphinium's doctor's voice down the hall. Getting closer.

"How lucky that I was on a business trip in the city," came an unfamiliar voice down the hall, "Or I may not have made it in time."

I turned to see a tall older woman standing with the doctor in the doorway. With her light gray hair swept off her face in an intricate topknot and the coat she wore—made of the skin of some poor animal—she commanded the attention in the room. Even before her oddly familiar ice-blue eyes met mine in a cold confrontation, I knew who she was.

Vladlena Tesla, owner of Tesla Enterprises. Delphinium's grandmother.

The assassin had mentioned her grandmother a few times in passing. From the way she'd described her, I didn't have to ask to know they weren't on the best of terms. But still, she was here.

Vladlena Tesla said nothing as she went to her granddaughter's side, her heels clicking on the tile. Both Jake and Jaxon glared as she passed, but she didn't react. I noticed she got the closest to Delphinium, standing right beside her body. Either she hadn't been warned about her granddaughter's recent mental state or she didn't care.

As she stared down at her granddaughter's broken form, I could see the similarities between the two family members. Delphinium certainly had her height and willowy build. Their facial features were constructed with the same fluid grace. But Delphinium's hair was stark white and she didn't wear the mask of businesslike superiority her grandmother did—the one she still wore now, even as she looked down at Delphinium.

"I'm sorry, that's all the time I can allow you," a nurse said, lingering in the doorway with uncertainty. We were ushered out of the room, leaving the patient alone with her grandmother.

Before she could walk away, I stopped her. "Where is Benton Shires' room?"

She shot a glance at their doctor, who nodded. "Right this way, sir." None of the others followed me. They probably figured I wanted to be alone with my brother.

Apprehension built in my chest as we wound through the hallways of the hospital. What if something went horribly wrong? I'd made peace with the idea he would never come back as my brother. I'd made peace with the fact that I might have to kill him myself for the betterment of my team. I think I could have done it. But if he did wake as my brother again, I wasn't sure if I could watch what came next. I hadn't forgotten how the ONNT had treated him all that time ago.

Stopping before a particular room and holding our her arm to gesture me inside, the nurse said, "Be sure not to get too close." I gave a curt nod, already having the self-preservation skills to know I shouldn't be anywhere near him if he woke.

I had to see him. This last time. After this, I would leave him behind.

Then, it was just him and I in the room. Like Delphinium, he was handcuffed to the bed with his eyes covered. He wouldn't be reading anyone's thoughts here.

I looked down at him, the familiar face of my brother. His hair—once shorn close to the scalp in a military fashion—was now growing out a bit longer like mine. Once, he and I could have been mistaken for twins, except now I never smiled and his skin was marred with long scars on one side. Sometimes, I still marveled at how greatly things had changed.

For once, he didn't wear the sly sneer and instead appeared...lifeless. Quiet. I would have thought him to be dead if the heart rate monitor wasn't beeping regularly.

I wondered if my mother had been alerted. I wondered how much our family truly knew about what happened to the two of us. Maybe it was better if they were kept in the dark. At least my mother wouldn't worry then. Over the time I'd been here, I'd kept communication sparse and light between myself and my family. The less they knew, the better. I'd seen what had happened to the others' family members.

Thinking of family, I tried to steer clear of any thoughts about Riley. I was glad she wasn't here at this moment. Even if she was in this same building, I wouldn't have handled things as well. The thought that she didn't know who I was—or who she herself was, really—was nearly unbearable.

Though her and the assassins' situations were not the same, I could see the similarities. All three wore the same bodies of people we once cared about, but they were not the same anymore. Different. Wrong.

My head snapped up as the heart rate monitor sped up ever so slightly. Benny looked as unconscious as ever, but his brain activity monitor was on and tracking something now...

Not only was he waking up, but he was waking up faster than any of us expected.

His fingers began to twitch on the bedspread. The heart rate monitor sped up. It was nearly ringing in my ears now. I backed away, unsure of what was about to take place. What if I was the only thing standing between him and freedom once he woke?

Both nurses and ONNT soldiers—who I assumed only just arrived—flooded the room. The quiet place quickly turned to chaos. They held Benny down, as he now writhed on the bed against his handcuffed wrists. I watched on as nurses yelled orders at each other to subdue him quickly.

But the soldiers intervened; I assumed they had orders to bring him back to headquarters now that he was awake. Benny was pulled to his feet and forced out of the room. He was an international terrorist and they were treating him like it.

As he was about to exit through the doorway, he said something that made my blood chill with possibility. My name. "Kane." He said it once before he was pulled through the doorway, leaving me to wonder what it meant.