D E L P H I N I U M

Every passing second the three boys didn't show, my fear grew. What if they never came back? I couldn't get the image from my dream out of my head—their crumpled, disfigured bodies slumped against each other. Though this wasn't my fault, I should have done something. I should have stayed. I would have hated myself either way, whether I stayed or escaped with the others. But at least I would have put up a fight.

Jaxon arrived at the boat the same time Kane and Jake did. He appeared out of thin air right before the other two climbed down the ladder—but only the two of them. The engineer we'd come to rescue was nowhere to be found.

"Go!" Arlo yelled at the captain of the boat, who'd been waiting patiently for us to come back.

Immediately, there was space out between us and the Imperium ship as we pulled away, water frothing around the sides. My heart pounded so hard I heard it in my ears. What would happen if they caught us? What if Orion had me brought to him again, like a father disappointed for his daughter's futile efforts to run away from home?

A strange spark of grim determination swelled in my chest. If they came for me, I'd make them regret it. I'd make them sorry.

It was gone as swiftly as it had come. But I was suddenly relieved that it had happened. Was it perhaps the small spark of light at the end of the tunnel? A hope that maybe, just maybe, I could claw myself up from the deep, dark hole I'd fallen into?

Whatever it was, it was gradually overshadowed by fear as I looked back at the ship. And more particularly, the two guns mounted on the sides. They'd blow us to pieces.

"They said they'd shoot us," Kane said, staring back like I was. He faced Jaxon. "What did you do?"

Now that I was looking at him, Jaxon did seem unworried about the plight we were in as he sat sprawled out, the wind blowing through his hair. An easy grin. "Nothing much. I just disabled the guns so they can't attack us on our way out."

Kane gave a rare smile. A breath of relief loosened from my lips—thanks to Jaxon's quick thinking, there would be no capture, no grand fight.

As the ship became little more than a dark spot in the distance, the absence of the engineer became to become more obvious. "Where's Rong?" Riley asked, arms folded. "She's the only reason we came and she's not even here."

We all turned to watch with disbelief as Kane said, "I let her go with them."

"You did what?" Benton snarled at his brother. I knew how much he wanted information on our enslavers.

The strongman ignored him. "She said something before we were separated. A series of numbers." He paused. "It was something the soldiers wouldn't understand. A radio station. She's going to communicate with us from the fortress."

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂

No one argued when Jake suggested a place he knew to hide out in—we didn't have the luxury of choosing now. Plus, Jake's form of suggesting was always more of a flat-out command anyway.

We weaved through alleyways and down backstreets of the outer city. Wherever the place was, it was certainly hard to locate. That would be an advantage for when the ONNT came looking for us here.

Jake stopped at the back of a tall building—gray like all the others. The only thing that distinguished it from the surrounding buildings were the few windows high above and the slightly-cleaner exterior. All in all, it didn't look like anything special.

But it was a ways from the street, somewhat closed within the series of other buildings. And from the looks of it, this was a bad part of the city. People would stay away.

However, as we circled the place, we realized there was no real entrance accessible from the alleyway. I saw a door on one side, but it was thoroughly boarded up. Almost unconsciously, I sensed the mass blocking the door on the other side—the skill Orion's teacher had forced on me.

I wasn't sure if I could do it. In theory, my power still worked. Better than ever, actually.

But me... I hadn't been mentally strong enough to inflict that kind of damage since I'd returned. The only time I'd used my power to its full extent was while helping free the Imperium recruits, and I'd barely managed it. Every time I thought about letting loose the power in my body, I remembered what I'd done while being controlled; explosions, ripping people apart, crushing Riley without moving a single finger. My title echoed in my mind. Secerător. Was destruction all I was good for?

Jaxon called my name. I looked up to see the others already following Jake away; deep in my thoughts, I hadn't even noticed.

There was a hidden entrance high off the ground in a broken part of the wall that could be pulled back. After climbing up an abandoned dumpster and then onto a platform with peeling paint, it was accessible. I was the last to enter inside.

As soon as I stepped through the hole, the darkness enveloped me. The windows were boarded up from the inside, it seemed. The only light source were Finn's flaming hands as we searched for the light switch. When it was finally reached, the overhead lights flickered on, gradually spreading to reveal a much larger space than it appeared.

The place was a mess, with dust and dirt covering every surface. There were a few chairs and tables—the necessities—but nothing decorative. As we walked further inside, the space revealed the open floor plan. There were a few discarded weapons lying around; this place seemed like it had once been used. I wondered if it had been an old hideout for the Club Jake knew.

"We'll be safe here," Jake said, peering around the level. "No one's been here for years."

"There are even more rooms up here," Finn called down from where he stood halfway up the stairs.

Kane left out the secret exit, mumbling something about getting a radio. Riley took her eyes away from the weapons for a moment to watch him go. It made me wonder if her memory was starting to come back, or if she was simply making new ones with him.

"You two," Jake eyed where Jaxon and Riley were examining the new weaponry. "This place is filthy. Sweep." He gestured to two brooms propped up in the corner. He turned to glare at Benny. "You unboard the windows."

"Why us?" Riley complained, folding her arms and fixing Jake with a glare that could rival his own.

"He likes to see us suffer," Jaxon said cheerfully.

He then turned to met my eyes. "But Delphinium, our dearest friend, can do it in just a second with her great, powerful mind." He gave me a long, pointed look.

My hand went to the necklace hidden beneath my high collar as I remembered what my father had always told me when I was complaining about chores. "It will build character."

Arlo gave a long snore from where he was already passed out in one of the ragged chairs. Riley and Jaxon ignored him and both shot me dirty glances before getting to work, grumbling under their breaths. Benton—for once—was doing what he was told, but I got the feeling he was reading Jake's thoughts just to spite him.

I looked to my left, where natural light was starting to funnel in from where Benny was tearing the wood off the windows. All we had to do was wait for Kane to return. Then we'd know if we truly had a spy inside Imperium.

"Tesla." I looked up at the sound of Jake's voice. "Put that paranoia to good use and seal off every exit but this one."

I restrained the urge to roll my eyes at his cool tone and got to work.

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂

I muttered a greeting to Kane as soon as I looked over my shoulder and saw that he was back, an old radio held under his arm. But he threw today's newspaper onto the table for me to read. The others, finally sensing some entertainment, stood over the table to see it too.

"Four ONNT government officials dead," Finn read. "Two days ago, four officials working under the Organization of Neutralizing National Threats were found dead in their respective homes. The authorities believe the deaths were similar in time, though motives are still unknown..." he trailed off, continuing to read on silently, lips barely moving.

"Why would they pick those four in particular?" Jaxon asked, scanning the page. "It doesn't say what they were doing for the ONNT."

"You don't recognize them?" Jake questioned with a deadpan expression. "That was one of the men coming out of the conference room before I had Riley spy on them." He pointed to a man with a thin, sallow face and bright white hair.

Finn bit his lip. "So he knew the information Riley found. What if the other three did too? What if Imperium killed off the only four people who knew something that secret about them?"

"But they didn't know there were five," Benton said slowly.

We all looked to Riley. She gave a huff and said, "Don't you think that if I knew the one piece of information Imperium doesn't want us to know, I would have told you already?"

"I believe you. After all, you are quite the gossip," Jaxon told her matter-of-factly. She silenced him with an elbow to the side.

"We really need to work on getting your memory back," Benton stated the obvious. Waving a hand at his brother, he said, "Fix the radio to the station Rong gave you."

Kane leaned down to find the station as his brother asked. When he did, he straightened and took a step back, as if wanting to be out of sight again. Everyone stared at the ancient radio expectantly.

Nothing.

"I suppose it shouldn't be a shock," Riley said, eyes heavy-lidded with boredom. "She can't be by her side of the radio all hours of the day. I guess we'll just have to wait." She said it as if waiting was the worst possible thing—Riley was prone to exaggerating.

So, with no other option, that's what we did. And thankfully, I was downstairs in our new hideout when a crackling voice came through the speaker, saying, "Is anyone there?"