D E L P H I N I U M

I sat alone in the hideout with Riley—Kane had left to seek out first aid supplies for her and Jake, as usual, was nowhere to be seen. We'd been talking to pass the time—and to distract her from the pain that was obviously racking through her body, if her white face and clenched jaw was any indication.

"How do you people live through this?" She asked, eyes squinted in pain. "You all make it look like it's nothing. But my insides feel like they're being rearranged. And not in a good way."

I gave a dry chuckle. "You get used to it when it becomes more common than a civilized conversation."

She made a face. "I'd rather not get used to it."

"You might, if you'd seen the look on Kane's face when he first brought you here."

"What good is in having pretty boys fawn over you if you're dead?" Dramatically throwing her head back against the back of the chair, her grip on her side tightened. But then she said, "I'll be sure to live through this just so I can tease him for his worry."

I opened my mouth to reply, but a thunderous rumbling in the distance silenced me. As the building shook, Riley's eyes fluttered open in surprise. I left her side to look out the window over the table; it had the best view of the city. And there, in the distant midst of the maze-like series of alleyways and suspicious-looking buildings, was a small mushroom cloud billowing out in the blue sky.

"What was it?" Riley managed to get out; her wound was hurting her badly now that the nearby explosion had jostled her in the chair.

Eyes glued to the dissipating smoke, I answered, "Trouble." Turning away, I checked that I was armed with all my knives. "I'm going to check on it. Don't go anywhere."

She grunted at my order. "Come back alive. And unharmed, preferably. It's bad enough that one of us is on her deathbed."

I scoffed and stepped through the doorway, throwing up my hood to conceal my identity in the daylight. I'd be right back to watch over Riley again; I just needed to be sure it wasn't one of our teammates in danger.

To be frank, I wasn't quite sure why I wasn't as fearful as usual. I was walking directly into danger. But I hadn't forgotten the fiasco at the Hydrocarbon Petromensium factory; I didn't want to lie dormant while my teammates fought for my wellbeing.

So I stalked down the alleyways, daggers in my palms. Normally, I would have walked along the rooftops and surveyed from above, but it was daytime and I was more likely to be spotted. If I hid myself well in the network of alleyways, I'd be protected. I was on edge nonetheless.

I hesitated to even breathe, wanting to hear every little movement around me to the best of my ability. I stopped walking. Something deep inside me told me to.

And then I heard it: footsteps. More than one pair. They were approaching rapidly and were slightly off-beat, like the people were hasty. Soldiers? Maybe.

I willed myself to be stone and flicked my knives down, preparing to meet the approachers head-on. If it was the soldiers, I'd make them sorry they'd ever come near. My power welled up in me as I turned the corner.

But it was not the ONNT soldiers. No, it was someone much worse.

Gigi.

For a split second, I just took her in—the torn ONNT-issued clothing she wore, her bow and arrows slung over her back, hair knotted and gnarled around her delicate face. The face that sometimes haunted my nightmares, the face that was twisted with rage as she destroyed me from the inside.

But she didn't wear that face now. No, she stared at me with a strangely calm expression on her face, even as her liquid-dark eyes flicked down to the knives I bore. It was almost worse than the burning fury she'd exhibited the day we'd fought each other.

Only after I gauged how much of a threat she'd be, I noticed the other taller girl standing beside her. With her shoulder-length black hair, dark eyes that turned up at the edges and serious stare, I recognized her as the nameless assassin Benton and Gigi had fought with. An Imperium assassin. With a plunging sensation in my stomach, I realized Gigi had clearly allied herself with her.

I remembered the chopping blades of the helicopter, inches from Gigi's neck. I'd been about to execute her. But I didn't forget the fight she'd put up. I'd barely won. I was strong enough to fight them now, but would I win?

"Delphinium." It was all Gigi said as she sized me up. The same voice as my former friend. Why wasn't she making a move to kill me?

"Gigi." Would I have to make the first move? I wondered what she'd do if I suddenly went for her throat. I wanted to protect myself, but she seemed to walk the edge of being calm now, and I didn't want to ruin it. Not yet.

She made a small move of her hand—to her bow, probably. With a flick of my hands, my daggers were floating midair at her throat. Now that she was utterly still, I realized she hadn't been reaching for her bow—she'd been about to clamp her hand around a deep, glistening wound on her upper leg. It had to be bad if she couldn't immediately heal it.

"You escaped from Orion's clutches," she said, hardly reacting under the pressure of my knives to her throat. "I'm glad for it."

She sounded sincere, but where was the lie? Gigi couldn't possibly be glad I was safe after everything that had gone down between us. After what we'd done to each other.

"We're not here to hurt you," the assassin girl said, throwing a glance over her shoulder. "The ONNT soldiers are close behind. They've been hunting us for days." A cold sense of dread spread throughout me. The soldiers had been cornering them here, of all places, for a reason. Perhaps they wanted us to encounter each other. Was the ONNT trying to smoke the rest of us out?

I should leave them to the soldiers. I should cut their throats and go. The assassin made a sudden movement. With the urge to kill them growing stronger, I edged the knives into Gigi's skin. Why wasn't she killing me from the inside?

"Neve." It was a warning from Gigi to the Imperium assassin. She was telling her to back down. Why?

The girl—Neve—looked at me. "I know who you are. And I can see that you recognize me. It's true, I did work for the same master you did. But I am not loyal to him. Together, we have slain numerous Imperium assassins. You won't be next."

As she finished talking, there was an approaching sound of many people filling the alleyway around us, and I knew with certainty that it was the soldiers. They were coming. From the sound of it, we only had seconds before they found us here.

Retracting my knives from Gigi's throat and into my own hands, I turned and ran back the way I'd come. I heard the two girls follow, but they weren't chasing me. They were seeking refuge from the soldiers.

I turned down a narrower passageway, aiming farther away from the hideout. If the ONNT found it—and all our plans and weaponry inside—we'd be done for. To my dismay, found the path was a large loop. If I followed it all the way, it would lead us right back to the hideout. Panic drove me down another direction; I'd deal with the consequences once I got to safety.

Then the shadowy alley opened up to a square—an empty place with a fountain in the center and balconies hanging over from the second story, their thick decorative posts creating a shadowed place beneath.

There was no place out. We were trapped.

All three of us whipped around when the clamor and shouting voices of the ONNT soldiers grew closer behind us. Not wasting a single second, we all ran under the balconies: the only possible place that could protect us and keep us from sight. I went straight across the square, wanting to have a clear view of the exit passageway. Gigi and Neve went to the adjacent corner and promptly disappeared from my sight under a low wall.

I had no time to worry about the negative possibilities them together could bring. The soldiers, dressed in identical black ONNT uniforms, began spilling into the square and I tore my eyes from where Gigi and Neve were hidden. They weren't my primary threat anymore.

Concealed behind one of the thick posts, I watched as the soldiers filled the square and began searching every possible hiding place. They started by the entrance and then flanked out, determined to catch us.

I held perfectly still, even as the soldiers approached. They were three posts away. Then two. My knives were still out. I didn't know what kind of weapons they had, or if this was even all of them, so I couldn't tell if I'd be able to fight my way out. But I didn't think I had a choice.

The soldiers were close enough for me to hear their loud breathing, the rustle of their uniforms. They were in front of the post I hid behind with knives ready, but still terrified...

There was a squelch and the nearest soldier gurgled and dizzily half-turned, allowing me to see the arrow that was stuck completely through his heart.

Across the way, Gigi gave a yell and jumped into the center, drawing all the soldiers' attention. I was immediately out of danger. Frowning, I watched as she began fighting the onslaught of ONNT soldiers. She'd given herself away so that I'd stay safe. And with her badly wounded leg, she wouldn't be able to kill them all—she had to know how low her chances of freedom were. And still, she did it.

Soldiers began to fall in waves around Gigi; she didn't even have to touch them. But she was only one fighter against their massive group. Another explosion rocked the earth and I ducked behind the post to avoid the blowback. Blinking through the smoke, I realized they were trying to blind her long enough to get her down.

She was alone. And despite everything between us, she'd done it to protect me. If I had half a heart, I'd go help her. But I found myself rooted in my spot, as I'd been the other day at the fuel factory. I should just let them take her—it would be the safest option.

But deep down, I knew they'd come for me too. They knew someone was hidden behind this post, their attention had just temporarily been diverted. And if I ran back into the alleyways, they could find out about the hideout. They could get Riley too.

Gigi was putting up a good fight, but she was losing, especially with the wound on her leg spraying blood everywhere. I heard silenced footsteps creeping up nearby and turned to see Neve, blades out, just like me.

"We have to do something," she said, cringing as yet another explosion blew out in the square. "They're going to kill her if they keep this up. If we attack at the same time—"

"No." My mind was racing, pieces of an unsteady plan coming together. "They only want Gigi and I for our abilities. And one of us has to stay back to tell the others..."

"Delphinium." She gave me a look, like she already knew me well. "What are you saying?"

"They won't leave until they have Gigi and I. And I'm tired of standing back while others fight for me." I looked at her, hoping she'd see the urgency in the situation. "They can't discover the place we've been hiding. They can't. If they have the both of us right here, they won't bother trying to find it."

She shook her head, glossy hair swishing back and forth. "No, don't. You might be all we have." The assassin dared another glance at Gigi, who was putting up her final stand.

"No, you're all we have," I said firmly, my mind made up. "Stay hidden until we leave. If you go back down the passageway we came from and make a right, you'll find a platform and a secret entrance into our hideout." It was a gamble to tell her the directions to our makeshift home, but this was the only way my teammates would know what to do.

Swallowing I glanced over at Gigi and back at Neve's solemn face. "Tell them what happened here. Tell them I went to the ONNT headquarters to destroy Marcella Krasowski from the inside, that I'll find a way to bring Hunt back." I stood from my crouch, preparing to leave. "If I don't make it out myself, tell them to come for me."

The assassin gave me a firm nod and I knew what I had to do. Jumping over the wall, I finally joined the fight. Gigi was seconds away from collapsing, from the look of it. So, drawing my dagger-wielding hands downward, I created two growing cracks in the earth to swallow up the ONNT soldiers fighting Gigi. As the soldiers disappeared into the blackness, Gigi and I locked eyes. There was understanding shared between us for a split second before I turned to put up a fight against the soldiers.

Knives slashing through bodies, it was strange to be on the battlefield again, especially with Gigi. It was ironic. We'd once battled against each other and now we fought together.

Killing was never fun for me, never something I enjoyed. But I savored the feel of the fight—finally being here again after letting my teammates fight for me when I was too weak to.

I was not weak any longer. Once again, I had a grip on myself. And anyone that had tried to hurt me, enslave me and kill me would suffer at my hands.

It was a promise, and the power of it reverberated through my mind as the soldiers set off one last explosion around Gigi and me. Falling to my knees, I let myself be consumed by it, then allowed myself to be dragged back into the belly of the beast.