Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 131364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Only one chance, whispered the fragment of her she’d saved so it could kill her, but that she would now use to save this child so loved and protected. A second drug overdose and no part of you will come back.
Eleri felt footsteps, felt thuds, the man’s voice so loud it was shards inside her brain. But none of that mattered, because she really only had one final card to play.
“Fuck! The fuckers are on the horizon! What the hell did you do?”
As the ranting man came down on his knees next to her, she set that one functioning part of her free and let it take full control of whatever remained of her mind. Her vision cleared, she saw the pressure syringe, saw the distorted mask he wore to hide his face, and punched him hard in the throat with all her strength.
He flew back, gurgling and clutching at his throat.
Turning to Malia, Eleri waved her arm, telling the girl to run. But the man was scrabbling back at her, and the ounce of clarity she’d gained by sacrificing that one functional piece of her was already fading.
He slammed the pressure injector into her palm instead of her neck…and worse, grabbed hold of the bare skin of her wrist.
Evil poured into her brain in an unstoppable wave of filth and despair and horror, shattering things inside her as they pushed and shoved and violated. His memories. His fantasies. His…sadness.
He had been a sad little boy once, after all.
Screams, so many screams. Not his.
Vivian’s.
Kriti’s.
Sarah’s.
Laughter. That was his.
He was spreading through her brain like a virus, an infection of cruelty and torture.
He would kill her long before the drug reached her brain, but in this moment, she somehow had enough of herself left to kick him hard in the same spot she’d punched. Blood flew out of his mouth to splatter on her as his head lolled onto the ground, and this time, the girl was moving.
But instead of running out, Malia came to Eleri, tried to get her upright. Eleri pushed her away. “Go.” A garbled simulacrum of a word. “Go!” Her legs were paralyzed as her brain began to go haywire, her chest jerking.
Malia was sobbing, pleading with her.
Eleri found one last ounce of strength and shoved at her back. “Run, Malia! Find Adam!” At least that was what she thought she said.
Racing heart, skin so hot it burned, a blankness that wasn’t peace.
She had just enough left in her to attempt to write the Sandman’s name on the wooden floor in the blood that dripped down her wrist to her palm and her fingers.
Then it ended.
Chapter 35
The packs and clans in the Trinity Accord are willing to attempt to blood-bond Psy children into their networks. It may save those children’s lives should the PsyNet collapse—and in that eventuality, the changelings will treat the children as their own.
They are aware of the scale of the potential loss of life, and the resultant lack of Psy adults who will be able to step in—however many children survive, the changelings (as well as the Human Alliance) have agreed to care for them.
All they have requested is that we make an emergency handbook on a Psy child’s non-negotiable needs for healthy psychic and physical development.
—Aden Kai to the Ruling Coalition (28 October 2083)
Adam’s peregrine called for his mate and for the child of the clan.
They’d be together. Because wherever Eleri had gone, whatever choice she’d made that had led to her abduction, it had to do with Malia. She’d willingly walked into a trap. Such a stupid choice for a smart J—only she wasn’t smart when it came to things like this, was she? Eleri cared. That was her Achilles’ heel, and someone not only knew that, they’d utilized it to get her alone.
The tug on his heart that was Malia felt stronger now, as if she was either conscious or physically closer. He tried to follow it, but that wasn’t how changeling bonds worked, no matter if he wanted it to be different. He just knew she was alive, was breathing. That gave his wild heart hope even as another part of him whispered that if this had been about luring Eleri, then his niece was no longer useful.
Opening his beak in a cry of rage, he swept left over the sand and rock beyond Raintree, while keeping Dahlia in sight. She’d lost Eleri’s scent trail at a certain point, likely after she was contained inside the other vehicle with the windows up, was attempting to pick it up again—but the area was vast, and they were relying on droplets of blood.
Other teams continued to search on the ground and in the air in different directions.
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
It was as if both Eleri and Malia had vanished off the face of the earth. How much longer would they both be safe?