Memories surface of me being pinned down to the ground by someone else, and adrenaline rushes through my veins, causing my body to quiver.
Wrath lets out a laugh as he presses his chest against my back. I shut my eyes and mentally count to ten, imagining myself someplace else: in a field with flowers and trees where the air is clean and the sky is bright and I"m happy.
"Get off her!" Ryder growls. "Or I swear to G.o.d I"ll kill you."
I open my mouth to tell Ryder to let it go, that I can deal with Wrath, but before I can get the words out, Wrath pushes off me.
He storms at Ryder with his fists clenched in front of him. "I ought to kick your a.s.s for that." He lowers his fists. "No, you know what? I have a better idea. I think, when we get to camp, all three of us should go to my tent, and you can watch as I slowly peel her innocence from her bit by bit."
Please, Ryder, don"t say anything. You"ll only make this worse. I don"t want you to get hurt.
By some miracle, Ryder keeps his lips sealed, even when Wrath latches onto my arms and yanks me to my feet.
"Such a pretty, little thing." He traps me against his chest. "Maybe a little thinner than I like, but she"ll do."
The muscle in Ryder"s jaw twitches, and a murderous look scorches in his eyes. If we ever do escape this situation, I"m pretty sure Ryder will try to kill Wrath.
"They"re all secured," Wrath calls out to the woman he referred to as "your highness." Stroking his fingers across my head, he shoves me forward.
The woman leaves the group and walks up to us, holding her gun at her side. "Make them walk in the middle of us. And under no circ.u.mstances are they to be killed."
"But what if they try to run?" Wrath protests, tucking Reece and Ryder"s guns into his holsters. "They"re from the station, so you know they probably will. It"s part of their protocol."
"If you shoot them, I"ll kill you," she threatens. "We need them alive, at least until tomorrow night."
Wrath grumbles something then stalks off and joins rest of the group.
The woman faces us, tucking her gun into her thigh holster. "Just because I told them not to kill you, it doesn"t mean I won"t break your legs if you try to run." With that, she marches off, walking a line straight in front of the wall of fire.
The rest of the Forsaken swarm around us and begin herding us like cattle around the wall of flames. Ryder and Reece put me in the middle and stay close. Their presence gives me a drop of comfort. I just wish I could offer them the same thing.
Except for the occasional hushed whisper and the thudding footsteps, a distressing quietness chokes the air as we reach the trail. A mile or so down, Ryder inches toward me, keeping his attention focused ahead. Reece mirrors Ryder"s movement, moving beside me. I can feel every time he wiggles his arms. I want to ask him if he"s okay, but I don"t know if I"m allowed to talk.
"How you holdin" up over there, Reece?" Ryder whispers, glancing back and forth between Reece and the people around us.
"I"m fine," Reece mutters, sounding exhausted.
"Are you counting the steps?" Ryder asks under his breath.
"I"m trying," Reece replies quietly. "But I"m getting a little bit lightheaded."
"That"s okay," Ryder says. "I"ve got your back."
I glance back and forth between them. Counting the steps? Is that code for something?
Ryder dips his head, locking eyes with me. "How you holdin" up, sweetheart?"
"I"m fine," I lie. I"m scared out of my mind.
"Don"t worry," he whispers. "We"re going to get out of this."
I hope he"s right. I just wish I knew what we were walking into and what Ryder and Reece"s plan is to get out of this. Then maybe I could help.
"Stop talking to each other!" Wrath yells from behind us. "Or else I"ll come and break her legs. Then I"ll have to carry her."
I shudder. I didn"t know he was back there.
We sink into silence as we hike for what feels like hours, winding up and down the trail, squeezing between narrow cliffs and climbing over large boulders on the path. Miles and miles pa.s.s by in a blur. Unused to being on my feet so much, my legs start to ache, and my footsteps grow heavier. But I mentally scream at myself to suck it up.
Do not show them how much you"re affected.
By the time we slow down, the sun is rising and red bleeds across the sky like spilled paint in water. I"m just starting to wonder if maybe we"re going to stop and rest when the trail opens up to a flat stretch of land hidden between mounds of towering, jagged cliffs. Enclosing the area are metal wires. It takes me a moment to figure out what it is-a fence. And just over the fence are countless large tents. In the center of it all, greyish purple rises upward and billows toward the sky.
"Everyone prepare to enter camp!" Wrath shouts as he thunders by us and up to the woman in charge. The two of them exchange some heated words, and then Wrath stalks off in a hurry toward the front of the group.
"Hey, Reece, remember that time we raided a channel and got swarmed by a bunch of wardens?" Ryder whispers when Wrath disappears out of sight. "Instead of fighting back, we hid in the channels until we could get a clear shot to get out, but the plan totally backfired because the wardens ended up forcing us out with dreamland smoke."
Reece bobs his head up and down. He looks tired, his skin is pale, and dark circles reside under his eyes. "Yeah. What are you getting at, though?"
Ryder gives a stressing look at the camp ahead. "Well, I"m not sure, but I think that smoke looks an awful lot like dreamland smoke."
Reece drags his head up and dazedly blinks at the smoke funneling up the sky. "s.h.i.t, I think you"re right."
"You wouldn"t by chance have any shade on you, would you?" Ryder wriggles his arms around, attempting to get out of the ropes. "Otherwise, we"re about to go on a really bad trip in probably one of the worst places."
"I always have one on me for emergencies." Reece blinks a few times. "I can"t get to it, though."
Ryder leans around me. "Where is it?"
"In my right pocket," Reece whispers, his shoulders hunching.
"I think I might be able to get it." Ryder flicks a quick glance ahead. "But who"s the lucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d who gets to take it?"
"Allura," Reece murmurs. "I don"t want her to be vulnerable, especially with how interested Wrath seemed toward her."
A ton of questions burn at the tip of my tongue, begging to be asked. Like, what"s dreamland smoke? And a shade? And what"s going to happen to us when we get to camp?
"The smoke"s toxic," Ryder explains, reading my questioning expression. "It won"t kill us or anything, but it"ll mess with our heads."
"Mess with our heads how, exactly?" I dare utter. "Like we"ll have hallucinations?"
"Kind of." Ryder trades an indecipherable look with Reece.
"She"s going to find out anyway, even if she uses the shade," Reece tells him with an exhausted sigh. "We might as well tell her now so she"ll know what to expect."
With reluctance, Ryder nods. "Allura, when we inhale the smoke, we"ll start acting out of our minds. And we"ll eventually start seeing things that we normally dream about. Depending on what direction our minds go, we might say some stuff that"s weird and crude and crazy. You"ll probably want to smack us a lot, but I promise you that we don"t mean any of the stuff we say. You"ll take the shade, though, so it won"t affect you. But I need you to pretend you"re out of it until they lock us up. They can"t know you took the shade."
My mind races a thousand miles a minute. Dreamland? Shades? Toxic smoke? I"ve never heard of any of this.
"Will you guys be in pain?" I ask worriedly.
Ryder shoots another glance at Reece. "Possibly."
"Then maybe Reece should take the Shade." I look at the blood covering Reece"s wrist and arms. "He"s lost a lot of blood. I don"t think he should have to deal with any more pain."
"I"ll be fine," Reece attempts to rea.s.sure me, but then he stumbles over a dip in the ground and almost falls down. He manages to regain his balance, though, and gets his feet underneath him. "I"d rather you take the Shade, Allura. Just do us a favor and don"t let us do anything that doesn"t seem like something we"d normally do."
I nod, promising him I will, even though I don"t think I know them well enough to know everything they normally do.
When Reece and Ryder trade another look, I lose any ounce of calm I have left. Why do they keep looking at each other like that? Is there something they aren"t telling me?
Before I can ask, Ryder switches places with me and walks alongside Reece.
"Allura, keep an eye out," Ryder whispers as he presses his shoulder up against Reece"s. "Make sure no one"s paying attention to us."
I peer at the people surrounding us. Most of them are concentrating on the trail ahead except for a group of girls around my age, who keep sneaking glances in our direction.
"Those girls keep looking at us," I hiss. "Ryder, I think-"
"Got it," he mutters, shuffling away from Reece. "Allura, I really hate to do this to you, but I have to inject the shade into you with a needle. I know you hate them, and if there were any other way ..." He trails off, unable to offer another solution.
Invisible fingers wrap around my throat at the thought of being p.r.i.c.ked by a needle again. My arms are already covered with tiny white scars from where the wardens poked and prodded.
"I"m sorry, but we need to do this now," Ryder says with urgency. "Please give me permission."
Knowing I need to be brave, I smash my lips together and nod. Ryder inches closer until our shoulders touch. Then I feel a sharp pierce in my left arm. Whatever this shade thing is, it burns entering my veins. But the pain is bearable in comparison to some of the stuff the wardens injected in me.
Ryder tips his head toward me. "Feeling okay?"
I mentally tune in with my body, checking to see if everything feels fine. "I think so. My arm hurts a little, but that"s probably from the needle."
"Good. Let me know if anything starts to feel funny," he says. "Sometimes, the shade can have side effects, but they"re mild compared to inhaling dreamland smoke."
I nod, my attention drifting forward. We"re about half a mile away from the camp now, and the air is becoming hazy with greyish purple smoke.
I check on Reece and Ryder to see if the smoke has affected them yet. They seem fine and coherent. How long will it take the smoke to do something? What am I in store for? Madness? Chaos? What about the Forsaken? Won"t they be exposed to the smoke, too?
Right as that thought occurs to me, the woman in charge spins around and walks backward, facing the crowd. "Masks on!" she commands.
The people around us reach under their shirts and into their jackets. Each one of them pulls out a bizarre looking mask with a clear square on the top and what looks like a speaker on the bottom. They slip the masks over their faces, the clear square acting as a window, the speaker over their mouths.
A faint memory pushes against the back of my mind of my face being behind one of those masks, but I shake it away. Now"s not the time to go down memory lane. I need to stay alert and keep an eye on Ryder and Reece like I promised.
"Brace yourself," Ryder mumbles as we arrive at the outskirts of the fence. Smoke floods the air, tickling my nostrils and the back of my throat. "s.h.i.t"s about to hit the fan."
Once we reach the fence, we"re steered through a small gap and into the camp. I frantically glance around at the people exiting the tents. All of them are carrying some form of weapon: guns, bows, knives. They stop to watch as we"re herded deeper into the camp.
Silence clings to the air. Impending doom lingers, thick like the smoke. Something terrible is about to happen. I wish I knew what it was, so I could brace myself for the impact.
My eyes are all over the place, my nerves on edge as I note several metal grates covering the ground. I"m just leaning over to peer down inside one when I hear it. A peculiar noise rises in the midst of the stillness. I think maybe someone"s sobbing from inside one of the tents, but then I realize the noise is coming from beside me.
I stiffen, glancing over at Ryder.
Madness doesn"t even begin to describe the scene unfolding beside me. Not only is Ryder laughing at absolutely nothing, but he"s laughing so hard he can barely keep his feet under him. Every other step, he stumbles to his knees then hops right back up, bursting with laughter the entire time. Even when he cracks his head against a rock, his laughter never misses a beat. Seconds later, he begins to sob, his shoulders heaving.
Reece sighs as he watches Ryder lose his mind, at first not seeming too bothered by the smoke. But then a sharp laugh bursts from his lips and swiftly builds to an ear splitting cackle. By the time we reach the center of the camp, they"ve both settled into a fit of giggles mixed with hysterical sobs.
I reach a state of panic when we stop in front of a ma.s.sive bonfire. Smoke snakes around me, and I instinctively trap my breath in my chest. Ryder told me I needed to pretend the smoke affected me, but I can"t find the will to laugh. This place, this situation is so awful. And the people around me ... Now that the sun has risen, I can see the blood that stains almost everyone"s clothes. Just how many people have they killed? That thought steals any hope of laughing away from me.
When the woman in charge shoves her way through the throng of people, heading straight for us, I try to force out a noise that resembles a laugh, but desperation grinds in my voice.
"Having fun yet?" She grins, stopping in front of me. In the sunlight, her eyes look even more feral.
I swallow hard, unsure how to respond.
Her scrutinizing gaze bores into me, and I mentally scream at myself to laugh.
Just laugh, dammit! Before she finds out you took shade!
A strangled, choking noise flees from my lips, and her eyes light up with pure glee.
"Huh, I wonder ..." Her arm shoots forward, and she seizes my wrist. Jerking me toward her, she yanks the sleeve of my shirt up. Cool air nips against my branded flesh, and I wrench back. Her fingertips only dig deeper into my skin. "Well, holy s.h.i.t, I didn"t see that one coming," she says then aims her gun at my neck and pulls the trigger.
I hear a soft swoosh, and then searing pain shreds through my body. Stars pop across my vision as I collapse to the ground, landing on my face. I don"t blackout. My eyes remain open, my ears taking every sound in while my body lies slackened and motionless.
"Dump her in the hole with the other one," the woman says over Reece and Ryder"s laughter-filled sobs.
"What about the other two, your highness?" an unfamiliar voice responds. "Where would you like them?"
"After you get her locked up, take them to my tent." Her clunky steel-toed boots pa.s.s by the front of my face. "I"m going to have a little fun with them before I toss them in the hole."
No! I promised I"d keep an eye on them!
I stab my fingers into the dirt and drag myself forward. But my legs, arms, head-almost my entire body-are paralyzed, and I barely make it more than a few inches before my fingers give out on me. What the heck did she shoot me with? It didn"t feel like a bullet ...
My gaze drifts up my arm to my hand, landing on a small, circular scar about the size of a tiny b.u.t.ton. A scar from a bullet. I remember. Being chased. All the time. Over and over again, I"ve been chased.
Chased.
Chased.
Chased.
Always ...