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“So he must have also told you that the Centress promised whoever finds and delivers you to her gets the honors of doing whatever they want with your friend.”

A cold sweat coats my skin with tiny glass beads.

“He skipped that?” Sypher feigns surprise. “The Centress even lifted the curfew. I don’t see how he could forget to mention it,” he mocks as he approaches the cell door. “All of Sonnet’s been hunting you since then. Everyone’s competing for the chance to kill a Hollow.”

Hunting.

“You’re lying,” I say, even as my insides ignite. Eli knew. And didn’t tell me. I grab my stomach to ease the flipping. Why would I even think he would?

“Go see for yourself.” He slams a stone against the lock and swings open the cell door. His hand clamps around my wrist.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m letting you go.” He says nothing more as he hauls me across the castle, up the stairs and out of the clearing. The clouds are high overhead, following us through the labyrinth of bark and leaves. His steps are fast and anxious, his path erratic.

I try to pull from his grasp. “Which way do I go?”

Sypher stops short and drops my wrist. I could run, but something about the way he grabs the side of his neck and pulls his gaze to the ground has me waiting for his response. “It doesn’t really matter. You’ll probably be found on any path you take. I’d turn you over to the Centress, but I can’t do that without having to answer questions, so go for the border and get yourself caught.” He scuffs his foot against the ground, anger tracing his bearded jaw. “If you mention you were with Eli or any of us, I swear he’ll kill you.”

I take a trembling step back. “I have to find Kelter,” I say, more to myself than Sypher. Another step. Back and back. One last look at his conflicted face, and I run, closer to Kelter with every stride. Maybe. My map skills are useless when I don’t know where I’m going.

Step after step, I don’t tire, fueled by potent betrayal.He could have told me.I run until my legs are as light as air, until I’m the wind, and the ground rolls beneath me—then I run more. The faster I go, the less likely I am to surrender to the cold spreading through me and the deep, cutting guilt of walking away from the hatchway last night, from Kelter.

The high clouds make their way down, embracing the evening and adopting a grayish hue, as though they’ve grown older andwiser with the sun’s absence. The trees are scarcer as I reach the edge of the woods. Voices stop me in my tracks. I slip behind a boulder and peek around the side. Vaile in jumpsuits that match the clouds mill about—no, they’re hunting. For me. They smack clubs into their palms, yearning for violence.

With slow, silent steps, I retreat back into the thick of the woods. Darkness piles on with the rapid fall of night. I gather fallen branches still trimmed with leaves and lean them against a boulder near two tree trunks in the darkest, densest area I’ve found so far. I tuck myself into the angled space.

Even in the depths of the woods, I hear the murmur of voices coming closer, the crunch of footsteps, the nearing of my end. I curl up against the layer of moss on the boulder, avoiding the slices of moonlight cutting through the branches.

I’m coming for you, Kelt.

I don’t know how, but I’ll find him. I’ll take him home and fix whatever hurt him, and I’ll go back to searching for answers, for my parents. A tear rides down my cheek, and the clouds let loose above. Rain pelts the branches around me, drops trickling through and mixing with my tears, wetting my clothes.

I wait for the footsteps to fade, for the Vaile to leave and wait out the rain, but they don’t. They circle closer, stirring fear in my gut. My heart says it all, clobbering my chest walls loud enough to give me away. I roll my body tight and rest my forehead on the ground of slippery leaves. I almost miss the stone walls and metal bars of the cell.

Water gushes from the dark sky rolling above me, and I fractionate into a million droplets cast in every direction. If I’m small, oh so very small, a drop of vicious rain, then maybe I can keep my feelings just as small. I try to let the water drown my thoughts as it reaches every inch of me, soaking me. My clothes hang heavy on my body. Drenched hair pulls at my scalp. Thewetness, the voices, my own damn mind—they pull me into a vision.

Sypher drives his knife forward, but before the silver finds its mark in my chest, Eli launches in front of me. His groan is clipped and quiet as he collapses. I fall over him and hold on tight as warm blood soaks my knees. When I finally pull back and let go, it’s no longer Eli with a knife embedded in his belly—it’s Kelter.

Why?Why am I like this? I return to the wet ball I’m rolled into, the cold taking over my body with shivers and clacking teeth. Every sensation is heightened. The voices and stomping boots close in.Go away go away go away.Twigs snap in the other direction. I clench my jaw until my face aches, trying to keep my teeth quiet.

“Be right there, I’m going to check something out,” a man’s voice calls out, and one set of footsteps nears.

He sees me. I’m dead, and Kelter too. I make myself even smaller, one with the ground, the boulder, the branches, the rain—willing my body to disappear. But huge boots sink into the mud in front of my face, and the branches are pulled away. Freezing air tears over my sopping clothes, and every muscle I possess tightens under the assault. I whip my head to the side only to be slapped in the face by my wet locks, blinded. Rough arms lock around my ribs and lift, holding my back to a chest. My feet dangle. I yell, but it’s smothered by an icy, wet hand.

“Look what I found,” the man murmurs in my ear. “The Centress will be so pleased with me, but first—we’ll have our own fun.”

More cries are stifled by his hand, tears falling. My nose stuffs up, hindering each breath. I try to wiggle free, but he’s one of the tall ones, easily holding me in place as I pull at his arms and kick my heels.

“Shut your mouth, Hollow, or my fist will. Nobody cares.” He lets go of my mouth, flips me around and throws me over his shoulder, holding me in place with a massive hand on the back of my thigh.

My scream is hollowed from my throat, powerless, silenced. Not a word pushes past my lips, trapped with the terror in me. And with the rain pounding down, I’m back in the shower all those years ago, my foster father’s voice cutting through me.No one will ever care about you. You’re a waste of space.

I punch his back and thrash my hips, trying to wiggle off his shoulder. I need to get away. Down. Out of his grasp.

“Stop struggling.” He works his hand higher up my thigh and shoves his thumb between my legs, crude fingers drilling into my ass cheek. He gives it a shake, a cruel laugh erupting from his chest as his thumb presses inward. “I’ll throw you down right here and give you a real reason to move those hips.”

A whimper falls short of making an actual sound when it slips from me, and I force my body to go slack, to stop fighting when all instinct tells me to do the opposite. My arms hang limply down his backside, blood gathering in my numb fingers. The man’s shoulder digs into my middle with each step he takes, and the wet leaves and undergrowth of the woods go by, his heels lifting one after the other. This is it. He’ll have his fucking way with me then trade me in for Kelt…and kill him.