Page 28

F inally! Finally, an actual book on dark beings. It just took searching the whole damn library to find.

Glancing around, I make sure no one is watching before sliding it under my top and heading out.

On my way back, I spot a certain blonde. Smiling down at the Vims beside me, I decide now is the perfect time to enact my revenge on the bitch.

She nearly killed me. Wanted to ensure I didn’t survive. Not the fall nor the feral Shadows.

Well, the now no-longer-feral Shadows. Something I still have yet to figure out. But it will have to go on my long list of things I need to do for now.

Following Stacey and her little group into the forest, I make sure I’m quiet and hidden before glancing down at the Vims around me.

Leaning down, I tell them what I want them to do and watch as they slip along the forest ground before surrounding the girls.

Screams and shouts echo throughout the forest as Stacey and the others are herded back toward my little trap.

They drop with a loud scream and thump.

I make my way over to the trap I created and glance down at the groaning group of girls.

Stacey’s gaze finds mine and her eyes widen. “You?—”

“Me.” I nod. “You didn’t think I was going to let you get away with what you did, did you?!” I tell her with a smirk.

A couple of the girls stumble to their feet while the brunette closer to Stacey glares up at me. “Our Shadow companions will find us.”

“Not necessarily. Especially since I wrote them all a little note saying you needed to go to the War Camps early.” My smile widens on the look of fear seeping across their faces.

“Have you figured out where you are yet?” I ask, feeling a little too happy with myself.

Most of the girls glance around and frown, but Stacey’s eyes widen when she realizes.

“Does it not look familiar?” I ask them, giving them all a little hint.

“It can’t be…” Stacey breathes, shaking her head. “That’s on the other side of the forest.”

“I guess you didn’t know there are four entrances,” I tell her and watch her gaze veer to mine. “And you’ve just entered one.”

“Get us out of here!” she screams, trying to claw at the walls.

I laugh down at her. “Why on earth would I do that?”

“They’re going to kill us!” she shouts in rage and panic and absolute fear.

“And yet you didn’t care when you all shoved me down one similar,” I tell her, each word calm, too calm. “You walked away knowing exactly what would happen when you left me. It’s only right I give you the same care and thoughtfulness you have given me.”

“Sena, please!” she cries, but her tears have no effect on me. Nor do her pleas and screams.

And even though she deserves much worse, I know tonight will not be her end.

I’ve blocked this tunnel from the other feral Shadows. But they don’t need to know that. On top of trying to escape a maze of tunnels they assume has feral Shadows in it, the Vims will be right there syphoning their energy at every chance they get.

I step back and ignore their cries and pleas and slide the latch over the door before locking it.

One of the feral Shadows I accidentally healed moves from his spot in the trees, and I throw him the keys to the latch.

“Give them a few days and then let them out,” I tell him, and he nods.

“Done.”

“After this we can call whatever happened even,” I tell him.

“I owe you my life. Babysitting some spoiled brats doesn’t even come close to calling it even.” He turns and leaves without another word while I find myself wondering if I should have asked someone else to help me instead.

But those I knew and trusted were going to the War Camps, and if I told the guys, they’d want to do much worse than what I just did.

Sighing to myself, I head back to the house and take advantage of the silence to read that book.

Sitting down at the table, I get comfortable and crack it open.

‘Variant. A being with the ability to transform, shift, and even take control of other bodies. The inhabitant is usually killed, the Variant now having all memories from the stolen body. No abilities from the host are transferred, but the Variant will still contain its own.’

That doesn’t make sense. I don’t have Sena’s old memories. I’m also not a Variant. But I have a feeling one of them did this to me.

I just can’t figure out why.

Did the old Sena piss them off? But if that was the case, then why didn’t they just kill her off and end it there? Not switch her with me.

“What’s this?” Knox swipes the book from my hands and spins out of reach. I didn’t even hear him come in.

Shit. Knox’s smile quickly changes as he reads it, morphing into a frown.

He glances up at me, but before he gets a chance to ask me anything, I say the first thing that comes to mind. “It’s for a history assignment.”

His brows raise. “I suppose that’s a lot more interesting than what we were forced to learn.”

I edge closer to him and the book. “Do you know anything about them?”

“Variants?” he asks, and I nod.

“I heard they’re evil. Their power comes from the Hollow. It’s dark and unstable,” he says.

My heartbeat picks up speed, as fear claws at my chest. “And if you ever came across one of them or those involved with them, would you kill them?” I fist my hands behind my back, hiding the tremble in them.

“In a heartbeat,” he says before handing me the book back with a vicious smile and kiss on the cheek.

“We ready?” Malakai asks as he and the others filter in around the kitchen. “Everyone have everything they need?”

Knox bends down and grabs me, throwing me over his shoulder. He turns back to the guys while I get to stare at his ass.

I mean, it’s not a bad view.

“I heard that,” Knox whispers into my mind as his hand crawls up my thigh.

I smack it and wiggle to get down. He groans and lets me.

I glance around at the others, catching their small smiles. “Don’t I have to go through the portal with the other females?”

“Not this time,” Cyrus says. “You’re coming with us.”

I paste a smile on my face and try to feel some of the happiness I see around me. And not worry and spiral over the fact that if any one of them found out what happened to me, they might end up killing me.