Page 57

Chapter fifty-five

Andrew

M y men are silent, moving steadfast toward a building that has always brought me nothing but considerable trepidation.

Twenty minutes ago, I was urgently asked to leave my office, hauled into the passenger seat of a car with Adam, and driven away with such urgency that I could only assume meant an order had come through from the Commander.

I’m not sure at what point the turns became unrecognizable. Deep within the Untouchable sector, farther out than anyone typically travels, lies a building surrounded by fencing that hides the secrets of New Haven. Only in the drunken hours of the night, after watching the horrific events of the Lottery, have I been here.

In the light of day, I see this place is even more daunting than I recall—a vast, looming structure of cold, gray concrete, and it’s completely devoid of windows.

Drudging past several security checkpoints, I nearly take offense to how the guards handle me, one even going as far as to take my badge, promising its return at the end of the day. Adam stands beside me, letting the guards search him, looking less disconcerted than I am by their need to search us so thoroughly.

“It's just Commander's protocol,” Adam says, shrugging as if this is an everyday thing for him.

Readjusting my uniform, I scowl at the guards. There are groups of Officials making their way in and out of the building.

“I never ordered any of these men to work a detail here. They said this building was only used for confinement. Why so much security if the Marked and Unfortunates are detained with the collars?” I question in observance of the influx of men surrounding the premises.

“It would seem your authority doesn’t supersede the Commander's directives,” Adam mutters. His absolute allegiance to the dictator of New Haven society is something I've never fully understood.

“Any particular reason they’re searching us?” I question, unnerved by the unwelcome pat down.

“We have quite a few unpredictable new arrivals for the Lottery this year,” Adam says with a smile. “The Commander wants to make sure everything goes smoothly with their transition into the games.”

Pushing past the large set of metal doors, we enter the small lobby. Men wait at the front, guiding us down one of the many twisting hallways.

I see the familiar fortified doors of the holding cells and can hear audible screams from within.

“The Commander requested you two personally… he would like to see Andrew first,” one of the men guiding us says, keeping his gaze forward, moving closer to the end of the hallway where a large office is located.

On my first Lottery night, I remember coming to this office to try and hide rather than watch the events of the night play out. I couldn’t stomach the amount of blood and brutality in the pit.

The door is slightly ajar as the flames of a fireplace illuminates the floor. Pausing, Adam motions me to proceed in front of him. The rest of the men remain outside.

“Alright,” I whisper, moving forward, feeling a hand shove me into the dimly lit space. The door slams shut behind me.

Turning on my heels, I reach for the door handle, shaking it with rage.

The door is locked. My hand slams against the solid construction of the door.

“Adam! Let me the fuck out of here!” I hiss, ready to tear down the door. My mark rubs against the cuff of my shirt in a burning heat.

“What's wrong now?” I whisper, rubbing my thumb along the course skin.

A slight movement behind me grabs my attention, my eyes snapping to a body thrashing in a chair.

Narrowing my eyes, I look at the body, my hands frantically reaching through my pockets, feeling a bit of security once my fingers find the small flashlight I keep on hand.

“Who the hell are you?” I question, getting nothing but silence.

“You have a limited time frame to answer my fucking question before I start kicking your teeth in,” I hiss, their voice nothing but a murmur.

Grabbing the back of the chair, I brace myself.

“Listen here, you asshole-” I begin, turning the chair on its legs, my flashlight raised.

His blue eyes widen. His mouth is gagged. A firm metal collar is latched around his throat. Blood trickles down the side of his face, his eyes sunken, his energy drained. Along his side, his mark sticks out, his shirt torn from the sheer number of lashings he’d received. He continues to thrash against his bindings, sweat accumulated along his forehead. I pull out the gag from his mouth, watching him gasp for air.

“Fallan?” I question, keeping my hold on him, doing my best to transfer him some of my energy.

“What -”

“He fucking took her, Andrew,” he spits, his wrists raw from his struggles. “You have to let me out and get this collar off. I have no idea where she is. I swear I will fucking kill everyone in here once I have this off-”

“Took who?”

“They have Forest,” he spits out, my stomach dropping. “And Kai.” His teeth are bared as he continues. “I tried to save them from all of this…. but he got to them-”

“Who got to them?” I push, his head shaking.

“Andrew, use your Hold. Take this off-”

My knees buckle, hitting the ground with a painful thud. I have no control over my body. My head twists behind me, forced to look away from Fallan.

Another figure lingers in the room, their body leaned against a large wooden desk. They toy with a pocket watch, spinning it on their finger nonchalantly. The shadows conceal their identity, their hand outreached toward us.

“A Marked?” I whisper, listening to their sinister laugh.

A familiar tone lingers in the gleeful chuckle.

“Observant. You’d make a fine father-in-law,” his familiar voice says. Fallan’s anger rises.

“Come over here and say that! You piece of privileged shit!” Fallan yells, his skin tearing against the bindings on his wrists.

“Keep running your mouth like that, and I'll make you watch as I fuck her,” his familiar voice says, my mind questioning everything.

“Xavier?” I question, watching the blonde's smile grow.

He flips on the lights, and the large office brightens, giving me a clear image of the space. Wearing an ivory-green suit, he continues spinning the pocket watch. His eyes burn with a sinister intensity.

“Two powerful Marked right in front of me. How did I get so lucky?”

“The Commander-”

“Don't tell me the obedient Official act fooled you, Andrew,” Xavier says with a mocking tone.

“My men are right outside-”

“My men, Andrew,” Xavier clarifies, waving his finger. “I speak, they do. Their chips aren’t needed, but they are indeed helpful when I find myself tired of making my way into their sorry little minds-”

“I will kill you!” Fallan yells, thrashing against his bindings once more.

Xavier stumbles out of his relaxed position, touching his temple with a look of anger. Fallan yells out in pain. The collar around his neck grows brighter as it activates.

“Still fighting after everything?” Xavier questions angrily, grabbing the boy's collar and dragging him right to the floor, “All those times you warned me to stay away from her, the empty threats time and time again. And what good did they do you? You still want to tell me she’s yours?” Xavier questions, delivering a punch to Fallan’s face.

Fallan smiles, spitting his blood over Xavier’s front.

“She'll never love you,” Fallan whispers.

Xavier grasps the man's head, all the energy I’d given Fallan draining instantly.

“Doesn’t matter,” Xavier begins, drawing in a deep breath. “I’ll just use your energy to fuck her and force you to listen.”

“You won’t touch her!” I yell, forcing my knees away from the ground, straining against his Hold. Grabbing his legs, I force him to the floor. Fallan kicks up his leg, hitting Xavier’s chest.

Moving with precision, I ready myself to seize his mind, planning to render him powerless.

“Do that, and I blow his brains out,” Xavier seethes, his hand raised, his pistol pointed to Fallan. I pause my fight, my hands a shaky mess. “How many Markswoods can your conscience afford to kill, Andrew?”

I freeze at the comment, overcome by my own guilt.

“You're weak,” Xavier says, shoving me away, his hand waving, a collar meeting his palm instantly. Snapping it around my neck, he kicks me back, and my body meets the ground.

“Please, know,” Xavier begins, moving closer to the doors. “Only one of you will make it out of this room by the end of today.”

He offers nothing else as he slips past the door, leaving the room in utter silence, deafening stillness.

Forest

Kai is fast asleep, his body curled up on the worn mattress in the corner of the holding cell. Looking around, my eyes land on the opened cell door, my hand raised, ready to hurt anyone who dares to come near us. Touching my throat, I run my finger along the metal collar. Leaving Kai to rest, I rise to my feet, pulling down my skirt in an attempt at modesty. I had used the bottom portion of it to wrap around my bleeding knuckles, and it was significantly shorter now. Moving past the cell door, I look around. There is no movement. Not a single Official in sight.

“Where are you going?” Kai’s voice is hoarse, and I can see the pain and exhaustion in his features. I readjust my collar, clearing my throat to try and make my response to him come across with confidence.

“Whoever brought our meals,” I say, looking at the measly portion of grits positioned on a small silver tray. “Didn't latch the cell door all the way,” I look around again, waiting for someone to appear after hearing me.

“You were going to sneak out? Even with your abilities drained?” he questions, stating the obvious.

“I have to try, Kai. Stay here,” I begin, ready to leave him behind. “At least I’ll know you're safe-”

He grabs my wrist, and when I look back at him, his eyes no longer hold a boyish innocence, but the weight of adulthood instead. Suddenly, I see the similarities between him and my father. It was never age in my father's sullen expression… it was pain.

“I’m your older brother,” he starts, moving past me. “Don't forget what responsibilities that means I have.” He looks back at me, resolute, a sense of duty filling him with renewed energy.

“I'll lead the way.”

Making it past every empty cell, there is discomfort in not seeing any of our friends. Unable to push past the hold of the collar, it's up to Kai to hack the outdated coding on the panel of the final security door that’s keeping us trapped within the confinement chamber. Kai eventually managed to bypass the digital lock, and we find ourselves back in the main area of the building. Distant chatter echoes from a vestibule just a turn away. Looking at a large door to our right, we see an odd indentation in the wall. Its material is older than what surrounds it.

“If we go that way, we're screwed,” Kai whispers, listening to the bellowing laughter of the Officials who attempt to flirt with a woman sitting at her workstation.

Moving closer to the indentation, I press my head to the wall, listening to the voices beyond it.

Like the purest noise blessing my ears, I hear his familiar voice, conflicted and comforting, groveling in emotional pain.

Motioning Kai over, I push the wall in, watching it move back, revealing an old entryway probably forgotten during a renovation of the space. Shoving past me, Kai steps inside, helping me pull back the concrete slab to conceal us from any oncoming Officials. Looking at the opening, we continue listening to Fallan’s voice, moving down the narrow path, holding our arms close to our sides.

“We're inside the walls,” Kai whispers, my head gently nodding.

Pushing past cobwebs, we follow the hallway to the end, stopping in front of our only way inside the space where Fallan is being held. Ready to press in the hidden entryway, we pause at the sound of another voice.

“I deserve all of this for what I did to you,” my father's familiar voice grovels.

“Is that-”

“Dad,” I whisper, finishing Kai’s statement.

I hear my father sniffle, his voice filled with emotion.

“It's over now, Andrew,” Fallan begins.

“Not to me!” my father yells, his hands slamming down on a surface somewhere in the room, the sound of chains dragging across the floor.

I stay pressed against Kai, both of us silently listening.

“Your father was my best friend, Fallan. I watched your mother and him fall in love,” my father cries. “I watched the joy on your mother's face when she was pregnant with you,” he continues, my heart racing. “Our parents used to have to drag me and your father away from each other. We dreamed of getting away from this place. He was exceptional, just like you.” The sound of something being kicked or thrown fills our ears. “And I promised him I would protect you, but I betrayed him!” My father yells, a choked sob escaping him. “I was too selfish to tell Katiana I couldn’t be with her. I was too weak to put my foot down and stay with my people-”

“You murdered my dad to prove your loyalty to her people,” Fallan says, his voice broken. “You shot him right in front of me, and instead of taking me, you used a chip on me that you knew wouldn't work,” Fallan whispers, his voice lined with resentment. “You took everything away from me, Andrew, and I wanted you to suffer,” Fallan yells, my head pressed to the wall in pain. “I wanted to kill her for what you did to me,” Fallan continues, my mind racing, “The night when that Untouchable boy committed suicide, I was ready to kill her. I was ready to drag her lifeless body to your front door and make you suffer,” Fallan says, that night of the bonfire coming to the forefront of my mind.

“Then why didn't you?”

“I fell in love with a girl I wasn't supposed to. Everything before Forest was abysmal," Fallan responds, the affection and longing in his voice heard, even from behind this wall. “Everything after that night for me was only her. I will live for her, and I will die for her, as long as it means she gets to live.”

“It didn't matter how often we tried to hardwire her brain to forget you,” my father begins, a small laugh leaving him. “She always found you.” My fingers instinctively running along the scar on the back of my neck. “Your connection with her is nothing like I’ve seen with our kind before-”

“There are no more Marked, Andrew. What's here is what's left of our kind,” Fallan whispers.

“You think Xavier would have done all of this if that were true?” my father questions, my mind racing.

“He's keeping us here for a reason, and he’s safeguarding my daughter for his own self-gain. There's something about her he wants-”

“I am going to kill him,” Fallan whispers. “Her life is all that matters.”

An unnerving presence surrounds me. Kai’s grasp on my arm tightens.

“Touching moment,” Xavier’s voice whispers. Both Kai and I turn. Our fronts fill with pain as a burst of energy pushes against us. Our backs hit the small hidden door, and we tumble into the space holding my father and Fallan.

Both men are shackled and bound to a set of chairs, metal collars clasped around their necks.

Hitting the floor with Kai, we hurry to try and stand, both of us watching Xavier move out from behind the wall.

Pulling myself to my feet, I look at Fallan and my father, screaming in pain as my ankles fill with a searing heat each time I try to move. Grabbing Kai's hair, Xavier drags him closer to Fallan, forcing both men to their knees. My dad observes in horror, immobilized by Xavier’s powers.

“Don't you just love a touching revelation?” Xavier questions, but my attention wasn’t on him.

“Are you okay?” I question Fallan and my father, their small nods enough to give me comfort.

“Don’t fucking talk to him,'' Xavier hisses angrily, shoving my brother down, looking me over vexedly. He moves towards me, but I leap to the desk in the room, grabbing the first thing that I can use as a weapon. I grab a letter opener and swipe it towards his throat. He smiles at the attempt, grabbing my wrist to pull me closer.

“Such a fighter,” he whispers. “It's unfortunate how little you know about your abilities.” He shoves me into the desk. My back meets its edge. I use the momentum from the push to swing my legs up, kicking Xavier hard in the chest. Watching him stagger backward, I keep my hold on the letter opener. My father, Kai, and Fallan are still trapped by his powers, watching in distress, unable to do anything.

“You are working very hard to piss me off,” Xavier hisses, my hand jamming the letter opener into the seamline of the collar. It shocks me, my hands trembling as I drop the weapon.

“If it were that easy to break, one of these two idiots would have done it by now,” Xavier says with a scoff, his hands grasping the collars of both Kai and Fallan.

“Forest, leave,” Fallan begs. Xavier strikes him hard in the back.

“Stop it!” I scream, my father scrambling to try and kick Xavier away.

Fallan is bruised and bloodied, his energy all but exhausted.

“If you learned to shut your mouth, maybe you'd be in a little less pain,” Xavier utters, holding his foot against Fallan’s back.

"Why are you keeping them here?” I question, continuing to claw at my collar.

“He's draining our energy,” my father answers.

“Hence, keeping their abilities at bay in a way the collars can't. They're a bit more experienced with their powers than you are, love,” Xavier smiles, my head shaking in disbelief.

“Marked can drain other Marked?”

Xavier chuckles at the question.

“Not only can we drain them,'' Xavier begins, running his finger through the blood trickling down Fallan’s lip. Bringing the blood to his mouth, I watch him taste it.

“There is no greater power than consuming the blood of a Marked. Abilities thought to be limited suddenly become much more intimidating,” Xavier says, my eyes averting to the I.V. being forced into Fallan’s arm first, then my father’s.

“Get out of here, Forest. Please.” Xavier readies to strike Fallan once more at his outburst.

Without thinking, I raise my hand, forcing past the pain the collar brings me. Xavier’s leg comes to a stop midair, unable to bring it all the way down. He lets out a growl of frustration. The collar around my neck scorches the skin underneath it, vibrating mechanically and emitting loud warning beeps the longer I hold Xavier in place.

Abruptly, I feel the other’s presence. Its existence is no longer steeped in shadow. Looking into Xavier’s eyes, I see it now: the glow in my iris and the gray tinge to my hair.

What was once only a reflection now lingers in my features.

That other part of me is unable and unwilling to submit. Now, it watches Xavier, hungry and ready to hunt.

“I won’t hesitate to break your leg,” I seethe, ready to take down this entire room if it means defeating him.

Pulling his pistol free, Xavier points it at Fallan’s head, his free hand pointed toward my brother.

“Release your Hold on me, or the blood of your brother and lover will be on your hands,” Xavier threatens, my hand slowly lowering.

“Good girl,” he whispers in a taunt, my Hold on him dwindling.

I hear a subtle click as the safety on Xavier’s pistol is disengaged. He looks between my brother and Fallan, running the muzzle along Fallan’s head as they lie with their stomachs pressed to the ground. My dad screams out for him to let them go.

“Choose, or I kill all three,” Xavier whispers, my eyes wide with fear.

"No, I-”

He pulls the trigger, my life flashing before my eyes. Kai wails out in pain, his hands reaching to grasp his leg, blood soaking through his pants and pooling on the floor. Xavier squats down next to Kai, pushing his finger into the bullet hole. Kai’s screams become deafening. Fallan tries desperately to get to my brother, but Xavier’s hold on him is unyielding. Feeling my energy surge, I try to think of a way out.

“Just barely missed a vital artery,” Xavier says, pulling the bullet free. “Damn,” he hisses, dropping the bullet to the ground, licking his fingers clean.

Kai cries out, his hands gripping his thigh.

“Choose.”

Fallan finally gains some control back and swipes his leg out at Xavier, ending up on top of him a few moments later. Tearing past his bindings, Fallan drives his knee into Xavier’s chest. Xavier lets out a groan, his hands pointing the gun at Fallan’s abdomen. Diving to the floor, I grab the letter opener, my mind racing. Fallan is seconds away from meeting Kai’s fate.

“I'm going to rip your face off!” Fallan yells, raising his arm above his head, readying to deliver him a painful blow. Xavier touches the trigger. His smile grows deviously.

“I'm assuming you need me alive for whatever you have planned,” I whisper, both men's heads snapping toward me. Holding the sharp opener to my throat, I press down hard. A small cut begins and the blood streaks over the metal collar. “Get your fucking gun away from him,” I shudder. Xavier’s eyes are wide, and Fallan’s face is shocked.

Shoving Fallan off of him, Xavier still holds him close, his hand firmly placed around Fallan’s forearm.

“Don't make me choose,” I say, sliding the opener a little further across my neck. “Put your gun down.”

I expect him to badger me with more mindless taunts. Holding his hand, he places the weapon down, looking me over apprehensively.

“Take my collar off from over there. I can tell you have the Hold. Use it,” I say, slicing farther, the cut coming closer to the carotid artery running up the side of my neck.

Fallan is unable to speak. None of the men have a voice. Their mouths are sealed shut by Xavier.

“Put down the letter opener,” Xavier begins, my hand pushing deeper. The blood runs thicker. My stance becoming unsteady as a wave of dizziness takes over me.

“Enough!” Xavier yells, waving his hand, the collar clattering to the ground. He moves toward me, his eyes wide with concern. Taking a knife at his side, he slices his palm, his hand raising toward my mouth, “Drink, you'll heal-”

Pressing his hand to my mouth, I take in some of his blood, and a wave of energy surges through me. The need to keep drinking threatens to consume me. He grasps my head, letting me take what I can. I can see the glow of my iris in his dilated pupils, and I remember why I’m standing here. My hand continues to grip the letter opener as the wound on my neck begins to heal.

“My girl-”

Before he can say another word, I drive the opener into his chest. His eyes grow wide, his words lost in his throat.

“I'm not yours,” I seethe, energy humming just under the surface of my skin.

Twisting the weapon, I feel the metal collide with his heart. He grabs me, dragging me down to the floor with him. His eyes, once full of life, are dull, vapid orbs. The blonde hairs on his head are darker. His face is more imperfect than I remember. Gasping for air, he tries to touch my face. My eyes shoot up toward Fallan and Kai, both their mouths hanging open as a silent scream leaves my brother. Not once had they moved from their positions.

“What-”

“Forest-” my father's voice beckons, my heart dropping at the realization of the man on the ground underneath me.

Unable to speak, I look down, my lungs unable to find air as my father's bloodied mouth tries to mutter my name again. Still grasping the end of the opener, I feel panic set in. The blow meant for the Xavier is now lodged deep into my father’s chest. Quickly applying pressure, I cover his wound, my lip shaking, my hand supporting his head.

“Forest-”

“Dad, don't speak,” I urge, my eyes frantically looking around.

“I need help!” I scream, hoping someone might breach that door.

“Please… I need help!” I scream louder, my tears clouding my vision, his blood soaking my front.

I raise my hand, ready to give him as much of my energy as I can. Shakily touching my neck, I feel the collar, my throat gasping, struggling to get air.

It had never fallen off.

He stepped into my mind.

He manipulated me.

“Forest-” my father begins once more, his hands touching my face. “Calm down, my angel,” he says, his mouth filling with blood.

“Dad," I begin, my tears rolling over my cheeks.

“I'll get you out of here. I swear," I start, ready to slice my palm like he had done for me. He grabs my hand, stopping me.

“It can’t fix every wound,” he whispers, his eyes closing in frustration, his tears streaming down his face and mixing with the blood coming steadily from his mouth. “It's time to let me go,” he whispers, his blood soaking my hand.

"I didn't mean to-”

“I know,” he starts, pulling my head down to his chest, his breath uneven, and I know his time is near. “None of this was ever your fault,” he whispers, his lips pressed against the side of my face.

“You kids and your mother are my everything,” he whimpers, pressing his hand to my heart.

“Above all else, you must know where the true evil lies.”

“Dad-”

“You’re what remains. Lead us to our salvation,” he says, his forehead pressed to mine.

Kai’s screams finally register. Fallan does his best to comfort him. His head presses to the ground as he gasps for air between devastating wails of grief.

“I can't do this without you.”

“Yes, you can,” he whispers, his eyes opening and closing slowly. “Nothing is as it seems. You can trust no one but yourself, Forest. Trust the woman you see in the mirror. You only have yourself from here, and it will be a long journey ahead,” he says, my mind flashing to that other part of me.

“I love you… Forest,” he says, his voice breaking up.

Holding my face in his hands, his grip loosens. My hands hold his wound, my voice a shaky mess.

“Dad?” I question. His chest's slow rise and fall suddenly stops.

“Andrew?” I question again. Kai’s cries are frantic.

Feeling my father’s hands fall away from my face, I slowly raise my head. His blood soaks me. Looking at his open eyes, I feel my heart drop. The lively green eyes that nurtured me and watched me grow are now blank, stuck in a cold, dead expression. Pressing my head to his chest, I wait for his strong heartbeat that I felt during each embrace, ready for him to ruffle my hair, scolding me for worrying too much.

But it never comes. That gentle laugh, that playful scowl, all gone in an instant.

His chest is a bloody cavern, his body motionless beneath my touch.

Holding my hands together, I force them down on his front, my lips touching his, moving oxygen into his unmoving lungs. Repeatedly pumping my clasped hands above the gaping wound where I’d stuck the letter opener, new tears blur my vision.

“You're fine,” I whisper, my voice cracking.

“You're okay, Dad,” I continue, my heart-shattering.

Letting out a scream so deep within my chest, I feel the space around me implode. My heart races as my hands grasp my hair.

“He's gone,” Xavier’s voice says. My body goes rigid at presence.

I shakily rise to my feet, turning on my heels. Our eyes meet from across the room. He stands behind my brother and Fallan, unchanged from the same position he had earlier, with the pistol still in his hand.

“Remember this moment the next time you think you can cross me,” Xavier says, motioning to the ground with the gun.

“Get on your knees. Do as I say, and no one else dies today,'' Xavier continues. “Unless you'd like to keep murdering the people you love, ” he pushes, my heart racing with an uncontrollable rage.

My energy, once coasting, is now a full-fledged fire. I’m even doubtful at this point if the collar around my neck, though strong, will be able to hold back what’s contained within me. Lowering to my knees, I comply. His body moves closer to where he stands. The walls in my mind are back up by some miracle. The strength of that other side of me remains, Its presence alert ever since my father’s blood touched my lips. Xavier strolls around me, his hands running the gun along my neck.

“Just one small request, and then you can all rot in your cells for the night. I'll even patch up your brother's leg out of the kindness of my heart,” he says, his eyes wide.

Crouching in front of me, he looks me over with a smile.

"Taste my blood,” he says, my stomach dropping at the statement. “Taste it, and no one else has to get hurt,” Xavier continues. Fallan roars like a feral animal.

“A taste? That's all you need?” I question, coaxing my face into an expression of innocence and naivety.

“Yes, but it’s your choice,” he whispers, his hands running along his throat. “Because today is a day of choices, and whether you realize it or not,” he continues. “What just happened was not my doing.”

I look at his lips, my hands clenched. This isn't something he wants. It's something he needs.

My lips draw closer to his raised hand. Leaning past his hand, I slide my mouth over his cheek and to his ear.

“There will never be a day I fucking choose to accept any part of you. Rot in hell, Commander,” I seethe. His hands grab my waist, the rage visible in the taut lines of his face and set line of his mouth.

“Clearly, you haven't learned your lesson,” he whispers, his nose grazing my own. Pressing an earpiece, he speaks. “Send two men in. We also need a cleanup.”

Waving his hand, Fallan and Kai are released from their rigid positions on the floor, finally able to move.

Two Officials shove through the doors, ignoring my father, grabbing the boys before they move toward me. Holding me to him, Xavier moves us into a standing position, his hand cupped around the back of my neck.

“What should we do with them, sir?” one of the men asks. My hand claws at Xavier's wrist.

“Put them all in the Lottery,” he starts, his eyes panning down to me. “Put her in the first round. Give her a taste of what her friends will experience. Make those two watch…. And as for Andrew,” Xavier nods at my father’s lifeless figure. “Burn his body and save the ashes for our special guest.” Fallan and Kai snap, doing their best to get away from the Officials behind them.

Watching Fallan and Kai get dragged away, I can’t stop the tears from coming again in another wave. My head stays pressed against Xavier.

“I hate you,” I whisper, his hand around my neck squeezing tightly.

“I know,” he whispers, his tone low.

“That's what makes this all so fun,” he says, his lips brushed against my ear.

“I'll kill you and burn this place to the ground,” I whisper, his laugh brushing my ear.

“I do hope you try,” he says, the casual lilt back in his tone. “In the meantime, let's see how resilient you really are.”