"No onehunts Hala. She'smine."
"Ours," Mav corrected, crossing his tentacles over his chest. He met my eyes, echoing the claim, and my heart skipped. "And Iwillfind out what happened to you, and why you're being hunted. And kill all those bastards who thought they could hurt you."
I'd started shrinking away from his intensity, but the last part made me breathless and hopeful.
"No,I'llfind out," Void muttered, taking a decisive step towards me.
I was so distracted by the fact his shirt was shredded, and dark grey skin poked through in dangerously alluring muscles, that I didn't realise he'd reached for me until firm fingers framed my head—and claws scraped my skull.
"I don't—Ican't—" I gasped out, shaking my head, my eyes so wide they almost hurt.
"It won't take long, and then we'll take you home," Void soothed. "Show me who just broke my shields."
I flinched into Sang, who let out a low warning rumble—to me or Void, I couldn't tell.
I shook my head, the tears pricking my eyes and spilling over, leaving hot trails down my cheeks.
"Shit, Void," Mav said softly, stepping closer. "Look at her; she can't do this."
But Void shook his grey head. "You can't keep running from your past when it's here in the void," he told me, his raspy voice almost gentle. But his claws scratched deeper, stealing my breath.
I was twenty-six, and the keepers arranged us in a line for the Origin's inspection. This time, I hadn't failed—but a boy who was barely thirteen struggled to produce a flash of his fiery magic, and the Origin's beady eyes settled on him. His scream when the electric charge poked into his ribs would never leave me.
The claws stroked my memories again, and I was twenty-nine, struggling against the urge to inhale as my keeper pushed my head into a vat of water, training me to be better, stronger, to not be so afraid. That was the Origin's feedback: I was too afraid.4
Claws scraped a different part of my skull, and I jolted into another memory, my whole body shaking when I realised where I was. The ground was fifty feet below, and I balanced precariously on a thin beam of metal, gripping with my bare feet and trying so desperately not to fall. Three people had already lost their balance; if I looked closely enough, I could see the splatter their bodies made on the ground, dark figures splayed like marionettes.
Wind tore at my body, trying to knock me off the beam, but I dragged in a faint breath, and knotted my trembling hands behind my back, readjusting my balance.
"Good," my keeper praised. "I'm pleased to see you can balance better than those mistakes."
He gestured at the ground, the broken bodies. Mistakes—that was what they called us when we disappointed them. I couldn't be a mistake, too. Being a mistake meant being dead.
I sucked in a breath as the memory ripped away suddenly, and if there hadn't been strong arms wrapped around my middle and a tail coiled around my leg, I'd have fallen over.
Shit, the wrecked pub, the broken shields, the monsters huddled around me … it flooded back in a rush.
"I can't watch any more," Void said in a voice huskier and rougher than usual. He took a few steps away and raked his hands over his head, digging into the dark grey skin there. "Fuck, Hala."
Mav's turquoise eyes widened. He exchanged a glance with Sang, still holding me.
"How did you survive?" Void asked, watching me with an inscrutable expression.
I shrugged, trying to wrap my arms around myself but hampered by Sang’s already clinging to me. "I just did. It was normal to me."
"What was?" Sang demanded, resting his chin on my shoulder and trying to peer around at my face, as if that was possible. "What’s going on?"
"Someone abused her. Tortured her," Void said in a flat voice, making me flinch. He swallowed and added, "Tortured her for her whole life. I didn’t see Vann."
I shook my head fast, struggling to escape Sang’s obsessive hold. "Stop it.That’s my story to tell, not yours."
My skin itched, memories threatening my mind like phantoms, like monsters.
"What the hell happened to my brother?" Mav demanded, but softly, like he wasn’t expecting an answer.
"I told you," I replied, throwing an elbow back into Sang’s gut, but softly because I … actually liked him? "Go ask the bastards who tore down your shields."
"Iwill," Void said in a scary hiss, but it softened when he added, "but not before we take you home, where it’s safe."