"Really," Vann agreed dryly, ignoring me when I kicked him and instead smirking, shameless.
"You're on your final warning, Alan. I'll be watching you."
That was another thing about Vann—he'd been smart enough to tell the keepers a fake name when he'd been grabbed and brought here. I didn't understand what new experiment he and the three others who'd been captured were part of, but I knew it was nothing good.
If it wasn't good enough to make monster hunters from birth, how bad were things getting out there? I'd been taken out to hunt six shadowkind in the last few weeks, my only glimpse of the world outside one of blood, tracking, and killer magic before I was bundled back into the van and returned to the hutch.
I knew Vann was planning to escape, but I also knew it would never work. None of the others got out when they tried. They only got a slow, agonising death, twitching on the floor, shocked over and over until the light left their eyes. While everyone was forced to watch, to learn from their bad behaviour.
"Be careful," I hissed at Vann, imploring him with my eyes. "I don't want you to get hurt."
He waved a tanned hand, unserious as always. "Nah, I'll be fine. Just like to keep them on their toes."
"If I lose you, I'll be alone again," I said quietly, knotting my hands in my lap.
"Hey," Vann murmured, his blue eyes tight as he tilted up my face with a gentle finger. "Not gonna happen. You wanna know why?"
I swallowed and nodded.
He leaned close enough that I could smell the cheap soap he'd used to wash with earlier, his eyes even brighter up close. "I've got a secret weapon."
I jolted. Did he think he could use his magic against the keepers?
But then he whispered, "Me."
"What?" I breathed, frowning, my heart beating faster at this obvious rule breaking. We weren't supposed to collude or plan. That could get us killed, or at the very least on the radar of the Origin.
"My magic, the silver glow, the keepers think they gave me that with their twisted experiments, right?"
I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat.
"I already had it. It’s just a diluted version of my magic. And I can use it to get the hell out of here.Andtake you with me."
"I don't know, Vann," I whispered. "I don't think it's a good idea."
Go out of the hutch…
Even if he somehow found a way out past all the keepers, electric prods, and past the Origin's all-seeing glare, what would we evendoout there? I was ashamed by how much freedom scared me.
Vann squeezed my arm. "You can come home with me, and we'll have nachos like I used to with my mum and brother. You're family now."
He ruffled my hair, and I flushed, my ears burning at the tips. The only family I'd ever had was the Origin, and she stopped being real family the first time she shocked me. The other weapons didn’t count, either. We kept distant, safe, so there was no way to form a bond. Only Vann was different.
"It won't work," I said, shaking my head and hating how his hopeful expression fell. "There's no way. I'm sorry, Vann."
I'd seen too many people die in my thirty years to risk that happening to me and Vann.
"Even if we do, they'll find us," I finished.
"Not in the void," he disagreed.
I pulled away, my eyes wide.
Go tothe void…
"We'll be killed in an instant."
Vann shook his head fast, black hair falling into his eyes. "Don't freak out, okay?"