"I … yeah? I don't know?" I swept my fingers over the gaping wound on my stomach, but my fingertips met whole, unmarked skin. I jerked in shock, sitting up to touch my back. All I found was dried blood, no gaping wound.
"Impossible," the Origin hissed, the first bit of true emotion I'd heard from her.
"Don't fucking move," Mav snarled, and at first I thought he was talking to me, but instead he trained the void gun on the Origin and—and Vann. Mav balanced the huge, blocky weapon with one tentacle while he held out another to me.
I took it, a little numb with shock, and Mav pulled me to my feet, catching me when I wavered into him. The weapons moved closer in the corner of my vision. Surrounding us like easy prey.
"There's no way you could come back from a stab wound to the back and stomach," the Origin seethed, her grey eyes narrowed on me and her palm raised, halting the weapons. But for how long? "Not unless you've taken void matter into you in some way."
I swallowed, and looked at Mav with wide eyes. Had I taken void matterintome?
Uh… Mav and Sang had both come inside me so … that was a resounding yes. Who knew fucking monsters would save my life?
"Thanks," I whispered, jumping when another tentacle slid around my waist, pulling me back against him.
"For coming in you?" he whispered back. "No problem. Any time."
Despite everything, I choked on a laugh, but his humour reminded me so much of Vann. He'd always tried to make me laugh and smile in the worst moments, and Mav was the same.
It hurt, stabbed me as surely as Sang's dagger had, that Vann was right here in front of me. But not here at all.
The shock of seeing me get back to my feet had obviously worn off; the Origin dropped her hand, and my heart leapt into my throat when movement rushed all around us, weapons and keepers converging from every direction.
Mav tightened his grip on me, and my heart kicked into a sprint when he wrenched me out of the way of a sudden explosion of magic. So many different types aimed at us that I couldn't tell the colours apart, a smeared rainbow of death.
Mav grunted, and my heart crashed, but he breathed, "I'm fine, Hala. Stay close."
Memories tipped and blurred into the present, and I couldn't get a good grasp on my power, couldn't do more than light my fingertips fuschia. But Ineededto fight, needed to get Mav and Sang and Void out of here. Or they'd die just like Vann—no. Worse would happen to them, like it had happened to Vann.
"Give me my friend back!" I screamed at the Origin.
She just stood there, a smirk on her face when we kept backing up, Mav knocking weapons aside with his armour-plated tentacles. I remembered my own bracers and raised my hands, intercepting the next blast of magic.
We weren't going to get out of this. I knew it, and from the tension in Mav's body, he did too.
"We have to put him down," Mav said quietly, but loud enough that the words reached me.
I flinched, and shot him a betrayed look. "No. No fucking way, Maverick."
"Wehaveto," he argued, not looking at me as he snapped his tentacles at more magic, releasing my waist to knock away a bright ruby arrow. "That's not Vann anymore. No way would he stab you. And look at him, Hala. Look!"
I couldn't. I couldn't look Vann in the face, couldn't stand to see the emptiness in his eyes. Fury and pain howled through my soul, so instead I fixed my glare on the Origin.
"You want your friend back?" she asked when I met her eyes. "Fine. Have him. Vann, killallthe monsters. We're safer with them dead."
I shook my head to dislodge the words I heard all my life.Shadowkind are beasts, mindless and hungry, and unless we kill all of them, they'll kill all of us.It’s kill or be killed, and we’re the loyal weapons saving humanity. The worst part was, the Origin genuinely believed that. She thought this senseless murder washeroic.
"No more," I breathed, and threw myself across the room at her, no magic, no weapons, nothing but rage driving me.
My hands closed around her sagging neck. I squeezed with all my strength, but she merely pressed a palm to my side and pain had me flinching back with a cry, clasping my hand over the area.
Burned—she'd burned me. Well, at least I knew what her power was now.
I couldn't get my hands to stop shaking, but I didn't need to. I let saliva pool on my tongue and spat in her face, trying not to wrinkle my nose at how gross it was. If anyone deserved it, it was this woman. She was the real monster, not Mav. Mav hadn't brought me into existence, locked me in the hutch, and hurt me until I did whatever he wanted.
"You—" she snarled when my spit landed, burning her face. Whatever insult she'd been about to call me cut off when I snapped my fist forward and punched the air out of her lungs.
"You shouldn't have trained me to kill," I said, my voice faint. "That was a big mistake, Origin."