Tethered Souls | Books 1, 2, and 3

{Book Two} 119 | Test

∞ The Tethered Ones ∞

Chapter 49

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• Luna •

Late afternoon the next day, the sun was barely obscured by clouds, and Luna was standing near the marsh, gazing at a collection of Hisyl shards.

Owen and Amir hadn't said much since they had gathered there, and even Ethan was unusually quiet. They were all fixated on what had happened to Lily. Amir had spoken to Ethan earlier in the day; the entire conversation had gone down without fists being thrown, and Luna had missed it. Apparently, Ethan had never seen an unstable Tethered Soul with his own eyes. He'd only heard about them.

But Dominique had.

She'd seen people who'd been brought to her in a compound, had been normal souls before being injected with various serums and then snapped days later. Violent outbursts were common just before they went into self-destruction mode. They'd all been given the same serum Luna had. According to Ethan, without it, their changes could hold, but it was rare and in most cases, they faded over time.

Dominique had stayed by Luna's side ever since she met up with them, while Amir and Owen handled the hisyl cautiously.

"I had to do it once," Dominique said quietly, focused on the overcast sky.

"Do what?"

"See one of them die like that. A Tethered Soul's unsteadiness." Squinting, she took a breath. "Nobody could stop the man from going insane. He killed one of the officers, and there was a flash of light. He vanished when the light went out, sort of like spontaneous combustion. There was nothing left. He couldn't have felt anything because it happened so fast."

Luna remembered seeing Lily trembling and knew she had to feel it. She took a breath and shifted her gaze back to Amir, despite her nausea. The hisyl was in a hole, and he knelt in front of it, talking to Owen. She was relieved that it was only a few of them out there and not the entire group. She didn't want to see Cami thriving from agony.

"Did the people who were brought to you understand why they were there?" Luna asked.

"Some did as if they agreed to it. Others were sedated. They had no idea what was going on. I believe the majority of them were homeless."

That was disgusting.

Luna, unable to remain still, moved toward the swamp's bank. The water wasn't cold, but it was still and calm. Quite the opposite of how she felt on the inside.

Dominique followed. "Lily was a nice person. She didn't deserve this. Do we even know how they found out about her, or where she went wrong?"

She shook her head. She'd spent the majority of the day contemplating everything. Even if Lily was an unintentional BARDA spy, they turned her into something destructive and psychotic. The organization themselves were unstable, but what they made and what they were doing now remained a mystery. As was the gem on Lily's wrist, which Titus also possessed.

She and Amir needed to talk to him without Ethan around, and they couldn't use their telepathic gifts. Titus had a hiccup over it, and for good reason.

"Did you ever notice anything on the victims? Like a strange gem with fire inside?"

Dominique's brow furrowed. "With the exception of one young girl, none of mine survived. She couldn't have been more than sixteen years old. The victims weren't wearing anything like that, and I'm not sure about the others."