HAVEN ✓

Forty

Luke, Rhett, and I all turn as a group of armed soldiers burst into the room, immediately flanking Dr. Tabb. The sight should comfort me, as surely they're here to help defend against the Skinwalkers, but an uneasy lump of coal weighs in my gut. Dr. Tabb's eyes gleam, and the soldiers don't look like they're here to save the day.

"What's going on? What do you mean you have a weapon?" Rhett asks. My eyes dart from Dr. Tabb to the glossy black metal of guns the men carry.

Dr. Tabb turns to him. "I've been made an offer." Her teeth are glaringly white as a grin stretches her wrinkled face. "I've developed a serum to neutralize the Skinwalkers, and now I will reap my reward. You've assisted me well enough, they may secure a position inside for you as well."

My eyes lift to the soldier's arm, the band there jarringly golden. Sickeningly familiar.

Herald soldiers.

Rhett seems to realize the same thing. "You're selling the antidote to the Council?" he yells, his voice high-pitched and incredulous. My gaze flicks up as Dr. Tabb shrugs, my panic reviving. When he steps toward her, the guards step between them. I swallow down the bile burning my throat at the sound of metal sliding on metal—a gun cocking.

"Why would you do that?" Luke demands, his voice brittle, teetering on the edge of fury. I feel it too, like the tingling you get when a limb falls asleep. Except this prickling is hot. Red. Angry. It bubbles up inside me, surfing on the waves of panic roiling in my stomach.

"Why would I focus solely on developing a cure? How would we implement it? The thought of planning such a hail-mary is headache-inducing. Though my interests lie with the highest bidder, I have not a care how they choose to use it, or not use it." Dr. Tabb lifts something out of her pocket. It's the syringe from before. I can only watch as she hands it to one of the stone-faced soldiers who then sets it in a cushioned briefcase, closing and locking the lid.

"Now if you'll excuse us." Dr. Tabb starts to leave, but pauses for a moment, turning to look at my brother. "Rhett, will you be joining us?"

"No!" I blurt out, reaching a hand out as if I could stop time. "Rhett, you can't!" His eyes meet mine, mirroring my own manic gaze. I silently plead for him not to go, to not be a part of this betrayal. But then a treacherous thought flutters into my mind.

This could be his ticket back into Herald. Even if Markee and I can never go back to the way things were, at least he can. I wouldn't fault him for wanting to go home.

"No," he says decisively. His expression shifts, his hard brow low over his eyes. "My place is here."

Dr. Tabb shrugs again, her lab coat rippling behind her as she pivots away. "Such a loss." Her gait is clipped as she strides toward the door, the troop following closely.

I balk at the audacity, rage boiling inside me and flowing out of my mouth like lava. "You can't do that!" I shout after her, struggling against Luke's arm as he holds me back from jumping her. I writhe, attempting to escape his grasp, but my outrage and bewilderment is not enough to loosen his bonds. I scream in frustration. "You can't just take the only chance the Outlanders have!"

Dr. Tabb stops, and my heart desperately hopes that I've convinced her to reconsider. With her eyes on a broad-shouldered cadet, she cocks her head in my direction. "Take her with us. We may need more of her blood, just in case."

It's as if I am doused in ice-water. Every one of my muscles freeze up, and for an entire second, I cannot move. Luckily, Luke reacts for me, both he and Rhett dashing toward me at the same time. Luke pushes me in one direction, then Rhett takes my hand and drags me away from the front entrance. We stumble through the double-doors into the lab. Behind us rings a cacophony of voices shouting and feet stomping in hot pursuit. I command my feet to move.

"We've got to get you out of here," Rhett huffs as we move through the building. "Luke can only distract them for so long. There's a rear exit. Let's just hope they don't have the place surrounded."

As we duck and dive around exam tables set with beakers and test tubes, I'm reminded of his earlier exclamation—we are also surrounded by Skinwalkers.

Intense fear licks the back of my neck. Where can we run to? Will there ever be a safe place for us?

"Through here!" Rhett ushers me through a set of metal doors set into a back wall I didn't notice before. Just when I exit into the cool night, I am knocked onto my back by a tall, dark shadow.

The dew on the grass beneath me soaks through my thin cotton shirt. I shiver. The shadow looms over me, and I scramble back, my feet struggling to find purchase on the damp ground. My heart slams in my throat, so tight I can't so much as make a sound.

"Sophie?" the shadow whispers. My skin prickles with goosebumps. I know that voice. It is too dark to see anything except for the glint of the golden markings on his arm.

He crouches, tugging my arm to pull me up, and he is finally close enough that the moonlight illuminates the slope of his nose. We stand, and the rest of his face comes into view.

"Miles," I gasp. I can hardly believe it's actually him. "You—you're in the Outlands?"

I topple over as Rhett pushes his way between us. "You're not taking her," he says with more simple directness than I would have thought after not seeing your best friend in years.

Miles' eyes widen, shining black in the moonlight. "What? Don't you want to go home?"

"I don't want to be an experiment, Miles." I stammer, the adrenaline making it difficult to do anything at a normal pace. My legs itch to keep running. "I'm not leaving unless it's on my own terms, and I still have things to do here." The truth spills out of me, and I can't help but feel a lick of similarity to the words Rhett spoke before. I've never felt so sure of what I want.

He eyes me cautiously, no doubt wondering why I wouldn't jump at the chance to return to Herald. It is where I grew up, where my parents are. But I stand my ground. I will not abandon the Outlanders—the people of Natio.

I watch his chest rise and fall with a heavy sigh before he puts his hands on his hips. "Okay. What can I do to help?"