Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 132491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Marcus and I both turn to find Pax stalking toward us, his hands trembling with rage.
“I’m calling you into the circle,” he says to me. “Right now.”
Marcus answers. “No. It’s over, Pax. No one else dies tonight.”
“Who the fuck do you think you’ve become?” Pax sneers at Marcus, disgusted. “You’ve got her convinced we’re the killers and you’re some sort of avenging angel, but that’s a load of shit.”
“We’re leaving.” Marcus steers me over to our group of people.
I’m still reeling from what I just did. It hurt more than I expected it to. Amira’s warm brown eyes meet mine, silently telling me it’s going to be okay.
“Tell her who you really are,” Pax says from behind us.
Marcus’s shoulders tighten and he stands straighter. We both turn around. Pax is unhinged, his fists balled at his sides and veins corded at his neck.
“I already know,” I say softly. “He told me everything. About the aromium strains and the reason you and I and he and Virginia can call on other living things.”
“He did?” Pax gapes between us, genuinely shocked.
“Yes. I know we all have relatives who contributed DNA to aromium. None of us asked for this.”
He scoffs, narrowing his eyes. “That’s not totally true.”
“Pax, don’t,” Marcus cautions.
“Fuck you, Marcus.” Pax meets my gaze. “My father was one of the original twenty-six. But Virginia didn’t have a family member who was in it; she was one of them. And so was Marcus.”
Marcus stiffens beside me, his cold gaze locked onto Pax.
My heart races and bile rushes up my throat. “What do you mean?” I look at Marcus. “What does he mean?”
It’s Pax who answers. “Marcus helped make aromium. He was one of the first ones on this island. He and Virginia were the original leaders of Rising Tide. Isn’t that right, Marcus?”
Marcus says nothing, but I don’t need him to answer the question. The answer is all over his face. There’s fury at Pax for telling me, but also shame. Guilt. Disgust.
It hits me harder than any of the punches Virginia threw. What a fool I’ve been.
49
The shred of humanity left in me is outraged at the carnage I’ve caused. The arrogant cynic I’m becoming, though, asks if there’s even any significance to adding a few more people to my list of casualties.
- Excerpt from the journal of Dr. Randall McClain
Marcus
Niran and Nova are yelling at me. Briar’s pained expression flashes through my mind, lasting only an instant. Then Ellison is there, her brow furrowed with concern. I want to ask them what’s going on, but I can’t seem to move.
Everything is so heavy. My limbs. My eyelids. My secrets. I can’t fight any of it anymore.
“Marcus.” Ellison’s voice is sharp and insistent. “Wake up. I need you to wake up, Marcus.”
She’s the only one who knows what I’ve done. We did it together, as members of the original twenty-six. And somehow, she doesn’t hate herself. Or me.
When my leaden eyelids open, her outline beside me is fuzzy. I blink a few times and she comes into focus. Everything rushes back in a sickening wave of realization. The ravens taking Briar. The volcano. The circle. Virginia’s death.
Briar knows who I really am.
I jolt, trying to get out of bed, but I’m strapped down.
“Easy,” Ellison puts a hand on my shoulder. “The restraints are for your safety. Stay calm.”
My heart pumps hard as I struggle against the straps around my wrists and ankles, confining me to a bed. This can’t be fucking happening. Ellison would never turn on me.
“Take them off,” I command.
“I’m going to.” She levels a serious gaze at me. “You listen to me for the next two minutes, and then I take them off. You have my word.”
I’m in one of her patient rooms, and the heaviness I feel has to mean I’ve been drugged. None of this makes any sense.
“What the fuck is this?”
“You got very sick at the switch point when your aromium was turned off. You had a seizure. Nova and Niran carried you back to camp.”
The yelling. They weren’t angry. They were begging me to hold on while they got me to Ellison. I threw up all over Niran. He was a wreck, on the verge of tears.
The tension pulling at my muscles fades slightly as I look around the dimly lit room. There’s the bed I’m in. A light. Some machines. An empty chair. A small side table. And Ellison.
“Where’s Briar?”
Ellison’s brows drop a fraction. “She’s been here. It’s been almost a week. She’s working with Dr. McClain; they’re studying the flowers and trying to make a stabilizer.”
My fury ebbs, my shoulders relaxing against the pillow. I’m not the one who has anything to be furious about—she is.
“I think the aromium switching caused your brain to swell,” Ellison continues. “I thought we were going to lose you. Dr. McClain was the one who—” She clears her throat. “He saved you. You’ve been heavily sedated while we waited to see if the brain swelling would go down.”