Forsaken (Broken City 2)

"Since you died here ...? Wait. You're one of the hybrids who killed the Forsaken?" I sidestep away from her, bumping into the wall of the tent, and her hand falls from my arm.

"We didn't mean to kill them," she replies sadly. "We were provoked, just like you were."

I rub the spot where she touched me. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, if you would've tasted that quercu, it would've unleashed the Grim monster living inside you." Her gentleness turns harsh.

I stare down at the leaves on the ground, remembering how desperately I wanted to taste them. "And if I don't? Then what?"

"Then you stay in control." Her shoulders sag. "I wish I could have. Then maybe I wouldn't be buried in the ground. Then again, maybe I still would. People aren't fond of those who are different, and you and I are about as different as they come."

"Are there ...? Are there a lot of us?"

She wavers. "A few, but you're different from all of us."

Shock scorches through me.

"How?"

She fiddles with a hole in the hem of her shirt. "Because you're the first."

"The first what? Hybrid?"

She hesitates, chewing on her bottom lip. "I don't know."

I don't understand.

"How can you know I'm the first something, but you don't know what that something is?"

"Because I can feel it." She presses her palm to her chest. "In here."

She's making no sense, but before I can ask her to explain herself better, Ryder yelps in pain, and my concentration darts to him. Wrath has woken up and now has Ryder turned onto his stomach and is stabbing him in the back with a small knife.

"No!" The strangled scream comes from my own lips. "Somebody help him!"

Blaise jerks his head up, and he scans the tent, looking confused.

Did he just hear me?

"Help Ryder!" I shout, getting right into his face.

His brows shoot upward, and his head snaps in Ryder's direction. Cursing, he bounds to his feet, sprints toward Wrath, scoops up a broken piece of chair, and clocks Wrath in the side of the head with it.

Wrath drops to the ground hard, and Blaise kneels and carefully turns Ryder over onto his back.

"I'm good," Ryder croaks, trying to smile, but it looks wrong. Everything about Ryder does. His kind eyes are dull, and that vibrant spark he carries with him is fizzling.

More Forsaken rush into the tent, armed with knives and guns. Chaos haunts the air, along with the foul stench of blood.

"How do I help them?" My chest constricts as I whirl toward the woman. "The voice--your voice, I'm guessing--told me this could help me save them. That if I lay down, I could save them. How do I do it?" I think about what Reece told me about spirits and how Lex possessed my mind when I was in the caves. "Can I possess one of them?"

She shakes her head. "Only a pure Grim can do that."

"Then what can I do?"

"The only way to help them is to let a memory go and return to your body."

I squeeze my eyes as Ryder lets out an agonizing groan. God, I can't bear to hear any of them in pain.

"Okay, how do I do that?"

"You need to think about this," the woman says. "The memory that you have to let go is probably going to be an important one."

"I don't care. You told me if I lay down and shut my eyes, I could save them."

A scowl etches her face. "That wasn't me." She straightens her back and looks around at the torn walls of the tent, the broken fragments of wooden furniture all over the ground, and the knocked down curtains. "I don't think we're alone."

Ryder groans again, and her words barely register.

I inch toward her, deathly afraid but refusing to reveal my fear. "I don't care what's g-going on. Y-you know how to fix this. Now, please, just tell me how to do it." I'm crying so hard I can barely breathe.

"I can't ..." She swiftly shakes her head, backing away from me, terrified. "You can't forget stuff. It's too important."

"I won't ..." I crumble to the ground as two men seize Reece by the arms and drag him toward Zinnia, who has managed to escape the chain.

They viciously shove him down, and his jaw clips the edge of the cracked trunk. He staggers before collapsing to his knees. The taller of the two men reaches inside his leather jacket and retrieves a gun.

"No!" I shout as the man aims the barrel at the back of Reece's head.

"Not yet," Zinnia groans hoarsely, rubbing her neck, her skin red and raw from where Reece choked her with the chain. "We need three of them for the sacrifice."

"Fine." The taller man turns the gun around in his hand and clocks Reece over the head with the handle.

Reece groans as his body slumps to the dirt, face first, and blood trickles from his temple.

The man turns and points the gun at Ryder lying on the ground. "This one, on the other hand, is already dead." His finger hovers over the trigger.

"No!" I rush forward, my heart thundering in my chest.

All I can think about is getting to them, stopping Ryder from getting shot, waking up Reece, helping Blaise fight the three men and two women trying to pin him to the ground.

Power surges through my veins, loading my body with raw, magnetic heat. For once, I feel strong, alert, hungry with the need to protect. I let the hunger consume me as I surrender to the silent whisper, begging me to let something go so I can reunite with my body. I feel myself tumbling. Slipping, slipping, slipping closer to present and farther from the past ...

Chapter Fifteen

Destruction

I bolt upright, gasping for air, trying to figure out how I got on the ground. The last thing I remember is Wrath and Blaise fighting and me head-butting Wrath.

I bring myself to a crouch and look around the tent. Any warmth is abruptly ripped from my body when my eyes rove toward the entrance of the tent.

Ryder. On the ground. Blood. So much blood. And a guy is about to shoot him.

I feel like I've missed out on moments leading to this point, but I act instinctively and sprint at an alarmingly fast pace. Strength pumps through my veins and fuels my body as I slam my palms against the guy pointing the gun at Ryder. A loud zap crackles through my body, and the man cries out in pain.

Just how Lex stole life from my veins, I feel myself doing the same thing. I want to drink this guy dry, feed the monster inside me.

"Don't do it," the voice whispers. "You can't ever let that hunger get control of you."

My body goes rigid. Who said that?

"Then what do I do?" I ask aloud.

"Fight."

Prying my hands off his back, I jump up and hitch my arms around the guy's neck. He chokes out, begging me to let him go, while Zinnia screams at everyone to stop me. I only squeeze more tightly, choking the air out of the man.

Blaise moves up and snatches the gun from the guy's hands. Blood is splattered across his face like raindrops, and bruises and welts cover his face, but the bruises have already yellowed, quickly healing.

What is he?

Blaise catches my gaze, and not a speck of remorse haunts his eyes as he aims the gun at the guy.

"Allura, get off him," he demands, his finger sliding over the trigger.

Confused, I lower my feet to the ground and back away.

The guy heaves for air, hunching over. "You shouldn't have done that. Now I'm going to kill her and make you watch--"

A shot rings out, and I cower to the ground, covering my ears. The air buzzes, hot and metallic. Another fire. Then another. I flinch every single time, not daring to look up. I hunker down, close to the ground and crawl my way over to Ryder.

His eyes are closed, his hand pressed to his chest, and every time he takes a breath, he coughs up blood.

"Ryder," I whisper, wanting to help him but unsure what to do.

His eyelids flutter open, and his eyes are glazed over. "Hey."

I brush his hair out of his face. "What can I do to help?"

He slips hi

s fingers through mine, his thumb skimming my palm. "There. Much better." His forehead creases, and he turns my hand over to examine my palm. "The cuts ... They're gone." He looks at me. "How?"

I shake my head, tears burning in my eyes. "I just ... I can't ..." How am I supposed to tell him that I'm not what he thinks I am? That I can heal myself?

My eyes close. God, I wish I could heal him like I do myself. If only I could... if only ...

A few tears escape my eyes and stream down my cheeks, but I quickly wipe them away and open my eyes to inspect his chest.

"There has to be a way to stop the bleeding."

"Blaise can fix this." He squeezes my hand, his voice hoarse. "Don't worry. We just need to get out of here."

I glance over my shoulder at Blaise. He has his gun pointed at the Forsaken, and they have theirs aimed at him and Reece. They're all throwing threats at each other, but it's clear who the outnumbered side is.

I return my attention back to Ryder. "How can he help you?"