“That, Ms. Morales, is a matter of some contention.”
Daniela’s hands shook. This creep just told her she wasn’t human.
“Don’t you need my mom’s permission before you like cut my head open?”
“Again, as per your agreement with Earth Garde, the organization has guardianship over you now, not your mother.” Greger smiled patiently. “Any other questions?”
Daniela shrugged her shoulders, loosening them up. One of the soldiers behind Greger twitched, watching her closely. She was officially out of ways to stall what was about to happen.
“Guess you’ve got it all figured out,” she said coldly. “One more thing, though. What did you say about my psychological profile? About how I’d process some totalitarian-ass news like this?”
Greger glanced down at his tablet. “I said—”
Daniela didn’t let him finish. With a burst of telekinesis, she flung the conference table at the Peacekeepers. Only one of them managed to get his weapon up in time, the electrified collar fired from his cannon deflecting harmlessly off the table. Daniela’s eyes sparked silver as she unleashed a current of stone-energy, cementing the table to the conference room wall, thereby trapping the Peacekeepers behind it. She stepped over the broken hologram projector, glaring at Greger.
“Honestly,” he said, shrinking back. “This is futile.”
“My ass,” Daniela replied. She snatched the tablet away from him and, in one smooth motion, backhanded the man across the face with it. He fell with an undignified shriek, clutching a broken nose.
Daniela made for the door, already reminding herself of the HQ’s layout. There would be more guards throughout the building, but Daniela thought she could avoid most of them if she snuck down the service stairwell. The easiest way out from there would be through the cafeteria. She knew some of the workers down there liked to smoke on the back loading dock. They wouldn’t give her any trouble. But she needed to be quick.
She stepped out of the conference room, turned down the hall and was immediately struck by a massive weight in the middle of her chest.
Daniela actually heard her ribs crack. She managed only a whistling scream and hit the ground, bouncing off the tiles from the force of the blow.
Melanie stood over her, fist cocked back, ready to punch Daniela again. The photogenic face of Earth Garde looked grim, her blond hair tied back in an all-business ponytail.
Of course. She would be a sellout.
“Stay down, Daniela,” Melanie said. She tried to sound hard, but Daniela saw through that—she knew how easily the girl scared. “I’ll hit you again if you make me.”
Daniela couldn’t have stood up if she wanted to. She couldn’t even focus enough to encase Melanie’s stupid head in a block of stone. She couldn’t breathe.
“Wow, you really messed her up,” said an Asian girl as she sidled up next to Melanie. She looked like she’d just stepped off a runway, her black hair in a bun, her slim frame clad in a metallic sleeveless dress.
Melanie looked down at her fist. “He told me to hit her if she came out unescorted.”
The unfamiliar girl crouched next to Daniela and laid a hand gently on her breastbone. She felt the familiar sensation of a healing Legacy, the probing tendrils of restorative energy—but not enough. This girl wasn’t actually helping her; she was just assessing the damage. Daniela still couldn’t get in even a whisper of breath. She arched her back painfully, trying to find an angle that would relieve the pressure.
“You punctured her lung,” the healer said, clucking her tongue. “My goodness, you Earth Garde people are all so barbaric.”
“Just heal her, would you, Jiao?” Melanie said, looking away from Daniela’s pleading eyes.
“Not until she’s sedated,” Jiao replied. She stroked Daniela’s cheek with the back of her hand. “Nothing personal, darling. We’ll all be on the same side soon enough.”
Just then, Greger stumbled out of the conference room. He held a handkerchief to his bloody nose. Daniela would’ve taken more pride in that if she wasn’t slowly suffocating.
“Well done, girls,” he said nasally as he produced a syringe from inside his jacket pocket. “Well done.”
Daniela closed her eyes. There was no way she was getting out of this.
Her last thought, as she felt the pinprick in the side of her neck and the darkness closed in, was that she should’ve gone with Caleb and the others.
Two weeks ago she’d been in Switzerland.
Two weeks ago she could’ve escaped.
CHAPTER TWO
TAYLOR COOK
THE HUMAN GARDE ACADEMY—POINT REYES, CALIFORNIA
TWO WEEKS EARLIER
“HEY, TAYLOR, RIGHT? YOU ALL GOOD?”
Taylor blinked and turned away from her window. From across the spacecraft’s aisle, that Earth Garde girl who’d shown up with Caleb was giving her a concerned look. Taylor thought her name was Daniela.
“What?” Taylor asked tiredly. The corners of her eyes stung, her cheeks were still hot with windburn.
“I asked if you’re okay,” Daniela said. “You were grinding your teeth.”
Taylor touched her mouth. “Was I?” Was she? Jesus. She made a conscious effort to unclench her jaw. “Been a long few . . .” Days? Weeks? “I’m tired as hell,” Taylor concluded. “And too pissed off to sleep.”
“That was some crazy shit,” Daniela said, laughing incredulously. “Most bananas situation I’ve been in since the invasion.”
“Yeah,” Taylor replied. “Sure was bananas.”
Professor Nine came down the aisle from the cockpit, looking grim. He nodded at Taylor before addressing Daniela.
“Earth Garde’s already up my ass,” he said. “They’ve got transportation for you and Melanie waiting at the Academy. They want you back in Washington . . .”
Taylor tuned them out, returning to her window as Lexa’s spacecraft descended. When the Academy came into view, Taylor could see Maiken Megalos doing hyperspeed laps around the track. Maiken stopped her run, staring up at the ship as it swooped in overhead. Then, she darted towards the student union. Maiken was well known as a busybody. She’d want to be the one to break the news that Professor Nine and some of his wayward charges had returned to campus. She’d tell everyone.
Which meant Taylor didn’t have long to catch Miki, if the guy was even still on campus. It turned out the tweeb was actually hiding a Legacy that let him transform into wind and was also spying for the Foundation. He’d helped sneak Taylor off campus once she’d convinced the Foundation she was on their side. She badly wanted to bust him.
She could at least do that. One small victory after so much failure.
The engines on Lexa’s spacecraft weren’t even cool, the exit ramp barely in the dirt, when Taylor made a wordless beeline off the ship and headed for the student union. Most of the others were too tired to notice. Nine had a small group of Peacekeepers to deal with, and Daniela and a still-sniffling Melanie were with him, probably arranging their return to Earth Garde. Nigel had his mother, Bea, to worry about—the black tendrils curling under her skin looked a lot like what Taylor had seen on the Blackstone soldiers back in Siberia. The woman wasn’t well, but Taylor wasn’t in the mood to offer her healing. And then there was that spy lady, Agent Walker, the one responsible for “handling” Kopano and Ran for that shady Watchtower group operating within Earth Garde. Walker was focused on looking after Rabiya, the Foundation teleporter that was allegedly now on their side, their new recruit looking around the Academy with shining eyes like she was stoked to be here.