I collapse onto the ground in agony. One bullet ripped clean through my forearm. Since the suit has short sleeves, it didn’t protect me. Van runs down to the medical supply closet, returning with some gauze and bandages. He puts pressure on the wound and I let out a howl.
“Explain,” Frey yells at me while Van works to try and stop the bleeding.
“Your mom wants you to live,” I respond through the searing pain.
“I would’ve been all right. She didn’t need to kill herself.”
“Your mother is a Keeper and the Dracken know this. If the Dracken win this war, you’ll be left behind with the others to die.”
“What do you mean?” Brink asks.
I tell them what really happened to Pentras, that Frey’s sister was correct in what she discovered, and the truth about the Dracken. “That’s why your sister was killed, Frey. She figured everything out, just like my parents did when they were sent to the Outer Limits. By then it was too late for all of them.”
“The Patrician killed my sister.”
“That’s what your father told you, right?”
He looks contemplative. “Yes.”
“Just a Dracken leader trying to throw suspicion onto the Patrician, Frey. He’s the one who turned your sister into the Aedox. It’s what a Dracken would do to protect themselves.”
He steps back, raises the gun, and fires at the displays behind the counter.
“Feel better?” Brink says when he finally stops.
“Shut up,” Frey responds.
“I can’t get the bleeding to stop,” Van says. “We need to take her up to the surgical floor.”
Brink and Van carry me under the shoulders to the lift. Frey follows and presses the button for the seventeenth floor. We enter the first room we come to when we exit the lift and Brink sets me down on a surgical table while Van scours the cabinets. He locates a contraption similar to the one used on my knee. The device is secured around my arm and I begin to scream as I feel my skin being stitched back together. Van injects a painkiller into my neck, and I start to feel drowsy while the room spins slightly.
“How long will it take to mend her?” Brink asks Van.
“About a half-hour,” Van responds.
“I’ll keep an eye on her, if you two want to find good locations for the detonators,” Brink says.
Van and Frey leave, much to my disappointment. Especially Frey. He knows Brink’s attitude towards me. Why would he leave me alone in the room with him? Is he that mad that he’s willing to put my safety at risk with Brink? I finger the handle of my Kopis as Brink slides onto the table next to me.
“I think your boyfriend is mad at you, otherwise why would he leave the two of us alone?” Brink says, sliding closer. He starts to rub my arm, then begins to tug on the suit. “I know Van is wearing one, and I’m sure Frey is also. So, why wasn’t I given one of these high-tech outfits?”
“Because you’re vile, Brink. I only want to protect those that mean something to me, and you don’t mean anything.”
He slaps me hard across the face. “You’re still mine, you know.”
“The Dracken are dead, almost extinct, so whatever promises were made to you, they are no longer valid.”
“That’s what you think. There are more of us out there. As soon as the Patrician destroy the dome, we’ll be raiding in no time.”
I try to remove my Kopis, but he’s stronger than I am at the moment and keeps my arm pinned against the table.
“Who told you all of this?” I ask through clenched teeth.
“Tilda, of course. Who do you think promised you to me?”
“She wouldn’t,” I say, choking on tears.
He takes his free hand and starts caressing my cheek. “Oh but she did, Maxy. She knew who you were the moment Head Master Edom dropped you off at the orphanage. Why do you think she was always so nice to you and no one else? To win your trust.”
“She told you who I was?”
“No, not entirely. She only said you were someone who needed protecting. Someone who would make the Dracken whole again. And you’ve done just that, Max, united us.”
“Where are they?”
“They’ll be here soon. Nan killed herself for nothing. Those in the shelter were simply followers, not the true Dracken. Not like you.”
He nuzzles my neck then begins to kiss my cheeks and then my lips. I grapple for my Kopis, but his weight is preventing me from getting a good hold of it. I feel the pouch for his Deer Horn knives and open it, grasp one, and slice him across the side. I push him off me and he lands on the floor, blood seeping through his clothes. I jump down from the table, push him flat onto his back, and place the weapon against his throat as I straddle him.
“Where are they now?” I ask.
He just laughs.
I cut him deep in the thigh. He screams and tries to wriggle out from under me. But my strength is restored.
“Tell me!” I shout.
“They never left. You think they needed you to get them into Pentras Tower like the Patrician did? You’re so fucking stupid, Max. They needed you to free them from the tower.”
“There isn’t anyone in this building but us.”
“Are you sure?”
I think back to my encounter with them on the seventh floor. They used the monitor at one of the workstations to talk to me. But how? Is it possible there are others in here? “You’re lying.”
“Did you ever watch the music videos back in Thrace Tower or at Frey’s house?’
My expression changes to puzzlement.
“It was how the Dracken could communicate with the rest of us. Being stuck in this tower for over a hundred years, they kept evolving and advancing their technology. They’re a part of everything now, but their failsafe prevented them from escaping. The Keepers placing
