Rosalie led me out of the bar; the refreshing shower of rain outside helped to cool my burning blood. A barrage of droplets pelted against my face as I craned my neck toward the sky, closing my eyes.

Kole and Ana had promised that they would try to locate the others at the Amour Nightclub, while Dorian had stayed behind to babysit Jason. The others were a little wary of me after my...outburst, but they now understood that Jason had intentionally provoked me.

Speaking of Jason, I was intent on interrogating him later about what he had meant by his dramatic statement that "it's begun." I wasn't sure everyone would be on board, but I was also set on getting rid of him once and for all—the moment his usefulness expired.

But for now, my mind was consumed by other fixations.

I trailed behind Rosalie, my father's baseball cap shadowing my face. She wore an oversized black sweatshirt with the hood flipped up, obscuring her own features. The last thing we wanted was to be discovered now, when we'd only just been reunited.

We trekked through the maze of city streets, the light draining away as we cleared the outermost skyscrapers and entered the sparsely lit industrial district. Neither of us spoke, moving swiftly through the pressing night.

Rosalie and I slipped into a pitch-black alleyway, crawled through a hole in a chain-link fence, then hoisted ourselves through a shattered window into a warehouse.

Blindly, we ascended a metal staircase along the wall. Then Rosalie's hand shot out, halting me midstep. In the near-pure darkness, I could barely make out a door inches before my face.

Rosalie stole an anxious glance at me, eyes gleaming with faint moonlight. She outstretched a hesitant hand and rapped against the wood.

Seconds later, Shaun cracked the door open, revealing a small room lined with tall windows. There were dark circles under his tired eyes, but when he saw me, a flame seemed to ignite in his expression.

"Tess," he breathed my name like a sigh of relief. "Have you...do you know where...Jade?"

"Yes," I said, trying to peer into the room behind him. "She okay. She's here in the city." I attempted a reassuring smile. "We can go find her right after—"

My breath caught as my eyes met a black heap in the corner over Shaun's shoulder. He followed my gaze, stepping aside.

A dull rectangle of moonlight fell over Kyle's crumpled form. I rushed over, kneeling at his side. His eyes were closed, his body tense. Beads of sweat glimmered as they ran down his neck, yet he was shivering so heavily it looked like he was vibrating.

My hands hovered over his form, wishing I could do something to help. "Can you hear me?"

There was no response. An unpleasant lump rose in my throat. I gently laid a hand on his shoulder, but he jerked away as if the touch caused him extreme pain.

"Kyle..." I trailed off, unable to say more. Vaguely, I registered Shaun and Rosalie's approach beside me.

"There's not much we can do," Shaun said after a long silence, making me flinch. His tone was solemn. "It comes in waves, like the ebb and flow of the tide. It was particularly bad earlier, and he's usually unconscious for hours after having a big episode."

He swallowed, and his voice became strained. "I understand that this is difficult, but...could you please tell me where Jade is?"

Shaun's voice felt simultaneously distant and too loud. I blinked slowly, my surroundings having taken on a dreamlike, unreal quality. It sunk in that Shaun was waiting for a response. I looked up at him, his eyes filled with tormented worry, and understood his urgency.

"Of course," I said, and stood, swaying unsteadily. Rosalie planted a supportive palm on my shoulder while Shaun wrung his hands nervously.

"I think I'll need to take you to her." My voice sounded hollow, and it felt as if someone else's words were spilling from my lips. "I hid with her and Jessie during the lockdown. I told them to lay low and wait for me to come back."

Rosalie nodded once. "You two can go. I'll stay here with Kyle." She looked at me with a strange, oddly guilty expression. "But first, can we have a chat, Tess?"

I felt my eyebrows raise. "Okay, sure."

Shaun took the hint and slipped out the door. I heard his footsteps on the metal staircase fade away.

"I saw them take you," Rosalie said softly, her voice quivering. "I was hiding in the treeline. I wished I could have helped, but I knew I couldn't save you." She paused, gazing absentmindedly at the crescent moon outside. "You're lucky Kyle wasn't nearby, or he would have probably joined you in fighting the soldiers and gotten himself caught too."

"I don't doubt that." I stared at his twitching outline on the floor, avoiding her eyes.

"He was adamant about finding you all," Rosalie stated. "But I knew he was mainly thinking of you, Tess. He was really torn up about letting you go off alone in the cathedral."

She let me sit there in comfortable silence, taking in her words. After a minute, I tried to clear my throat, but a choked feeling lingered. "I guess...it all kind of worked out in the end," I managed.

She swiveled to face me. "All thanks to you." I still didn't meet her eyes, but I could hear a wide smile in her voice. "You did it—you freed everyone. You didn't need saving. You saved yourself."

I didn't know what to say.

Maybe I should have been happier about our escape. But there were too many questions still unanswered. And somehow, I felt certain there would be even more danger and pain ahead of us, corroding everything good and stable in our lives.

"Do you want to talk about what happened? I mean...where they took you?" Rosalie asked, playing nervously with a strand of hair that glowed ghostly white in the moonlight.

I gave a shaky sigh as I tried not to remember the worst details. "They took samples from us against our will. Blood, bone marrow, brain..."

She shuddered. "Did they tell you any of the results?"

"No, but I imagine it's more of the same, like the files we stole. Everything off." I leaned against the wall and crammed my hands into my pockets, only to be met with a sharp crinkling sound. Rosalie shot me a quizzical look.

"Oh, I forgot. I stole this letter." I fished the paper from my pocket and flattened it out against the window's glass. She leaned in to read it, but the text was impossible to make out in the dim light.

"It basically confirms what we suspected the files meant," I explained. "It's all true. There's actually some species out there that took us and...altered us." I took a deep breath. "And now, apparently...our cells can join with theirs."

I surprised myself with how nonchalant I sounded about it. Rosalie looked appropriately horrified, her face drained of blood. "What are we supposed to do now?"

I gave a strained laugh. "That's what we need to figure out."

___________

apologies for slow updates! not sure why I got stuck on this chapter.

burned out from online classes I guess.

hope you enjoyed reading & have a nice day!