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Cora

SIX STEPS LONG BY six steps wide

Cora must have paced the perimeter of her cell a hundred times There was no clock NoNo way to tell if she had been there for three days or thirteen—not that time even passed the same way on the space station The only objects in the room were a stiff plastic-like blanket that always felt cold, a toilet, a water spout she could drink froht that never turned off

Sitting in the corner, legs pulled in tight, she splayed her hand across the black observation panel set into the wall Her nails against the snawed

We have taken you for your own good, the Kindred had said

We are your saviors, they had said

She pressed her fingers against the black panel, one at a time, one for each of the five friends they’d separated her froers caged together in an artificial Earth where they were observed like wild ani

Neither had Cora’s failed escape

Stupid, she thought, to think I could ever escape from them

When she took her hand away fro to the glass before vanishing

Five gray spots against the blackness

Five stars against a dark sky

Five notes that

But not stupid, she thought with resolve, to believe we’re any less than them

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating on focusing her senses She could still reer her telepathic ability It had started as a dizzying wave and distorted vision, and then—yes, there—she had been able to sense a figure standing on the other side of the wall, and—yes, again—she had even been able read Cassian’s thoughts It had only happened once, though she had tried in vain to ain

She stared at the black panel, again trying to sense behind it, though her neck ached and her eyes were bleary and worries kept itching under her skin, re her such abilities were unnatural Freakish, even Back on Earth, she’d be cos with her mind Back on Earth

But there ht not even be an Earth anymore

“Wishing on stars never gotto herself quietly Lyrics had always helped her clear her head of her worries In songs, she wasn’t a freak, just a girl far fro she ood-bye” She traced her finger in an arc against the panel, co lyrics that faded as soon as they’d been written “I wished to stay stronger, instead I got”

Her voice went hoarse with lack of practice, but her finger kept writing:

M-O-N-S-T-E-R-S

The letters faded until there was nothing but blackness

For a second,sensation started to creep over her again Her vision blurred at the edges She al beyond the walls, or maybe someone, or maybe several someones

The walls and floor began to vibrate The ru her heart trip and thunk, and she shoved to her feet, startled The vibrations grew into a hum that filled the room The hair on the back of her neck rose as if soainst it, and she clamped a hand over her nape

Concentrate, she told herself You can sense what’s out there You did it once You have to do it again

The ceiling laht came from the walls too, as they split apart in intricate puzzle-like shapes that revealed a doorway More light poured in fro her skin armth She flinched and shielded her eyes

Footsteps

Then, voices

Sonize, in awhy they lish, cut through the light

“Stand”

A shadow eclipsed her

She blinked her eyes open cautiously Black eyes looked back at her—no pupils, no irises, just puddles of oily black, set into a woman’s face the color of burnished copper Tessela One of the guards under Cassian’s command

Cora gasped at the sight of a familiar face “Tessela! Please, let me out—”

“You are guilty of disobeying Rule Two and Rule Three,” Tessela said h Cora was just another troubleso to the Warden”

Cora blinked against the light “That isn’t the whole story You know that”

Tessela grabbed Cora’s arth and hauled her to her feet, then released her and stepped away Another Kindred stood in the doorway, dressed in a uniform so dark a blue it was nearly black, with thein twin ron the front He stepped into the light and she drew in a sharp breath Fian Another of Cassian’s team The first time she had met him, he’d nearly choked her to death, never mind that it had been a trick by Cassian to earn her trust She rubbed the base of her throat at the bad memory

“If you just ask Cassian,” she started, but faltered on the sound of his name No, Cassian wouldn’t help her now Cassian had bent the rules for her when she’d had trouble adapting to her previous enclosure, but that was before her escape attempt Before she’d found out Cassian was the Warden—the oneher the entire time

Light reflected off the sharp needles and glea metal of an apparatus in Fian’s hand Her stomach curled The Kindred claimed they didn’t experi needles into a dead girl, looking for signs of evolution It see the Kindred feared was that their precious huht one day become as clever as they were

And we are, Cora thought loudly enough for Tessela and Fian to read it

Tessela only blinked “Extend your arms by your sides,” she commanded

Cora shook her head “Where are Lucky and Mali?”

“Extend your arood”

Cora ducked and ran for the here the doorway had been, but Fian was irabbed her arm with a twist of pain and held her hand out to her side Tessela took the apparatus froered telekinetically

“It was my idea to escape, not theirs,” Cora insisted “You can’t punish them”

Tessela approached with the apparatus Now that it was closer, it looked similar to the sensors that the Kindred medical officer, Serassi, had inspected the from the end

“We do not believe in punishment,” Fian said flatly “That is a primitive concept”

Cora would have laughed if her throat hadn’t been closing up in terror What did they call being locked in the cell, if not punishment?

Tessela pressed the needles to her skin Cora hissed as the needles suddenlytheir way into the palm of her hand Too tiny to be painful, but just as unco into her skin