Page 269 of Interion

“You need to move from your position.” There was urgency in his voice. “Get out of the tree and head to quadrant 7.”

“My gift still hasn’t returned. What’s happening? Did more students die?”

He was silent for a moment, as if weighing his words, and my heart raced again.

“The attacks have reached quadrant 4. They’re very close and you’re running out of time. I’ll guide you both through a faster route. There’s a drone in front of you. Follow it.”

“What happened to the students in that area?” I dreaded the answer, but I needed to know.

“Dead. Only Ethan’s heart is still beating in area three. Last time we saw him, he was lying on the shallow bank of a lake. Maybe the beasts didn’t spot him.”

“Can’t we do anything for the students in quadrant 5?”

I signaled to Adele that we should climb down and run. She shook her head, mouthing “no.”

“No. If you go there, you’ll arrive at the same time as the ghouls, but you can still help the students in quadrant 7. You can save them.”

“Did you get help?” Another bead of sweat ran down my face.

“Yes. Zafira is with me. We also brought Dominic and Natali for support. Now I need you to bring Breno to the barrier.”

I broke out in a cold sweat because my gift was still returning slowly, and I couldn’t access even a tenth of it.

“Kyller. Now. You need to get down immediately!” he shouted, startling me. “Follow the drone in front of you.”

“We need to go.” I grabbed Adele’s arm. “The ghouls are getting closer. We have to move now.”

A drone hovered in front of my eyes, catching our attention. Adele, understanding that finding Breno was our only chance of survival, finally moved and began climbing down from the tree. Her hands were shaking, her lips pale, but she forced herself to keep going. I climbed down right behind her, this time a little more relieved. I could feel a slight itch in my injured areas, which were beginning to regenerate as my gift grew stronger. When I reached the ground, I fitted the bow, secured the quiver, and noticed that the cut on my eyebrow had healed.

“Follow the drone. We’ll guide you toward Breno.”

I took Adele’s hand and pulled her forward as I focused on enlarging my own liver. It was a blessing to feel each fiber, ligament, and tissue expanding as my body regenerated at supernatural speed. Behind us, the howls, once distant, were growing louder and louder, and it was terrifying to imagine how close they were.

“Are your clothes bloody?” Zion asked.

“Yes, when Adrian cut my eyebrow, blood dripped onto my jacket. Adele’s is stained too.”

“The first students attacked were the ones who were injured. You need to take off your jackets. The smell of blood seems to attract them.” Zion said as I ran.

I took off my jacket, throwing it into a toxic lake, and as soon as I exposed my body to the wind and snow, the cold bit into every nerve. A cruel cold, like blades of ice slicing my skin. I forced myself to run faster, wiping the snowflakes clinging to my eyelashes, because running was the only way to warm my body and stave off hypothermia.

“Do you think you can work on Breno while running?” Zion asked.

“I’ll try. Are we far?”

“You’re entering area 7. From here, it’s another thirty minutes of running to reach him.” It was a long time, and Adele was too weak to endure all that. The whole situation reduced our chances of success even further. “The beasts have reached area 5. We’re sending five drones to surround your perimeter. They’ll be a kilometer away from you, one in each direction. If any of them go down, I’ll let you know.”

“Okay,” I replied and continued dragging Adele along with me.

“I don’t know if I can keep this up much longer. I’m exhausted,” she said between loud, heavy breaths.

“If you stop, you die, and I’m not letting that happen. Come on, lean on me,” I said, pulling one of her arms over my shoulder to support her. She didn’t protest—she was exhausted from using so much of her gift, and still weak from dehydration.

The power kept awakening inside me, spreading from the center of my chest to all my limbs. I felt it vibrating in my blood, furious at being silenced for so long. While these changes scalded my body from the inside out, I dragged Adele through the forest, wondering how I’d deal with Breno when I could barely carry the Yonserian. The whole way, Zion guided us away from the traps, but even so, the path wasn’t easy. We had to leap over a stream and slide down an enormous embankment, where we lost control and went tumbling down, slamming into rocks. As soon as we got up, I healed every scrape on our skin and kept going.

The aurora borealis was the only thing lighting our path, and the more the power returned, the more out of control I felt. At some point, the headaches and déjà vu started, along with a female voice murmuring in my mind. Now it was clear she was asking me not to fight, repeating it over and over. Trying not to get distracted, I ignored the sensation and started breathing in an arcane pattern to calm my heart and block out the voice.

Thirty minutes later, we found a spring and stopped to drink. It didn’t smell like iron, so we drank quickly. I splashed the freezing water on my arm and face to wash off the blood, and Adele did the same—any trace of it would attract the monsters. The howls sounded right behind us, and we took off running again. From the sound, the carniceals had to be close. My power seemed to have taken on a life of its own now, writhing inside my chest in a way that unsettled me. Normally, healing was cold and delicate, making its way slowly upward, as if careful not to disturb me. But what I felt was the opposite—the power was heavy, turbulent, enveloping me dangerously, resonating through my bones.