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And then, suddenly, the room filled with the fog from the forest. I coughed, the pain becoming unbearable until every inch of my body was numb. I desperately tried to keep my eyes open. Because if I shut them … if I shut them … if I …

A heavy fog clouded my mind. My naked body lay flat on a cold metal bed, or maybe it was a table. Either way, my goose-bump-covered body was strapped down to it. I tried to open my eyes, but they wouldn’t budge.

At least the heat was gone … for now.

“So what?” that same gruff voice barked to my right. “You’re telling us that it won’t work?”

Silence.

Then a fist collided with flesh in the same direction.

“We’ve spent the past thousand fucking years looking for this opportunity!” Gruff Man shouted again. Another thwat that sounded like a harder punch. “It’s fucking hopeless. And you? You’re fucking useless. I say we dispose of her now.”

A ferocious growl echoed through the room, and suddenly, there was actual silence.

Nobody even took a breath.

“We will not dispose of her,” Red Eyes said to my left. He was close. Really close.

“What do you suggest then?” a woman said. “She was our⁠—”

“I say we pick her apart,” Gruff Man said. “Forget about her being your⁠—”

One moment, Red Eyes was right next to me; the next, I heard something—or someone—break through the wall. Snarls erupted to my right, and suddenly, my body was becoming numb again, and I … and I …

“It’s not worth it,” a soft female voice said.

In and out and in and out.

I didn’t know how many times I had gone in and out of consciousness, but this wasn’t the second time. All I could remember were bits and pieces, and I knew I was still missing a bunch of time.

Knuckles brushed against my own, and electricity rushed through me.

The woman cleared her throat. “She isn’t the one, Alaric.”

“I will run more tests,” a man said.

But it wasn’t any man.

No, I’d recognize that voice from anywhere—Dr. Yoder.

“I’m sorry, Lightning,” Red Eyes whispered into my ear.

I opened my eyes and stared up at my ceiling, the faint scent of banana bread drifting through my nostrils. My head throbbed uncontrollably. After pressing my palm against it, I sat up and leaned against my headboard.

Red Eyes had just been here. I had just heard him. Except? He was nowhere to be found.

What happened? The last thing I remembered was being chained up in that … that guy’s house. Was it a house? A mansion? A cabin? A packhouse? I hadn’t been able to tell. My memory had gone in and out the entire time I was there.

I faintly remember something else, but … the memory was escaping me.

Someone had said his name, I thought. Was it Arden? Amor? Adonis?

The banana bread scent became stronger, and I found myself throwing the blankets off my body and heading toward the stairs. I whimpered to myself, my eyes still adjusting to the bright light.

“Pavel! Cade!” I shouted, heading downstairs. “Where’s the bread? I’m hungry!”

Silence.