Page 47 of Abducting Sarah

“Fuck!” I roared.

“I wish we had one of his relatives on board—better chance for a blood match—"

“Take mine,” I insisted.

“We don’t know if—”

“We do,” I nodded. “In the war, we had to know our matches. We’re both ospine-A-R. Do it.”

“Not until we know if he was poisoned.” She grabbed another device I didn’t know or recognize and said, “Move your hands.”

Reluctantly, I did, and she plunged it into his stab wound. Lights flashed on the readout, reflecting in my best friend’sblood. I couldn’t believe I could lose him like that—murdered by a conduit.

Not only that—Predict had been my family’s trusted advisor for years.Why did she try to attack Sarah? How did Jac know she was going to?I needed answers.Maybe Gram knows something.As soon as I thought that, I wanted to ask him, but I would not leave Jac’s side. Not ever. Not until I knew he was going to be okay. Hehadto be okay.

Over the hours Ode and I worked to save his life, one question rang loudest of all in my mind:Why did he knock Sarah aside and take the knife in her place?It went beyond loyalty or the heat of the moment. Jac was a fierce fighter—it made no sense for him to be taken down by a conduit like Predict.

It was sloppy of him, and Jac is never sloppy. He had to have been distracted. But what had taken him off his guard?

It felt like weeks had passed since Ode had begun her work. By the time she had finally sewn him up and connected us with her tubing so we could transfuse my blood, I started to have hope he might make it.

Exhaustion started to hit harder than I had expected. After staying awake for so many hours to get Sarah acclimated and set my plan in motion, I had been awake for far too long. Before Jac had burst into my father’s home, I was almost asleep from the droning conversation between my father and Silence.

I fell asleep at Jac’s side, still tubed to him.

“You still snore like a dreck,” a deep voice rasped.

I blinked and looked around the room, unsure how long I had been out. Next to me, Jac sleepily smirked. “Hey you.”

“Hey.” Relief flowed through me, which was quicky replaced with a spurt of anger. “The fuck, Jac?”

He laughed, then held his chest like it hurt to laugh. “Ooo, that sucks.”

“Take it easy. I’ll call for Ode—”

“No, wait,” he objected before I could summon the doctor, still sounding and looking very weak. “Just wait a minute.”

“What is it?” I asked.

He winced. “I’m sorry.”

I shook my head in confusion. “What could you possibly have to be sorry for, Jac?”He’d saved Sarah’s life and had almost lost his own.

“I should have been faster with Predict. Sarah’s okay, right?”

I nodded. “She is fine. You saved her.”

He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Why were you there at all?” I asked. “How did you know what Predict was up to? Why did you save Sarah? Youarefaster than some conduit—so how did she get the upper hand? I’m confused.”

Jac cleared his throat. “Gram said the conduits—the ones Justice murdered—they’ve gone rogue, formed a gang. They’re trying to run Halla and get back their former power.”

“Rogue conduits?”

He nodded but stilled quickly after he winced. “Yeah. They built a temple and murdered all the old conduits, the ones who had died before them.”

“Why would they—”

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