Page 133 of Breaker

You. Breaker.

That thundering grows louder. I feel it in my chest, beating hard, like that monster Nanny said lived inside me is rattling against my ribs, screaming to finally being noticed. I’ve just earned my name.

Fallon always tells me I break things. Rules and codes and dishes and his patience.

I like my name. Breaker.

But then I realize what he’s said.

How should you teach the man a lesson, Breaker?

I blink, looking back at the man. Fallon, Father, he just gave me my name, based on my skills, yet all those things he says I am are bad things. They aren’t a skill like Striker has, or Seeker, or even Viper.

It’s all the bad things that live inside me like shadows.

I break things. I ruin things. I destroy things.

Nanny told me as a little boy, I needed to keep that dark monstrous need under control and not the other way around.

And Fallon wants me to unleash it. To teach this man a lesson.

So, I’m going to break him.

I take the hammer from Fallon and inspect it. It has a sharp point on one side and a flat surface on the other. When the man sees the tool he writhes and screaming,gid, hoking gid,over and over along with a stream of other things I can’t make out.

Not that it matters.

“Go on, son,” Fallon says. “Teach him what it means to hurt.”

The man’s gaze snaps to Fallon. His eyes widen, and he struggles, yelling around the gag. And I finally understand what he’s saying.

Fucking kid. You’re going to have a fucking kid do it.

Leaning over, I look him in the eye. He stills. I raise the hammer. He screams, but then it’s cut off and turns strangled. The sound of bones cracking releases some of that tight, furious tension inside my chest. Sounds gurgle from him, the hammer in his hand oozing bright, thick red.

I pry it out and do it again.

Then again.

No. I’m not a kid.

I’m a monster.

Chapter 40

Breaker

16 Years Ago, May, Age 12

Cold. That’s all Ifeel. Cold inside. Outside too.

Just like the endless blue. The room I was in. The place father saved me from. The one he put me in so he could come to my rescue.

Maybe he’s a bad man.

Maybe I am too. A bad kid.

I did bad things.

---