Page 165 of The Order

No, not just his chip; all of the Official's chips had been activated.

“They want him alive,” one of the men closest to me says, grabbing my hair and twisting it beneath his grasp. “They want all of them alive. We're going to get hell for breaking the girl's arm and hitting this one's face,” he continues, looking at me with malice.

“I can promise you, the more you resist, the worse it will be for your little friends and anyone else associated with you.”

“Don't push them,”I whisper, trying to look back at Fallan, who’s now fully restrained between two Officials and Max.

All of us are forced to comply, and the Officials move us down the hall, with Kai and Valerie in the front.

“I could kill them all. I could-”

A painful noise fills my ears. The same noise that had infiltrated Fallan’s mind last night. I clutch back, seeing Fallan do the same beside me, both of us yelling out in pain as we’re dragged closer to the front doors of the Academy. Our feet scuff the ground. The noise becomes unbearable, only dissipating when we meet the outside air.

Fallan reaches for me, stopped by a brutal blow to his abdomen and several more to his face. I rush to give him what energy I have through our connection.

“Check her hip, then check his chest-” Adam’s familiar voice booms out from somewhere in front of us. Arms wrap around me, keeping my hands at my side.

“Don’t you dare fucking touch her, you son of a bitch!” Fallan yells, spitting up blood on the sidewalk between words.

Adam’s hand passes over my hip bone, his fingers dragging down my skirt. The mark I’ve kept hidden for as long as I’ve been alive is exposed to him in an instant. Forcing up Fallan’s shirt, they find the mark on his side. Valerie and Kai watch in fear. Max holds back my brother with no remorse for his involvement in all this.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Adam begins, his hand forcing my chin up so I have to look at him. “You’re a fucking dirty Marked, and so is your nasty bed buddy.” He spits on the ground by my feet, twisting his face up into disgust.

“Just like your Daddy.”

He knew my father was Marked?

“Take them to the cars. Upper leadership says the frequency should keep their abilities and energy down for a few hours,” Adam starts, looking down at me with a grin. “It would seem your Judgment Day has come early.”

Scuffing my knees against the ground, I eventually find my footing as I’m dragged towards the Official vehicles. Kai and Valerie are the first to get shoved into the cars, fighting back with violent jabs and kicks before they’re hurtled into the back of one of the SUVs. My brother screams for me, his face eventually disappearing behind tinted glass windows. The vehicle rocked on its wheels for a few seconds before going utterly still.

Shoving me into the vehicle by my neck, I bash against the inside of the opposite passenger door, my shoulder stinging with pain from the impact. Moments later, they force Fallan inside the same vehicle, his hands on me in an instant, pulling me into him.

“The Hold, the Call, try and use anything you can-” he pleads. Two Officials in masks sit in the front seat of the vehicle, watching us with looks of disapproval. They turn around, some sort of plastic mask attached to a metal canister in each of their hands. They move towards us quickly.

“I'm afraid you have nowhere to run.” They pause. “Night night, Ms. Blackburn.”

We fight as they force the masks against our faces. Their fists hit our abdomens, causing us to draw in a full breath. Slowly, I slip away. The scentless gas fills my lungs. I clasp Fallan’s hand in my own, leaning into him, drowning in fear.

“Fight,”he whispers, his voice distant... different from the other one in my mind.

“Embrace me,”It says through the fog, my mind so detached from myself.

“Set us free.”

I try to reach for that otherness inside of me.

I try to grab the power it offers.

But the void of darkness is too vast.

I slip into the abyss.

Chapter fifty-four

Forest

Thegroundisfreezing.

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