Page 95 of Riftborne
I laughed, and laughed, letting the tension escape my body.Holy shit.I had just taken over his mind.
For the first time, I felt a pang of relief flood through me. I had always considered myself the weaker of two species, the mouse in a sea full of serpents.
Perhaps I was a predator too.
I couldn’t even process the thought as I felt myself being lowered to the ground in front of my friends. They were all still staring at me in amazement.
“What. The. Fuck. Fia!” Briar said, enunciating every word. His mouth returned to its ajar state.
“You’ve been holding out on us, Mind Shredder!” Raine shouted, running up to throw her arm around me.
“Fia, I can’t believe you just did that!” Osta said, shaking her head. “What exactly did you do?”
“I’m not sure.” I shrugged.
“You’ll have to explain everything to us,” Raine said. “But first, we need a celebratory drink.” She turned toward the tables just as afierce wind tore through the clearing, blowing leaves into vortexes across the field.
Everyone paused. Something was off. The energy shift hung heavy in the air.
The breath in my lungs turned to ice.
I rushed over to Osta, pulling her behind me as I squinted into the darkness.
A voice boomed through the clearing.
“This party is over. Get back to the Compound. Now!” Lieutenant Mercer shouted as the wind picked up, whipping through the crowd and nearly knocking us over.
We looked at each other in panic before rushing for the tree line and fleeing in the direction of Luminaria.
We were caught.
CHAPTER 34
“Again!”Mercer shouted from the edge of the track field, motioning for us to repeat the agility course.
“Lieutenant, how many of these are we going to do?” Raine begged.
I’d lost count after number thirty-two.
“I said again, recruit,” he growled, turning his attention to the opposite side of the field. I had never seen Mercer this angry before.
We braced ourselves before launching into another madness-inducing sprint through the course. My heart was pounding in my chest, and my lungs begged for air. Just close the gap… A few more steps…
I crossed the finish line and hit the ground. Hard. The rest of the recruits followed suit, gripping their joints and trying not to vomit.
“I’ll be right back. You can take a break for now,” Mercer said flatly as he walked off the field toward the Compound.
“I’m not going to say–”
“Fia, don’t start,” Raine wheezed, flopping onto her back.
“I mean, I did say it.” I shrugged as Raine and Briar shot me with looks of contempt.
“I get to suffer the punishment you all brought onto us, and I didn’t even go!” Draven shouted breathlessly.
Rumbles of a subtle apology ran through the group.
“You should have come, Draven. Fia finally showed us all what she’s made of,” Nazul said. I looked over at him, expecting to see a smug expression carved into his face, but he merely smiled, shrugging his shoulders.
