Page 16 of Kingdom of Today
Miller pulled me along the hallway, and I let him do it without resistance. Forget going straight to the top. At the first opportunity, I would sneak back to this area. I had royal clearance. I could bypass security. I’d be careful. Wouldn’t alert Mr. Vyle. Wouldn’t even tell Cyrus, allowing him to maintain genuine deniability. But one way or another, I had to act. My friends were beingtortured.
Heta concluded the tour and ushered us from the basement of nightmares back to class. I searched for Cyrus but didn’t see him. Nor did I pay attention in class. Or eat lunch. Or converse with anyone.I even lost sight of Miller, who remained at my side, chatting about nothing during every break, unconcerned by my silence.
My mind remained trapped in a loop.Mykal. Victors. Mykal. Victors.The horrors they must have endured—must beenduring. The danger of my plan. I’d have to leave the base for good. There’d be no coming back from this.
“Hey!” Miller tapped my cheek. “Get your head in the game, Roosa.”
I focused to find his scowling face inches from me. We occupied the gym with the whole team and a trio of barons barking orders at us. Self-defense class, I realized. I’d missed most of the day.
Heat bloomed in my cheeks. “Apologies,” I muttered. “What are we doing?” Whatever it was, I could do it. For a couple of hours, I would set my worries aside and pretend I wasn’t planning to betray all of CURED.
“We’re learning to move together, what else?” He wiggled his brows. “Though if we’re gonna improve, we should probably do extra credit after hours, like Roman and Merlot.”
I recoiled and shuddered. “Not happening. Not ever.” Not even if he tattooed Cyrus’s face over his.
Miller shrugged, unabashed. “I didn’t say we had to be naked.”
I punched the bag he pushed at me.
“Better,” he said, as if he’d purposely incited my wrath.
For the next however long, we acted as if a pair of punching bags were feeders determined to kill us. Too often Miller angled into my personal space, hindering my motions as well as his own. Or maybe I angled into his. Whoever was at fault, it sucked, and both our tempers sharpened to razor points.
The only bright side was the slight vibration dinging on the inside of me, alerting me to the presence of my fellow Soalian. But who was it?Who?
“Roosa. Bosworth. Get over your dislike of each other and get in sync,” a baron snapped. “Stay aware. Notice the other’s slightest fluctuations.”
Miller and I exchanged fresh scowls and geared up to go again. An ear-shattering scream tore through the gym, and everyone stilled. Either someone had just broken with Madness, or this was a hologram-type pop quiz meant to prepare us for the mean streets of Theirland.
We waited, collectively on edge. When aggression electrified the air, zapping my nerve endings, I knew. This was no simulation. Someone had indeed broken.
I reached for a dagger only to realize I had no weapons. Other screams rang out, blending with grunts of pain, hard thumps and thuds, and pounding footsteps. The infected person headed this way.
So I was unarmed. So what. My determination strengthened until it produced a heartbeat of its own.Stop the maddened before anyone gets hurt.
“Open our chains,” someone shouted.
“Formation,” a baron called. The chains remained fastened.
Miller and I rushed to join the defensive line forming behind our instructors, almost tripping over each other. Not exactly a boost to my confidence. The other trainees were without weapons as well. Well, other than our fists, feet, and skills.
My personal guards moved to shield me from the front and the rear, one providing me with a dagger, the other giving Miller a netter. Just in time. A man in a hospital gown blazed into the room and climbed the walls, moving so quickly he was fuzzy. Eyes wild with glee, he cried, “Love Soal! My Soal!”
The barons rushed for him, everyone else remaining in formation, ready. Good thing. Other maddened in hospital gowns rushed in next, a chaotic procession as they too screamed about Soal, climbed the walls, and attacked trainees. There were at least twenty, many faces familiar because I’d just seen them in the treatment ward.
Battles broke out all around. Horror returned, choking me. Worse, heat sparked in my cells, as if I were seconds away from glowing, announcing my status to one and all. I fought to subdue it. Fought so hard.
But when two maddened launched my way, I couldn’t tamp it down ...
Chapter Five
That which you see shall pass like shadows at dusk; set your eyes upon the unseen, for therein dwells those things that endure beyond time.
—The Book of Soal2.8.4.18
I glowed, radiant and unstoppable, my skin emitting golden rays as intense as the sun. There, amid combat, surrounded by teammates, with hidden cameras capturing each second, I silently declared my true allegiance, and I could do nothing about it.
Fear and panic collided, icy shards slicing through every other emotion, leaving me momentarily frozen in place. But.
