“Go find Mac and tell him to meet me down there,” I ordered Erik as soon as we landed.

  “What? No, I’m going with you,” he replied.

  “I’m not arguing about this. Please just trust me, and go.”

  The anger and resentment had built to a crescendo on the ride, and it was invigorating my senses. I put the full force of my Talents behind my words, leaving Erik unable to protest.

  “Be careful,” he cautioned. He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before sprinting to the administrative building.

  Once I was certain that he wouldn’t veer off course, I set out for the Crypto Bank. I knew that Erik was indignant on my behalf. He felt my pain and fear, and had experienced one of my seizures first-hand. He’d been inside my head and knew what I went through with every episode. As angry as I was, I had so many questions; if Erik got there first, he wouldn’t afford her the opportunity to answer.

  I jogged across campus, and every thump of my sole against the soft grass amplified the rage building inside of me. My hands shook when I grabbed the door to the Crypto facility, but now the tremors were driven by anger, not my illness. I covered the length of the long hallway that led to the main Crypto Bank in record time. The doors slid forcibly apart with a loud, echoing bang as I neared.

  “Talia!” Penny exclaimed in surprise when I burst through the opening.

  Gemma’s bushy head snapped around to catch sight of me.

  “Get out,” I barked at her. At first, she was too shocked by my violent entrance to move. “I said get out!” I screamed. Tripping over her feet as though they were too big, Gemma finally clambered from her computer chair. She shot me one last terrified glance over her shoulder before exiting.

  “Talia, what’s going on?” Penny asked in a low, even voice. It was the same voice that I used when I was trying to take control of someone; the same voice that Erik had used with the Crypto boy earlier that day. The voice she’d probably used on me a hundred times before.

  Erik wasn’t the only person who’d convinced me to divulge things. He wasn’t the only one who’d always seemed to know what I was thinking and feeling. I recalled all of the conversations where I’d been so intent on keeping my thoughts bottled up inside, only to find the words tumbling from my mouth, and I hated her more.

  I’d wanted to tell Penny everything and had felt so comfortable around her. She’d made me feel safe and happy when no one else could. Being around her had given me the same comfortable peace that Erik gave me. Now I knew why.

  How could I have been so stupid? How could I have trusted her? Every time I’d even thought about reading her mind, I’d instantly dismissed the idea—it was too intrusive, and she was supposed to be my friend. Why hadn’t I ever wondered why she was the only person who never projected even a single thought in my direction? No one was that good at blocking me.

  “Don’t you dare!” I shrieked at my supposed best friend. “Don’t you dare use my abilities against me!”

  Penny shrank back, wilting like a flower in mid-summer heat. Understanding sparked in her bright eyes.

  “How could you?” I hissed.

  “Tal, please,” she begged. “You don’t understand. You weren’t supposed to get hurt. It wasn’t supposed to happen that way, I swear. Just calm down and let me explain.”

  Tears illuminated her lime-colored eyes and began falling down her deathly pale face, landing in fat splotches on the tiled floor. If it had been anyone else, I would’ve attacked right then. But she wasn’t just anyone; Penny was my best friend, my confidante. She is also a traitor, I had to remind myself. She was the reason that I was sick. She was the reason that I’d nearly died at the hands of my parents’ killer.

  Pain and rage swirled inside of me, and I flashed to a similar scene between myself and Donavon—windows shattering, shards of glass flying. Then Mac’s words played in my head: Sometimes, the people closest to us are the best at deceiving us. You of all people should know that.

  “Tal, let me explain. You have to let me explain,” Penny wailed.

  The glass breaking wasn’t only in my memory. The wall next to us exploded, bits of hard plastic spewing across the room. Computer monitors splintered, and electrical fires sparked from the screens. Penny covered her head, screaming.

  “Explain what?” I spat. “How you sold me out to Ian Crane? How you set me up to be tortured and killed? How you betrayed the person who was supposed to be your best friend?”

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  “No, no,” she sobbed. “He wasn’t going to kill you. He just wanted to talk to you. He wanted you to understand what TOXIC is really about—what they do to people, what they’ve done to you.”

  Her words seemed to hurtle through the air and assault my ears. They were similar to the ones that Crane himself had spoken in Nevada—words that sliced through skin and bone to hit a nerve. As my fury dimmed, spasms shot through my arms and legs, nearly crippling me. I briefly entertained the notion that I’d been struck by one of the sparks from the monitors. Then I realized that it was a seizure. No, no, no, I thought. I need to stay conscious. I grasped for my fury from just moments before. It was the only thing holding me together. It wasn’t hard to catch. The mental and physical anguish that I’d experienced over the past couple of months were fresh in my mind.

  My temper flared as Penny’s tears continued to fall. They were like gasoline fueling the fire until it blazed like an inferno.

  I bared my teeth. The sharp points of my canines pricked my lower lip, and I tasted blood. I wanted Penny’s blood. I wanted her to hurt to pay for all that she’d cost me. My fingers curled into claws, the nail beds seeming to elongate. The transformation sent a trickle of fear through me, but the brief flare of panic was quickly doused by my escalating rage.

  Alarm bells screeched overhead, and I knew that Erik and Mac would be here shortly.

  “TOXIC gives special children a place to feel normal,” I hissed, making my way forward. My voice came out in a growl that was unrecognizable to me. It sounded primal, ferocious.

  “No, they don’t,” Penny moaned as I closed in on her. “And I think that deep down, you know that.”

  “What I know is that you are a traitor. You cheated on your placement exams. You befriended me. You made sure that the intel about Crane’s visit to Nevada would be intercepted. You knew that Mac would send me there for my solo mission because of my past with Crane. You knew that he’d need a Manipulator to get onto the compound. Then, under the pretense of being my friend, you helped me gather intel so that you would know exactly what I was planning to do once I got there. Crane knew who I was that night in the pub because you told him what I looked like. You told him that I’d be there.” I stopped my rant when I felt a tug on my psyche. “Stay out of my head!”

  “I’m n-n-not in your head,” Penny stammered. “Please, listen to me. You need to get away from here. You need to find Ian. You aren’t safe. He did know who you were that night in the pub, but not because I told him.”

  “Tals, are you okay? We’re coming.” It was Erik forcing his way into my head. He was somewhere close by. I could feel him.

  Heavy footsteps thundered overhead, cutting through the wailing alarm as they trampled down the corridor to the destroyed room. Penny and I now stood inches apart. I was close enough to hit her, but I didn’t. I couldn’t.

  Penny didn’t take her focus off me. I wasn’t sure if it was because she couldn’t hear the approaching men over the alarm, or because she just didn’t care.

  “What did Crane inject me with?” I hissed.

  “I don’t know,” she cried, reaching tentatively for me. I snatched my arm away from her grasping fingers. Now that we were so close, I didn’t want to touch her. I didn’t even want to be in the same room with her anymore. I might have left then—Erik and Mac were nearly there—but I needed to know one more thing.

  “How does he know my father?” I didn’t mean to phrase it that way; I’d meant to ask her if he knew my father. But sometime between Nevada and now, I’d come to believe that he did. The only question left was how.

  Penny glanced nervously toward the open door. She could hear the men coming for her. She was scared, but not for herself. Her concern was for me.

  “Talia, listen to me. Look inside of yourself, all of the answers are there. You just need to be willing to accept the truth.”

  I didn’t get a chance to ask her what that meant. A team of Operatives, led by Mac and Erik, stormed into the ruins. Mac and another man seized Penny, forcing her to the floor. Erik pulled me out of the way.

  “You can’t trust him. You can’t trust any of these people,” she screamed in my head. “Please just listen to me. Find Ian. I promise, I’ve always been your friend even before we met in Hunters Village.”

  I shook my head, trying to clear Penny’s voice as it forced its way in. All of her mental barricades were down, and the rush of thoughts and images was suffocating. It suddenly became hard to breathe, like her memories were physically crushing my lungs. The weight of her mind caused my knees to buckle, and I fell to the ground. Broken glass tore through my jeans and ripped my flesh. The pain brought the room back into focus, but I couldn’t hold on to it.

  Erik’s arms encircled me from behind, cradling me to his chest. The room no longer existed. All I saw were Penny’s memories dancing like clouds through my head.

  “Force her out,” Erik whispered in my ear.

  The sound of his voice helped me summon the strength to do just that. I pushed against her mind until the weight of her consciousness lifted, the effort causing me to collapse into Erik’s arms. A low keening started in my throat and built to a blood-curdling scream that tore my vocal chords as I processed what I’d just seen. Erik tried to calm me, but I was past the point of reason.

  Mac and his men were dragging a struggling Penny to her feet. Every Operative not actively trying to contain her had his weapon trained on Penny. Her hair was quickly turning dark red from a wound on her scalp. Her cheek was already swelling from where one of the men had slammed her into the floor. When she opened her mouth to speak, Mac’s elbow connected with her temple.

  I watched, horrified as she slumped against one of the men holding her. I wanted to cry out, tell them to stop. But I couldn’t. What had I expected to happen when I sent Erik for Mac? Had I thought that he would politely ask her to accompany him to interrogation? If he wasn’t so concerned about me, Erik’s hands would be around her throat, choking the life from her.

  “Everything is okay now,” Erik soothed, running a hand over my hair. He was still attempting to calm me, but his words had no effect. They weren’t true. Everything was not okay. Everything would never be okay.

  The horrible sound coming from my mouth died off as the Operatives carried a now-unconscious Penny up the hallway. I watched their retreat until my vision blurred and the angry black dots connected. Then I passed out.