"1...2...3...4..."
"Breathe, Evie. You have to breathe."
"5...6...7...8..."
"Come on, don't leave me like this. Not now. NOT NOW."
"9...10..."
"EVIE!"


I sat up, clawing at my neck, gasping for air. The lights were too harsh on my eyes. and I was vaguely aware that I could feel a cold, smooth surface on my bare skin. There were two people. One had a familiar face and the other I had no recognition of.

"Evie, you nearly gave me a heart attack. What happened?" The one with the familiar face seemed to be talking to me, but I had no clue who Evie was. "I really thought you were dead. When Dr. Cartel found you...well, we didn't think you were going to make it."

I tilted my head to the side, taking in his words. I liked his voice, it was soft and almost had a melody to it. His eyes were the deepest shade of blue I had ever seen, and his hair was jet black. But I couldn't make sense of his words. They were almost in a foreign language, though I could understand what he was saying. Nothing he said sent a light bulb off, and it could very well have been meaningless chatter.

"Evie, hey, are you okay?" He said, a frightening look of concern now washed over his face. He took my face in his hands and the look of worry only grew worse. "Your skin is ice cold. What did they do to you?"

All I could do was stare. He seemed to really care about this Evie, whoever she was, and I felt sorry for him. But why he was directing his concern at me was a mystery.

"You're scaring me now. Say something, please. Can you hear me?" His voice trembled slightly, and his hands never left my face. "I should have never let you go to the Allegiance alone."

That's when it finally clicked and his words began to make sense. "Jay?" I whispered, the words barely coming out.

"Oh god, Evie." He wrapped his arms around me, and I pressed my face against his chest.

I couldn't seem to close my eyes, and I could feel the cold intensify. My body started to tremble. and he held me tighter. That's when the memories began flooding back. And I couldn't stop them.


I was back in the Council Room of the Allegiance, where I had been summoned under unknown circumstances. All eyes were on me as I walked to the center, directly under a blinding light. The Council spoke in unison, a requirement of the Allegiance. Their voice still echoed in my head, their repeated words. "You are special. You are lucky. You are specifically chosen for this task. These tests are a privilege. Such a lucky girl. You will be honored. You will be remembered by many. You will be a legend."

Time, in my head, flashed forward to the first testing room. The needles, the strange colored liquids. The ice that coursed through my veins and the fire that burned my blood, the steel that encased my skin and the warmth that slowed my tongue, the fog that began to settle in my mind.

The scene changed to the second testing room. So many different noises. Ear piercing screams and thundering booms so loud and low they shook my bones. The familiar voices crying out in pain and the maniacal laughter that ensued. The sobbing and the shouts of anger. All at once, flooding my mind, leaving nothing but the sounds around me.

Again, the scene changed. This time to the third testing room. The worst one. I was tied to a chair in front of a large movie screen. I was made to watch my loved ones die. I was forced to watch myself be the one to kill them. I had no memory of doing any of it, but as I watched my brain began to connect the sounds with the images and it turned into memories. I didn't know what was real and what was a lie.


I let out a blood-curdling scream and tore away from Jay without realizing it. My whole body was shaking and the lights seemed to be getting harsher. Noses were too loud, people were too close. I felt like everything around me was speeding up and slowing down at the same time. I could still see the testing rooms in my mind. The fact that Jay was standing in front of me told me that what I had experienced was a lie, a form of torture, but for some reason I just couldn't shake the thought that Jay was dead. I had killed him, hadn't I?

"Evie! Look at me! Look at me, none of that is real. I'm real! I'm here! Look!" He gently grabbed my hand and placed it on his face. He took hold of my other hand and laid it over his heart. "You're okay now. See? They can't hurt you now. That's all over."

Without warning, I felt my knees buckle. and Jay caught me. With one sweep, I was in his arms and he was rushing down a stark white corridor. He was yelling something, but his voice sounded distant again. Something wasn't right, what was going on? \


I sat up, clawing at my neck, gasping for air. The room had changed. It was just Jay. The lights weren't as bright and I was on a bed. He was sitting in a chair at the foot of it, his head in his hands.

"Jay?" I tried to say, but nothing came out. "Jay!" I said, managing to get a small whisper out.

His head jerked up. His eyes looked tired, and his hair was a mess. There were marks on his arms where he had scratched at them anxiously. He looked how I felt. "Evie." His voice, despite his ragged appearance, came out clear and calm. "Oh god, Evie."

He climbed onto the bed and pulled me to him, and he didn't let go. I braced myself for the memories to flood again, but they didn't. I clung to him, burying my face in his scent. I hated this. I hated feeling like I needed an anchor to sanity, but I thanked the stars that Jay was there to keep me here. This was so unlike me, but I guess you go through months of torture and it takes a while for your strength to settle back in.

"How long?" I asked, once I had found my voice again.

He sighed, tracing invisible circles on my hand with his fingers. "You were gone for three months. When we found you, Dr. Cartel had to do extensive surgery, and you stayed in a coma for another month. I don't know if you remember waking up..." He looked at me with sad eyes.

"I woke up? The last thing I remember is the Council telling me I'd be great for these...tests..." I lied. I didn't want him to know that I remembered everything, not yet.

He seemed relieved. "You didn't wake up for long, and that was two months ago. You've been gone from the world for six months."

Six months. The Allegiance had taken six months of my life away from me. I knew others had it worse, disappearing for years at a time. But it didn't matter. They were taking lives that weren't theirs to give or take.

"What have I missed?" I asked, staring down at our hands. He was still tracing invisible circles.

He stayed silent for a long time, his breath coming out a little heavier than before. "Everything. You were their last test, they made that clear. We rescued you in time and removed all the trackers and tracers they had placed in you, and most of the poisons had antidotes available. The others had to run their course. But Evie..." His voice faltered. "You died, those poisons without a cure killed you. Or at least they should have. But then you sat up, gasping for air. Your skin was still cold, but you were alive."

I let that sink in. I had died, but I was still here. They had changed my chemical makeup to where I couldn't die. "Those tests...they were to make me immortal? Their perfect weapon?"

"Yes, but that's not all. For a while, we couldn't remove anything from you. Any incisions made immediately healed. You can't be harmed." He looked me dead in the eye, and let me see just how scared he was. "You're not human anymore."

I shook my head, trying to understand what he had just told me. "What do you mean I'm not human? So my cells regenerate faster than most. So? That doesn't make me inhuman."

With a sigh, he helped me out of bed and lead me to a mirror. "Look." He whispered, and stood behind me, his hands on my waist, steadying me. "They changed you."

I felt my mouth fall open. My hair, previously long and a mousy brown, was cut short and a silvery white. I had lost too much weight, you could see my bones too prominently. My skin was pale and there were now scars covering my entire body. But my eyes, which were previously a dark brown, were now an electric blue, almost glowing.

"What did they do to me?" I whispered.