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“We don’t even know how the Phoenix stem works! It could erase your mind completely; everything that you are will just be gone!”
Skylenna coughs. “It’s a good thing you know me better—than anyone in the world. You always said I was your master puppeteer. Stick to the plan I made in the tree house, Kane. When it’s all over, I’ll remember you.”
Kane breaks out into a sprint, filled to the brim with raging emotions that are about to split him apart. When we finally get to the infirmary, Skylenna grips Kane before he sets her on a gurney outside. “Promise me—you won’t let me fall in love with you. I don’t want it to hurt more than it already will.”
He stares at her with anger, the urge to cry hardening his face. “I promise, Skylittle.”
It’s after she’s wheeled inside that Kane goes around back, and I listen to him roar to the cloudy sky, punching holes in the brick of the infirmary until his fists are swollen and gushing blood.
I stand on the edge of the tree house, knowing that this will show me the last piece of the puzzle. The weight of this memory is so profound that I double over as it takes me.
They sit together, looking down at DaiSzek while they eat fruit and watch the sunrise.
“If I’m like you, we can fight together, and you won’t have this weight on your shoulders.” Skylenna tosses a piece of fruit down to DaiSzek.
“We don’t know that. The only female subjects I’ve seen are either suicidal or catatonic—or both,” Kane replies.
Skylenna’s silent for a long moment.
“Whatever is cooking in there—I don’t want to know.” Annoyance flashes through his tone.
“Okay, hear me out.” She turns to face him, adjusting her sundress. “The only reason the female subjects turn out that way is because they can’t cope with the trauma that made their brains different, right? Well, what if we can control that outcome? What if there’s a loophole?”
Kane sighs. “What if nothing. I’ll find a way to get us out of here. If they can’t find us, they can’t use us.”
“They’ll follow us wherever we go! Our only way out isin.”
His eyes close momentarily. “Go on, then. What’s your master plan?”
“Using my father against me isn’t going to work, but they don’t know that. He has distanced himself enough, and you have sheltered me from the abuse that was thought to have been my ruin. But if that’s the case, they’ll eventually figure that out and dig until they discover that you and DaiSzek are my weaknesses.” Her sparkling eyes go dark. “And—we don’t know what they would do to you to get me to break. I can’t risk anything bad happening to either of you for this experiment.”
“I’m following.” Kane nods.
“We also know that Vlademur’s son will eventually come for me, try to break me himself, trick me into falling in love with him. You said it yourself; it’s the plan B they’ve cooked up. Aurick Demechnef will lure me in and use domestic violence to break me. If that happens, I won’t be able to hide the fact that I know about the experiment, I know about Aurick, I know what they’re trying to do.”
I stare at her with a half-open mouth. So, I’ve really known everything this entire time? The times I would get frustrated with Dessin or Kane for keeping secrets, he kept it to himself that I was in on those secrets at one point in my life.
“But I won’t let on that I’m compromised if I don’t remember you or the experiment,” Skylenna finishes with great caution.
Kane’s eyebrows rise. “Not happening.”
“But I’m not done!”
“No.”
“At least let me get out the rest of themaster plan,” she argues.
He nods with annoyance for her to continue.
“Think about it. It’s said that the Phoenix stem only targets the memories you choose to let go of. All I’d have to do is focus on you! We can be ten steps ahead of them if we’re controlling the outcome of this experiment. Knowing Aurick, he’ll probably use me to get to you. See if he can kill two birds with one stone. At that point, you can get close to me again. Be my friend. It’ll be easy since you already know me better than anyone, right?”
Kane’s expression is unreadable.
“If you become my anchor again, my best friend, my protector—then teach me to be strong, to fight back, be mentally prepared for what comes next. Maybe as an adult, without these memories, I can be different. I can be like you…” Skylenna takes a deep breath, looking up at Kane with a heavy expression. “You can fake your death. Control the outcome so they won’t have a chance to hurt either of you.”
My vision turns dark and spotty, and I come down on my knees—hard. Did she just sayfake? Fake his death?Are you fucking kidding me?
“And I will think it’s real, so in theory, I will become like you. And once my mind works differently, I’ll be able to look back at my own missing memories, won’t I?”
