Box. Label. Box. Label.
A buzzer went off overhead, and I breathed a sigh of relief. That was the cue for the end of my shift. I shoved the label gun back in its holder at my station, then got the hell out of there, because I didn’t want to stay a second longer than I had to. It was gross how the Institute used us for cheap labor, under the guise ofrehabilitatingus.
Rehabilitation, my ass. If anything, I’d gottenworsesince I’d shown up here. I’d joined a freaking fight club, for the ancestors’ sake!
She’d been right, and I should’ve never joined. They were using me.
But there was no going back now. I was in this until I graduated or until I fucking died here.
Right now, dying felt like the better option.
The good thing about fight club— besides the guards looking the other way when I did shit that should’ve earned me an infraction— was free reign to punch something whenever I wanted. After my Work-Study shift, I always needed a good punching bag to beat the shit out of. I swear, it was the only thing that kept me sane in this place.
The quickest way to get to the secret training room from the packaging facility was to cut through the prison yard, near the siren lake, rather than weave through the maze of hallways. I could always navigate the outdoors better anyway, because of my magic.
Better than that— she was hardly ever outside, and it helped me to avoid her.
I could tell it was late when I left the building, because the air was cool, and the bugs that only came out at night sang their mating calls loudly. I counted my steps as I left the building, and paid attention to landmarks throughout the prison yard, listening for the sound of my footsteps echoing off the obstacles around me. It’s how I navigated the Institute as a blind guy when my Familiar, Oberi, wasn’t here to guide me.
Not far from me, I could hear the waves of the lake lapping against the shore. I reached out with my magic to sense a large tree up ahead. As I approached it, I grazed my fingers against the rough bark, which was a habit now. I liked to touch my landmarks to confirm I was headed in the right direction.
Screech!
My heart lurched as a high-pitched alarm filled the prison yard. Voices began shouting, and the wind whipped around me. It wasn’t my magic; it was someone else’s. Instinctually, I ducked behind the tree to conceal myself from whatever the hell was going on.
“Get him!” someone shouted. The voice was rough, and belonged to a guard for sure. They were coming straight toward me. For a second, I thought they were talking about me, but curfew wasn’t for another few minutes. I’d done nothing wrong.
“Get back here!” another guard shouted.
“Don’t let him get away!” someone screamed.
Hell, I realized. Someone was making a break for it.
Good for them,I thought. They were braver than I. No one got out of the Institute, and if you tried, you were sent to Cellblock 9. Marcus and Kallie had tried to escape once, but they’d gotten lucky. Professor Warbright had talked down the guards for them. I wouldn’t want to risk it— not after what we’d discovered about the Warden last semester.
We’d discovered that he’d been running experiments on students, trying to find a demigod for some nefarious purpose. We hadn’t gotten any evidence, but I knew it was true. Any sorry sucker who got dragged off to Cellblock 9 was a victim of those experiments. I was sure of it.
There were so many footsteps racing across the prison yard that I couldn’t make out how many guards were in pursuit. They were closing in fast, coming closer and closer to my hiding spot.
“Take him down by any means necessary!” one guard screamed to the others.
“My magic’s gone!” another yelled back.
“Then shoot him!”
“He’s anElf!” the guard spat back.
I held my breath. One of the Elves was trying to escape, and if he’d managed to take a guards’ magic, he was going to make it. I hoped he did. It was the first time in forever I feltanykind of hope.
Elves were immune to noxite. The darts wouldn’t slow him down. But the fence around the property did. It was the only thing keeping the Elves prisoner. I’d asked Eddie about it once— why he and his friends couldn’t just steal the guards’ magic and get the hell out of here. Hell, he could break us all out if he wanted.
But Eddie had assured me that stealing someone else’s magic was difficult, something none of the Elves at the Institute had mastered yet. At least, not until tonight. As Eddie had put it, “We may be immune to noxite, but there’s still barbed wire keeping us from jumping that fence.”
There was hope. If an Elf had figured out how to overpower the guards, they could steal someone else’s magic and fly out, or break straight through the gates with vampire strength.
Hell, I hoped it was Eddie, but I knew he wouldn’t attempt to leave without me. He was born to protect me… psh… theElf prince.
I was the grandson of the Elven Emperor. Still hadn’t quite wrapped my head around it myself. And to be honest, I was still feeling a little bitter about the whole thing. I’d found my family, but then I’d lost them again.
