I know I’m being rude, but I simply cannot stop staring. His resemblance to Uncle Jim is so unsettling, and I have a thousand questions I want to ask him.
Then I feel it—the tugging sensation at the back of my neck. I suspect it’s Kallister. I don’t recognize his energy signature, but it’s definitely not Jim’s, which tells me that although twins share identical DNA, it doesn’t extend to the Modified energy coursing through their veins.
“I know you have questions,”Kallister says after we establish a mental connection.“We can talk after the briefing, keen?”
I nod weakly. He pats my arm, then turns and pulls out a chair for me.
As everyone takes their seats, Adrienne leans forward with her hands clasped, arching a brow at me.
“I’m impressed,” she says. “Nobody survives the Blacklands on foot.”
“It wasn’t easy,” I answer, keeping it vague. These people are strangers to me. I can’t tell them that Uncle Jim and I lived in that nightmare forest for three years.
Unless they already know?
The notion gives me pause. I just assumed Uncle Jim would’ve kept my true background a secret from them, but Kallister is his twin. Maybe they were in constant contact all these years and not estranged like Jim led me to believe.
It suddenly occurs to me that I’ve walked into this room completely blind, and for the first time since I arrived at the Dagger, I feel genuine fear. Just a flicker of it, like the trickle from a leaky faucet, stinging my flesh each time it drips on me.
“How did you manage it?” the short-haired woman asks, her tone clipped.
I ignore the question. “Is this an interrogation?” I ask warily.
Kallister chuckles. “Not at all. It’s more of an…open forum.”
Adrienne gestures to the woman beside her. “Wren, this is Fiona.” She nods at the man beside Gray. “That’s Teriq. And you already know Gray and Kallister. We’re the reason you’re at the Dagger. Your entry was brought to a vote, and just so you know, it was unanimous.”
“Which isn’t always the case,” Gray says with a wry smile.
My gaze shifts among the five of them as I attempt to figure out the power dynamics. It doesn’t seem like there’s one leader among this group, though Adrienne and Kallister have done the most talking so far.
“You did an excellent job with the Jubilee mission,” Adrienne tells me, nodding her approval. “Planting those charges.”
“I don’t want to talk about the charges. I want to talk about what you did to General Redden.”
She doesn’t even blink. “In time. Right now, this is about you. If you’re to stay here—”
“If?” I interrupt. “I didn’t realize my invitation was conditional.”
“There are always conditions in life. And these apply to every Mod who lives on the base. If you decide you’re not willing to abide by them, we’ll return you to the wards once we’re running regular transports again.”
“So you really are going dark?” When I was being held in the Command stockade, that was the reason she provided for why the network couldn’t rescue me.
“For the time being,” she confirms.
“I don’t get it. Why strike them only to immediately retreat?”
Kallister fields that. “It’s not a retreat. We took the first shot. Our declaration of war, if you will. But there’re a lot more battles to be fought.”
I lace my fingers, feeling ill at ease again. “What are these conditions I need to agree to?”
“Disclosure, for one,” Adrienne says. “We’ll do that tomorrow morning.”
I wrinkle my forehead. “Disclosure of what?”
“Your abilities.”
The guy they called Teriq fixes his serious gaze on me. “Ellis reported that you have a bloodmark. Is this true?”
