Twelve released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and stepped back into the training ground, her mind whirling. Horror at Seven’s fate coiled in her stomach. The girl had been taken and the Guardian was refusing to go after her. Worse, the Hunters were just sitting in their council house, arguing, and all the time Seven was being whisked farther away.

An idea, bright as a beacon, flared to life, but Twelve pushed it away. She could not abandon her plans for some girl she barely knew. She turned away and stomped across the training ground toward the resthouse.

“I don’t care. I don’t care,” she whispered to herself. But the lie tasted foul and the frozen Hunters stared at her in silent judgment.

Widge listened with his head cocked to one side, unconvinced, then gently nudged her cheek and licked her earlobe. He always knew when she was upset. Twelve ran her fingers through his fur and remembered when Seven had given him to her.

“I’m not good at taking care of things,” Seven had said, her smile strange and twisted. “But I think you might be.”

Widge had been small enough to fit into the palm of her hand. His eyes were barely open, his fur barely there, but he was beautiful even then. It had been obvious that Seven wanted to keep him, but she’d given him to Twelve instead and never asked for anything in return.

The girl’s face rose in Twelve’s mind, the warmth in her smile so like how Poppy used to look at her.

Poppy. The name jolted through her and Twelve flinched from it.

No. This was about Seven, not her.

A voice echoed in her memory. Think about the person you want to be.

Twelve steeled herself and glanced across the training ground at the frozen figure of Silver, her stomach roiling with the pain of it. Would the Elder have approved of the plan she was forming? Twelve had a feeling that she would.

Her fists clenched and her mind made up, Twelve jogged to the resthouse with renewed purpose. She would have to be quick. In the gloom of the boys’ and girls’ corridors, Twelve could see the dormitories were locked to keep the students inside. She hurried to the nearest door, drawing back the bolt and throwing it open.

“The Hunters say we can come out now,” she called brightly into the gloom. Dimly lit faces peered hopefully at her.

“About time!” a boy howled, bursting past her toward the training ground. “Are the ogres still out there? And the winter wolves? Did the Guardian really appear?” The other students rushed after him and Twelve unlocked the other doors until the halls and training ground were full of overexcited shouts of amazement and disbelief.