The room seems to shift in the silence, and he stares back at me like he’s wondering if he’s justified in hating me, too. Finally, his lips part. “You said yourself you didn’t want to be a Hero. So let the Heroes do their job, and stop getting in the way.” I see the message in his unrelenting gaze—the warning.

I try to fling myself toward him, but Gil raises a hand and the ropes hold me back. “Take these off me,” I seethe, trying with all my strength to break free.

Gil sniffs at the air. “Take them off yourself.” He turns abruptly and walks out of the training room without another word.

Scowling, I struggle beneath the restraints. Theo’s face softens, and he lifts a hand to help, but I yank my shoulder away from him.

“Don’t touch me,” I snap. “I can do it myself.”

He holds up a hand apologetically and drops his eyes.

I let out a stream of air through my mouth, trying my best to focus on the ropes and not my anger toward Gil. I breathe in carefully, willing the rope to drift away from me the way I willed my wound to heal. I focus on the discomfort around my arms and chest and the tangle of rope at my wrists. And then I picture them dissolving, floating away into mist.

I imagine shedding myself free.

The pressure fades, and when I look down, I see the pile of rope at my feet.

“I’m sorry,” Theo says softly as I kick the last of the rope away from me.

I start to walk away, but he grabs my wrist insistently.

“You pulled a knife on me,” I say, voice shaking with hurt.

“I had no choice.” Theo’s eyes bulge with the truth. “I couldn’t risk Gil telling the others about Martin.”

I frown. “What are you saying?”

He pauses, eyeing the doorway for leering bystanders. And then, when he’s certain it’s just the two of us, he says in a hushed voice, “I want you to help me save my brother.”

27

THEO AND I COME UP with various ideas to help Martin, but none of them seem to stick. They’re either too flimsy or too bold, and trying to devise any plan that won’t inadvertently expose the Colony is perhaps the biggest challenge of all.

But we both agree on one thing—we aren’t going to leave him rotting in a dungeon. Especially if there’s a chance his consciousness can be brought back.

I haven’t spoken to Annika in days, and the realization that I’m no longer a part of the Colony’s inner circle hits me hard. Or maybe I was never really a part of the circle, and it’s taken a door being slammed in my face for me to see it.