Jennifer Armentrout: Origin

Silence.

Then it struck me. A strangled laugh escaped. “Area 51?”

There was more silence, as if they couldn’t confirm the existence of such a place. Area mother-freaking 51. I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry.

Dr. Roth released the cuff. “Her blood pressure is a little high, but that’s expected. I would like to do a more intensive examination.”

Visions of probes and all kinds of nasty things lit up my brain. I slid off the table quickly, backing away from the men, on legs that barely held my weight. “No. You can’t do this. You can’t—”

“We can,” Sergeant Dasher interrupted. “Under the Patriot Act, we are able to apprehend, relocate, and detain anyone, human or nonhuman, who poses a risk to the Nation’s security.”

“What?” My back hit the wall. “I’m not a terrorist.”

“But you are a risk,” he responded. “We hope to change that, but as you can see, your right to freedom was relinquished the moment you were mutated.”

Legs giving out, I slid down the wall and sat down hard. “I can’t…” My brain didn’t want to process any of this. “My mom…”

The sergeant said nothing.

My mom…oh my God, my mom had to be going insane. She would be panicked and devastated. She would never get over this.

Pressing my palms against my forehead, I squeezed my eyes shut. “This isn’t right.”

“What did you think would happen?” Dasher asked.

I opened my eyes, my breath coming out in short bursts.

“When you infiltrated a government facility, did you think you would just walk out and everything would be fine? That there’d be no consequences for such actions?” He bent down in front of me. “Or that a group of kids, alien or hybrid, would be able to get as far as you did without us allowing it?”

Coldness radiated over my body. Good question. What had we thought? We had suspected it could be a trap. I had practically prepared myself for it, but we couldn’t walk away and let Beth rot in there. None of us could’ve done that.

I stared up at the man. “What happened to…to the others?”

“They’ve escaped.”

Relief coursed through me. At least Daemon wasn’t locked up somewhere. That gave me some sort of comfort.

“We only needed to catch one of you, to be honest. Either you or the one who mutated you. Having one of you will draw the other out.” He paused. “Right now, Daemon Black has disappeared off our radar, but we imagine it won’t stay that way for long. We have learned through our studies that the bond between a Luxen and the one he or she mutates is quite intense, especially between a male and female. And from our observations, you two are extremely…close.”

Yeah, my relief crashed and burned in fiery glory, and fear seized me. There was no point in pretending I had no idea what he was talking about, but I would never confirm it was Daemon. Never .

“I know you’re afraid and angry.”

“Yeah, I’m feeling both of those things strongly.”

“That is understandable. We are not as bad as you think we are, Katy. We had every right to use lethal methods when we caught you. We could’ve taken out your friends. We didn’t.” He stood, clasping his hands again. “You will see we are not the enemy here.”

Not the enemy? They were the enemy—a greater threat than a whole flock of Arum—because they had the entire government behind them. Because they could just snap up people and take them away from everything—their family, their friends, their entire life—and get away with it.

I was so screwed.

As the situation really sank in, my tenacious grip on keeping it together slipped, and then completely fell away. Stark terror whipped through me, turning into panic, creating an ugly mess of emotions powered by adrenaline. Instinct took over—the kind I hadn’t been born with but had been shaped by what I’d become when Daemon had healed me.

I sprang to my feet. Aching muscles screamed in protest, and my head swam from the sudden movement, but I remained standing. The doctor moved to the side, his face paling as he reached for the wall. The sergeant didn’t so much as blink an eye. He was not afraid of my badassery.

Calling upon the Source should’ve been easy, considering all the violent emotions rolling within me, but there wasn’t a rush—like the kind you get when you’re poised atop a high roller coaster—or even a building of static over my skin.

There was nothing.

Through the fog of horror and panic clouding my thoughts, a bit of reality seeped in, and I remembered I couldn’t use the Source in here.

“Doctor?” said the sergeant.

In need of a weapon, I darted around him, heading for the table with the tiny instruments. I didn’t know what I would do if I managed to get out of this room. The door could’ve been locked. I wasn’t thinking beyond that very second. I just needed to get out of there. Now.

Before I could reach the tray, the doctor slapped his hand against the wall. A horrific, familiar sound of air releasing in a series of small puffs followed. There was no other warning. No smell. No change in the consistency of the air.

But those little dots in the ceiling and walls had released weaponized onyx, and there was no escaping it. Horror drowned me. The breath I took cut off as red-hot pain started at my scalp and coursed down my body. Like I was being doused with gasoline and set ablaze, a fire swept over my skin. My legs gave out, and my knees cracked off the tile floor. The onyx-filled air scratched my throat and scorched my lungs.

I curled into a ball, fingers clawing at the floor as my mouth opened in a silent scream. My body spasmed uncontrollably as the onyx invaded every cell. There was no end. No hope that the fire would be extinguished by Daemon’s quick thinking, and I silently called out his name, over and over again, but there was no answer.

There was and would be nothing but pain.

…

Daemon

Thirty-one hours, forty-two minutes, and twenty seconds had passed since the doors had closed, separating Kat from me. Thirty-one hours, forty-two minutes, and ten seconds since I last saw her. For thirty-one hours and forty-one minutes Kat had been in the hands of Daedalus.

Each second, every minute and hour that ticked by had driven me fucking insane.

They had locked me up in a one-room cabin, which was really a cell decked out in everything that would piss off a Luxen, but it hadn’t stopped me. I’d blown that door and the Luxen guarding me into another damn galaxy. Bitter anger surged through me, coating my insides with acid as I picked up speed, flying past the row of cabins, avoiding the cluster of homes, and heading straight for the trees surrounding the Luxen community hidden under the shadows of Seneca Rocks. Not even halfway there, I saw a blur of white streaking straight for me.

They were going to try to stop me? Yeah, not going to happen.

I skidded to a halt, and the light zoomed past and then whirled around. Shaped like a human, it stood directly in front of me, so bright that the Luxen lit up the dark trees behind him.

We are only trying to protect you, Daemon.

Just like Dawson and Matthew had thought knocking me out at Mount Weather and then locking me up would protect me. Oh, I had a nuclear-size bone to pick with those two.

We don’t want to hurt you.

“That’s a shame.” I cracked my neck. Behind me, several more were gathering. “I have no problem hurting you.”

The Luxen in front of me extended his arms. It doesn’t have to be this way.

There was no other way. Letting my human form fade was like shedding too-tight clothing. A reddish tint spread over the grass like blood. Let’s get this over with .