Kat beelined for the Senior Assassin’s office. She would kill him or die trying. This fact rooted deep into her mind, and grew throughout her entire being as she raced up the stairs to his office. She envisioned ripping the skin from his body, boiling his eyes balls with them still attached. It didn’t matter these things would never happen, that she was most likely going to be killed. Shay was–

The air left Aeron's lungs as her body connected to the training room floor, her mind reeling back to the windshield she'd crashed through just months ago. She could feel the sting of glass piercing her skin, the screams of her Guardian, Sarah, reaching her from the window she'd fallen from. She pressed her eyes closed against the physical reminder of the worst night of her life and swallowed the cry wanting to leave her lips. Sarah was dead. 

Aeron forced her eyes open, her father's sneer coming into focus from the platform she'd fallen from. 

"Again," he said, face twisted in disgust. 

“We should invite them bowling,” Seamus said.

“Who?”

“Andrew and Maureen.”

Eileen Gale curled her lip and looked up from her spot on the floor, the half dismantled handgun resting between her thighs. “And you should help me clean the weapons from the last mission.

"This will be your home for the next year," Eileen said turning off the engine. Izz took in the average-looking two-story home through the dusty windshield. Two guards snapped to attention on the porch as Eileen stepped out, their hands tightening on their rifles. Izz swallowed hard. She'd never seen guns this close. 

"You still haven't fully explained what I'm doing here," Izz said, stepping out onto the dirt driveway. The warm air kissed her skin, the taste of seawater in the air. "Are we close to the coast?"

Eileen nodded to the right. "Just past the tree line. You can hear the water better from the backyard."

The wound in Izz’s shoulder stung worse in the morning as she pulled on a fresh clean tank top, but the bandage she’d applied held fast. The water from her curls dripped down her back and shoulders, and she relished the cool feeling. The morning shower had calmed her system, but a pit of embarrassment stayed in her gut. She’d pissed herself. She’d pissed herself in front of not only the hottest man she’d seen in ages, but the deadliest one too. There was no doubt in her mind he would have told Maureen. Her cheeks heated in anticipation of how the woman would torture her with her new information. 

The smell of cooking filled the air as she stepped into the hall, and despite her growing dread, her stomach growled. No one had cooked a real meal since Eileen left. Cereal or chicken nuggets were her cuisine of choice, and Maureen had pre-made food delivered–Izz just needed to heat it up. She paused outside Maureen's door, leaning an ear against it. The day nurse should be in, unless Mason had sent him away too. But she could hear the soft music he played, indicating he was in the room.

Maureen's guttural screams pierced Izz's ears through the door, and she squeezed her eyes closed against the noise as if it would drown it out. The phone shook as she dialed Mason's number from Maureen's cell, the sound of ringing barely audible as it competed with Maureen. 

Izz took a few more steps away from the door, Mason's rough voice answering. "Go."

"Mason?" Izz's voice shook, her heart hammering. She'd never called him on the phone before, and he sounded different–harder. He didn't respond, and she gave a tentative, "Hello?"

She was going to die. 

The thought didn't scare Izz as much as it should have. Maybe she was in shock, or maybe she'd known from the moment she'd stepped foot on this compound that her days were numbered. Maureen's screams echoed in her ears, even though they'd given her an antidote hours ago. She'd never seen anyone in so much pain--or so terrified. Why would someone do that to themselves? Why would she make Izz do that to her? Maureen must really hate her to seal her fate like that. What a bitch.  

"No one has ever broken me that fast," Maureen said from the doorway.