Her eyes fluttered, and she moaned, leaning back against the wall again. I thought she’d gone to sleep, and I wondered if my blood was poisonous, but then I heard her speak in a thin voice.
“Tobias?” she rasped.
“Fine,” I said. “Alive. I saw him recently.”
I didn’t need to tell her that he’d tried to kill me.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Underground, in the rebel headquarters, beneath the old human city.”
She turned her palms up, looking over the dark red stains on her fingers.
“I’m elite... and you fed me.”
“I know it’s a lot to process. I think Tobias changed you, during the execution, hoping you’d survive. When the rebels found you, you were wild, hunting rabbits.”
“Why am I locked up? I was helping the rebels. I’m not a threat.”
“Unfortunately, now that you’re elite, they aren’t going to just let you walk around. You need blood to stay conscious, or at least aware. And nobody else is keen to feed you.”
“So why you. Why now?”
I took a deep breath. This was it.
“I discovered something, I thought maybe you’d know the answer. Tobias and Damien, did they ever talk about where they were from, before?”
There was a long, drawn out silence, and at first I was afraid she wouldn’t answer.
“Fanno Creek,” she said finally. “It’s a suburb, a few days away. Near one of the compounds.”
“Which one?” I asked, holding my breath.
She murmured something, but I couldn’t make it out. I leaned down closer until I could feel her breath against my cheek as she whispered the answer.
Then she grabbed me and sank her teeth deep into my neck. I struggled, but her arms were like a vice around my body, crushing me against her as she stole my life force. I felt myself growing weaker, and my eyes fluttered. Then I heard shouts. Penelope’s head snapped back, tearing out a chunk of flesh between her fanged teeth. Blood dripped from the corners of her mouth. She screamed with rage, and her screech seemed to shake the walls as she tugged at the restraints. I heard the creak of the metal walls, bending inwards under her ferocious will. Strong arms carried me out of the room, and I could hear Trevor calling my name before I lost consciousness.
When I came to, I heard birds chirping and felt light on the back of my eyelids. For a minute I thought I was outside. I felt the wind brush my face, and weak, dappled sunlight filtered through the ash and leaves.
But then I saw the glass, and realized I was still contained.
“Where are we?” I asked weakly, trying to sit up.
“Stay down,” Trevor said. “You lost a lot of blood. What were you thinking, going in alone like that? She could have killed you!”
“Easy,” Jazmine said, pulling him away. “How do you feel?”
I took a deep breath, and the oxygen edified me. My thoughts were slow, like pushing through molasses, and my hands were shaking. I put them in front of my face, and tried to hold them still.
“I’m fine,” I said. “Just tired.”
“We could only give you a drop of elixir,” Marcus said. “You’d already lost too much blood; if we filled you with elixir at this point, you’d be in danger of turning.”
“Would that be such a bad thing?” I asked.
“She’s delirious,” Trevor frowned. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”
I bit my tongue. If I were elite, maybe I wouldn’t be so afraid all the time, so weak. Maybe I could stand up, fight back. Be with Damien. But then I remembered the blood lust in Penelope’s eyes right before she’d attacked me. She was conscious, she was my friend, and she’d still attacked deliberately. I didn’t want to become like that.
“What were you even doing in there?” Jazmine asked.
What was I doing? It felt important but I couldn’t remember. Then the pieces came back to me slowly. And a name.
“I need a map,” I said, sitting up quickly. Cobwebs fell away and I felt clearer. Jazmine handed me a glass of water and I sipped it eagerly.
We were in some kind of terrarium. Plants and trees grew wildly, creeping over stone paths and signs. The glass was cracked, and in places whole sections had been covered up with wood planks and thick tape, but the air was fresh and the light made me feel alive again. Peacocks with shiny feathers strutted over the mossy rocks, digging for grubs.
“It was a bird sanctuary,” Marcus said, looking around. “Attached to the