Plus, we’re murderers now. And he’ll tell them Penelope is still alive. Right?”
“I don’t know. Nigel’s not particularly loyal, but he’ll do what he needs to.”
“Still, we have to move,” Camina said. “They know where we are. They’ll track us, and be back with the king’s army.”
“I’m not going anywhere with that thing,” Luke said, crossing his arms and nodding at Penelope. She stood by herself, drenched in blood, rubbing her pale arms with cold palms.
“That thing is Penelope, she’s my friend and she’s coming with us. She’s been treated like shit and she deserves better.”
She threw me a grateful look and my heart caught in my throat. She was the only person I’d known before and after their death. Part of me had wondered how much becoming an elite had changed her. The rebels said they were violent, bloodthirsty monsters, but in that moment she was still the woman who introduced me to iced mochas in the citadel, and I’d never seen her look more vulnerable.
“What about him,” April asked, pointing at Trevor. I realized she was the only one of us not accustomed to being this close to a slagpaw in the wild. I was surprised she wasn’t screaming and running in the other direction.
“He needs elixir, to change back. Otherwise, he’ll get stuck like that. Anybody have any left?” They shook their heads.
Shit... my breath caught in my throat. I’d used the elixir Marcus had given me against the bear, and fighting off Nigel the first time. And then he’d fed on me. I tried not to think of his teeth against my neck.
Panic filled my veins. I bent down to look in the slagpaw’s red eyes. I barely had to stoop to be at eye level, he was nearly as big as a horse.
“You’re an idiot,” I said.
The slagpaw whined a response.
Trevor shifted, to save us. But if we didn’t find more elixir, fast, he could get stuck like this for good. In a few days, he’d forget who he was. In a week, he’d be a monster.
“Well,” Camina said, looking at Penelope pointedly. “I know of one place where we can get some.”
Penelope frowned, crossing her arms.
“Sure, just use me as your magic dispenser,” she said. “That’s cool.”
“She’s too weak anyway,” April said quietly. “She needs fresh blood to make more elixir. And without it, she’ll go feral again. She will kill us, she won’t be able to help it.”
I thought back to her attacking me, and a shudder ran down my spine. April was right, as long as Penelope was with us, we’d have to keep her fed. It felt like a complicated math problem; how to keep everyone I cared about alive, without them killing each other.
“So,” I said, “some of us will need to donate blood, voluntarily, to keep Penelope from losing control. In return, Penelope allows us to take a bit of her blood, to heal Trevor and stay strong enough to survive the next fight. Sound fair?”
Luke looked sick to his stomach. April bit her lip, but Camina’s eyes lit up at the promise of more elixir.
“It’s basically the same as the contract, the treaty,” Jazmine smiled.
“Not quite as sanitary,” Penelope said. “Feels a little awkward. But fine with me.”
I looked around our small circle, getting nods of agreement from everyone.
“Wonderful,” Penelope said, putting away her weapons. “I appreciate the gesture. I’m actually not that hungry. When Trevor let me out, we made a stop first. There was a woman, freshly killed, outside of Havoc. Trevor said it was someone you knew, and that I should eat to get my strength back.”
Beatrice. A chill ran down my spine. She’d fed on Beatrice. Luke seemed to reach the same conclusion, because his eyes widened and his fingers curled into fists.
“She had to eat,” I said quietly, stepping between them. “She was already dead.”
“As for your boy there,” she nodded towards the slagpaw, as it crunched through Thomas’s skull like a walnut, before stripping flesh from bone, “looks like he’s getting plenty of elixir on his own.”
“This is insane,” Luke grumbled, shifting the shotgun over his shoulder. “We should just kill her and be done with it. You can’t trust an elite.”
“Watch it, sewer rat,” she said, flashing her teeth, “or I’ll eat you first.”
Luke blanched, then turned to look back towards the horizon. The smoke from the explosion was only slightly darker than the falling ash.
“I can’t believe it’s gone.” April said, following his gaze towards the underground sanctuary.
“We’ll have time