Rage and Ruin | 2

7 | 9

D E L P H I N I U M

      I wasn't sure how long we'd been traveling when I woke up. I also didn't remember being put to sleep in the first place. But it didn't take long for me to recall what I'd left behind.

      Jake. My team. My home. Everything. Not even my cold grandmother would know where I was now.

      At first, I wasn't sure why I couldn't see. Had they blindfolded me? Then I remembered the iron mask. They'd purposely put me in a mask like Benny's not only so that I couldn't use my power, but also so that a reminder of what I was and where I was going was always weighing down on me.

      Under the mask, I cried. I wept for Jake and the horrified expression on his face when I confessed everything to him. I knew it would make things much harder if I told him. But I needed him to know. Once.

I wept for my friends—everything they'd gone through because of the power under their skin and all of the inner turmoil we'd had with each other that I now regretted. I hadn't even gotten to see the joy on their faces when we won the battle, hadn't gotten to say goodbye.

And most of all, I wept for myself. I'd come so far in the last months, had been changing for the better. I had finally gained hope that I could be the person I wanted to be. There was so much I'd done simply to survive, looking toward a better future, and it was all for nothing.

      All for nothing. All for nothing. It repeated like a rosary in my mind.

      This was the end. Maybe I was going to pay for my sins now. Maybe this was life's twisted, ironic way of putting me out of my misery.

      They were bringing me to Orion. The idea made me want to throw myself out of whatever vehicle we were in right now. I had dreams where this very thing happened and I always awoke, sweating and nauseous in my bed. But this was not a dream. This was real. This was a living, breathing nightmare.

How many times had Benny promised he'd bring me back to his master? I'd always gotten angry and never quite believed him. But he was doing exactly what he said he'd do.

     For now, I lamented my sorry state and what would happen next. I allowed the tears to fall. But once I was brought before my old master, they would only see the wolf. There would be no weakness in the great assassin. They would never see me cry. I would be power. Even if I was being sent to my death, even if this was the end, I refused to lose myself. I might be about to die, but I would not break.

      The iron mask weighed my head down, so I kept it bowed. But I had stopped weeping, wanting to be able to hear any change in sound near me. From what I could tell, I was inside the back of one of the armored trucks, chained to a bench. When I'd first awoken, I strangely hadn't been able to feel my arms and legs. Now, I knew they were very heavily bound to prevent any escapes or lashing out. My reputation was known by everyone in Imperium, especially after I'd singlehandedly destroyed the fortress.

      That wouldn't happen again. Even if the dynamic power inside me hadn't bled out with all my injuries and sadness, even if I was still in that desperate, manic state I'd been that night, I would not be able to recreate it. They were expecting me to make some grand display of my power. But they were ready this time and would not make the same mistake twice.

      I couldn't help but wonder how my life would end. I had never believed that it would be quietly or peacefully in my sleep. Some dark part of me always expected it to be Orion. Ever since he wasn't able to completely control me all that time ago, he was surely hellbent on having me back. He wouldn't stop until I was gone, I knew that deep within the core of my being.