I kicked the door down with my supernatural strength and raced across the hallway and down a corridor, toward the treatment room where Braithe had been taken.

When I forced open the door, to my relief, he was still here. I’d half feared that Aisha might reach here before me, having guessed that Braithe, too, was somebody I loved.

Braithe lay naked on the treatment table, eyes closed. He was still asleep in what seemed to be the same position we’d left him in. His wrists and ankles were still restrained, and I guessed that the witch had probably pumped him with another few doses of her tranquilizer potion before she left.

I approached the bed cautiously and touched his cold, deathly pale face. As I gazed down at his freakish appearance, I tried to ignore what Braithe had become and notice only the shadows of his former features. The features that reminded me so much of his brother, Hans.

I couldn’t waste any more time. Swallowing hard, I gazed about the room. A pile of drug-laced blow darts heaped on one of the counters caught my eye. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to use the ones Uma had equipped me with, along with the blow gun. My memory was hazy as to at exactly which moment I’d lost them in the fray.

I swept all the darts off the counter and into an empty drawstring bag that hung from the back of a chair. I also spied another blow gun—two in fact. I took them and fastened both to my belt, just for good measure, along with a sword I found leaning against the wall. Then the only thing left for me to retrieve from this room was Braithe himself. I rummaged around for keys that would unlock Braithe’s restraints, and found them hanging from a hook above the sink.

Still anxious that he might wake up again, I moved slowly and cautiously as I unclasped the cuffs. Then, holding both of his icy, bony hands, I tugged, pulling him into a sitting position. His head dropped and lolled over his chest. His slumber was definitely deep.

I dared slip one arm around his waist, and then hauled him off the table, supporting his body against me—no easy task for someone as short as myself. His legs ended up dragging on the floor as I hurried with him toward the exit, but there was nothing I could do to avoid it.

“It’s okay, Braithe,” I whispered, my voice choked as I thought of Frederick, Colin and Arletta. I would never even have the chance to attempt saving them. They were gone. “We’ll sort you out.”

I dragged him out of the castle and down the hill, toward the island’s small harbor. The day was getting on, and although the sun was still agonizing, it wasn’t quite as piercing as before. Still, it melted my flesh as we hurried down toward the jetty. There were several boats on each side. The one I ought to choose was clear—there was only one with a covering over it. Even though it was small, it would be better than nothing.

I pulled Braithe beneath the shelter of the vessel and tried to lay him down in a semi-comfortable position before moving to the bow. By a stroke of good fortune, there were already a couple of dolphins attached to the boat on a loose tether. I reeled them in and, clutching the reins tightly, sat down beneath the shelter.

We had our engine. Now we could flee.

River

A bright light lit up the backs of my eyelids. As consciousness returned to my brain, I opened my eyes and sat up slowly. My vision was hazy at first, but even with impaired sight I could immediately tell that I was somewhere unfamiliar. First of all, I was lying in a bed. A proper bed, with a soft mattress—not like the operating table that I last remembered lying on. My vision came into focus. There was a white curtain drawn around the bed, enclosing me in my own private space.

“Hello?” I called, only realizing as I spoke just how parched and sore my throat was. A glass of water sat on top of a bedside table to my right. I reached for it and swallowed it in a few gulps. Then I swung my legs off the bed—or at least tried to. Shoving the blanket away from me, I realized that my ankles were still being held by restraints, although my wrists had been freed. Stuck on the bed, I reached my arms out as far as I could without falling off the edge of the mattress and managed to grab hold of the curtain. As I drew it aside, I found myself gazing around at what appeared to be a large hall filled with curtained compartments just like mine. It looked like a hospital ward. And it was quiet. Eerily quiet.

“Hello?” I said, louder this time, my voice echoing off the walls.

No response. I couldn’t hear breathing, or signs that there was anybody in this hall except for me.

I’d been so disorientated as to my whereabouts that the obvious question only just dawned on me. What did they do to me? I couldn’t feel any pain, except for the usual coldness I was accustomed to. Staring down at my body, I realized that I’d been changed. I still wore black, but the material was different. I wore light cotton pajamas. I shuddered. Who changed me? I hoped that it had been Jocelyn, or another female hunter.

My eyes scanned the length of my arms, and then I removed my shirt. My chest seemed quite normal. My gaze lowered to my stomach, then to my abdomen… where I froze. There was a faint, thin scar running the width of my lower abdomen. My breath hitched. I leaned forward to get a closer look, running a finger along the mark. As I stared at it, a stronger emotion overtook the horror I felt at what these people had done—or rather, not knowing what they had done.

My fists clenched as anger washed over me in waves.

They couldn’t treat me like a lab rat. This couldn’t be legal.

How dare they do this to me.

Ben

As I hurtled away from the hunters’ lair, I scanned the frosty surroundings. I traveled in the opposite direction from the road I had followed to the ski resort. A few miles behind the cluster of glass buildings was acres of some type of training grounds, cleared of all snow. They were scattered among some of the lower mountains. As I kept speeding and neared what I believed would be the end of the hunters’ property, I caught sight of another open field at the foot of an overhanging cliff—about a mile or so away from the training grounds.