Chapter 13

JASE

"You all thought I was crazy when I heard her voice from the dead, too. I'm not making this shit up. I know what the hell I saw."

I'm so sick of arguing. I realize how preposterous it sounds, but I'm not exaggerating this shit.

"That… Shit, Jase," Araya groans, looking just as frustrated as I am. "You make it sound like the savage recognized you, but yet it was separate from Aria. My savage was always different from others, but it was still me. And when it started changing, it was because I was gaining more control. If what you're saying is real, that means she's losing control. Hell, it sounds like she's losing herself."

I swallow hard, worried about Aria losing herself inside of her own mind, giving control to her darker side. It's like we can't catch a fucking break. She can't catch a break.

"How did she just vanish?" Kellan asks, his voice small as he tries to stay far in the corner. "I've checked all over that land. She didn't leave speck of evidence telling me which way she might have gone, and if she was moving that fast, she wouldn't have been able to cover her trail."

"I blinked. She was gone. That's all I know. How many times do I have to say that?" I growl, glaring at him.

"You can't sense her?" Araya asks, tilting her head. It's rare the sane one can sense the savage one unless they're really close. Even then it's not always the case. Simone is one exception to that, but she's not like the rest of us. Then again, none of us are like each other. We're a big pile of mixed up breeds.

Kellan's lips go to a tight line, and he slowly shakes his head. "Not even a little. It's stronger when I'm savage. Apparently I'm useless while sane."

I really don't have the patience to deal with his sulking, scorned lover act right now.

"Maybe, she… Fuck, I don't know," Brazen grumbles, gripping his own hair.

"She didn't give any indication as to who she was going to kill?" Simone prompts.

To answer her, I just shake my head. I'm sick of saying everything ten fucking times, because everyone apparently needs to hear me on repeat.

After moving toward the window, I stare out at the wooded area, which is so different from the dusty open space Aria disappeared in. She just leveled that land the day before, and now she's managed to disappear.

"You didn't think to give her olophine?" Rex asks as he walks into the room.

Brazen briefed him earlier, and I could hear the yelling through the phone. I don't want to deal with his shit any more than I want to deal with Kellan's.

"Aria burns through olophine like it's a snack," Simone says in my defense. Olophine never even crossed my mind, nor did a sedative, and both options should have been my first thought. I panicked instead of thinking. My actions completely contradicted all the training I've had with savages over the years. But none of them had ever been the girl I love.

"The sedative would have worked. She doesn't burn through it." I can feel Rex glaring at my back,

"She was already rattling the building," I murmur quietly. "If she had hurt someone unintentionally, she wouldn't have forgiven herself. I was just trying to get her away from the compound."

"What the hell do you think she's out there doing right now?" Rex roars, his fury almost a physical force in the room.

I don't want to think about what she's doing, and I pray she doesn't remember it.

"She's not looking for her counter," Kellan mumbles, turning up a bottle of whiskey as though it can numb the sting of rejection.

"That's it." Simone's gasp is almost like a breath of realization, and I turn to look at her while she continues. "Aria has stripped herself from her hybrid urges for so, so long. She dresses and acts like a human instead of who she truly is. Her powers have been dormant because of the block she put up. And she has somehow managed to cut the threads to her counter. Imagine the sort of effect that would have on one's psyche."

We all look at her, still waiting on the big reveal.

"And?" Brazen prompts when she doesn't elaborate.

"And her savage also denied Kellan, further damaging the fragile state of mind. It's obvious that her savage has disjoined from her in order to take control—to do what Aria can't do on her on."

"Which is?" Araya hisses, growing agitated with the cryptic speech of the brilliant scientist.

"Go after the Scorpions. Or Alice. Or Hedin… Or hell, the Unaligned. Aria is the girl who has been getting bullied. Her family has suffered. She has suffered. But she hasn't been able to do anything about it, and it's been killing her. She struggles daily with her feelings of guilt and inadequacy, constantly feeling as though she's letting everyone down. Right now, Aria has been unleashed. All of her."

Rex shivers, along with a few others, but he shakes his head. "My powers are blocked, but my savage is still me. Albeit a crazy, mindless, bloodthirsty, sadistic version of me, but it's still me."

"Because Aria blocked you. You and your savage were both attacked by the same force, unlike her. She did it to herself," Simone explains. Well, tries to explain. We're all just as confused as we were when she started.

"Look," she says, picking up a glass of water. She also grabs a square coaster, and she puts it against the circled front of the glass. Then, she turns the glass upside down, and water slowly trickles out of the edges and starts dripping around the coaster, but I have no idea what this demonstration is supposed to give us.

"Her powers are the water. The coaster is the mental block. Some of her powers have been slipping out just like the water for years. But never at full strength. Aria did this to herself, and our savages attack our greatest attackers. Rex was scarred by full bloods, so the small block Aria placed on him didn't register as an attack, considering all he'd been through. But Aria's life has been one hell of a breeze compared to past hybrids. Her savage is lashing out at its greatest attacker—herself. She blocked the powers that could have saved her over and over, disabling the great weapons within her grasp. Now, her savage is taking over, but instead of attacking her, it's separating and eliminating the threats within her life. We may not get her back until every threat out there is eliminated."

Araya blows out a breath, and drops to the chair. If Simone is right… Fuck. It could be centuries, or longer.

"How do we get her back?" I'm scared to ask, but I have to know.

Simone frowns, and the high she got from the equation she felt she solved disintegrates, and she deflates pitifully while dropping down beside Araya.

"I don't know. Maybe if we can get a lead on where she is, we can try to reason with her. If the savage has recognition, then it knows we're not a threat." Simone stands, taking the cup with her to the sink, and grabbing some paper towels.

Kellan stands, putting the bottle down, and he walks toward Simone, his eyes on hers intensely. "What kind of power will we be facing? How much of that block is gone?"

If he had seen what I had, he wouldn't need to ask that question.

Simone grabs the glass and fills it to the brim with water. With a heavy sigh, she turns the glass upside down, letting the water rush out in seconds.

"Like I said; Aria is unleashed."