Could I trust this dangerous boy?

“All right. You’ve left me with no choice.” Before I could decide, he was on me, hefting me over his shoulder. “Time to make the vision come true. At least I finally understand it.”

Answer: no, I couldn’t trust him. “Let me go!” I beat at his back and slammed my knees into his torso.

“Never again.” He lifted a gun and marched forward.

“I mean it. Let go,” I demanded.

“Never. Again.”

“You keep saying that. What do you want with me? What do you want from me?”

“What I’ve always wanted. Everything.”

“Well, you can’t have it.”

There was something familiar about the scene....

Another flash of this boy kissing me.

A flash of this boy stripping me and touching me.

A flash of this boy smiling at me, violet eyes sparkling.

A flash of this boy studying his cuticles while I killed zombies.

Killed zombies, rather than healed them?

I must have. If these flashes were memories. But that would mean Rebecca had lied to me.

Why would she lie?

Cole stopped at the end of the hall. Smoke billowed, layered with the scents of rot, gunpowder and blood. To the left, the blond boy with the tragic eyes fought a handful of guards—on his own. He had a gun in both hands, aimed, shot, aimed, shot. Bodies crumpled around him.

“We’ve got slayers all over the building,” Cole said. “River’s team is with us, and we’re taking every floor. There will be nothing left of Anima when we’re done.”

I twisted. Two men in lab coats raced around the corner. They caught a glimpse of Cole and backtracked. Cole shot both in the legs. Then he returned to his easy pace, as if nothing had happened.

“Do you know where Smith is?”

Smith. Rebecca. My friend—who wasn’t really a friend.

I gulped. I couldn’t tell him. He’d kill her. And even though I wasn’t sure I liked her, even though I didn’t know if she was friend or foe, I didn’t want her dead. Did I?

Throbbing again...

I’d never been so confused.

Another blond boy came tearing from the opposite direction. “Can’t find Smith. But I see you found my cupcake.”

“Mine,” Cole snapped.

Uh, was the cupcake supposed to be me? Because it was a weird nickname for a supposed enemy.

“Ali,” Cole said, “I’m going to set you down. Don’t run. If you run, I will chase you, and when I catch you, I will spank you.”

“Excuse me?” I hated the idea of being spanked. Really.

“Why would she run?” Blondie asked.

Cole eased me to my feet, and I did contemplate running. Now was my chance. But curiosity held me immobile. These boys could have hurt me. They hadn’t. They had spoken to me with affection.

“I can help you,” a woman said. A tall, slender blonde with eyes as freaky a blue as mine appeared out of thin air.

Throb.

Cole stiffened. “We don’t need your help, Helen.” He stepped in front of me...protecting me?

Throb, throb.

I...didn’t like that he was upset. Why?

“Who do you think has been feeding Emma information all this time?” the Helen lady snapped. “Me. Now, do you really want to leave this building without taking care of Rebecca? Because the choice is yours. If it were up to me, I’d rather you did something. I love my daughter and never want to go through something like this again.”

Daughter? Throb, throb, throb.

Cole cracked his jaw, nodded. “Fine. Lead the way. But if this is a trap...”

“You’ll what?” she quipped. “Yell at me?”

He snapped his teeth at her. Mimicking a zombie?

She moved through a hall I didn’t recognize. Cole maintained a tight grip on my hand. Up an elevator she had to hot-wire, since the fire alarm had shut off every cart. Down a flight of steps. Down another elevator.

Finally, Helen stopped at the end of a dim corridor. “Ali. Your hand.”

What—

Cole moved me to the front, pushed my palm against the ID box. Warmth. A click. The door opened, and it wasn’t long before we were in another room I’d never seen. One with the twenty or so Witnesses I’d cleansed, trapped in a special cage with electric pulses that rode the length of the metal bars.

Slayers stopped and stared, flabbergasted.

“What. The. Hell?” Blondie said.

“They were zombies. Like those.” I pointed to the other cage and the undead. “But I cleansed them.”

“Cleansed?” Cole repeated.

I yanked from his grip and went to the cage of Witnesses. Another ID scan, and just like that, they were free. They floated out, thrilling with excitement and relief...rising...soon vanishing through the ceiling.

I went to the cage of zombies.

“No, Ali,” Cole shouted, stomping after me. “Don’t.”

“But I can cleanse them, too,” I said, turning to face him. Didn’t want him at my back.

A zombie reached through the bars and grabbed me. Because he was collared, he was solid to me and managed to sink his teeth into my arm. It hurt, and I yelped, but it wasn’t anything to send me to my knees. In fact, it was better this way, being free of the shackles.

Cole was suddenly in front of me, pulling me to safety. Scowling, he punched the zombie in the face.

He faced me, tenderly framed my cheeks with his big hands. Just like in the memory. “In a minute, there’s going to be two of me. My hand will light up. I’ll push the flames inside your wound. It’ll hurt but—”