I led Rebel along the twisting path carved by desperate feet. It looked like an informal road, worn, uneven, and haunted. If this place was ever a forest, it had long stopped pretending.
The farther we got from Cael, the more Rebel relaxed. He didn't try to speak—good, because I didn't want conversation. My head throbbed from keeping both my physical focus and mental trace active. The world blinked in and out of code: solid objects flickering with 0s and 1s underneath, always threatening to collapse.
Eventually, we slowed. I bumped into Rebel's outstretched arm and found him staring ahead.
A thin column of smoke curled into the air like a warning flag.
"Hexa Quell is just ahead," I said, folding my arms. "I've paid my debt. I'll be on my way."
"Stay close until this is through," Rebel muttered, eyes scanning the trees. "This could get rough. The Quell clan are nasty. If they chase you down, you wouldn't stand a chance."
Exactly why I wanted nothing to do with this. I clenched my jaw and kept quiet.
"Hexa Quell," Rebel called, voice booming like a spell. The sound stirred the leaves into disintegration—dust spiraled through the air like ash after a fire. "Game's up. I've found you. Return what you stole from me."
I coughed as debris filled my lungs. Rebel pushed me back a few steps.
"Is that who I think it is?" a woman called from the trees. Her tone was amused, and even from here I could hear the edge beneath it. "You don't know when to quit, do you, Rebel Ray?"
She gave a horrible, squeaky laugh. The hair on my arms stood up.
Then she stepped from the shadows.
Hexa Quell looked like she belonged in the wilderness. Unnatural hot pink eyes. Hair that shimmered with a sticky, candy-floss sheen. She was uncanny—almost feral.
"Who's the stray?" she asked, cocking her head at me. If I'd thought Rebel was scary, he had nothing on Hexa. Her gaze landed on me like a predator's. She licked her lips.
I took a step back.
She was wrong. Off. Repulsive in a way I couldn't name.
"Hand it over, Hexa Quell," Rebel said tightly. "We both know you have it. No need for anyone to get hurt."
Hexa grinned. Her tongue slid between her teeth. "Tough, Rebel. Finders keepers."
Something about her gaze stirred my anger. She looked at us like we were meat.
"You stole it," I said, before I could stop myself. "Give it back. It doesn't belong to you."
Rebel shot me a glare. "Don't talk."
Hexa sneered. I shrank under it—but then she laughed and turned back to Rebel. "Didn't know you were mentoring now. Did you rescue her? Save her from the big bad monsters?"
Rebel didn't bite, but her eyes flashed anyway.
She shoved her face close to mine. Her breath was stale, her voice syrupy and cruel. "Get lost, newbie. Go play somewhere else." She tapped my nose like I was her pet.
I flinched.
Rebel exhaled sharply and drew his weapons. "I don't want to hurt you, Hexa. Or your crew. But I will."
"Oh please." She rolled her eyes and unsheathed a pair of daggers with a theatrical spin. "We've been itching for a duel."
The forest shifted.
Three more figures stepped out behind her—two girls, one guy. All smug. All dangerous.
Rebel looked at me. I stared back.
Then he turned to Hexa. "Four on one," he said. "You afraid?"
Hexa hesitated—just a flicker—then smirked. "Never."
She lunged like a beast loosed from a chain, springing from a cracked stump, daggers flashing. Rebel rolled. Her blades missed by inches. Dust exploded where she landed.
He was up in a blink, slamming into her with brutal precision. Their movements were too fast to follow.
I stood frozen. I knew this moment. That breathless stillness before someone died.
"Stop it!" I screamed. No one listened.
"I said—" I sucked in a breath, felt the code rise under my skin like heat. "STOP IT!"
The ground buckled beneath them—subtly, but enough. I'd rewritten the coordinates in a flash.
Hexa stumbled, momentum slamming her into a tree stump. She gasped.
"Codewright!" she shrieked. "GET HER!"
One of her crew stepped forward—
But Rebel was faster.
He threw himself in front of me. "She's in my debt," he growled. Then he stalked to Hexa and ripped a canister from her belt. It hissed faintly. He kicked her hard in the ribs. She folded like paper.
She let out a moan like a kicked puppy. For a moment, I felt bad for her—curled there, tiny and trembling.
But then I remembered her voice, her hunger, the taste of her presence—and I shuddered. She was a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Rebel walked a slow circle around her, kicked her twice more.
"You're lucky I came," he muttered. "Next time, I'll send someone less forgiving."
Her crew hesitated, uncertain without her lead. We took the chance to retreat. Fast.
Rebel locked the canister to his belt as we ran.
When we'd gone far enough, he shoved me against a barkless tree. Hard. My lungs emptied. Stats flashed warnings in my vision.
"What were you thinking?" he snapped.
"I didn't want to watch someone die!" I shoved him back. "And I'm not in your debt anymore—I'm leaving."
"No, you're not." His voice dropped. Dark. Dangerous. "Hexa's crew will hunt you now. You exposed yourself as a Codewright."
"I'm not a Rotcastor or a clan member. I'm just a nobody—"
"No," he interrupted. "You're worse. You're naïve." His eyes burned like a fuse about to blow. "And in this place? That gets you captured. Or sold. You've already had a brush with Cael—the Order's enforcer. Practically a prince. They'll take you and lock you away."
The Order of Eden?
I thought of Cael's soft-spoken tone, his civility. Prince didn't compute.
"I don't understand," I said.
"We just call them Elites," Rebel muttered. "You don't get their attention. End of story."
I looked at him. Really looked.
He wasn't just angry. He was scared.
I pushed his words away. It only made finding Vivid more urgent. She was in danger too.
"I have my own mission." I squared my shoulders, ready to run.
"Don't think I can't Codewright too," Rebel said. "Easy way or hard way?"
We stared each other down. I could feel the power radiating from him—raw and potent.
I threw up my hands. "Fine."
He was right about one thing: I couldn't find my sister from a cell.