WHISPER- shadow and bone

Chapter 4

The day the King's spies came was the day that the colour faded from Ada's world

They took one look at the shaking thirteen year old, in the start of her medik course, pure and innocent, untainted by battle, and thought she was the perfect subject for a little...testing.

Ezra had winced in pain and shut himself away from people as Ada's screams were heard across the camp. Alina had clamped her hands over her ears and refused to meet anyone's eye for days and Mal was found destroying an odd amount of logs.

When Ada came back a few days later she was covered in scars and burns. The Grisha who had experimented their power on her looked a little sheepish but they didn't truly care for the girl. They were in it for the money of course, the mouth-watering amount they would receive easily made them forget the torture they had put the girl through. The man who had been sent by the King smirked down at the shivering girl and whispered every threat he could in her ear until the girl trembles turned to shudders and she ran away in terror.

Ada was studied for weeks afterwards by the and so she could not heal any part of her. In those weeks she was as fragile as a broken vase, beautiful to look at, but jagged to touch, tainted by the marks that had been put on her.

The burn that remained on her arm was a reminder of how she would one day get her vengeance.

If she burnt, then they would burn with her.

~~~~

"I don't want any of this", Alina exclaimed. "Why can't you get rid of it?"

"Do you think I haven't tried, Miss Starkov? If I enter the Fold, I'm a beacon for the volcra. All I can do is make it worse.", the General replied.

"Then just... Can't you use some Grisha science to transfer this to someone who can use it?"

"You would give up your gift?"

"Gift? You dragged me away from my only friends and my sister and now, according to you, I'll be a target for the rest of my life."

"You know why you've never found someone with this power? Maybe it's because they don't want to be found.", Alina spoke exhausted. The girl grew more worried for her sister every time they stopped the journey.

"I'm going to ask you again. Were you tested as a child?"

Mal! Alina! Adeline!

"We hid. We were different enough already.Didn't want to be even more alone."

"You are Grisha. You are not alone", Kirigan replied with finality.

~~~~

Ada was harshly awoken by the jolt of a carriage. Her bleary eyes adjusted to the light and she lifted her hand to her head feeling fresh blood. Looking around the carriage she saw a familiar face in Fedyor but Alina was nowhere to be seen.

"Alina. Where is she?", she asked frantically.

"With the General"

"And she's safe?", Ada asked.

"Yes."

Ada breathed a sigh of relief and leant back on the wall of the carriage closing her eyes.

"Wait, why is she with General Kirigan?", realisation hitting her.

"He saved her life. Thought it was safer if they rode together", Fedyor answered smiling at the girl.

"Oh". Once again Ada was merely Alina's shadow, the girl who a General wouldn't ever choose to save too. A girl who was almost left in the dirt, bleeding from her scalp until someone saw her lying there just as they were about to leave. Ada was easy to forget, she knew that but it hurt even more knowing her sister had agreed to leaving her.