Winter's Edge

Chapter 6 - Winter's Edge

Ian

I couldn't help but see the screaming tears Abby quietly fought to hold back. She'd blame herself if I left. And she'd probably never forgive herself for it either...

...because she knew I'd die.

I wasn't ready to die.

"Okay." I nodded. "I'll stay."

A sad smile crossed her face as she nodded back to me. She turned and disappeared down the hall as if she didn't want me to see her this way, or she was ashamed of what she'd done.

I'd always been able to read people well, a skill I acquired early on to keep my secret safe, but I hadn't seen through Abby's ruse before. I wasn't upset that she and the others had suckered me. I was upset that I hadn't seen it coming, and that scared me. Either she was an exceptionally-skilled liar, or she was an amazing actor. Acting I could live with. Lying I couldn't. Which was ironic since I'd lived most of my life lying to protect my secret.

Asa came from the training room with a raised eyebrow. "So are you staying, or going to get yourself killed?"

"Staying," I said, reluctantly.

"Well, you do have some sense about you." She gave an approving nod. "Finally living up to our increased intelligence."

Increased intelligence?

"Gee, are there any more powers we have that I don't know about?"

Her lower lip rose in consideration. "No, I believe that's it. I didn't mention the increased intelligence earlier because we're not certain it's entirely accurate."

Everyone here being overly intelligent made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I might not see it coming if Braden decided to get revenge...or something worse.

A pink-haired girl with eyebrow and nose piercings, probably in her mid-twenties, came from behind me and slapped my butt. "So the new guy's finally lucid."

I jumped a little, not expecting such a...warm welcome.

She spun around to face me and stuck a hand out. "Kathrina Meltzer. But my friends call me Kat." She had a faint German accent that said she'd been in America for quite a while or she picked up languages quickly.

"Ian Sharp." I shook her hand with some hesitation. "Good to meet you, Kat."

"I said my friends call me Kat." Her voice had a hard edge. "It's Katharina to you."

"Sorry, I—" My words caught in my throat for a second. "I didn't—"

Kat burst into laughter. "Did you see the look on his face? I crack myself up sometimes."

Asa let out a sigh. "You must excuse Kat's crude sense of humor. She's a bit rough around the edges, but what she lacks in manners, she all but makes up for in helpfulness." Her backhanded compliment came out dry.

"Sure, that's the only reason they keep me around. I'm 'helpful.'" Kat made quotation marks in the air with her fingers. "It's 'cause I feed their fat faces."

My eyes went fuzzy as my legs gave way.

Kat caught me and Asa stepped forward to grab my arm.

"It appears the testing has taken it out of you." Asa hoisted me back to my full height. She was solid as a rock. "We should've gotten more food in you. IVs aren't terribly good at that." She turned to Kat. "Take Mr. Sharp for some lunch. He'll need to replace some nutrients before training."