Chapter 1

Ivy's POV

"Where'd you find this one, boss? I wouldn't mind a little time alone with her after you."

"That's what I like about you guys. Always thinking ahead." The man laughed. "Relax. You boys know I take care of my own. You'll all get your chance soon as I'm finished."

His voice dropped as he bent over me. "Eyes up. Let's see that face."

A fist closed in my hair and yanked my head back so hard my scalp burned. A second ago, I'd been scared out of my mind. Now I couldn't even make sense of the face inches from mine.

"Little darker than I usually go for," he said. "Still pretty, though."

Rubio ran his tongue over his lips. His breath hit my cheek, hot and sour. Behind him stood the same three men who'd helped drag me in here. I knew every face. I'd spent years wishing I could forget them.

My hip was pressed to the concrete. A boot print marked the front of my shirt, and every time I drew a breath, another cut seemed to pull open. I knew this floor, too. I knew the rusted equipment and the red dirt that had worked its way inside the abandoned chemical plant.

How could I be here? I'd died.

The last thing I remembered was the offshore lab coming apart. The other test subjects and I had turned on the people who'd kept us there. By the end there was blood all over the base, and I'd pushed my wind power until the force of it tore me apart.

Rubio gave my hair another tug. I could feel each strand pulling at the root. If I'd dreamed him up, I'd dreamed up the ache in my ribs and the grit sticking to the palm I'd braced against the floor.

Then I remembered when he'd brought me here. The hurricane had made landfall two weeks later.

I'd come back. I had two weeks before the storm, and there was still time to change what came after. For one breath I forgot whose hand was in my hair. I was alive, and I couldn't keep the smile off my face.

Rubio's brow furrowed. Maybe he thought I'd started to enjoy myself. He gave my cheek a couple of pats and bent toward me while his friends whooped and clapped behind him. The closer his mouth got, the harder I had to swallow.

After the world went to hell, I'd have been able to put three men his size on the ground by myself. Right now I could feel my arm shaking just from holding myself up. I'd brought back everything I'd learned, but I was doing it in the same body I'd had when Rubio dragged me in here, all sharp elbows and years of skipped meals.

I let my fingers curl into the dirt. When I smiled up at him again, he hesitated just long enough for me to throw the handful into his eyes.

"Shit! My eyes!"

His fingers opened. He was already leaning over me, so I drove my shoulder into him and used the weight he'd put forward to tip him onto his back. For half a second I was on top. Then he caught me by the throat with both hands, and I heard his friends coming up behind me.

"You little bitch." He kept one hand locked around my throat and drew the other back to hit me.

I'd noticed the nail clippers on his belt as soon as I recognized him. Now the key ring they hung from was right beside my knee. I tore it free and swung the little metal file out from under the lever. His chin was up. I drove the file into the side of his neck.

"Don't you fucking—"

There was a small, wet sound. The file was dull enough that I had to lean my weight into it to get it in. I held on and pulled it sideways. Rubio let go of me and slapped his palm to his throat. He looked straight at me, bewildered, even as blood ran between his fingers. I scrambled clear as he sagged back against the concrete and began to twitch.

A hot spray had caught me across the face. I blinked hard and the room came back in patches, red at the edges. Spend enough time around people trying to kill you and you start sizing up whatever's close enough to grab. Before Rubio had even let go of my hair, I'd been thinking about what I could do with that file.

All three men were staring down at him.

"Jesus Christ. Did you see what she just did?"

"Call nine-one-one. He's dying."

"And tell the cops what? You want us all to go to prison?"

"Get her! Kill her for Rubio!"

They moved at the same time. The closest one was already within a couple of strides. I could hurt a man who leaned close enough to give me an opening. If all three reached me together, they'd have me down before I could use the file again. I'd killed before. I could do it again if I had to. First I needed room.

I turned and ran.

"Go! Don't let her get away!"

I ducked into a storage room. Light from the doorway reached just far enough to pick out the tops of the first few drums. I ran past them until my hand hit the back wall. There was nowhere to go from there, so I followed the wall to one side and crouched behind a cluster of drums.

"Nowhere to go, is there?" one of them called. "That's a dead end, bitch."

Their footsteps slowed. From where I crouched, I could see their shoulders outlined against the doorway as they came in. The drums between us were all different heights. I kept my head below the rims as I worked my way along the wall, back toward the light.

"Spread out. She's in here somewhere."

"When I find her, I'm gonna teach that little bitch some manners."

Before any of them broke away from the others, I slipped behind them and reached the open door. I grabbed the edge and pulled it shut. The strip of light narrowed to a sliver, then disappeared.