The Scorned (The Permutation Archives Book 3) Read online

  The Permutation Archives Book 3

  The Scorned

  By

  Kindra Sowder

  Published by

  Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly, LLC.

  Novi, Michigan 48374

  This Book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  The Scorned

  Copyright © 2017 by Kindra Sowder

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Artist and Formatting: Aurelia Fray

  Pretty AF Designs

  Edited by: Elizabeth A. Lance

  EAL Editing Services

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.

  “Excelled her power; the gates wide open.”

  Paradise Lost - John Milton

  Chapter

  ONE

  The two massive shining doors opened before us. My breath caught in my throat not only in anticipation, but fear. Fear of the unknown just like when dealing with every event before that brought me to that point. King’s mandatory testing, Cato’s forced death at my hands, and our journey from the compound to the Fallen Paradigm’s headquarters on Kiawah Island. All were to blame for the terror I felt in my gut. It didn’t matter that my mother was the mastermind behind my escape and that she was there with me because, in my mind, the horror of it all stuck out.

  My mother walked in with everyone else following close behind, but Julius and I remained just outside of the large structure, not sure if we should take the final step. Cross that final line that put us in the middle of a rebellion instead of remaining outsiders. All I saw was glaring white before I turned to look at my friend. The one that stood by me even after his brother Nero left us in favor of King because of what I had done. I knew Julius was still mourning the loss of his brother’s loyalty, but he still remained by my side. I had said prior that I was more than ready, but my body remained frozen, feet fused to the ground.

  “Mila,” Julius said as I stared at him blankly, “we’ll do this together.”

  He reached out to me and held his hand out to take mine. I felt eyes on us. I sensed the sorrow and the questions floating off of my companions as I wondered what would happen next. What would happen once I made the conscious decision to act against King’s plan? I glanced at all of them. Ryder and Gaia watched me carefully as if I would snap at any moment and break right there at the entrance. I trusted them. I trusted all of them, but my body betrayed me, refusing to follow them even though my mind knew it was the right action to take. My face lifted to Julius’, his steel gray eyes penetrating mine with understanding and determination. He understood my pain and my hesitation better than anyone.

  I nodded and placed my hand in his, gripping it so hard I was scared I’d break the bones within. Julius returned a reassuring squeeze.

  “Together,” I said, willing my feet to move and walk inside of the Paradigm. The only remaining place where we could find our solitude and companionship in a world that warred against us.

  Energy hummed through my body, moving just under the surface. My anxiety caused the reaction as well as the anticipation of what was to come and when I watched my foot cross the threshold, it zapped through me with a slight jolt in my belly. It wasn’t painful. It was energizing, like my own body had been waiting for me to enter this place. It was as if it knew. As if the power knew what this place meant. I looked up at everyone. My mother’s stare caught mine and held it as her blue eyes beamed with pride. Her smile was infectious, spreading through the entirety of the group, including me.

  She swept her arm out toward the large entrance of the Paradigm, the foyer more like a large and empty room. All except for a glassed-in woman to the right sitting at a desk with a computer and one lonely white padded bench to the left.

  “Welcome to the Fallen Paradigm, you guys. You’ll fit right in,” my mother stated as the rest of us that hadn’t been there before looked around the room.

  I looked up at the high ceiling, lights hanging down to stop twenty feet above our heads and swinging in the slight air coming from the air conditioning. Silence greeted us. Julius dropped my hand as the doors came to a close behind us, turning to see everything there was to see which, I had to admit, wasn’t anything of note. The air inside was crisp, cool, and clean. The white walls that surrounded us held no embellishments. There was nothing to identify it as unique to the Fallen Paradigm at all. If anything, we were a stain on its perfection and simplicity.

  “Ummm, Horatia, not to bring everyone down but,” Julius stopped turning to look at my mother, “this isn’t anything I expected.”

  I raised my hand. “I second that. Is this a joke?”

  I didn’t want to be a cynic, but this was nothing like they had led us to believe and I was beginning to get irritated. Especially since my sister and friend had been there the entire time with nothing to show for their efforts. Well, as far as I could see.

  “Oh, this is nothing.”

  She moved away from us and closer to the far wall in front of us. The woman in the glass box to our right never once looked up from her work as she jabbed the clear glass screen with her fingertips. Her brown eyes were focused. Her smooth jawline was clenched.

  Once my mother’s feet crossed some sort of invisible line, an electric thrill rippled through the still air. A circle about the size of a softball opened up next to her. A white metallic cylinder with a plastic cover on the very top emerged from it, stopping once it was waist high. She looked back at us, only turning her head and torso, gaze focused on me.

  “Do you want to do the honors?” she asked.

  The rest of the group watched, Ryder seemingly apprehensive about how the stark white of the place was affecting me. I could see it in the brilliant green of his eyes.

  I’d had multiple issues with anything that reminded me of the compound, even if it were minuscule. This was in no way small. This was the largest reminder of that horrid place I had encountered since we left. Julius stood next to me, his arm brushing mine slightly as Jameson, Gaia, Cecilia, Ajax, and Caius watched me, waiting for me to walk toward my mother and toward what would very well be our ultimate freedom. The wall before her was seamless, perfect with no hint of any doors within it. Pressure weighed on my shoulders as I looked from one pair of eyes to another, shifting between each uncomfortably. They waited for what felt like an eternity before I worked up the courage to walk toward my mother’s back. She turned forward as I approached and reached out to open the plastic square on the top that, from my new vantage point, I saw covered a glowing red button.

  The red. It sparked an image in my mind that I attempted to shake away, but couldn’t. Crimson flowed outward on white from pale skin covered in a spider web of black and purple. A scream, Cato’s, pushed its way forward and my eyes stung with tears as I shook my head again. The image and the sound receded, but the effects of the vision of what I had done still lingered. My heart raced, and sweat ran d
own my back, soaking the shirt I wore and causing goosebumps to form over my flesh. I blew another breath out through pursed lips and came to stand on beside my mother on the other side of the cylinder. It was hot in the room. Too hot despite the goosebumps.

  I glanced back at everyone behind me, each head bobbing with a reassuring nod as both Gaia and Cecilia smiled weakly. I had been so ready for this while we were outside, but the reality of it hit me then, causing hesitation in a place where I never thought I’d feel this type of anxiety. My palms were clammy and slick. I wiped them on my filthy cargo pants and raised my hand to hover just over the red button.

  A whisper moved through my mind. It came from deep inside of me, and I recognized the voice instantly.

  This is your salvation, Cato whispered from the deep recesses of my mind, pushing me in the direction he knew I was destined to move in.

  “I’m scared,” I replied as the quiet stretched out for ages.

  I hadn’t even realized I said the words aloud until my mother’s hand landed softly on my shoulder, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the red button. It glared at me, peeking out from the sea of sterility around me.

  My mother’s warm touch gave me the nerve I needed to push the button, my palm meeting the cool plastic. My palm stung as something punctured it, a drop of blood sliding down the smooth surface between the plastic and my skin. I hissed and pulled my hand away, a small hole in my dirty skin as I stared at it. The bleeding stopped, leaving a small dot of blackness where skin should be. My mother raised her hand and showed the same spot in the very center of her palm, but it was filled with what I assumed was black ink. That was when I decided to examine my own hand later, but I needed an explanation.

  “What the…?” I began, but was interrupted by a noise that sounded like a metal ball rolling on a marble floor.

  I turned toward the sound. It came from the wall before us and, as I watched, a slit opened and continued to grow until the wall was no longer there. All there was, was a large doorway that had been so well hidden by the sheetrock, wood, and metal inside of it that no one would’ve guessed it was ever there. The door wasn’t the most shocking thing I saw.

  Beyond it was something so magnificent it took my breath away. My knees almost buckled because, while glorious, it reminded me so much of the compound that I almost cried out with residual fear. I held it in, swallowing it down so it would settle in my gut never to be heard. I pulled all of my inner strength together and watched as a mass of people in lab coats moved around what I could only describe as a sanctuary, moving to a job somewhere deeper within the massive structure.

  “Oh my God,” I heard from directly behind me.

  Julius had walked up to me, his chest nearly touching my back as it rose and fell.

  In the very center of the room was a large statue. Lady Justice stood there in brilliant and shining copper. I recognized her from lessons in school, but it wasn’t a symbol we used anymore. Until the Fallen Paradigm came into being, it seemed. She stood so tall she almost reached the ceiling, one hand holding the scales up and out, and a blindfold over her eyes and covering half of her face. And behind her on the farthest wall, the most stunning image of all. The same symbol I had seen at King’s Forge in the Fallen Paradigm’s underground labs and quarters. Grayed in angel wings with three interlocking triangles lined up in their center, painted in white. From where I stood, this made Lady Justice look like an angel. An angel that would save us all.

  Just before the opening, standing facing us with a long white lab coat and a clear glass clipboard in hand, was a woman. I recognized her instantly. Her red hair was pulled up into a very professional chignon instead of down like when I had first met her in the forest after our rescue. Her eyes were hidden behind the glare of sleek lab goggles that graced her face in an elegant curve over the bridge of her nose, sweeping in a straight line of protective glass.

  “Famke?” My voice was shrill with recognition.

  She walked toward us and stopped a few feet away, studying us with incredulous eyes.

  “Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not Famke. My name is Rayna, and I am her twin sister. Famke took the military route, while I chose the sciences.” She took another step toward me and put her hand out to me. “Welcome, Mila. We’ve been waiting for you.”

  The words sounded ominous and just as cliché as I expected them to. A line from every superhero movie made before I was even born. I nearly cringed, but I shrugged it off and watched Famke’s twin, identical in every single way except for their choice in dress. We stood there, staring at the gorgeous woman with hair the color of the blood that had so freely flowed from so many veins in the past weeks.

  “Now, if you all don’t mind, I will need you to follow me. All of you will need to be examined, your injuries treated, and entered into our system,” Rayna explained, waving at us to follow her and turning her back to head off toward a door that I hadn’t noticed was located behind the statue of Lady Justice.

  Julius walked in front of me. I moved quickly, not wanting to lose anyone in this massive place. My mind raced at the thought of yet another examination room, but it seemed to be a necessary evil regardless of how I felt about it.

  “Wait,” Julius said as he matched Rayna’s speed, “where’s Famke?”

  Rayna kept her eyes forward, her heeled boots clicking on the tiled floor. Click, click, click, was all I heard besides the words she spoke next. My heart rate picked up, and anxiety fluttered in my chest.

  “She’s here. She is training our new arrivals, but you’ll be able to see her tonight when everyone is called for dinner.”

  The door was in our sights as we all walked around the copper statue, Ryder now beside me. He took my hand in his and, when I turned to glance at him, his eyes were glistening with tears. I wasn’t sure why, but I would be asking him about the reaction later on.

  We approached the door, and the spike in nervousness caused my power to unfurl itself once again. I did my best to swallow it down, but the small bit of control I did have waned under the pressure and the terror at whatever I would experience next. I knew these weren’t King’s men. I knew I was safe here, but my mind refused to believe it and continued to revert back to the horrified woman in the compound. Every white coat we passed was yet another government doctor, and I couldn’t stop the route my thoughts were taking. My heart pounded behind my ribs so hard I was certain the bones would shatter.

  The floor shifted slightly under our feet, causing me to freeze in place as well as everyone else in the place. Whispers followed as everyone waited for it to happen again, signaling the arrival of someone unwelcome as far as they were concerned.

  Ryder looked to me and took my face in his hands as I squeezed my eyes shut against the glaring white of the large room we were in, the spotting of white coats, and the recognition my body felt whenever I opened my eyes. Headquarters didn’t feel the same, but it looked the same, and that was enough for my body to attempt to reject it. To destroy it. There was no danger there. None to speak of. None that I could actually sense or see, but it didn’t matter as long as it was a lingering reminder.

  “Hey,” Ryder whispered to me in an attempt to get me to open my eyes and look at him.

  I shook my head and took a deep breath. “I’m okay. Just give me a minute.”

  Another deep breath in. I held it there, waiting for my heart to slow to a regular, calm rhythm. One that wouldn’t threaten to tear the entire place down around us. I pushed it out between pursed lips slowly and forced my eyes to open. My eyes squinted against the bright walls behind Ryder’s gorgeous face, but I was calm. I felt the power slide back into the deep recesses of my body. Green eyes met mine, calming as I examined the small flecks of light green in them as well as a small scattering of dark blue, which I had never noticed before.

  “See, I’m fine,” I assured him.

&n
bsp; Black spots splashed across my vision. They moved out from the center to converge out toward the edges, breaking up the color of his eyes I tried to focus on. My mother appeared next to him and Rayna did so on his other side, concern shifting over all three faces as the others held back behind them and tried not to crowd me.

  “Ryder, Horatia, I’m going to need you both to take a step back,” Rayna ordered, but her voice was muffled.

  Dizziness overcame me, but I remained standing even though I stumbled a couple of steps toward her. Her red hair was just a mass before me, everything and everyone more of a shifting shadow around me than actual people.

  “What’s happening?” Caius asked as he moved toward me. Everyone come to circle me with concern despite Rayna’s warning.

  The black spots began to merge with red ones as sparkling lights moved into my field of vision. My body felt like a lead weight sinking to the bottom of a swimming pool, and my heart pounded again as sweat poured down my body. Everyone came into focus just long enough for me to see Rayna’s lips move, but barely any sound came out of them. My vision blurred again and was overcome swiftly by the dancing spots. The breaths came in short gasps as I attempted to keep calm, but failed. I was going to pass out, and Rayna had seen it as soon as the ground shook beneath our feet and Ryder tried to bring me back to center. But there was no reprieve from this. There was no sanctuary to hide in except the darkness that came when it finally came to claim me and pull me into its warm embrace.

  The crimson took over the black and spread from the center of my vision and outward. Then it claimed me to drag me into the deep depths of the blackness that threatened to overtake it all.