Free Hidden by Sophie Jordan

ripple through me as I face Will. Even distracted with this, I want to rail and weep and strike Will for what he did. Sentiments all unfair, I know, but I’m the one standing here feeling every bit of Cassian’s suffering. I’m living it alongside of him.
    “Get in,” he says, reminding me that whatever I have to say, now isn’t the time. We’re standing barely outside the enkros stronghold with the enkros running loose. We’re not safe yet.
    I move toward the back of the van just as a helicopter rips through the air above us, flying so low it creates a strong wind. Then two more roar past. Reinforcements .
    I stare up at the sky and then look away, glance down the hillside, spotting several vehicles driving at high speed along the main road leading up to the stronghold’s gates. In the fading light, I can see the flurry of activity in its parking lot.
    “Now! Let’s go,” Will shouts.
    I dive into the back of the van.
    In seconds, I hear the driver’s door slam shut and we’re moving, engine revving. The van turns sharply, tossing us around in the back. Lia slides into me. I wrap an arm around the girl and steady her as the van rumbles all around us like a purring beast.
    Tamra holds Miram, whose gaze drills into me. “What about my brother?” For her, he’s not lost. Tamra attempts to shush her, but Miram will have none of it. “Jacinda?” she demands.
    I shake my head, unable to say anything.
    “Are we just leaving him?” she presses. “Forgetting about him?”
    “He’s gone,” Lia whispers.
    Miram’s attention swerves to the girl. “ You! Shut up! You made us set that monster loose. This is your fault.”
    Lia shudders in my arms and turns her face away, staring stoically at the doors.
    “Jacinda?” Tamra slides down beside me and lightly touches my shoulder. Even though it’s Tamra, I jerk from the contact.
    Cassian’s terror is all around me now, cloying and deep; it sinks into my pores and roots in my bones. It’s all I can feel, all I am—a creature that lives and breathes fear.
    I press close to the cold metal of the van wall. Still hugging myself, I shake, fight the onslaught of Cassian’s emotions.
    The most basic part of me longs to break free, but the rest of me clings to Cassian, struggling to keep our connection as the distance between us grows. He’s not lost as long as I feel him.
    “Jacinda?” Tamra repeats my name again, insistent for some kind of acknowledgment.
    “I’m fine. Just don’t … touch me,” I say through gritted teeth as the sound of another helicopter roars nearby.
    Locked in the shadows of the van, all our gazes swing upward, worried the helicopter will spot us. We release a collective breath as the sound of whirring blades recedes.
    Cassian’s agony intensifies then, the fear so bitter it floods my mouth and drops me to my side. I can’t care or think about anything else but this. An icy burn penetrates my body. I hiss. Arch my spine. Releasing Lia, I thrust my fists down hard, grinding my knuckles into the unforgiving floor, as if that pressure could offer me some relief.
    “Jacinda? What’s wrong?” Tamra cries, her voice a distant echo in my ears.
    Another chopper flies overhead, deafeningly loud and then gone, a faint drone as it fades away.
    “Cassian,” I get out from between clenched teeth.
    It’s not the gray draki doing this to him. I know this with a deep vibration in my bones.
    Something else has him … is with him. His fear tastes different … more acrid.
    I close my eyes as my agony—his agony—swings into something else.
    Dread sweeps over me. I curl into a small, self-contained ball, holding myself tightly.
    And suddenly I’m fine. I’m fine. But he isn’t. Cassian isn’t fine. He isn’t anything. He’s gone. Just like that.
    Like a string snapped. There’s nothing there anymore. No connection. No bond. No Cassian . It’s too soon for distance to have severed us. The sound of my racing heart fills my ears. I poke