Free Revelations (The Elysium Chronicles) by J. A. Souders

moonlight. Remembering back to the gardens Evie had in Elysium, I don’t think she’s ever seen one like this.
    I glance behind me, but she’s not paying attention to me. She’s watching the ground with a nervous expression. I’m sure she’s hoping to avoid whatever slithered across her foot earlier. Probably just a snake looking for his burrow. But her distraction is enough, and I pluck the flower from the ground and carefully keep it from her sight.
    It doesn’t take long before the sounds of a crackling fire and Asher’s grumbling find us and I push through into the little clearing with our tents.
    Asher jumps up quickly, panic on his face. When he sees it’s just us, the panic turns to relief, then anger. “Where the hell have you been? I was worried you got eaten by a bear or something.”
    I wave him away. “Bears haven’t been seen here in years.”
    While Asher glowers at me, Evie slips past and weaves her way sleepily toward her tent. I stop her by placing my hand on my shoulder. “Wait. Evie. I found this for you.”
    She turns back around, confusion written on her face. I shove my hand forward, opening it, and show her the flower sitting in the palm of my hand.
    She smiles and reaches out to take it, but I ignore her hand, pushing her hair aside, then sliding the flower in behind her ear to hold her hair back. She touches the flower and beams up at me, and for a second I see the girl I met in Elysium instead of the shadow of her she’s become. Then the smile slides off her face and it’s almost like a veil lowers over her eyes. They go from sparkling with joy to dull and lifeless.
    She tilts her head, still looking at the flower, then plucks it from behind her ear. She pegs me with her eyes and I fight a shudder. “My flowers are not to be removed without my permission. Mother will be informed of this.”
    She skirts around me while all the hair on my body stands on end.
    Not again.
    She walks straight toward the woods, and I have to force my shaky legs to move forward. Just hearing her say “Mother” with that expression has made my muscles weak. But I have to stop her from wandering into the woods. Bears may not be an actual problem, but coyotes are. Along with snakes, bobcats, and panthers.
    As if to prove my point, the telltale scream of the panther punctuates the air. It sets my teeth on edge how eerily it sounds like a woman.
    “Uh … Evie?” Asher says, following me, following her.
    To my—albeit short-lived— relief, she drops to her knees just on this side of the woods. She’s muttering to herself, but it’s so quiet, I can’t make out more than a few words.
    “… Unbelievable … poor thing … never have I…”
    The entire time she’s mumbling, her hands are moving—she’s clenching one of her hands. Her other hand travels from in front of her, to beside her.
    “Sara,” she says without looking up. “These need to go to the Science Sector. Macie is expecting them.”
    Macie? My stomach sinks when she turns to look at us. What makes my chest even heavier is that I know when she looks at me, she isn’t seeing me. Her eyes are still dead and dull.
    She tilts her head to the side, looking around. “Where’s that foolish girl now?” she mutters. She focuses on me and for a second I think she actually sees me, but she only says, “Locate Sara Penderson. Tell her she is to report to me right away. These herbs need immediate transportation.” Then she turns back to the ground.
    It hits me then, what she’s doing, and it breaks my heart because I’m powerless to help her understand it’s not real.
    Asher meets my eyes over her head. “What is she doing?”
    “She’s tending her garden,” I say, my voice cracking.

 
    C HAPTER S IX

    Of all the creatures found in the Outlands, the vulture-hawks are the most dangerous. Created by scientists during the War to help clean up the massive quantities of carcasses left behind by war and natural disaster, their hawk-like