Free The Hunt by Megan Shepherd Page A

example, a human is placed in a room with a caged lion that is dying of starvation. The human is told to save its life, but the only way to do that is to free it so it can eat you . The perceptive puzzles are even worse because they force the brain to work in unnatural ways. Pushing a weak mind to perform telekinesis can rupture the tissue.”
    â€œAnd this is what you plan on doing?” Lucky asked.
    â€œI’ll be better prepared than the people who have run it before,” Cora said, trying to sound confident. “That’s why I’ll train with Cassian, so I don’t lose my mind.” She took a deep breath. “He said it’s the only way we’ll ever be free. Maybe he’s right.”
    â€œWell, I know this isn’t right,” Lucky said. “This place. The things they do to these animals is sick. And there’s something wrong with these kids too. Everyone’s half starved and bruised. Who knows how many kids have vanished before Chicago. Or how soon the rest of us will.” His face turned very serious.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” Cora asked.
    He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Remember what Dane said about turning nineteen?”
    Cora nodded slowly.
    â€œMy nineteenth birthday is October twenty-first. We were abducted from Earth on July twenty-ninth. I don’t know how much time has passed exactly, but it’s got to be close. And if what happened to Chicago is true . . .”
    The significance of his words wove their way into Cora’s head. Nineteen. The age the Kindred determined that a human went from child to adult. Her eyes went to the supply room with the drecktube.
    â€œShit,” she whispered.
    â€œI’ll turn nineteen any day now and be taken away, and then Mali will, and then you.” He jerked a hand back toward the cell block. “And everyone else.”
    â€œSo the Gauntlet’s our only option.” Cora shifted, anxious. It wasn’t just the idea of working with Cassian that bothered her, or that ache in her head when she tried too hard to use her abilities. It was the weight of what it meant. Humanity’s freedom resting on her shoulders alone. What if she failed?
    And then again, what if she succeeded ?
    â€œThere could be a third option,” Mali said quietly, still hanging upside down.
    Cora’s head jerked up. “What do you mean?”
    â€œThe Gauntlet tests competitors in twelve puzzles. If the competitor successfully passes all of them, each tester, known as a Chief Assessor, inputs his approval into the algorithm at the end of the examination. It is a simple process: they approve you or they do not. The exact mechanism is similar to turning a key. Technically, one does not beat the Gauntlet by beating the puzzles. One’s success is registered when all four keys are turned.”
    Cora still looked at her blankly.
    â€œI am saying that you do not have to run the Gauntlet,” Mali explained. “You do not have to complete a single puzzle. You must only make the testers turn their keys. It is a . . .” She seemed to search for the word, her arms gesturing upside down. “Loophole.”
    â€œHow’s she supposed to do that?” Lucky whispered. “These aren’t exactly creatures you can pull a gun on and make demands.”
    Mali smiled thinly. “You take control of their minds.”
    For a second, Lucky and Cora just stared at her. Cora started to laugh a little deliriously, wonder if she’d heard wrong. “Not even the Kindred can control other people’s minds.”
    â€œAnya can,” Mali said, and then corrected herself, “Anya could . I see— saw —her do it. If we free Anya, she can teach you. It is not a complex skill to learn, if one has already achieved mind-reading ability. It is merely a modification—a trick. She can teach it to you in a matter of days.”
    â€œCheating is too risky,” Lucky said.