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Jacin's POV:

Death

I have no idea what to do. I'm not arrogant enough to deny that, as I slowly walk down the halls of the Royal Palace. My mind is completely and utterly blank.

I can't obey the queen's orders. If I do, Wolf and Cinder will both die. But then again, I can't not obey the queen's orders either, otherwise both me and Winter will have to suffer the harsh consequences. But the whole point of hiding Wolf was to protect him from execution!

I throw back my head and groan. Just once, can't my life be easy?

Well, I guess I can start by talking to Wolf and getting him all caught up with everything.

When I arrive in the menagerie, I expect it to be relatively empty aside from a couple of snotty nobles who will leave in a hurry after I glare at them for a few moments, muttering about the lack of respect among guards these days. That's what it always is. Why should today be any different?

I walk through the entrance gates, and… there's a big crowd of people huddled around Wolf's enclosure.

I huff. Great. Just great. Seriously, why can't I ever catch a break? Maybe I can scare these people off like I do with the nobles?

But as I make my way towards them, it becomes clear that these people aren't just simple visitors. First of all, Winter's with them, and she never hangs around this many people at once. Levana won't allow it. Not including Winter, there are two girls and two guys. The girls are dressed in typical servant garb, the younger male is wearing a guard-uniform, and the older man is dressed as a scientist. Only, these people can't be servants, a guard, and a scientist, because I know for a fact that they live on Earth.

There's that girl with the weirdly long hair who's always on her computer. Cress, I think her name is. And there's Iko, with her bright blue hair and weirdly bright yellow eyes. Thorne, wearing too much cologne (as usual). And the man posing as a scientist is none other than Dr Erland, the final member in Cinder's fledgling revolution.

What in the stars are they doing here, in Luna?

"Look, from what I can gather, you're a pretty big deal over here." Iko is saying, "You helping us out would be a huge help for our revolution! Don't you want to see Levana overthrown?"

"She wants to execute me, and maybe also my mother for being associated with me." Wolf's growling voice says from behind the bars of his enclosure, "Of course I want her gone, but the reasons I want her gone are also the reasons I can't do anything right now!"

Thorne shrugs, "Well, I hate to break it to you Wolfy-"

"Don't call me that."

"-but those reasons aren't going away anytime soon."

Wolf growls. "I know that, but whether either of us like it or not, my paws are tied. If I'm going to help you, I need to do it in a way that doesn't involve my family getting hurt."

"Too late."

Everyone turns to me at once, in either surprise (Thorne and Cress), annoyance (Iko, Wolf and Dr Erland), or cheer (Winter and… nope, just Winter).

"Jacin? What are you doing here?" Cress asks incredulously.

"I live here." I answer bluntly, "I'm Lunar."

"Who isn't at this point?" Thorne muttered.

I ignore him. "Your other friends all got captured, including the Alpha Female."

The effect is instantaneous. Every single one of them turn tense and panicked, like wild animals backed into a corner. Can't say I blame them. From what I can gather these people have been drawing strength from their solidarity. When one of them falls, the rest scramble to pick them up again, no matter the cost to their mission, or their own well-being. Now, they've just lost half of their group. Must be like having the rug pulled out from under them. And the rug is directly over a gaping hole in the floor. And at the bottom of the hole is just a big pile of rocks.

"But… how?" Iko finally splutters out, "They were being so careful!"

"Not careful enough." I say evenly, "Ran caught them, and handed them over to Levana like the desperate puppy he is."

Dr Erland groans and rubs his forehead. "This is bad."

"Uh, pretty sure that was obvious." Thorne says.

"I mean that Levana has Cinder. She has the head of our movement, and she knows it. And she also knows the best way to cripple our movement permanently, is by cutting off said head."

"I'm guessing you didn't come down here to warn everyone about that though." Wolf growls.

I sigh and shake my head. "You're right in that Levana has plans to execute Cinder, but she's decided that, as long as she's ordering people killed, she might as well get her other little problem out of the way."

"You've come to take me to be executed." It's not a question.

I glare at him. "I've come to see if you have any better ideas on how to get you out of it, because I'm running on empty over here."

"You can run." Winter suggests, "You are very fast, I saw you as you ran the first time. Run faster than the wind, than the blood as it chases you down the corridors, and you can escape."

"But for how long?" Wolf asks, "You heard what the doctor said: I'm dying."

Wait, what?

"All running's going to do is prolong the inevitable, and it's not going to help anyone in the long run." Wolf continues.

"You're kinda out of options here pal." Thorne reminds him.

"Hold up!" I yell, raising both hands for silence. "What was that about you dying?"
Dr Erland sighs, "Young Ze'ev here, I'm sorry to say, is displaying many of the symptoms of bioelectric sickness."

"In his home dimension?"
"I don't understand it myself, but it's unmistakable. Losing control of his shapeshifting and a newfound ease with selective shifts, not to mention great and constant physical pain? All the signs point to bioelectric sickness in its early stages. In about six months he'll be dead. The final two months he'll be practically catatonic with pain."

I just stare at him, the words refusing to join together in my mind. Wolf, Ze'ev Kesley, the Alpha Intended and one of the strongest wolves alive right now, was going to be dead in less than a year.

"Yeah, I know." Wolf said morosely, "Just think how it is for me, since I'm the one actually sick."

"Holy Stars Almighty," I say weakly, "I thought it was weird how you seemed totally fine in Earth despite living there for years but I just figured that you had some sort of protection."

Wolf shook his head. "Nope. I was sick then too. I was just better at managing it until recently."

"How are you not falling apart right now?" I ask, "Seriously, you just found out you're going to be dying in agony in less than a year, and yet you seem weirdly calm."

Wolf shrugged his great shoulders. "I guess it hasn't really sunk in yet. Plus, the threat of death has been hanging over my head since I got here. This isn't really that much of a change. If and when I make it out the other side of this, then I'll fall to pieces at the fact that I'm not going to live long enough to see my twenties."

"Speaking of the threat of death," Dr Erland says loudly, "Can we please get back to the matter at hand?"

I huff out a breath and run a hand through my hair. Right, right, Wolf and Cinder's execution. Focus on the immediate problem Clay.

"I'll just go with you." Wolf says simply.

I scowl at him. "I'm starting to think you want to be dead."
"Just hear me out, okay? Running isn't an option, we've already established that. But I've got a plan to get everyone out, so that everyone can live to fight another day and actually do something to end the Blackburn dictatorship. If you don't like it fine, we'll come up with something else. Just listen first."

A/N: Next chapter will be pretty action packed.

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