Grace

School the next week was unbearable. Every time I thought I'd finally got the hang of avoiding a severely persistent Zed, I'd turn around and he'd be there. It didn't help that Yves had taken his side in the latest dispute and informed me that if Victor and the Redfields said we were safe, there was no reason to second guess them. Apparently, he'd never been at the mercy of a complete psychopath before.

But when I couldn't even see my friends at lunch or after school anymore, things were getting bad. Really bad. I might have never been one for having a social life, but now I had one, who was Zed to take it away again? On many occasions, I'd had sorely tempted to argue it out with him, but that meant I'd have to talk to him, and he'd only think he'd won if I did that.

So instead, I took refuge at the stables, helping a very reluctant Cassandra out during my free time. When I finally did get home, I'd warned Alex that I'd quite happily kill him if he ever let Zed or his family anywhere near the house again.

"Everything okay Grace?" Denise asked as she slipped into the small white-washed bungalow we used as a staffroom that sat just outside the stable yard. She was in her late twenties, possibly early thirties, with flaming red hair chopped into a pixie cut and a slim, elegant face. Like most of the other stable hands here, she was dressed in tatty jeans, thick work boots and several jackets in a vain attempt to stay warm.

I nodded at her distantly, flicking through my Spanish textbook with only a vague interest. Most of the time, I didn't mind Denise interrupting my homework to ask for my help out on the yard, but today, I'd rather she just left me alone. She was one of those people that felt if there was a problem, even if it was nothing to do with her, talking it out was always the answer.

"You seem really quiet today," she told me with a small, concerned frown. I didn't answer. "In fact, you've been quiet all week. Is there something bothering you?"

Someone, I thought dryly, shaking my head at her. And at the moment, it's you.

"Come to think of it, I've never seen you here so much," Denise continued, shrugging off one of her many jackets. "Not that I mind, of course, but . . . you're not in any trouble, are you? Avoiding someone?"

I lifted my gaze to her for a second. "Zed Benedict," I admitted, purely in the interest of getting her off my case as quickly as possible.

She blinked at me in surprise, obviously unsure why I had anything to do with Zed in the first place. "Oh," she finally managed. "I didn't realise you knew him."

Squirming on the spot, I drummed my fingers on top of the textbook anxiously. "He's Alex's friend," I explained with a shrug.

"So why are you avoiding him?" she asked with a grimace.

"Why do you think?"

Her lips pursed. "Ah. Well, if it makes you feel better, I think you're right to stay away from that boy," she told me, turning away to make herself a cup of coffee. My jaw tightened, but I managed to drop my gaze back to my book without a comment. "I don't know what it is about him. His brothers were never that bad. But Zed Benedict is trouble. Certainly not the kind of boy you need to be getting involved with."

"And I suppose you'd know all about the Benedicts," I found myself snapping irritably, my fists clenching.

Denise blinked, glancing at me in surprise. "I, erm, I didn't mean to offend anyone, I've just heard rumours-"

"Which obviously means it's all true and they're horrible people," I interrupted coldly. Ignoring the astonished look on her face, I slammed my textbook shut and pushed myself to my feet with a glower. "I don't need your opinions on my decisions, Denise, especially when you obviously possess little to no character judgement."

"Now wait a minute," she started with a small frown, finally annoyed at being spoken down to by a teenager. But before she could get far, someone interrupted her.

"Something wrong?"

I went rigid on the spot as Zed pushed the door open, scowling between me and Denise. Like always, he was dressed in dark jeans and his biker jacket, his dark hair messy and tatty. The moment I met his gaze, my mouth went a little drier and my fingers twitched.

"What are you doing here?" I managed after a seconds hesitation.

He glared at me, pushing the door shut behind him. "Looking for you. Cassandra told me you were in here."

"Traitor," I grumbled to myself. "Well you can leave. I'm busy."

"Arguing with the staff?" he guessed, shooting a cool look in Denise's direction. She straightened indignantly, taking a breath to complain.

"Don't you have work to get to?" I asked her insistently. Zed frowned, stepping back and opening the door a fraction to let Denise out. She pursed her lips tightly, obviously annoyed, but she sniffed loudly and let herself out of the staff room, shooting me a pointed look.

"You really are a people person, aren't you?" Zed commented, pushing the door closed again and turning to face me properly. "Here was me thinking I was special."

"Well, I can always be especially rude to you if you prefer," I scowled, stuffing my books back into my bag. He snorted in amusement, his eyes shining as he took a few steps forward. Flinching, I moved back with a glare. "Stop, Zed."

He held his hands out in surrender, but his eyebrows tightened again. "How many times do we have to tell you that you're safe?" he as good as growled. "What more do you want? The man's head on a plate in front of you?"

I shuddered violently, my throat closing up in horror. For a second, my eyes dropped to the ground in my discomfort, and that was all it took for Zed to completely ignore my warning and shift around the table toward me.

"I'm sorry, Grace, I shouldn't have said that," he muttered quietly, reaching out and placing a hand on my arm. I tried to force myself to move away again, but I couldn't. My heart rushed as Zed took a last step toward me, slipping a hand around the far side of my waist and pulling me gently toward him.

I gulped hard, shivering nervously and lifting my hands to push at his shoulders. "Zed . . ."

He didn't let go. Instead, he took my chin in one of his hands and angled my face toward him. "Look at me Grace," he instructed, his voice stern yet quiet. I pursed my lips tightly, telling myself over and over again that I couldn't give in. But I only managed to hold out a few seconds, my skin burning under his touch. My eyes flicked up to meet his and were immediately caught in his intense gaze. "Tell me you want me to leave – you really want me to leave and you're not just being paranoid – and I'll stay away."

Taking a shaky breath, I opened my mouth to tell him exactly that, but the words caught in the back of my throat. His eyebrows relaxed in surprise, like he was expecting me to tell him to get lost, and it took a moment or two for him to snap out of the trance he was in. Lips twitching into a hesitant smile, he moved closer, wrapping both of his arms around my waist and pressing me against his chest.

I gasped quietly, my heart pounding and my breath speeding. Only a minute ago I was swearing to myself that I wasn't going to get caught up in all of this again, and now here I was, stood so close to him that I could feel his breath trailing down the side of my throat. Without thinking, I felt one of my hands, still resting on his shoulders, slid down over his heart, relishing the way it suddenly raced under my touch. Scoffing slightly, he leant closer, lowering his lips to my neck softly.

"God you drive me crazy," he muttered against my skin, and I shuddered helplessly into him.

"You've mentioned," I managed to reply weakly, unaware that my hands were beginning to clutch at his shirt tightly. I felt him smile into my throat, his lips trailing across my jawline. Hesitating for a fraction of a second, his smile widened when he realised I still wasn't pushing him away and he continued to move up to my lips.

His lips had barely even begun to graze mine when a shrill scream cut through the air. Immediately, Zed and I went rigid in each other's arms, and his hold on me tightened protectively. But, when another far too familiar scream rattled through the air, my blood ran cold in fear and I broke out of his hold, darting around him and bolting out of the staff room.

"Grace!" he hissed, scrambling to follow me out onto the stable yard. I barely heard, my eyes quickly finding the source of the panic. Cassandra was stood by the hay bales, her face white and her eyes wide. She had thrown one of her arms out, pushing a terrified Denise back away from the bales silently. Without thinking, I vaulted over the gate and raced toward them.

"Cassandra!" I called sharply. She turned to me, stunned. "What's going on?"

She lifted a shaky finger to point ahead of her as I skidded to a halt right next to her. In the space of a single second, Zed was right beside me, his eyes narrowed as he followed my gaze. A curse slipped his lips the moment we caught sight of it.

Directly opposite us, a girl roughly our age was slumped against the bales of hay, cold and unconscious. Her ragged black hair was only partially braided away from her delicate face, revealing horrible cuts and a nasty bruise over one of her eyes. Her hands looked like they'd been badly burned, and from the marks around her wrists, she'd obviously been restrained at some point. Her clothes – a pair of baggy jeans, a pink hoody and a denim jacket – were in just as bad a state as she was, torn and dirty.

Worst of all, it took me all of three seconds to realise that she was a Savant, and if she was here, at our stables, she was probably here for us.

"Dear God," I breathed, taking a few steps forward.

"Grace," Zed warned, looping a hand around my wrist gently.

I shot him an irritable look, pulling my hand back. "We can't leave her like that, Zed," I scowled at him. "Look at her! She needs a hospital!"

He frowned back, moving forward and lowering his voice so that Cassandra and Denise couldn't hear us. "We have no idea who she is, or why she's here," he pointed out carefully. "I'm not saying we should leave her, but if we take her to the hospital like this, people are going to start asking questions."

"You've got be kidding me," I breathed, snorting in surprise. "What else can we do? She could be dying Zed!"

"And if she's in any danger of that, we'll take her," he promised me. "Right now, we need to get her inside and try and warm her up." I hesitated, scanning his expression cautiously. Sighing, he took out a phone from his pocket and waved it at Cassandra. "Call my brother, Victor, and tell him what's happened," he instructed her. "Tell him to bring Xavier with him."

Cassandra stared, still too shocked to say much. "Cassandra, please," I frowned at her. "She needs help." Slowly, the woman nodded and reached forward to take the phone.

Zed straightened out and moved back toward me, taking my arm gently again as we started toward the girl. My eyes fell on the girl again, troubled. If she was here for us . . . did that mean Matthews had found us? Could it be possible that he was already on his way? Victor had told us we were safe, surely it couldn't have gone so wrong so quickly?

"Hey, we'll be okay," Zed said reassuringly. "Whatever this means, we'll handle it."

I tried not to glower at him for that, but it was difficult to keep my expression straight. He had no idea what he was talking about. He hadn't seen what Matthews was capable of, and yet he and his family thought they could just wish everything away. The world didn't work like that. Man like Matthews ruled because they had no morals, no emotions, no empathy for their victims. Then, people like Victor Benedict thought they could use the law to bring him down. The only problem was, so long as Jacob Matthews was still breathing, while the law might knock him down, nothing was ever going to keep him down.

Zed had bent down to slip his arms beneath the girl's shoulders carefully, and I had forced myself to take her ankles as gently as I could. Cassandra was rushing ahead of us, holding the stable gate open as she spoke rather hurriedly to Victor on the phone. "I don't know why she's here!" she was as good as shrieking. "I just moved a pile of hay and there she was, all bloodied and bruised! . . . Well of course he's here! Who do you think gave me his phone?"

Zed snorted at me under his breath with a roll of his eyes. "She's a delicate soul, that one."

I lifted an eyebrow. "You should see her when there's a sale on in her favourite shoe store."

"Calm down?" Cassandra was saying hysterically down the phone. "How can I calm down when I have a poor, freezing teenage girl dying at my stables?"

I flinched at the word dying, receiving a pitiful look from Zed in reply. Ignoring him, I helped him carry her through the door Cassandra had propped open and settle her on the sofa stood to the left hand side. "Your brothers are on their way," she told Zed in a stiff voice, handing him back her phone. "I don't know what the two of you are playing at, and quite frankly, I don't want to. But I am calling an ambulance for that girl in half an hour, do you understand? The poor thing . . ." She grumbled to herself as she turned back to the door, shivering in discomfort. "And warm the poor girl up!" The door slammed shut behind her, leaving Zed and me to stare at each other awkwardly.

Pursing my lips, I turned toward the kitchen area and began rummaging through the cupboards for as many blankets and towels as I could find. "Could you turn that heater on by the sofa?" I risked a glance back to make sure he knew what I meant, watching as he fiddled with the buttons on the heater until it sprang to life. "I hope you have some sort of plan," I frowned, pushing myself back to my feet and draping the blankets over the girl's body.

Zed stood back, leaning against the wall as his eyes followed my actions carefully. "My brother, Xavier, is a healer. Hopefully he'll be able to fix this, or at least tell us how bad the damage is."

I hesitated, scanning the girl's face slowly. "It looks like she's been out there a long time. Zed, I really think she needs a hospital. Now."

"And what do we say when we get there?" he frowned. "Whoever did this to her is going to be looking for her, presuming she escaped and she wasn't sent here to lure us out into the open. Until we know more-"

"If we don't do something quickly, she'll die," I scowled at him. "We can't just leave her like this!"

"Grace, please," he sighed, leaning forward. "Xav will be here soon. If he can't fix it, we'll take her. But promise me you won't do anything rash."

"Rash?" I snorted at him. "I haven't done anything rash since I was six years old. I know how this could go, Zed. A lot better than you do." He didn't say anything, straightening his expression seriously.

By the time Zed's brothers showed up, we'd managed to heat the room up as much as possible and wrapped the girl in several layers of towels and blankets, heating her face with a cloth soaked in warm water. But in the end, there was nothing much we could do for her, and we'd ended up sat on opposite sides of the table in complete silence, waiting impatiently and dreading what was coming next. I didn't want to admit out loud that, despite the circumstances, I was thoroughly relieved Zed was here, for once being able to take comfort in the fact that he was right beside me. Not that I'd ever tell him that. It was hard enough keeping him away.

"So this must be Grace!" Zed's brother beamed inappropriately the moment he stepped through the door. He was almost as tall as Victor already, who had stepped into the room behind him and closed the door quickly. He had a sort of surfer look about him, yet he wasn't as strong as his other brothers, and had much longer legs. And still, after meeting him, Yves, Trace, Victor and Zed, I was certain in my theory that all the Benedicts were heart-breakingly good looking, the sort of guys you'd expect to see with supermodels or blonde actresses.

Zed shuffled with a frown. "Focus, Xav," he grumbled.

His brother held his hands out in surrender. "I'm only being nice! Besides, she looks like she can take care of herself." He winked at me with a small smirk. "Trust you to be matched with a girl that looks like she can scare the Boogey Monster without so much as blinking." I stared in surprise, drumming my fingertips on the table irritably. Xavier just laughed. "See?"

"Are you sure he's qualified for this?" I questioned Victor, ignoring the smirks on the other brothers' faces.

Unlike the other two, Victor was perfectly serious. "I wouldn't have brought him with me otherwise," he promised. "Xavier doesn't have much of a bedside manner, but he's the best healer I know."

Xav sniffed delicately. "First time he gives me praise and he's talking to someone else," he mumbled sourly as he knelt down beside the girl on the sofa. "What's a guy gotta down to get some respect around here?"

"Keep quiet," Zed and I answered in unison, and I tried not to look as awkward as I felt. Xav snorted at the two of us, but Zed winked with a small smile.

Told you we belonged together, he said to me telepathically, and I could feel his surprise that I'd let him inside.

I don't ever remember arguing that point, I replied sourly. That was never the problem.

"Can you do anything for her, Xav?" Victor called forward as Zed's smile disappeared. "Cassandra is still hovering outside. We're going to have to take her to the hospital if we can't get her up soon."

"I can't see how deep these burns are," he muttered. "The cuts and bruises aren't bad, but there's no way of knowing how long she was out in the cold. Her heart rate is quite strong, which is a good sign, but short of trying to get rid of some of these marks, I can't really do much. If you take her to the hospital, they'll hook her up to a drip to get her some liquids and food, pump her full of painkillers, wrap her up warm and hope for the best."

I squirmed uncomfortably, refraining from shooting Zed an irritable look. "We'll have to get her up there," Victor sighed. "I'll get Trace over to question anyone who could have seen anything. Grace, do you have any security cameras here?"

I nodded. "None of them point toward the hay bales though."

"I'd like to look at them anyway," he told me. "Just in case. Xav, could you phone for ambulance?"

"Sure," Xav muttered back distractedly, moving over each of the girl's wounds with a pained expression.

"I'll do it," Zed offered, watching Xav with a small frown. Victor nodded at him, and the two brothers had only just moved to let themselves out when the girl stirred groggily. I went rigid on the spot, my eyes fixed on her expression fiercely. I had no idea if she was a threat or not, but I wasn't taking any chances. Beaten and bruised or not, if she tried to attack anyone in this room . . .

The girl's cracked lips parted a fraction, and she managed to draw a ragged breath before wincing sharply. "Hello?" Xav said, his voice loud and clear. "Can you hear me?"

She flinched away from his voice, but reluctantly took another breath, her lips moving soundlessly. I felt myself lean forward, my heart speeding slightly in anticipation as I strained to hear what she was saying.

Finally . . . "M-Matthews," she choked, and I stiffened, fear shooting through me so fast I barely noticed Zed move to my side in the same second. But the moment his hand fell on my shoulder gently, I snapped back to reality. Somehow, this girl found us, and I needed to know how, why, and who she'd told.

Ignoring Xav's stunned look in my direction, I pushed myself to my feet. "Whoa, what do you think you're doing?" Zed scowled, reaching to pull me back, but I yanked my arm away with a glower.

"Finding out who she is," I replied sourly.

"You shouldn't be anywhere near her," he retorted coolly, and I was only mildly aware of the strange looks the other Benedict brothers were exchanging behind my back.

"It's not like she could do anything if she wanted to," I dismissed, stepping away from him before he could pull me back again.

His jaw locked. "I don't want you near her."

My eyes narrowed dangerously in reply. "Then it's a bloody good job I didn't ask permission." Without waiting for an answer, I spun around and perched myself on the edge of the sofa beside the girl. Zed flinched forward, but Victor caught his arms with a stern look.

"Just be careful, Gracie," Xav winced beside me, and I lifted an eyebrow at the sound of my brother's nickname for me. He barely noticed. "She's still delicate."

I refrained from snorting at him. "Trust me, I know." In the background, Zed winced sharply, but I ignored him, turning to focus my attention on the girl. She didn't look like she was in any state to talk anymore, so I reluctantly let the barriers around my mind drop just low enough for me to break into hers, searching her mental patterns as gently as I could. She was coming around, awake enough that she could feel my presence in her mind and was already beginning to panic.

It's alright, I assured her. I'm not going to hurt you. My name's Grace. We found you at my stables, do you remember coming here?

Still searching her mind, I felt her relax, just a fraction, and her head nodded an inch. "Grace, what are you doing?" Zed's impatient voice came from behind me.

"Making sure she isn't dangerous," I answered quietly without looking at him. Figuring I should start at the beginning, I turned my attention back to the girl with a deep breath. What's your name? The girl's mind wavered in indecision. I won't hurt you, I promise. You're safe here.

She relented. Thea Dranias.

You're from Greece? I guessed, ignoring the Benedicts as they began to squirm impatiently.

Originally, she answered weakly. Before my parents died in a car crash.

Drawing on my very few social skills, I shifted awkwardly. "What?" Zed immediately rushed. "Are you alright?"

Pulling back out of Thea's mind, I shot him a withering look. "I'm fine, Zed," I sighed. "I'm only talking to her. She says her name is Thea Dranias. She's originally from Greece, before her parents died in a car crash."

"I'll clarify that," Victor instantly told me.

Xav coughed. "Well, all this is very cosy, but it doesn't tell us what she was doing here in the first place." He raised his eyebrows at me.

Trying not to get irritated at him, I turned back to Thea. I'm sorry to hear about your parents, I told her. Where did you go after that?

Her indecision was back, only this time it worked against me very quickly. Strong enough to protect her mind once more, she threw up barriers around her thoughts sharply, and I pulled back in surprise, wincing when a shooting pain rushed through my mind. Zed and Xav exchanged anxious looks, but I was determined that I wasn't going to mess this up, not now so many people were involved. Figuring she was weak enough to crumble under a well-placed attack, I forced my way back into her thoughts, ignoring the sharp intake of breath that made Xav start to pull me back.

Thea, I'm not trying to hurt you, but I have to know why you're here, I persisted, pushing Xav back with a scowl. You muttered a name just now when you started to come to. Matthews. Do you know who that is?

She didn't answer, still struggling to fight and push me out.

Thea, you're hurting yourself, I found myself snapping at her. Stop it and answer the question. Do you know who Matthews is?

Why would you care? she spat back.

Rummaging through her mind hurriedly, I tried to determine as quickly as possible whether or not I could trust her, hating the way I could still feel her fighting back despite the pain it caused her. Matthews is a very dangerous man, I finally answered. If he's found us, we could all be in serious trouble and I cannot allow him to hurt the people I care about. Please, answer the question.

Again, she hesitated, then give up the fight with a heavy sigh and a wince. I didn't escape from Matthews, she told me honestly. It's just the name I heard when they were talking about who they worked for.

My chest tightened, but I felt myself sigh in relief, glancing sideways at Zed. He lifted an eyebrow at me, but the corners of his lips tugged slightly. Turning away from him again, I forced myself to focus back on Thea's thoughts. Who are they? The people who were you with?

A Savant family. A bad Savant family. I'm not sure where exactly I was, but I think it was Las Vegas. They kept me in a casino. I don't know what it was called. There's one of them that can . . . he can break into your mind, mess with your memories. She broke off, wincing again, and my lips pursed.

He was looking for something specific?

Yes. But I can't remember what. When I try-

She broke off with a loud yelp and a shot of pain bolted through my mind as images flickered in front of me, none of them clear enough to make out much more than blurry colours. The Benedicts flinched forward when I automatically leapt back with gritted teeth. "That's it," Zed frowned, stepping around Xavier. "The rest can wait until she wakes up."

"No, Zed, it can't," I scowled back. His jaw locked. "I'm fine, honest!"

"Then what was that all about?" he snapped back.

My fists were clenching irritably at my sides, but I forced myself to calm down while we were in front of his brothers. "She remembers being held by a Savant family, but she can't remember any of their names. Apparently, one of them can alter memories. Just being in her head, I can tell she's having difficulty remembering what's real and what isn't."

The Benedicts stared at me for a moment, shuffling awkwardly. "What?" I frowned. "Do you know who did this to her?"

Zed moved closer, and I was that distracted I didn't even noticed him wrapping an arm around my waist carefully as Xav and Victor exchanged a strange look. "Possibly," Victor frowned. "Does she say anything about where they were keeping her?"

"Las Vegas."

Zed's grip tightened, Xav cursed under his breath, and Victor's eyebrows tightened so deeply I almost couldn't see his eyes. "Am I missing something?" I frowned. "What's going on? Who's in Vegas?"

Victor shot Zed a stern look as he opened his mouth to answer, and my soulfinder glowered at his brother. "It's a long story, Grace," he muttered at me. "One Victor will gladly tell you when we've dealt with Thea, right Vick?"

"Of course," Victor answered immediately, and a fraction of Zed's anger disappeared. "Right now I want to know how she knew to find us here. Do you think you can get her to talk again, Grace? She seems to trust you."

Of course she trusted me. She was possibly the only person I'd allowed to have this much access to my thoughts for a very long time. She probably knew just as much about me as I knew about her, and it scared me slightly. But I didn't say that out loud. I wasn't sure Zed would appreciate knowing that I'd trusted a complete stranger more than I had him. Instead, I nodded once and lowered myself back down beside Thea, taking her hand in mine once more and scanning through her thought patterns again. She'd picked up odd words of our conversation, and registered the fact I wasn't alone.

Relax, Thea, I insisted softly. No one here is going to hurt you.

The men you're with . . .

They won't hurt you, I repeated. They're here to help. They only want to make sure we're all safe here. Can you remember why they had you Las Vegas in the first place? Why they were they interested in you in particular?

I'm not sure, she answered slowly. I remember the day they took me out of a small café in Edinburgh, in Scotland. I know I was looking for someone, but I can't remember who I just know it was important. The next time I remember is being in the casino. They kept telling me that I'd found him, that I was helping him . . .

I hesitated a moment, ignoring the increase in my heart rate. She'd been in Edinburgh, and now here? I bit down on my lip. Found who, Thea? Who did you find?

I – I don't know his name, she answered, obviously pained. I could tell that whoever she was talking about meant a great deal to her, and the connection she was fumbling to remember seemed oddly familiar, yet wrong and alien to me. They kept telling me that he was important, that I needed to help him and that I could find him because I was special.

Special in what way?

They said . . . they said I was a soulseeker. That I could find anyone I wanted to.

I felt my face fall and I pulled myself out of her mind in the same second, throwing up as many barriers as I could. Opposite me, Xav frowned. "Hey, Gracie, you look like you've seen a ghost," he said, leaning closer in concern.

"What's wrong?" Zed asked, and my heart seized.

"She says she was taken out of Edinburgh by the Savant family," I muttered, feeling oddly detached from my voice. "It sounds like they had help from Matthews to get her out."

Victor scowled. "If she was taken straight to Vegas, then they couldn't have known back then where we were. Did she say anything else?"

I felt my throat close up, my lips pursed tightly. "Hey, Grace, it's alright," Zed insisted beside me, pulling me closer. "Whatever it is, we'll deal with it. Matthews is out of the loop here, remember?"

I glanced at him nervously. "She's a soulseeker, Zed," I mumbled, and the Benedicts went rigid. "They're trying to use her to track our movements."

There was a moments stunned silence, where Victor scowled at nothing in particular, Zed tightened his hands around mine, and Xav gawped at Thea like she was from another planet.

"That's impossible," Victor finally managed to reply. "For a soulseeker to find someone else, they have to be able to break into that person's soulfinders mind. Say she was looking for you, Grace. To find you, she'd have to break into Zed's mind first. She can't possibly just find someone on a whim."

"She found us," I pointed out weakly. "However she did it, she's here."

They all fell silent again, obviously as disturbed as I was. But before any of them could collect their thoughts to answer me, Thea lifted a weak hand to clamp around my wrist. Immediately, Zed made to push her away, but I held him back, cautiously allowing her enough access to my mind to communicate with her.

You're scared, she said, apparently upset. You think I told them where you are.

You didn't?

No, she replied, and though I knew she was being honest, I could tell she'd been less than impressed by her decision. Something was wrong with her mental patterns, something about this particular thought, like she was having difficulty figuring out what was real and what was fake. I knew this must have been one of the memories the Savant had tampered with.

Something about that place felt wrong, Thea told me forcefully, like it was painful to talk about. They told me that I was a soulseeker, and that if I wanted to, I could find my soulfinder. They said he was in danger, and I had to help, and I wanted to. I still do. But something felt . . . not quite right. I had to be sure of what was real before I tried to help him. I tried to run away before, but they caught me and punished me. I just kept trying until I managed it. I knew I had to find him and figure out what was wrong. I know he's here. He's close.

I stared at her for a long moment, and an impossible thought began to creep into the back of my mind. Dreams about blurry lights, a girl running from men trying to hurt her, she even matched the description . . . How old are you? I asked slowly. When is your birthday?

I'm seventeen. My birthday is the seventh of September.

My jaw dropped. Beside me, Zed's grip tightened. "Grace?"

"I can't believe it," I breathed in shock. "Zed, I think she's Alex's soulfinder."