I whirl around to find my clothes where I left them on the floor. I have them back on in an instant, and I'm gathering up my other things and shoving them into my backpack.

One more glance around the room tells me I've gotten everything. I swing my backpack over my shoulders and open the door a crack, listening in the silence.

I don't know what my stupid plan is, considering these two have tracked me relentlessly, but I've never wanted to run away so badly in my whole life. Not even from my horrible mother.

I'll run away and then figure out how to stay hidden.

I tiptoe down the hallway, but it's not even necessary. Unlike my burned-to-the-ground house, this one doesn't creak with every step.

My breathing is ragged, and my pulse is thrumming in my ears as I reach the dark kitchen and pause again, ears perked for any sign that Chloe and Ethan are awake and about to follow me.

The only sound is the roar of waves outside.

I practically run for the front door, only one thought on my mind.

Escape.

I want to get far, far away from here.

And I never want to hear the words "Atlantis Academy" or "Cerberus" ever again.

I open the door carefully, step over the threshold, then close it behind me.

A high-pitched tone rings through my entire body.

And I'm in some of the worst pain of my entire life.

I'm paralyzed, face-down on the deck, and someone is screaming in the darkness.

They won't stop, though it hurts my ears and intensifies the electric prod pains shooting through my entire body.

They scream on and on and on.

I think it's me.

The fiery spasms make my muscles seize and twitch.

Involuntary tears race down my cheeks, but I can hardly feel myself crying.

Someone lifts me up, sending me into new fits of sheer agony.

I cry out, but it's a whisper beneath the terrible buzzing in my ears.

The pain.

So. Much. Pain!

Electric shocks run down all my limbs and into my fingertips and toes. It's like someone's ripping out each and every nail in a pulsating, terrible rhythm. My muscles are on fire, and my bones are aching so hard, I want to rip them all out.

Kill me now.

Death would be better than this.

Why won't it stop?

Bright lights flood my vision, and I blink against them, covering my face with fingers that must be bleeding.

I bite back another scream, panting as my eyes adjust to the light. Someone is talking to me.

"Say it, Lyric."

It's Ethan, his face way too close.

"Say the words."

What words?

His lips move, but I can't hear him anymore. I let out a moan as a fresh pulse of electric shocks tear through every inch of my body.

Please, please stop. I'll do anything, universe, just make it stop!

"Say you will honor your pact!"

Ethan's voice breaks through as he repeats himself, screaming into my tender eardrums.

I slap my hands over my ears. He's horrible! I hate him. Hate him for hurting me even more. I will never forgive him.

"Say you will honor your pact." I read his lips. He will not shut up.

Pact. What pact?

Blood pact.

"Say it. 'I will honor my pact.' Say it, and the pain will stop!"

"I will honor my pact." I mumble.

There's broken glass sliding down my throat, but Ethan's urging me to say it again.

"I will honor my pact!" I scream. "Please, I'll honor my pact!"

The pain recedes, leaving me gasping for breath, tears streaming down my face.

Muscles spasm all over my body, and I close my eyes, waiting for it to end.

"Lyric?" Chloe's here too.

I wipe the tears from my eyes, but I never cry, so they're not actually tears. They're just eye water. Anyone in as much pain as I was just in would have watery eyes.

I finally open them, blinking against all the bright light. Chloe's on the white couch beside me, and she's rubbing my back. Ethan's in the chair next to us, glowering at me.

"What... happened?" I can barely get the words out. The pain is gone, but the memory is too fresh. I'm terrified to move in case I trigger it again.

"You tried to run away." Ethan says harshly.

"I just... I..." I have nothing to say, because he's right.

"We should have warned her," Chloe says. "It was our fault."

"How was this our fault?" Ethan's voice rises. "She signed a blood pact."

"And we failed to even explain how serious that was," Chloe snaps back. "How many Commons do you know who sign contracts in blood? Zero! Humans don't usually do that. She wasn't raised knowing she's a Legacy. She doesn't know our rules. Or have you already forgotten that?"

Ethan actually looks ashamed for a second. "Well, still. She shouldn't be running. We're putting ourselves on the line for her, and she just keeps trying to throw it all away."

"I—I'm sorry?" I don't really understand how they're risking anything for me, but Ethan seems convinced that they are.

Chloe pats my shoulder. "Better now? A blood pact is a commitment you must uphold. When you signed the pact with Atlantis Academy, you promised to attend the Trials and abide by the rest of the fine print. You'll only be released from the pact if the school chooses to release you from it."

"Wait... What fine print?" My hands are shaking, and another spasm races through my leg, making it jerk to the side. "And I didn't... All I did was go outside. I wasn't... I wasn't going anywhere."

"Now she's lying. That's great," Ethan snaps.

"I'm not—"

"You are." His eyes are wide, and he's extra annoyed, I can tell because his accent's so thick, I can barely understand him. "You didn't violate your blood pact by wanting to run away... You violated it the minute you acted on that desire. As you can see, the penalty for that is swift and severe."

Oh.

Yeah, I can see.

And so can they.

My bad.

I try to stop my various limbs from shaking, but that pain destroyed me, and I can't stop it, no matter how hard I try.

Chloe grabs one of my shaking hands. "We understand this has all been quite a shock for you. You'll get caught up with everything soon enough."

"I don't know—" My stupid voice is shaking now too. "I'm not sure this is the life for me. I don't need magick. I burned my house down, and... I—I killed someone."

Chloe's red brows jump with surprise, and she squeezes my hand tightly. "You cannot blame yourself for any of this! That siren came after you. She was a monster, Lyric. The Atlantis Society doesn't sanction sirens acting on their natural inclinations."

"But you said..." I sniff. "You said Cerberus and the Shifters will want to make an example of me and won't believe it was self-defense."

Ethan's glaring at Chloe now, which is a relief, because it means he's no longer glaring at me. "I distinctly recall the moment where you and I agreed to leave politics out of this and just get her to the Academy in one piece. Or am I mistaken?"

Chloe's freckled face reddens slightly, and she tosses her head. "She asked. She wanted to know."

"Unbelievable." Ethan gets to his feet and paces toward the window, his arms crossed over his chest.

Chloe turns back to me. "Forget the politics. Just believe me when I say that the siren would have killed you if you hadn't killed her first. That's not murder. That is pure self-defense. And your house? It was an accident. It wouldn't have happened if you'd been trained properly. And now you will be. Tomorrow, we'll arrive at Atlantis Academy... and you'll begin a new life. In a new home. And you'll see you truly belong there."

I want to believe what she's saying. It was self-defense. I was trying to survive an attack by a freakin' sea monster. Even if she did look like a teenage girl near the end.

I want to believe Atlantis Academy can be a new home for me. That unlike high school, I'll somehow fit in. That I'll pass their tests, that my ADHD won't get in the way, that I won't fail out in the first week.

It's too hard to picture any of this working out in my favor.

I can't even picture myself succeeding. I can't picture any outcome but more of the same... things going badly for me, like they always have.

But I swallow and nod, because that's what Chloe wants.

"I won't try to run again," I murmur.

I won't, because that pain was unreal.

I thought my mom was the expert in inflicting pain. She knew exactly how to hurt me without leaving too many bruises, and she never took it far enough to break a bone. Even while she was drunk.

I threatened to call the police once, and she just laughed in my face.

Who would believe a clumsy girl like you?

Chloe helps me to my feet and holds my arm as she leads me back to my dark bedroom.

These people are the real pain experts. Magickal torture triggered without warning and leaving no mark.

The electric shocks continue to echo through me even now.

"Get some good rest," Chloe says, but I'm hardly listening. "Stop thinking about it all. Everything always looks cheerier in the morning."

"Thanks. Sure," I mumble as I shut the door. Then I strip down and dive beneath the covers in my cloud bed. All my muscles are still twitching, and I stare at the moon outside, waiting for the pain to subside.

Ethan's voice travels beneath the door as a low rumble. Chloe's retort is high-pitched and rapid-fire. I don't know what they're saying, but they're arguing. Like usual.

"I will honor my pact," I whisper.

It's true, but it's also a kind of prayer. I want to make sure the blood pact magick knows I mean it. And I hope someone gives me a copy of the fine print if Chloe was serious about that.

'Cause I never want to feel that amount of pain again.

"I promise... I will honor my blood pact."