Erik~

A little over three weeks after I was taken into custody, I stand on a tarmac before the plane that's to fly me to my new life. Vienna stands beside me saying her goodbyes to Colton. The only ones to see me off are Jonas and Iris. The rest of my cousins in the Order didn't care to make a cameo in the Pathetic Exit of Erik Blackwood.

Not that I want to see them. I don't even like them. They—

"You will try to take care of yourself, won't you?" Jonas asks. He and Iris stand side by side separated by a few inches. I assume they're wildly in love now. They probably aren't holding hands only because it's a little warm and don't want to share sweat. The sun will set soon, but I'll be over the Atlantic by the time it does in Elleany. I won't see any more Elleanian sunsets.

Not that I thought they were special to begin with.

"Erik?" Jonas asks.

"Are you planning to check in to make sure I'm staying in tip-top shape?"

My cousin sighs. "No. You wanted away from us and that's what you're getting."

I let my eyes drift to Iris. "You look like you want to say something."

She shifts her weight from one foot to the other. "I do. I just don't know what to say."

"I'll make it easy on you: goodbye."

"Erik . . ."

Vienna and Colton look our way.

Rolling my eyes, I clamp down on most of the words that want to come out of me and instead settle for a select few. "You don't get to act like you'll miss me. Either of you. But especially you." I look her dead in the eyes. "You helped ruin my chance to avenge Molly's death, to knock my family off their pedestal. All because you fell for him, and you justify it by saying that the new Order will be different. I've known them their entire lives, and they're just as capable of being our fathers still. You've just deluded yourself so you can have your fairytale ending."

Iris lets out a short laugh through her nose. "You know what? Tell yourself what you need to. I've never enjoyed arguing with you, Erik. I'm grateful you saved me. I always will be. But just as you've known the Society longer than I have, it's the same for me with the rebels."

The rebels . . . If it wasn't already bad enough that most of the groups banded together in Cinderville because of me and then were destroyed when my family showed up to the party, the Society then had possession of important documents from the base that listed where other groups were and have been carrying out attacks since I was captured.

The rebellion won't stand a chance after this.

I was the reason the larger groups joined together. It was my plan that captured Jonas and brought the Society down upon them.

"What happened to the Iris who wanted to destroy the Society?"

"I've changed."

Jonas looks away, focusing on Colton and Vienna. Neither of the two has said much. There has been a lot of lip biting from Vienna and a lot of general uncomfortableness from Colton.

Vienna and I haven't talked at all since our fight in the bunker. Since I knocked her out. But now she and I will be on a private jet together for hours.

So that will be . . . fun.

I shove my hands into the pockets of my jeans. "Look. Do what you will with your life. Destroy it. I don't care anymore." I turn on my heel, facing the plane. "Vienna."

She places a hand on Colton's shoulder and gives him a sad, almost apologetic smile. I'm going to barf.

I head for the stairs leading to the plane's door. I don't care if Vienna follows now or in an hour. I just can't stand to be around my cousins or Iris a minute longer. Iris knew hurting my family was important to me. She knew better than most how cruel they can be. They took away the people who raised her. And yet she still turned her back on me.

The man who saved her from her Expiration Date.

*****

A few hours later the plane is over the Atlantic. Vienna's curled up in a seat on the other side of the plan and in the back.

I turn over my left arm and reach for the edge of the bandage.

Wherever it is I'm going, everyone around me will be able to die at a moment's notice. A cold could turn serious. A car crash could prove fatal. They always have to be on their guard because they don't know when their time will come.

Sure Fate's dictated each and every one of them an Expiration Date, but they'll never know what it is until the moment death comes knocking. You don't know when they'll die and they don't know when they'll die.

It will be different.

It will feel as if there is almost an equality in death whereas in Elleany, there are those who know they have only a few years and others who will have almost a century. And everyone in Elleany knows which one you are.

My new home will be a country that doesn't know if all the troops they send to war will return.

I start to unwrap my bandage.

I suppose knowing your Expiration Date is like knowing anything about your future. Once you know it, it feels like it's impossible to change.

But that feels like is a lie people tell themselves to make them feel better, as if there is still a chance to change your destiny.

Only Iris was able to and that's because of me. She's a fluke. Not the standard.

In other countries it feels like they can be killed at any moment because their fate has never been spoken aloud.

I drop the bandage onto the seat beside me. November 15, 2093.

Where I'm going, I might as well be considered immortal.