The Sankari Legends Book One: The Scars We Hide

Within seconds, Emmalie had teleported us inside the konna building. Unfortunately, the room that she chose to teleport us into happened to be a broom closet with no space at all for the four of us. We struggled to get into a better position to move out while trying to stay as quiet as possible. If we got caught before we even had a chance to look for the twins, then this whole thing would’ve been for nothing.

Okay, Emmalie’s voice said in my head. We’re all telepathically linked now. So no talking.

I don’t sense anyone nearby, Tyler said. He and I were positioned closest to the door, guns at the ready. Emmalie stood behind us, clenching and unclenching her fists. Sabin had already shifted into a rat and was perched on Tyler’s shoulder, giving us more space to move. The plan was for Tyler to drop him off at the closet air-duct, where Sabin could commence his search from there.

Good, Sabin replied. We go on my mark. Megan and Emmalie go left, Tyler and I go right.

That hadn’t been part of my original plan, but I knew why he’d done it. While we weren’t going to stay in pairs for long, it was good to have both a power and weapons fighter on each side, as well as having one telepath to each group. So I had no choice but to go with Emmalie, since Tyler was a weapons combatant like me. Still, despite understanding why it worked that way, I wasn’t particularly happy about it. Sabin didn’t understand fully what he’d just done by putting the two of us on a team.

Everyone ready? Sabin asked. We all sent our confirmations and Sabin steeled his expression, something that was odd to see on a rat. I didn’t have to be a telepath to know what was going through his mind right then. Because of my minnen abilities, I could sense the memories being recalled to his mind. And Tyler’s too, for that matter. They both were trying not to think about the last time they were on a mission together: last year when their graduation mission went horribly wrong. I didn’t say anything, since I knew neither of them could sense me seeing their memories, but I said a silent prayer outside of the telepathic link that this wouldn’t end with the same results.

Okay guys, let’s go.

We rushed out of the closet, Emmalie and I heading left and the two guys going right down the long hallway. As we ran, I made mental notes of everything we passed, so I could remember where we’d been.

Split up as soon as you can, Sabin instructed. We need to cover as much ground as possible. Remember, we’re trying not to get caught.

So stealthy it is, Tyler said. Guess that means no guns-a-blazin’ then, huh Megan?

Probably for the best, Tyler, I agreed, switching out my guns for my knives.

Soon enough, Emmalie and I reached the end of the hallway. Another hallway ran perpendicular to ours, so we each chose a direction and split up. I took the left side as she took the right. The telepathic link fell silent as the four of us continued to search.

As I rounded a corner, I forced myself to skid to a stop when I found myself standing in the doorway of a room that held a group of about five konna guards. I cursed silently and prayed they wouldn’t see me.

Just at that moment, one of them looked up from the card game they were playing and saw me standing there, frozen like an idiot. He called out and pointed at me.

Frick.

They all jumped up and started towards me. I braced myself for a fight, taking note with a hint of relief that none of them had guns on them at the moment. I wanted to take out my own guns and shot them right here, but doing that would blow my cover so instead I backed out a few steps into the hallway. If they radioed for back up, I would need to be able to see the back up coming.

I smirked as an idea popped into my head. I could tell from all of their combined memories that these guys were just grunts—they didn’t have very much authority and were still pretty green in terms of fighting. I decided to use that to my advantage.

As one reached up to tap his earpiece, I raised my knife and pointed it at him.

“I wouldn’t do that,” I said in a calm voice. “You see, I’m here for just one reason, and none of you are worth the space or effort for me fight you. Honestly, it would take me maybe two minutes tops to make sure none of you are able to call for help ever again. So if I were you, I’d keep the fact that you saw me a secret… just between the six of us, okay? And then you’re going to let me go on my merry own way. Got it?”

Of course that didn’t happen. They charged for me. Fortunately, I had the advantage of the doorway only letting one or two through at a time, so it was easy for me to pick them off one by one.

It was slow going, and honestly I almost wished that door had been wider so maybe I could’ve finished them sooner. But as I twisted and dodged their attacks, I couldn’t help but let a small smile form on my face as I retaliated sharply with my knives.

I’d grown up always viewed as the weak, younger girl who was in constant need of protection. It didn’t matter which group of people I was with… whether it be my family or Sabin, Alia, and Alec; I was always the one that never got into fights, because everyone else felt the need to fight my battles for me. It was one of the deciding factors for me to go to the academy. I was tired of people fighting my battles for me. I wanted to fight them for myself. So now, as I moved with the grace and speed I’d been trained to use, lashing out as strong as I could with my deadly sharp knives, I felt the freest I’d ever felt. I was finally able to protect myself.

Before I knew it, the five guards all lay on the ground around me. I had intentionally not fatally wounded any of them, but simply cut them up enough to where they wouldn’t be moving anytime soon. I’d also managed to knock most of them out, which the dull throbbing in my hands sarcastically thanked me for.

“Stay there, boys,” I said before taking off down the hall once more.

Even though I knew it was a risk to leave them alive, I also knew that I couldn’t take their lives. Part of it was for moral reasons—I didn’t want their blood on my hands, or at least not all of it. But there was another reason as well. It was a struggle for me to not kill them, because the konna side of me reveled in the idea of destroying my enemies (literally, that is how I interpreted the feelings I had to fight against). But I knew that if I didn’t fight that urge to kill, it would only be a short amount of time before I found myself on the other side, and that was a path I didn’t want to go down.

I’d been so consumed in my thoughts that I almost missed the hallway lined with thick metal doors. Noting the suspiciousness of it, I turned down the hall and inspected the first door I came to. It was a kind of metal I didn’t have a name for, but I could tell it was in its purest form. It was also reinforced twice over, making it almost impenetrably strong. I examined the lock on the handle and noted that it could only be locked from the outside.

Prison cells.

There had to be a chance Alia and Alec were here.

I took a deep breath and reached out into the hall with my minnen, feeling for their memories. If they had even once been brought through here, I’d be able to find them.

Sure enough, I sensed the faint pulse I’d come to recognize as Alec’s memories. I couldn’t sense Alia’s, whose memories always presented themselves in the form of an almost annoying buzzing feeling.

I followed the pulsing trail of Alec’s memories down the hall to another door. The first thing I noticed was that this door was different. Instead of being metal like all the others, this one was created out of a thick, solid block of rubber. I took a guess at the fact that this rubber was also fireproof, and I had no doubt that the inside of the room was also enforced with the stuff. It was the only way to be sure that Alec wouldn’t get out, since rubber was one of the few things he could control.

I looked at the lock and frowned. It didn’t look easy to pick, but my only alternative was shooting it open and that wasn’t a risk I didn’t want to take yet.

Just then, a guard walked down the hall. He was busy looking down at a clipboard and didn’t notice me until he nearly walked into me. By that time, he couldn’t even react as I grabbed his arm and flipped him over my shoulder and onto the ground, effectively knocking the wind out him. I kicked him once in the head to knock him out (and only that) before grabbing the keys at his belt. As luck would have it, the first key I tried worked on Alec’s cell door. I pushed the door open and rushed in to find Alec lying on the ground in the back of the room. I ran over to him and quickly inspected his injuries, trying hard to ignore the fact that he looked good shirtless, despite the multiple cuts running across his chest and abdomen. I cursed myself for thinking about that at a time like now and kept checking Alec for damage.

His face looked like someone had used it for punching bag with knives in place of fists. He had deeps cuts and bruises all over the visible parts of his body and his breathing was shallow. I could see through his memories what had happened, but I didn’t want to. I knew what had happened without having to look. He’d been tortured, just like I had known he and Alia would be.

Alia. Where was she? A quick sweep of the room revealed she wasn’t there, which wasn’t surprising. Why would they keep them together? Even in his current state, I had no doubt Alec would still pose a major threat once he woke up. Speaking of which…

I gently shook his shoulder, trying to avoid any of the cuts or bruises.

“Alec, wake up,” I whispered.

His eyes flew open and he looked at me.

“M… Megan?” he asked. He squeezed his eyes shut. “No. No you aren’t real. You can’t be.”

“I am real, Alec,” I said softly, gripping his hand. “I’m here. I came to get you out of here.”

“Everyone left me,” he said. “They left me alone. So you can’t be here.”

Crap, I thought. Brittany had used her powers on him. I didn’t know what his fears were, or where I fit into them, but I knew the signs that someone had been attacked by a takot when I saw them.

I was about to say something to try and comfort Alec, to reassure him it really was me, when suddenly all the lights shut off in the room and in the hallway and were replaced by red blinking strobes. A few seconds later, an alarm started blaring, causing both Alec and me to cover our ears. The intruder alarm, I realized.

Double crap.