Author:
M.J. Swenson has been writing stories since elementary school and earned a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota. Besides writing and reading, M.J. also enjoys playing music and video games.

I woke up feeling that something had changed.

I blinked twice, waiting for my eyes to adjust, and glanced at the clock beside my bed. It read 6:38, as it did every morning. I slid out of bed and moved to my dresser, where I opened the third drawer and pulled out a dark blue V-necked shirt with short sleeves and a dark blue pair of pants. I changed in front of the mirror and examined myself. I looked just as I had the last time I’d looked in the mirror: long, straight, dark brown hair; blue eyes; an absurdly straight and narrow nose; the slight scar at the edge of my eyebrow. The scar whose origin I still couldn’t remember.

Familiar Assassins

At Tumultus, Thane left me in the center building with Tai while he went to retrieve a few of the other members who often traveled from Terminus to Incipio. I sat at the table in the center with all of the maps and written plans. I could hardly read the handwriting that covered them, so I turned to Tai where he stood in the corner.


"Does he think I need a bodyguard," I asked, "or is he trying to guard me from the rest of Terminus?"


Tai shrugged. "Hell if I know. He probably just wants me to guard the building."


"Right. The building," I said, raising an eyebrow at him.


"Seriously, Miranda, I'm damned if I could tell you what he's thinking most of the time. There's a reason he's the leader of Tumultus," Tai said. "If the System caught and tortured one of us for information, we wouldn't be able to give it to them because we have no clue what's going on in Thane's head."


I squinted at him. "Tortured?" I asked.


Chapter 34